Report: Microsoft buying Nintendo land

Nintendo of America and Microsoft may be in the middle of a console war, but there's no reason the two opposing game makers can't do a little business on the side. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is today reporting that the two Redmond-based companies have struck a deal that will see 28 vacant acres of Nintendo-owned land acquired by Microsoft for an undisclosed sum of money.

The parcel of land is located alongside highway 520 between Microsoft's existing "RedWest" campus and Nintendo's existing North American headquarters. The Web site reports that the deal is expected to close in the middle of the month, and Nintendo reps said it had nothing to do with the publisher's recent decision to move its sales and marketing teams to California and New York.

As for what Microsoft will do with the land, a spokesperson said it will be used for parking to ease problems at the RedWest campus, but there are no specific development plans yet.

This is not the first time Microsoft and Nintendo have done business. The Xbox 360 maker purchased Nintendo-owned studio Rare Ltd. in 2002. Rare has also continued to support Nintendo's portable platforms with games like It's Mr. Pants on the Game Boy Advance and Diddy Kong Racing on the Nintendo DS.