Nintendo exec predicts strong season for Wii

A lot of your long-term fans would also be characterized as hardcore gamers. Those same hardcore gamers have decried this move to the mainstream. What’s your answer to those fans?

The answer to those fans is “Super Mario Galaxy,” which on every major gaming publication is receiving near-perfect scores. And “Super Smash Bros. Brawl,” when it launches on Feb. 10, it’s going to make every core gamer fall in love with “Smash Bros.” all over again.

We have games that satisfy the core, but in our view, that is but a small part of the total gaming market. There are more than twice as many consumers that used to game, but don’t game today. We need to make sure that we include them in the mix as well.

That is, of course, assuming that they can get a hold of [a Wii.] The inventory issues have gotten a lot of press so I won’t go back over that with you, but do you think that Nintendo as a corporation was too conservative in its manufacturing estimates for the system?

You know, the very first annual estimate for Wii was 14.5 million units. No home console had ever sold that many in a first year. And so we were very aggressive at the start. Our issue is one of unprecedented demand and for this holiday season, we are putting more than twice as many Wii consoles into the marketplace as we had at launch. So we are not conservative in our manufacturing. If anything, we’ve been too conservative in understanding the depth of enjoyment and passion that the consumer has for the console.

Is it better — and you’re a marketer, here  — to have news story after news story of people who are queued up and they’re trying to get a Wii, and units are in short supply … or to have plentiful stock on shelves? The latter can backfire, as in, “Wow, nobody’s buying that console, look at how many there are on shelves.”

In absolute terms, it is highly, highly unfortunate that consumers cannot find a Wii to purchase. And anyone who suggests that a shortage is good for business really doesn’t understand business. We want the consumer to walk into any retail establishment and find the product. And that’s what we’re working tirelessly to make happen.

Let’s talk for a minute about the Nintendo DS, which has sold, at last tally, about 56 million units worldwide. Why do you think that the DS has been so much more successful than Sony’s PSP?

Well, the DS is successful first because of its intuitive control system — the touch screen, the voice activation — that enables the product to be so much more pick-up-and-play than any of the competitors. And then additionally, we’ve got the breadth of software to appeal to every type of consumer, whether you’re wanting to work on your brain age, or raise a virtual puppy with "Nintendogs," or race against the world in "Mario Kart" —  those two fundamental business drivers are why Nintendo DS is poised to be the most successful handheld device of all time and could potentially be the most successful hardware platform of any kind, period.

Do you foresee that the DS will have the same sort of evolution and long life cycle as the Game Boy?

Our goal is certainly to have the DS be the dominant handheld device forever. And as we create new software and new content, that is absolutely our intent.

To date, nothing’s really taken advantage of the DS’s wireless capabilities. Is Nintendo trying to change that … encouraging third-party developers to change that?

I have to disagree with you. “Metroid Prime Hunters” took advantage of the wireless capabilities, “Mario Kart” took advantage of the wireless capabilities, “Diddy Kong Racing” took advantage of it and so did “Pokemon Diamond and Pearl.” So, we’ve created quite a number of key software to take advantage of all the DS’s capabilities and we’re certainly encouraging all of our licensees to do so as well.

Why should consumers buy a Wii this holiday?

In our view, the consumer should be making three purchases this holiday season. They should buy a DS, and take advantage of the long library of titles that we have. They ought to buy a Wii, and that’s to take of the unique Wii remote, and they ought to buy the software for both of those systems. Everything from “Guitar Hero” for Wii to “Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass” for DS to “Super Mario Galaxy.”

And fundamentally, because we play in all three parts of the industry —portable hardware, home console hardware and software — that’s why we believe that Nintendo is going to have a very strong holiday.

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