Now that some of you have read my Xbox

Live Boot Camp article, you probably realized what other company is in

Seattle - or Redmond for that matter.  Yes,

Nintendo of America is just minutes away from Microsoft. 

Since Microsoft was so gracious to let me stay in Seattle for a couple

extra days so I could crash on the couch at Casa de Rick Powers, I decided it

was a good idea to stop by NOA for a little visit. 

Yes, the irony of this whole Microsoft Xbox Live Boot Camp deal was that

Microsoft technically flew me to see Nintendo of America. 

As Hannibal always said in the A-Team, “I love it when a plan comes

together.”

I was really excited to finally get into one of

Nintendo’s headquarters.  Last

year I made the trek to Kyoto to see NCL’s home office, but never got past the

front gate.   This time we were

going to get in.

So, Rick and I packed up our gear and headed to Nintendo of

America’s headquarters.  When

going to the main office, you pass by Digipen and NST's buildings.  It was very surreal that we were actually going to be inside

the buildings where the magic is created.  Just

thinking that NST could be putting the final touches on that Cube Club 1080°

demo gave me goosebumps.

The Entrance to Nintendo of America

I’m not quite sure what I was expecting when we pulled up

to the main office building.  I

swear, when we opened the doors to go in, I heard the arch angels singing. 

I think most of the reason was we actually got in. 

Compared to Microsoft, Nintendo of America had a very different vibe to

it.  It seemed like a fun place to

work.

Some of this lobby art may need to be

changed

More beautiful lobby art

My impressions of Nintendo of America Headquarters are a

lot different than I expected them to be.  For

some reason, I thought I’d see Oompa Loompas running around, Samus chilling in

her bikini, Tom Nook selling goodies, or Pit hiding in some corner. 

That’s the way I felt when we were waiting in the lobby to meet up with

our contacts.  We got our visitor

badges and were greeted by Cory – a Team Nintendo member who was going to take

us up stairs to meet the person who would be giving us our tour.

Nintendo of America was rather busy because Cube Clubs were

beginning the following, day and there was an e-Reader event happening in

Chicago.  Most of the people I would

have liked to meet with were out or in meetings.  We did not play any games and were mainly there to get a feel

for what the Headquarters were like.  To

our happy surprise, our long-time friend, Team Nintendo member Thom Leonard, was

the one who would be giving us a tour of the facilities.

Thom Leonard and Billy Berghammer