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Nintendo's Perrin Kaplan Takes A Bow
The MTV Multiplayer blog is playing host to a two-part interview with outgoing Nintendo president of marketing Perrin Kaplan. A well-respected figure in the games business, Kaplan's 'exit interview' with Stephen Totilo touches on everything from the missing September surprise to why the US doesn't have a fan club. "You know we've taken a really close look at what they're doing in Europe and what they're doing in Japan. You have to remember that, geographically, we're much bigger here and cost-wise, it is much more expensive to run a program like that. We try to do pre-sale with our retailers as often as possible. You're talking about a scale that is much larger. But we do look at the differences in markets and what consumers are liking. It's just a difference in scale." Good luck to Ms. Kaplan in her future endeavors.
So this is Kaplan's last post then?
This is the person who was a marketing droid that clearly had no idea what they were talking about when they referenced the games, right?
Oh, so sad. So long marketing tool. *yawn*
Making it a fanboy favorite is easy - Sony fanboys still love the PS3. Making it a general favorite is much more difficult, and Nintendo pulled that off. I think it has little to do with marketing and more to do with the fundamental mechanics of the console, though.
I love Nintendo. I honestly do. I own multiple pairs of boxer shorts featuring Mario. I own both a DS and a Wii, with at least 10 titles for both.
You could get away with calling me a fanboy.
It is because of this that with great sadness that I make the following complaint. Why is Nintendo so hesitant to acknowledge, let alone correct glaring mistakes?
Friendcodes are stupid. A solid online experience isn't *that* hard, especially when you have solid examples to reference.
Admit that there is a storage problem with the Wii, and for the love of god at least say that a USB hard drive is in development. Tell us that games will be playable directly from SD.
This isn't rocket science, and it's not a recent issue.
Anyone else remember the great Mortal Kombat debacle? You know, the whole attitude that violent games don't belong on Nintendo systems? That really didn't work out so well for them, and so they've changed policy. It took years, but it happened.
This isn't "end of the world" stuff, but seriously. It's not that hard, and when your systems are practically printing money, you would think issues like this would get resolved. And ignorance isn't an issue; just as in this interview, and countless others, these issues are raised time and time again.
Hell, if they tossed an intern on customer satisfaction duty and had him read stories and comments on Joystiq, Slashdot, Kotaku, and Destructoid all day, it would do wonders for customer satisfaction, if only that feedback could somehow factor into decision making.
I still love you, Nintendo. We just need to have a talk.
Wow. - Until reading this interview I wasn't even aware there was such a thing as Club Nintendo in other regions of the world. As a kid, I remember virtually drooling over the first Nintendo until I finally got one. I guess our "Club" really consisted of school. Many many hours spent talking about games with friends at school. Of course, there weren't any perks like what was mentioned about turning in UPCs for earning free stuff (ala kool-aid points I guess?), but still, since the earliest days of Nintendo there seemed to be a sense of community. It's ironic how as technology moves forward, and we find these ways to connect easier, we also seem to distance ourselves. It's like LAN parties. I can't remember the last time I hosted or went to a LAN party since now virtually everything is over the 'net (I know the LAN parties still exist, but for most people I have to assume participation in such events and the quantity of events is on the decline) Would something like 'Club Nintendo' be beneficial in the US? Not sure. Considering the Wii is still relatively difficult to get compared to the 360 or PS3, it's not like there is a compelling need for Nintendo to offer incentives. Maybe the whole notion is replaced at the retail level. For example, chain stores that for an annual fee give you discounts and pay out more for used games. On the other hand, there's something to be said for being able to get unique items that are typical of fan clubs that you can't get elsewhere (excluding ebay of course).
There are 10 types of cliches in this world. Those that are new, and those that aren't.
> Sony fanboys still love the PS3.
Well yeah, but that's a tautology. I was a Sony fan, but not a "fanboy", and the PS3 has basically turned me right off the brand. Not for the price, but the lack of compelling titles. Now I'm an Xbox fan.
Nintendo, on the other hand, creates crazed brand zealots -- and I mean in the good kind of way, in the Apple kind of way. That takes significantly more than just a big game catalog, and in fact Nintendo pulled it off with a rather small one. I'm not by any means a Nintendo fan, but I sure can appreciate their ability to build a brand.
Done with slashdot, done with nerds, getting a life.
I shouldn't have expected much more from an MTV production, though.
I have a bit of a desire for bioshock and mass effect but aside from that the 360 isn't pressing the right buttons yet.
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
You sound like you're talking about the Wii, I think the thread starter meant the Gamecube. The Wii wasn't Kaplan's work anymore, Reginald Fils-Aime is in charge of marketing the Wii. Considering the amount of total bullshit Kaplan spouted during her time I have no idea why people do anything but cheer when hearing about her leaving. That bullshit wasn't the ordinary marketing hype, it was blatant false information. I think it was Kaplan who announced that the Wii would not have a region lock and got shot down almost immediately by Nintendo of Europe (who probably don't like the thought of people importing the games at half the price they'd pay locally).
Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
The fact that MTV is focusing on video games instead of music, or G4 failing to deliver exclusive interviews like this...
(Doesn't matter anyways, in 5 years we'll have SpikeGMTV)
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And what kind of a bow is it?
Given that they're making chattable games available to pre-teens, and parents of said pre-teens NEVER look over the shoulder when a kid's playing a "gameboy," I can see why they made the Friend Code system the way they did. You can only play with people you know.
However, the Wii looks like it'll be a bitch. It's not even one Friend Code per Wii or per Mii. It's apparently going to be a Friend Code per player per GAME. This is clearly nonsensical if it's true.
Two suggestions to Nintendo to salvage the situation and foster the use of the Internet for long-distance play with folks you know. (1) Let DS units trade their WiFi Friend Codes via bluetooth. No manual code entry, just let the units sniff at short distance to introduce them for long-distance play in the future. And (2) Let DS units and Wiimotes store and trade Friend Codes by sniffing via bluetooth too. Take your Wiimote to a friend's house, or loan your friend your Wiimote overnight, then when you get it back home you can play remotely with that friend.
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I always thought the seal of quality was done originally for their products dating back to the early NES days. At the time you had Tengen produced unlicensed 3rd party games that entirely by-passed the hardware lockout and I thought Nintendo established the Seal to guarantee people that Nitnendo had "signed off" on the games. Also, it was used for peripherals I thought to guarantee to users that the peripherals were guaranteed to work with Nitnendo systems.
I've never ever thought that the Seal was used to say "we guarantee this game isn't a POS". Seriously, where and when did this interpretation come from?
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Almost every game (except co-op-only games such as Animal Crossing: Wild World) can do random matchmaking in addition to the friend code system. In other games, you need friend codes only to 1. choose friends to play with, or 2. do text and voice chat. Disney's Toontown MMOG has the same restriction on chat, as unpoliced chat allegedly allows malicious players to locate children for sexual abuse. So would you prefer that Nintendo require all online players be 18 or older? Then you wouldn't be able to take advantage of the economies of scale of selling gaming hardware and software to parents to give to their kids. If you're willing to pay more for a console to escape friend codes and play with grown-ups, PS3 and Xbox 360 are for you.
Multiplayer: Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime promised us a September surprise [on the Wii],and I never saw a September surprise.
Kaplan: I don't know that he indicated which year.
Multiplayer: Oh, September 2008, I'll look for the surprise then.
Boy, this interview sure cleared that all up for me! Glad they got so in-depth with that question.
Time for some tasty Shiner Bock!