In an interview ie Magazine, Perrin Kaplan discusses the GameCube launch, the "launch delay", and all things Nintendo. Here's the just a slice of the pie. Click here to see the full interview!

ieMagazine: How much of a difference did it really make to delay the GameCube launch from November 5 to November 18 in terms of units available on day one?

Perrin Kaplan: It was huge. Huge in terms of what you can do for the consumer. Our goal is to make as many consumers as happy as possible. The difference in the launch dates is launching with less than 500,000 units (Nov. 5) versus launching with 700,000 units (Nov. 18). That number is a fair number to launch with.

ie: How hard will it be for a consumer to walk into their local Toys R Us or Wal-Mart and be able to get a GameCube? Do you expect to meet demand?

PK: No I don’t. With the increase to 700,000 units, we are now just going to upset a lot fewer people. We will be getting shipments weekly between launch and the end of the year so people will be able to find a GameCube if they move fast. Actually by Christmas, we will ship 1.1 million units.

ie: One major difference with the Nintendo 64 and GameCube is the overwhelming third-party support already announced for the new console. Just look at what Capcom is doing with its Resident Evil franchise. What is it about GameCube that has attracted so many third-parties?

PK: I think there are a couple of things that we have created that is a different appeal to the third-parties. The GameCube was built specifically to be really easy to develop for and we are finding that to be absolutely true not only with our own in-house teams but also with the second and third-parties. What that does for the really good publishers and developers is that it allows them to spend more time creating what something is going to look and feel like then how to do it. The Nintendo 64 system, while it was a really good system, I think it was a little more challenging for developers and by the time they figured it all out, we were already several years into the system’s lifespan.

ie: Has Nintendo become more laxed on their publishing requirements for those interested companies?

PK: Nintendo focuses definitely on quality games, and any of the first or second-party really have to be approved by (Shigeru) Miyamoto and we know what kind of “bar” he has, and that is the way it should be as he raises the bar on himself on a constant basis. The third-party program is still very focused on quality, but we do allow the publishers and developers to make the decisions for themselves a little bit more than before.

ie: At E3, the media was quite pleased to see not only a high quality of GameCube titles, but also a large quantity. But for the last few months we have seen some delays (Eternal Darkness, Star Fox Adventures: Dinosaur Planet). Are you afraid that Nintendo will once again get the wrap of having too few titles on the market?

PK: I don’t think so. The games that we are launching with this year we believe are very strong, especially Super Smash Bros. Melee and I personally love Pikmin. Then, with our third-party lineup we have a lot to offer the consumer this year. With that said, we had hopes for some of those other games to be ready for 2001, but again there is that “bar” we are trying to achieve with the software. For example, if we had launched GoldenEye years ago when the original movie came out, it wouldn’t have been as big of a success. Deciding to launch the game 12 months later made a huge difference in the overall quality of the game. It is resisting the temptation of the moment for a better long-term gain.

ie: Do you think that Nintendo fans will be disappointed that there is not a game starring Mario at launch?

PK: I think Super Smash Bros. is going to be a pretty awesome game and it has a little bit of everything. Also Luigi, Mario’s brother, is good enough to sell his own game in Luigi’s Mansion. When we launched Nintendo 64 what everybody saw was the Super Mario 64 game and it was so breakthrough. The games for this generation are fabulous, but at the same time, you can’t expect the same type of leap. At the time of the Nintendo 64, to move into full 3D was a big, big deal. If people get upset that there is not a Mario game, I guess I look at that as a compliment and it shows me how much they loved Super Mario 64, not how bad this is. Consumers are wanting for more and that is what we hope a game will do.

ie: One trend that we have noticed with the retail community is the bundle packages. But Nintendo has been adamant that they do not like the bundle idea, why is that?

PK: Because GameCube is a mass-consumer product and we chose to have it a $199 price so that everybody could afford it. Microsoft, on the flip side, they have to find a way to enter and they are trying to build themselves guarantees. We figure the product we have is great and at $199 who wouldn’t want to buy it. So, we encourage the retailers to keep it at a reasonable price so it is available to everybody. Some retailers are choosing to do bundles and while we really don’t approve of it, that is their decision and they know their audience better than we do.