In that effort, a brokerage company is using a small network of Nintendo machines to operate an electronic brokerage service.

With Nintendo machines in nearly one-third of the nation's households, there are compelling reasons for the company to be tempted by the on-line business.

In Japan, people trade stocks and do their banking on Nintendo machines.

People who already have Nintendo machines would have to retrofit them with a modem to take advantage of on-line services.

That is a game that can be played on Nintendo machines.

Over lunch, the two agreed to try to get a license to sell the games for the Nintendo machine and to try to start a game company.

The new Nintendo machines are bound to start confrontations not only with Sega, but also between children and their parents.

The more than 160 million game cartridges purchased for the original Nintendo machines will not work on the new ones.

Sales of Nintendo machines peaked at 9 million in 1989, and dropped by about 20 percent, to 7.2 million, last year.

Outside software companies that develop games for Nintendo machines must allow Nintendo to manufacture the game cartridges.