GamePro: What are the production challenges that are making it so hard to supply Wii's?
Reggie Fils-Aime: I have to correct you. It's not a production issue. It's not like our competitors who are missing a component and couldn't scale up. We're making huge amounts of product every single month. It's not a capacity issue; it's a demand issue. We're not trying to temper demand, what we're now trying to do is to figure out how to add additional lines to meet a higher level of demand.
GP: In your E3 presentation, much emphasis was placed on reassuring hardcore gamers that they weren't being forgotten by Nintendo. How much of a concern is this for Nintendo?
RF: I think Mr. Iwata [Satoru Iwata, president of Nintendo of Japan] said it best: all of us who are Core at one time long ago were newbies, too. And we need to remember that feeling. We need to frankly embrace when new people come into this industry. Why? Because it makes the industry more vibrant. It gets more people playing. It gets more people talking about it. Arguably it ought to lead to better games.
GP: In catering so heavily to the new gamers, is there a danger that you neglect the Core?
RF: From that standpoint we embrace these new customers the same way we embrace the Core. That's why it was so important to bring out Metroid Prime 3 in its perfect state; that's why it's so important to launch Smash Bros. this year; that's why it's so important to bring Mario Kart for Wii out early next year. These titles for the Core are very, very important for us.
GP: Well, it said a lot that Mr. Miyamoto introduced Wii Fit, but doesn't the hardcore gamer look at that and see a fitness device?
RF: Mr. Miyamoto said this is a product that's been in his brain since the Wii console was early in development. We showed off [at E3] only a small example of what [Wii Fit] can do.
We have a ski demo, and this is a ski jump where literally you simulate the lift by jumping up onto your toes. Just think of what can be done! This can be applied to skiing games, but also to skateboard games. It can be applied to a surfing game. It won't always have to be in a fitness genre.
I'd expect other companies to jump onboard to use the balance board for other games. There are Core games to come that will be using this [Wii Fit] device.
GP: Sony and Microsoft embrace the internet. What about Nintendo?
RF: We are online. Forty percent of the Wii's around the world are connected to the Internet, so our system is online. But our view is that we want the consumer to go online every day--everyone in the household. So what that means is that we will offer more than simply first person shooters online. That's why we have the Check Mii Out channel. That's why we have Wii Wear with other downloadable content that consumers can choose from.
Sure we'll have competitive play online. Madden is going to be fabulous. Strikers is fabulous. But we want to do more. These are the little examples that highlight how we are different from our competitors. They talk about online versus and co-op play. For us online will be much more than you against me sitting in our living rooms in two different states.
GP: So, when Reggie Fils-Aime peers into his crystal ball what does he see?
RF: The future looks like this: More and more consumers playing video games world wide. A vastly different profile that the typical--call him 20-year-old--male today. And in that view our devices the Wii and the DS are truly devices that people will use every day, all consumers in the household. That's our view of the future.
Source (via GamePro)
Related - EA Underestimates Wii
I'm glad to here Reggie Fils-Aime talk positively about Wii's future, and he definitely does sound excited. The fact that he corrects the interviewer is a testament to this. He explains that Wii is not having production problems, it's just that so many people want them.
He makes the target of Wii very clear also, in a way which I had never considered before. The reason why we are getting Metroid prime 3 and Super Smash Bros. Brawl this year is to entice and attract the hardcore Nintendo fan, and to keep him/her interested in the product. I'm not sure about you, but I had not considered this before.
Mr. Fils-Aime's views on online gaming is still a little worrying though. According to him, Nintendo are more attracted by the "friendly" side of the online market, with things such as the "Everybody Votes channel" and the "Check Mii Out" channel. Once again, the matter of Super Smash Bros. Brawl being online was ignored, and Reggie instead turns his focus to EA's Madden 08 and Next Level Games' Mario Strikers Charged. One has to ask, are Nintendo leaving the "uglier" side of the market, competitive online gaming, to third parties?
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