10 Readers’ Questions Answered by Reggie Fils-Aime

Not Kombo readers, unfortunately; this was GameDaily’s gig, so — hey, come back here!

As I was saying, 10 readers’ questions from GameDaily were recently answered by the President of Nintendo of America himself, Reggie Fils-Aime, and we’ve got a couple of the more interesting ones here for you.

Is Nintendo interested in developing many new IPs currently? And if so, are they interested in expanding to other genres and perhaps even more Mature games, not just in language and violence but in themes similar to games like Hotel Dusk?

We’re always developing new games and experiences and part of that includes looking at whether it makes sense to create new franchises and new characters. Some gamers want completely new games, while others want another Mario or Zelda game the minute they finish playing the one that just came out. Striking that balance keeps us all very busy! Nintendo makes games for everyone, so you’ll find everything from E-rated to M-rated titles. I’m glad you enjoyed Hotel Dusk: Room 215. It flew a bit under the radar when it was released, but it’s a different kind of game and I’ve heard from a lot of people who really enjoyed it.

Marketing for core games is seemingly a fraction of the ad campaigns that have been pushed for other Nintendo titles. Are there any plans to expand marketing in the future to reach the core audience? Do you believe what marketing you are doing for titles such as Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is enough to spread awareness?

Marketing is shaped by what’s appropriate for a particular game. While it might seem to some that games that appeal to the expanded audience get more attention, that’s probably because the expanded audience has a steeper learning curve. Core gamers and their friends are tuned into the gaming news and blog sites, so they already know a lot of what’s going on. This new audience is just getting started, so our initial outreach might be more focused on education – in fun and unique ways – then we can begin to communicate the availability of titles they might find appealing.

And as I said, we take a different approach with every game. Just look at Super Smash Bros. Brawl, for example. Mr. Sakurai posted something new on the Dojo site every single day leading up to launch. That probably represents one of our most aggressive flows of information, and that’s a game that definitely resonates with our loyalists.

Reggie, thank you for this opportunity. I have been a Nintendo fan for 23 years now. I have bought every system and virtually every Nintendo published game. As of late I have noticed that Nintendo quality is at an all time low. There is no excuse for this. For example, despite the reviews I have read, I bought Animal Crossing: City Folk believing in my heart Nintendo would never do what the reviews were saying – short change the customer. They were right! Animal Crossing is almost identical to a game made 7 years ago.

I understand some of the design choices but graphically there is no reason the graphics could not have been cleaned up or more choices given (new house designs, multiplayer local play, vehicles, etc.). In the past if it were Nintendo published I would just go buy it because I knew Nintendo quality was top notch, not any more. Now I have to really take a close look and see if Nintendo is really putting in 100 percent. This is a very sad day for me. Does Nintendo see their error and what does Nintendo intend to do to return to form and deliver their best product to customers?

We are absolutely dedicated to creating a great experience for the gamer, both in how the game feels as well as how it looks. Animal Crossing: City Folk has taken the best of the DS and GameCube versions and improved upon it. These improvements include many new or enhanced features, from the city area to the ability to place your items up for auction to the multiplayer aspects or use of the WiiSpeak microphone. In addition, the Wii version of Animal Crossing: City Folk has more than 2,400 different items to collect. Even if you collected two new things every day, it would take you more than three years to get everything.

As I write this, Animal Crossing: City Folk has only been out for a few weeks. As you know, this isn’t a game you play through in a weekend, beat the boss and call it a day. So I’m hoping you’ll be willing to spend some more time with it to watch the game develop from week to week, month to month and year to year.

Each time we come out with a new version of a franchise, our goal is to make it fresh and interesting, yet still familiar for fans. Super Mario Galaxy, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the Pokémon games, Metroid Prime… all of these games bring something new to the franchise and make them better. That’s our goal every time.

As for vehicles in Animal Crossing? I’m not sure Tom Nook is ready to open an auto dealership.

Don’t you think the lack of the GBA slot in the DSi will split the DS market in two? Those who want to play Guitar Hero and GBA games will have to stick with the Lite and those that want DSWare and other DSi features will have to buy the DSi.

Consumers always adapt pretty easily to new technology, and I have no doubt they will do the same with Nintendo DSi. Game Boy Advance fans can always fall back on their GBA or older Nintendo DS systems when they want to dip back into their GBA libraries. But Nintendo DSi will have lots of interesting features that players will want to experience. As for games like Guitar Hero, I’m sure our third-party partners are thinking about ways to make use of the new, unique capabilities of DSi.

Does Nintendo truly listen to its audience, or have the complaints about the friend code systems, lack of a real storage solution, a very lame attempt at voice chat and just an overall uncomfortable online system fallen on deaf ears?

We listen to our fans all the time. Nintendo fans are some of the most passionate in the world, and believe me, they make their opinions heard. We’re not claiming our way of doing things is better or worse than anyone else – it’s just different. We’re on record for each of the items you cite, so I won’t rehash all that here. But I will say that we listen very closely to what people have to say, both pro and con, and keep those feelings in mind as we plan ahead.

For example, as you know, we recently launched Club Nintendo here in North America to reward our fans for their loyalty. I know everyone here always envied Japan and Europe fans for the cool Nintendo items they had, and now we’re getting some of our own.

Be sure to check out the full feature for other fun stuff, such as which game Reggie is most looking forward to on the Wii, his first video game, whether he’s “hardcore” or “casual,” the state of the staff at Nintendo, the discrepancy between what Japan gets and what America gets, and of course, what it’s like to be “the President of Video Games.”