Nintendo discusses 5th year
GamesBeat recently published an interview Dean Takahashi had with Nintendo’s Cammie “Camero” Dunaway, wherein the big N discussed the Wii’s fifth year. Traditionally one gives wood as a 5th anniversary present (please, save your penis jokes), but the modern variant is to give silverware. However, if you think you’re going to stick a fork in Nintendo, then think again. And if you think that joke was strained, just wait, there’s three more paragraphs left.
Dunaway remarked that the Wii’s 28 million U.S. owners are “pacing at about 5 million more than the PlayStation 2 was at this point in its life cycle,” and seeing as the PS2 sold “more than 50 million” units, Nintendo believes “there is plenty of opportunity to sell more Wiis.” However, Dunaway also noted that “going into the fifth year, you usually don’t anticipate selling more than you did in the previous year.” Essentially, shit may happen, it may not happen, and that’s the beauty of it.
Dunaway also gave high praise to Nintendo’s core franchises. When asked if Nintendo was concerned that their console has worse graphics than its competitors (something that’s been true for how many years now?), Dunaway responded by stating that consumers cannot play with “Samus and the Metroid franchise on the other platforms.” She also added that “this experience isn’t about the graphics at all,” and also that there is a “more emotional experience with story to it.” Think Jet Force Gemini meets Jane Austen meets Aliens. For gay sex.
Later in the interview, Dunaway dismissed the idea that its characters from said aforementioned core franchises would appear elsewhere, including the web. “I think we will continue to save Mario for our own platforms. It’s one of the secret weapons we have,” Dunaway shared, apparently not quite familiar with the idea of what is a secret weapon. Regardless of the secretive nature of billion dollar video game characters, Dunaway opined that Metroid, “Mario and Zelda are intellectual property that is important to us and will only be seen on Nintendo platforms.” And that’s the kind of corporate promise that you can put in the bank (but not a real bank, as those are volatile).