Once again Denise Kaigler, VP of Corporate Affairs for Nintendo of America took time for an interview with NintendoGal.com at E3. In the interview she discusses the E3 show floor and consumer experiences with Nintendo.
NintendoGal.com: Now that a little over a year has passed since you joined Nintendo, I think it’s about a year and a few months now.
Denise Kaigler: Yeah a year and four months, February of last year.
NG: How are you faring?
DK: You tell me! [laughs] I mean you tell me, I read about it in some of the online comments. I feel really good, I’m having fun. I enjoy talking to you guys and who doesn’t love playing Nintendo games. I enjoy traveling, I travel a lot.
NG: To all the different offices?
DK: Yep. I still do my work cycles. I work out of the New York office where the internet and trend marketing team are, one week a month. I work out of the headquarters in Redmond, three, four days a month. Then Redwood City, my primary base, I’m there, two weeks a month. The rest of the time, traveling to different events around the country. [I also] travel to Europe and Japan.
NG: A jet setter!
DK: I’m pretty much in a perpetual state of travel, but it is what it is. I enjoy it. Given what we do, you’ve got to get out and about and see how folks are responding to our games. That’s what’s fun about traveling. I love walking in airports and sitting in airports seeing people play the DS and when people see that I work for Nintendo, I love the stories that I hear. All of a sudden you hear everything! "My mother has a Wii and my brother has a Wii and my son has a DS." I was on a plane with my DSi and the guy sitting next to me asked if it was the new DSi. Of course he didn’t know I worked for Nintendo at the time. And I said yep I’m playing it.
Later on the flight, I had to do some work, of course he’s looking. I now have a privacy screen because you’ll see people looking over [at laptops]. I never work on confidential information on an airplane because everyone can see it. [What I was working on] wasn’t anything confidential, but it had Nintendo on it and he goes, "You work for Nintendo?" It’s so funny too because part of me wants to go, "How would you know, why are you looking over at my screen," but then it started a fun conversation about Nintendo. It’s so great to hear people want to share their stories with us about their experience with our games. In that respect to get that kind of real time feedback is pretty cool. And of course we get a lot of letters and e-mail and phone calls, it’s cool.
NG: Why weren’t you part of the media briefing presentation this year?
DK: Was there an expectation that I would be? [laughs]
Denise during last year’s Nintendo E3 media briefing.
NG: You were there last year! So I kind of noticed you weren’t up there this year.
DK: You know last year was my first E3. It was an interesting case. The only reason I was [on stage] was because I was at NCL (Japanese headquarters) a few months prior [with] Mr. Miyamoto’s development team and deciding what games were ready to be announced at E3. Wii Music was one of the games they wanted me to look at and see what I thought about the game. Next thing I know I’ve got a Wii Remote in my hand and the development team put the game in and I didn’t know anything about how the game worked. They just said have at it and I was rocking to Wii Music and they liked the exuberance, excitement that I genuinely displayed.
NG: They didn’t have anything for you to do that with this year?
DK: Well the format was just different. I work on overseeing that whole aspect of E3, but there’s a huge team that works to pull our whole presence together. And so the work that I do, it’s a lot. So to not actually be in the media briefing, it wasn’t even discussed. Did you miss me?
NG: Yeah, you just looked like you were having so much fun up there! I thought at least you’d come out for another demonstration or something.
DK: Yeah, no, just wasn’t anything [for me to demonstrate]. We never even talked about it. Who knows, but thanks for missing me! [laughs]
NG: Did Nintendo feel pressured to present the media briefing in a different way than last year from all the backlash?
DK: I’m curious about your premise, that we chose a different format because of something. So why do you ask the question?
NG: Because there were so many media outlets who were just not pleased with your presentation. They thought that the Wii Music part was bad. They thought that Cammie was talking down to them. For this year they were saying she didn’t smile as much so she can’t win for losing. It just seemed like last year you guys caught hell for the different format because you didn’t announce four different Mario games and a Metroid game all in one package.
DK: We announce games that are ready to be announced. It’s as simple as that. The games that we announced this year were games that were ready to be announced this year. We certainly want to try very hard to make sure that we’re announcing games, that we’re showing games and experiences that the core will enjoy as well as the expanded audience. And by your question I’m assuming that you guys, and by you guys I mean the core, believes that we struggled to strike that balance. And you believe that we did give the core something we may not have given last year. That’s a good thing right?
NG: Yep.
DK: OK so the core is happy with what we announced this year? Then, we’re very happy about that. So thank you for letting us know because it is important that you guys are happy with us. Just know that we know that we got to make sure that we’re giving you guys what you want and it’s something that we talk about. It’s something that we’re cognizant of. We’re working hard to do it.
NG: Did the changes this year to E3 effect the way Nintendo planned for the event? Obviously your booth is much bigger this year.
DK: Yes, that is true. We certainly knew we were going from 6,000 to 30,000, we heard anywhere from 20,000 to 45,000 people so absolutely that went into our decision to make the booth bigger. That was one, also we knew we had many more games that we were going to showcase last year, so we needed the space for all the interactives. We were certainly hoping that the types of games that we were announcing this year would draw the large crowds this year and we would need the space. And we see we’ve done exactly that. It’s so cool to go down and walk the show floor and see all the people, not just people, but happy people, lining up to see New Super Mario Bros. Wii, huge lines.
Random happy folks getting their photo taken with the voice of Mario.
NG: With Charles Martinet.
DK: Charles is there yes, excuse me, Mario and Luigi are down there. [laughs] And Zelda [Spirit Tracks], huge lines going around the corner. So we’re happy about that. Wii Sports Resort has huge lines for those games. What we do constantly is we get real time feedback from the show floor, so we see that there are long lines for certain games. We want to make sure that folks aren’t getting frustrated with waiting in line too long. So we turn other interactives into another game. We did see [the need] for that.
We only had one Archery game set up for Wii Sports Resort and there was a long line for it so we turned two more interactives into Archery, so we could help cut down the lines so people didn’t get frustrated waiting so long. Archery was one, Zelda Spirit Tracks is another, so I think we did increase the number of game stations for that. We already had multiple New Super Mario Bros. Wii interactives set up and I don’t think there was anymore we could do for that. I want to say we had eight. It’s exciting to see that we are making our consumers smile. They’re literally having a ball with those games and that’s what it’s all about, that’s why we’re here. That’s why you guys are here!
Zelda Spirit Tracks line on Wednesday afternoon.
NG: So much fun!
DK: Right, we want you guys to have fun, now, today, we want you to have fun.
NG: Speaking of Mario..
DK: I love Mario.
NG: Why a new Mario now instead of another game from another franchise?
DK: Don’t tell me you don’t want a lot of Mario!
NG: This was a question from one of my staffers, I enjoy Mario.
DK: We can’t imagine that anybody could have too much of Mario. That’s our thinking. Can anyone core, expanded alike ever have too much Mario? Within Nintendo’s walls is a resounding no. We can’t imagine that it can be. I can tell you from the response and you were there, you heard it, from both Super Mario Galaxy 2 and New Super Mario Bros. Wii, huge round of applause. So that tells us that we did the right thing. Then of course the DS Mario games. We don’t think we can give our consumers too much Mario.
NG: I guess that answers my next question then: Do you think the amount of newly announced Mario games will oversaturate the market?
DK: He’s already sold 200 games. We think there’s plenty more where that came from. I think there’s a lot more potential because as we continue to bring in more and more gamers into this industry, then that introduce more to him. Mario is of course one of the most iconic video game figures in the world. There’s always someone who hasn’t experienced a Mario game. We can continue to bring that experience that you certainly enjoyed for so long [to you]. We want other people to enjoy those experiences as well. So we want to make sure we keep Mario very, very busy. It’s just great to see him in 3-D, [make two appearances on the same console for the first time] in a game. Now he’s riding a dinosaur out in space. I mean it’s just fun! I must have seen the trailer twenty times and I laugh each time I see that trailer. Who can’t laugh at seeing Mario riding Yoshi into space, it’s just fun. It’s all about having fun!
NG: How can Nintendo afford to produce four big name titles at the same time?
DK: Aren’t you guys worth it? [laughs]
NG: [laughs]
DK: That’s my answer. Isn’t the video game consumer worth it? Isn’t whatever we can do to make consumers laugh and have fun worth it? That’s what our thinking is. That’s our commitment to the industry is to continue to deliver fun, immersive experiences to both the core and the expanded audience. We’re going to try to keep living up to that commitment.
NG: Speaking of Wii Motion Plus, why did Mr. Miyamoto in the developer round table last night state that possibly a core game’s future in some regard would be determined by a seemingly casual game, Wii Sports Resort and is this commonplace for Nintendo?
DK: I can tell you that Mr. Miyamoto did confirm he is working on a Zelda Wii. That he’s working hard for the game to hit the market sometime next year and that there’s a chance the game will be Wii Motion Plus compatible, but he did not confirm anything. He’s working with that in mind. I would think that would be pretty cool for all the Zelda fans out there.
NG: I’m just kind of curious though if that’s a normal thing, for something casual to affect your core game, like in the development. Like if the casual game does well, will that effect what you do with the core game.
DK: Right. I don’t want to speak for Mr. Miyamoto, I mean who can! [laugh] Is that something that’s normal? I don’t know and I certainly don’t pretend to know all that goes into the decisions or how the developers decide what accessories or what peripherals will be used with the different software. I’m sure there are a lot of factors.
NG: Is Nintendo going to allow other 3rd party companies to bundle the Wii Motion Plus attachment, or are EA and Ubisoft enough?
DK: All of our licensees are excited by the Wii Motion Plus technology. We’re excited to see what they have in store. The licensing department is very busy and we’re excited to see the upcoming games from EA and SEGA. Certainly thrilled that Ubisoft has made Red Steel 2 exclusively compatible with Wii Motion Plus. That’s certainly a great validation of the importance of using that accessory for the most precise game play experience. We’re thrilled Ubisoft’s decision to do that. We can’t wait to see what the other licensees come up with.
NG: Switching gears slightly, is Nintendo planning on pushing Metroid Trilogy as hard with Metroid: Other M the on horizon?
DK: Well Other M isn’t coming out until next year, 2010. We haven’t even talked about what the marketing plans are for Metroid: Other M. My guess is that there are so many fans of Metroid out there that I think we’ll find a fan for every single Metroid game that hits the market. Based on the reaction to the game yesterday, yeah, there’s a huge pent up demand and excitement for that franchise. When I walked out as soon as the media briefing was over [to the theater where it was being streamed], all I heard was, "Metroid! Metroid!" Like screaming out in the [Club Nokia] plaza. It was awesome to see so many people just literally screaming Metroid. So we were happy about that.
NG: Finally, what do you say to those fans out there who you describe as having an "insatiable appetite for everything Nintendo" who still aren’t quite satisfied with the display from Nintendo this year?
DK: You know what? I’m so glad you asked me that question because it was Shoe [Dan Hsu] from Bitmob who did the interview and when I answered his question, he understood what I was saying and got it right away and ran it. When I read the Kotaku piece, I didn’t quite understand, I was talking with you and GoNintendo about this last night and he [Kevin Cassidy] understood. I didn’t understand where they were going with that, with their interpretation of what I said. My point was that core gamers, Nintendo fanboys, love our games. We absolutely love that the fanboys love our games. We absolutely want to make sure that we are always making them feel that that love and appreciation for our products is appreciated. And we’ll work hard to give them what they’re looking for because we know that they will always want more and more and more. So when I say insatiable appetite, it means they’re always are going to want more and more Nintendo. That’s a good thing. We want people to continue to want, not that we don’t want to ever satisfy them. I think that’s the way it came across on Kotaku, that we don’t want to satisfy them.
NG: I think they were spinning it a different way.
DK: Exactly! And they were and my point was, no we know they will always want more and more Nintendo. We certainly heard the reaction to Super Mario Galaxy 2 and New Super Mario Bros. Wii, even Golden Sun, Metroid, that there was such a great response shows that they want these games from Nintendo. That was my point, that we know we want these guys to want games from us. Who doesn’t want to be wanted?
NG: Exactly.
DK: We want to be wanted, but we also want to make sure that we are giving the core consumer what they want. We hope that what we’re showcasing here at E3 is doing exactly that. That was certainly something that we came into this show wanting to make sure we do. Based on what we’ve been hearing we hoped we delivered on that commitment.
We’d like to thank Denise once again for the interview!
Great interview!