Topic: Perrin thinks we're freaks, and not the good kind.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

She wasted my time like Spiderman 3.

[ShyGuy]

She called former PGC staffer Billy F'n Berghammer an unshowered freak. That's aces in my book!

[Deguello]

That's what everybody's thinking.  She's just the one that said it.

[Ceric]

My biggest problem with her is that everytime I hear her talk one of two things happen:

1.  I get mad at Nintendo
2.  I feel less inclined to get whatever it is that she's trying to sell me.  

She has the finesse of the dump truck in BlastCorp, insults the market she's trying to sell to at ever chance she gets, and not even nice sounding or easy on the eyes.

It just goes to show that Word of Mouth is the ONLY reason Nintendo is selling as well as it does.  Not the PR department.  Nintendo makes great games.  People know that and spread the word.  Not their PR.

If this was any other industry she probably be gone after her performance since the Gamecube on.  In fact if the Nintendo PR machine was relatively fine tuned I think they would have done much better during the Gamecube days.  Reggie is a good step forward but so for I have not been impressed by his Presidency at all.

Edit:
Thinking about it a little more.  If I ever get to do an interview with Perrin I have a few questions for her:

1.  What goes on in a typical day of work for you?
2.  How did you come to work at Nintendo?
3.  What are your feelings about Nintendo?
4.  Do you enjoy working for NoA?
5.  What do you feel that Nintendo does well?
6.  What do you feel that Nintendo doesn't do well?
7.  Do you enjoy your job?
8.  What is your educational background?
9.  What lessons have you learned from working at Nintendo?
10.  In general it seems you have a disdain for gamers in general, what brought about those feelings?
11.  How much say does the marketing/PR department have on what games get brought over?
12.  Is their much focus group testing and like done when a new marketing ad/campaign is created?
13.  How much does NCL have you "Toe-the-line"?
14.  I have a good feeling I know what you are going to say but I'm obligated to ask.  Anything you can tell us about new happenings with Nintendo and upcoming products?
15.  Do you have a good idea in your mind what you are going to say in interviews beforehand?
16.  In your opinion, how is the Communication between all of Nintendo?  It seems that a lot of the time the right hand doesn't seem to know what the left hand is doing.
17.  In your opinion, how is the Communication within NoA?
18.  Does NoA have a plan to ever have a customer rewards program equivalent to Japan or even Europe?
19.  You mentioned at one point that the Wii would be region free.  Why the change?
20.  What are your feelings about third parties?
21.  Finally, any thoughts or statements you want to leave us with?  

[Mario]

You "haven't been impressed" with his presidency? Please explain. And you're right, they are your problems.

[darknight06]

Well as I said, it wouldn't be rattling so many if part of it wasn't true...

[Ceric]

Quote
Originally posted by: Mario
You "haven't been impressed" with his presidency? Please explain. And you're right, they are your problems.

Easy.  What has he really changed?  Seriously.  The concepts for the Wii and the DS were thought of Prior to Reggies employment with Nintendo if memory serves.  At the very least before he became President of NoA.  In fact I think we now see him much less then we did before his promotion.  Even though he is a popular figure her in the states.  People like Reggie.  Not just gamers.

Mario you love Perrin?  If you do I really like to know why.  Her capacity by my understanding is PR.  She's not just a high level exec, if that was the case then the interviews would make more sense, but she is PR.  Her job is to make the majority of consumers feel better about her set of products.

What I know of her is from that PR perspective and I just don't like her from it.  Now in person she might be a lot different and I may really like her and see why Nintendo keeps her.  She may be respectful and everything in person.  I just don't know.  Maybe I'll be able to find out one day.  

[oohhboy]

You know that she will just dance circles around every one of those questions Ceric. Almost all of them can be resolved in a Yes/No or a one sentance reply. But that is based on the assumption that it isn't a live interview.

Billy wasted alot of questions, especially near the beginning. He did nail the Nintendo power question and he got an effective answer. He then got lead around for the next ten questions. The TGS follow up question was rubbish. The demand question brings nothing new to the table other than the fact that Kaplan thinks 7-8 Wiis is a "Stack". The last third of the interview breaks down completely and Kaplan eats him alive. His failure to maintain control become apparent with this...

Quote
GI: So you’ve got things lined up after holidays…there’s not going to be a drought…

Kaplan: Noooooo….business ends December 31st, and we have nothing else going on. Yes, of course. We know that we don’t share a lot and it’s really frustrating. But yes we have a lot of great stuff coming.

It was a retarded question and Kaplan shows her displeasure. Billy should have known better than to bring a dick to a knife fight. Kaplan never says anything beyond the quater and Billy would have been better off spending more time grilling her about events so far and her own mistakes. Not asking about stuff that is above her pay grade. She is PR Billy, ask her about PR. Make her talk about herself, people love talking about themselfs.

Poor, poor Billy. Good entertainment never the less. Like a good snuff film, only now in a text format!

[Ceric]

I realize a lot of those questions could be answered with simple answer but I like to know more about Kaplin herself and some of the inner workings of Nintendo because we all know we won't get anything truly juicy beyond the quarter so why not focus on some other interesting part of Nintendo?  Actually I like to add what is her feelings and take on Nintendos new strategy and how different does she beleive it is from the old one.

[Plugabugz]

Maybe next time NWR see her, you should ask about region free wii's!

[BigJim]

Her role, possibly all of PR's role in general, seems to have been diminished over the years. She used to go to IGN or whoever with some new useful tidbits and people really looked forward to it.

Nowadays we get nothing until a press release or press event, and then she just repeats the message.

And of course, they fired Jim Merrick who was pretty good with useful information.

[Ceric]

Jim Merrick was a godsend for the occasional leak of interesting information before he moved on.  I think Nintendo could real generate more buzz with each bit of information by letting a little "slip" in interviews before the press releases.

[Kairon]

Quote
Originally posted by: oohhboy
You know that she will just dance circles around every one of those questions Ceric. Almost all of them can be resolved in a Yes/No or a one sentance reply. But that is based on the assumption that it isn't a live interview.

Billy wasted alot of questions, especially near the beginning. He did nail the Nintendo power question and he got an effective answer. He then got lead around for the next ten questions. The TGS follow up question was rubbish. The demand question brings nothing new to the table other than the fact that Kaplan thinks 7-8 Wiis is a "Stack". The last third of the interview breaks down completely and Kaplan eats him alive. His failure to maintain control become apparent with this...

Quote
GI: So you’ve got things lined up after holidays…there’s not going to be a drought…

Kaplan: Noooooo….business ends December 31st, and we have nothing else going on. Yes, of course. We know that we don’t share a lot and it’s really frustrating. But yes we have a lot of great stuff coming.

It was a retarded question and Kaplan shows her displeasure. Billy should have known better than to bring a dick to a knife fight. Kaplan never says anything beyond the quater and Billy would have been better off spending more time grilling her about events so far and her own mistakes. Not asking about stuff that is above her pay grade. She is PR Billy, ask her about PR. Make her talk about herself, people love talking about themselfs.

Poor, poor Billy. Good entertainment never the less. Like a good snuff film, only now in a text format!

QFT.

Why isn't anyone else here appreciating the mastery of Perrin's conversation, and Billy's complete kerfluffle when confronted with it? It's like poetry in motion, ballet, opera... and experimental jazz!

And she's SO WILLING to talk about things, but, the interviewee has to be able to give and take at her level. They have to treat this as a hyper-realized conversation, not as a Q & A session. In Q & A PR immediately falls into predictable rote procedures that no one really wants, and the interviewer is at the whim of company policy. If they REALLY want to get the juicy journalism stuff, they gotta up their game, and be as charming, deft, and agile as Perrin, gaining subtle and indirect insights that aren't PR admissions but rather hints at secrets that couldn't be revealed otherwise.

Journalism is about more than asking all the required questions and accepting the answers. It's about the SKILL at which you winkle such answers out of your partner. Someone needs to get up there, and give Perrin a run for her money, because so far she's going quite unchallenged.

[Kairon]

Quote
Originally posted by: Ceric
Jim Merrick was a godsend for the occasional leak of interesting information before he moved on.  I think Nintendo could real generate more buzz with each bit of information by letting a little "slip" in interviews before the press releases.

Aren't you thinking about this from too hardcore a perspective? Videogamers don't buy ANYTHING based on interviews with PR people. And leaks, though they make the internet flare up, are more often than not HUGELY destructive to a company's plans (X360 Elite leak is a case in point, as is the Home leak).

Perrin's absolute pwnage of Billy in that interview really amounts to nothing more than some internet entertainment, and she knows this... which is why she has fun with these, such as when she admired the Booth Hunks in the E3 2006 itnerview, and why she had Matt Cassamassina itnerview her while they both sat on the floor and she played with his hair.

[trip1eX]

You Freaks!!!

[Deguello]

Kairon's right.  Sometimes you have to separate yourself from the internet and this forum and look in from the outside.  And from the outside, some of us are a little freaky.

And this isn't a PR "Gaffe" by any stretch.  A PR Gaffe is claiming that PS3's are sold out and offering $1200 for each one found.  A PR Gaffe is telling average consumers that they should feel up to working two jobs to get something.  A PR Gaffe is saying everything is absolutely alright with a defective product because it is designed to be that way.  Those sorts of things impeach the credibility and sanity of both the interviewee and the company who sent him.  This doesn't.  Heck this whole thread is attempting to rabble rouse on an emotional level, when if you read it IN THE CONTEXT of the source, it's not bad at all.

[Galford]

Well at least this thread didn't devolve into who would have sex with Kaplan like it did over at NeoGaf.

But really, did she need to insult Billy?
He is a hardcore gamer who still stumps for Nintendo.
Nintendo doesn't have too many of those anymore, you would think she would be a littler nicer to him.

Could anyone here get a hold of Billy for comments?

[BigJim]

I wouldn't be offended by it. Can't speak for him, but I'd doubt he was either.

She was making a point -- the "freaks" aren't their target anymore, as much as they like to double-speak it. That's more bothersome than being called a freak.  

[Shift Key]

PR people are up there with lawyers on my list of people that I have disdain for. You know what they're going to say, so why even both with an interview?

But that comment is pretty hilarious. The first thing I do in the morning is shower (or get a strong coffee, then shower) so perhaps I need a decent Wii game to test this theory.

[GoldenPhoenix]

I really think you are taking what she said far too seriously, it came accross as a friendly jab, nothing meant to be insulting.

[NWR_pap64]

This is Midna Kaplan we are talking about here...

[18 Days]

Coming soon: Wii Hygiene, Determine the Age of Your Smell

[BigJim]

Quote
Originally posted by: 18 Days
Coming soon: Wii Hygiene, Determine the Age of Your Smell

[Kairon]

You can do that in Ubisoft's Life Coach game for DS: sign contracts with yourself to take a shower more than twice a month.

~via Wii browser

[couchmonkey]

I believe in the drought, but I don't think it has been any worse than your average post-launch drought.  In fact, it's arguably better than a lot of them.

Perrin's point is fair: hardcore gamers are hard to please.  It takes a few big releases every month to keep the majority of us happy.  I think what really bothers people isn't that Kaplan jokingly referred to us as freaks (are you going to go cry to your mommy?) but that she's implying that we're not that important to Nintendo anymore.  Which is sadly true.  See what people at the Nintendo press event last week have to say about it - to quote Penny Arcade, "...the lineup available described a company and their casual paramours locked in a passionate embrace."

So you can:
(a) Adapt.
(b) Switch teams / go multiplatform.
(c) Become a lapsed gamer (kind of ironic considering that's a market Nintendo is trying to revive).