Nintendo takes stake in `Donkey Kong' firm

Nintendo, the Japanese video games giant, is buying a 25per cent stake in Rare, the British software developer best known for its Donkey Kong game which has sold more than 7m copies in six months.

The `multi-million' dollar deal, expected to be announced today, is Nintendo's first such investment outside Japan.

It will transform Rare into one of the world's largest video games developers - and create some 150 new jobs at the company's Warwickshire headquarters, where 84 people are employed at present.

Rare, founded by university drop-out Christopher Stamper, has worked closely with Nintendo for several years and was the first Western company licensed to produce software for the Japanese company's consoles.