On Monday we presented part one of my interview with Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime. In that interview, Reggie and I talked about stuff I'm sure he expected to discuss.
Today I've got part two, in which I threw some curveballs.
There's video after the jump, but first I need to set this up:
Ever since the DS came out -- in America first, ironically -- I noticed that Nintendo seems to heavily focus development efforts on the Japanese market, making games and non-games that click with Japanese consumers without pushing any similar initiative outside of Japan.
Nintendo is a Japanese company, so this emphasis is no great shock. But I've been struck by how uneven the balance is. I needed to ask Reggie about this.
Before the interview that you can see below began, I listed for Reggie a list of Nintendo-made DS titles tailored for the Japanese market, some of which certainly seemed suitable for the U.S. audience, some not so much...
- Tingle Adventure (I didn't use the full name of this adventure starring the "Zelda" series goofiest character, which is "Freshly Picked - Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland")
- The Talking Cookbook (It's really called "Shaberu! DS Oryouri Navi"
- "Jam With the Band" (This is a rhythm game I imported for the DS in early 2006. It's great fun, and was given an English title for possible release. Then it didn't come out. It's called "Daigasso! Band Brothers")
- "Jump Superstars" (This is a "Super Smash Bros." clone starring popular Japanese comic book characters)
- Dictionary (It's actually called "DS Easy Dictionary" and was a best-seller in Japan.)
- English Training (Full title is "English Training: Have Fun Improving Your Skills!")
- Kanji Training (It's actually called: "Kanji Sonomama Rakubiki Jiten."
I wanted to know why non-Japanese gamers don't get as many specialty titles from Nintendo. I also ran through a long -- but by no means exhaustive -- list of games developed by Japanese independents but published by Nintendo. You'll hear that one in the video.
We also talk Wii Ware. Here goes...
