Reggie Talks Wii: Good News & Bad News

[nmaster64]

Courtesy: TheGameFeed.com

In a recent interview with MTV, Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime took time out of his busy schedule to answer a plethora of questions about Wii from the cable network giant. Questions of all kinds were answered by the ‘Regginator’ giving hope and much needed answers to eager Wii fans.

The interview first touched on the recent launch of the Nintendo Wii citing the announment of 600,00 Wiis sold in North America in just eight days and 450,00 copies of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess along with it. However that wasn’t the only title to sell well. Reggie also mentions Red Steel, Rayman Raving Rabbids, Madden NFL 07, and Trauma Center: Second Opinion as others having big success.

But of course that just isn’t enough. Three more first party Nintendo Wii titles will be out by March, WarioWare: Smooth Moves and Wii Play in January and Mario Party 8 in March. Reggie also stated that harcore gamers can then expect Metroid to be released next and Super Mario Galaxy will come out between March and Christmas of next year.

Other unrelated questions include the possibility of bundling Wii Remotes with Nunchuck attachments if 1-1 hardware sales are strong for the two peripherals and the ability for third party publishers to also use the Mii avatars that can be created with the console, though none are currently using them at the moment. We did recently report however that the Wii version of The Sims has been graphically changed from the PC version to characters that resemble Miis. Reggie also once again debunked the rumor that a DVD version of Wii would be coming to the US.

When it came to Nintendo’s WiiConnect24 online service for Wii, Reggie firmly stated, "For the consumer who is saying, 'Gosh, when is Nintendo going to get on board with online play?' The answer is very early in 2007." The first Wii title announced to support online play was Pokemon Battle Revolution scheduled for release in Japan next month and is a likely title to start the online craze here in North America. THQ also confirmed to us earlier this month that their new baseball franchise The BIGS would support online play for Wii as well.

In regards to their Virtual Console where gamers can download old Nintendo classics from the NES, Super NES and Nintendo 64 console, Reggie stated that, “On every Monday, you can expect between one and five titles… essentially on an ongoing basis.” This is good news to those continuously surfing the Wii Shop Channel looking for new additions. In all 30 Virtual Console games are still expected to be downloadable by the end of the year.

But when will the great classics of our youth start to show up, such as Super Tecmo Bowl or Goldeneye? Apparently sports titles are a little tricky with all the licensing issues but Nintendo is pushing to get the big names to us. Goldeneye is probably even more trickier given Activision now owns the James Bond License while the developer Rare is owned by rival hardware competitor Microsoft. "Would I love to see it on virtual console? Absolutely. But there are a lot of issues there. Suffice it to say we would love to see it, so we're exploring all the rights issues." Sorry gamers, don’t expect to be playing Goldeneye for Wii anytime soon, if at all.

To wrap up the internet potion of the interview between MTV and Reggie, he promises that yet another surprise is on the horizon for gamers connected to WiiConnect24 which can download content and bonus material automatically overnight. But he isn’t ready to reveal any details just yet, other than it’s coming on or before the holidays. "I'd hate to ruin the surprise. Is there activity that we're working on for before the holidays? The answer is yes." Let’s just hope he’s not talking about the addition of the Wii Forecast channel that is scheduled to go live on December 20th.

Reggie’s interview is probably the most detailed amount of information of anything Wii related gamers have gotten since the system’s launch on November 19th. Unfortunately, there will always be questions that Nintendo won’t answer. I suppose this will have to do for now.

[Pilot_51]

Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime took time out of his busy schedule to answer a plethora of questions

Ever notice how interviewers often say that, while the interview itself is part of his busy business schedule?

It also seems that the author can't manage to type the last 0 in his numbers containing several trailing 0's.

[Frisky_Biscuits]

oh yea i just noticed that

600,00 and 450,00 lol

[nmaster64]

Hey hey...that's my boss we're talking about...watch it...

[Pilot_51]

Try to let him know in the nicest way possible without getting fired.

[Wraith]

How do you get those jobs it would be awsome for me to interview some big names...
and also Reggie always says "consumers:"
" The Consumers, will just pick up and play."
" The hype is everywhere you go, the reason is is the consumers want more and nintendo a willing to give it to them..."
Why not say gamers.

[nmaster64]

Because Nintendo is targeting the non-gamer markets as well...so really it's more accurate to say consumers...