Reggie Fils-Aime is sometimes ?troubled tremendously? by Fans and ...

Sitting down for an interview with Kotaku, President and COO of Nintendo of America Reggie Fils-Aime spent some time discussing the somewhat ?negative response? to the company?s (what some would consider) lackluster E3 press conference.

?One of the things that, on one hand, I love and, on the other hand, that troubles me tremendously about not only our fanbase but about the gaming community at large is that, whenever you share information, the perspective is, ?Thank you, but I want more.? ?Thank you, but give me more.? I mean, it is insatiable,? he said.

?And so for years this community has been asking, ?Where?s Pikmin?? ?Where?s Pikmin?? ?Where?s Pikmin?? We give them Pikmin. And then they say, ?What else??

For years, this community have said, ?Damnit Reggie, when you launch, you better launch with a Mario game.? So we launch with a Mario game, and they say, ?So what?s more??

I have heard people say, ?You know, you?ve got these fantastic franchises, beyond what you?re doing in Smash Bros., isn?t there a way to leverage all these franchises?? So we create Nintendo Land and they say, ?Ho-hum, give me more.?

So it?s an interesting challenge.?

Fils-Aime then went on to answer another series of tough questions, explaining that while people often complain about products like Wii Fit, they still go on to sell millions of units:

?I think people understood what we showed. It?s the question of, as a gamer, ?Is this for me and something I can get excited about?? And Wii Fit did not get that reaction. And yet 43-million copies around the world, it?s a phenomenon. And so I would argue that the gaming community actually is unable to differentiate between a phenomenon and something that is ?ho-hum.??

Until they play it. Until they experience it. Until their friends and their non-gaming associates say, ?Hey, have you seen X???

There?s certainly a good amount of ground covered in this discussion (and you should certainly check out the full Kotaku article and read more), but I think both sides have their fair points.

Fils-Aime certainly has a point, in that the community asked for Pikmin, and so they gave the community Pikmin. While there?s an appreciable level of devotion in that act, it doesn?t change the fact that Nintendo is launching a console this year ? their competitors had no new hardware to show, no big announcements to cloud the hype-train Nintendo was riding ? they simply should have acted.

Unfortunately, the company (in my mind) failed to execute on such a welcoming opportunity.

We?re talking about a Nintendo that needs to let its audience know that it?s going to produce games for a system it?s preparing to support for the next several years ? possibly even longer. Scoring third-party support for the system is a killer move on Nintendo?s part, one that should be celebrated for a company that?s made its paycheck off of first-party support all its lifetime. However, it can?t simply fail to acknowledge its key franchises. Well, they can be ignored, but I think it can be agreed upon that it?s not exactly in the company?s best interest.

A Kirby collection is nice, and a sequel to New Super Mario Bros. Wii is worthwhile (albeit extremely similar looking)?but when it comes down to it, gamers need something to really get excited about, something to make them desire to stand in line at Walmart for a Wii U.

It may be a lot to ask of one company, to ask it to produce high-quality games that we enjoy instead of audience-broadening fitness titles and family-themed shovel ware ? but Nintendo was on top of the industry for a long time, they might still have a surprise or two up their sleeves.

[via Kotaku]

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