The mystery controller, the GB Micro, the DS online and more!
Electronic Gaming Monthly was granted an intervew with Nintendo's Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing, the one and only Reginald Fils-Aime. The boys at EGM asked some tough questions to Reggie, and surprisingly Reggie shot back by actually giving answers. You can pick up the newest issue of the magazine for the full feature, but EGM's partner site 1UP.com has the interview available to read online.
Here are some excerpts from the interview, starting with Nintendo and their online goals:
...we believe we can drive up our participation rate of online play to be well in excess of about the 15 percent you see today. And the 15 percent comes from a number of industry sources, but if you think about it, 15 out of every 100 consumers who buy an online game actually go and play it online. That's pretty small. Versus what we want to see, for example, with Mario Kart [DS], is we want to see 80, 90, 95, near 100 percent of folks who actually enjoy the experience so much, who have access to the experience, to go do it online.
The mysterious Revolution controller may not be so mysterious to the group that matters the most:
The thing that I always find surprising, and certainly in the last year I've had wonderful opportunities to spend quality time with a number of our key third-party publishers, is when you sit down and share the innovation with them, just how excited they get. I saw it firsthand with DS; we're seeing it now with Revolution. The fact that you and your fans haven't seen the controller doesn't mean that no one else has.
The Game Boy Micro may be the surprise hit of the holiday season:
I have to tell you: The retailers have been all over [the GB Micro]. You know, they know their consumers about as well as we do, and the belief is that it's going to be the hot Christmas item this year. Especially when we announce the pricing.
For the entire interview, check out the feature at 1UP.