Nintendo DS to Rule

Nintendo of America's vice president of sales and marketing, Reggie Fils-Aime, has been laying down the law on the company's new DS handheld at the 8th Annual Ziff Davis Electronic Gaming Summit in California.[br]In a wide ranging speech, Fils-Aime had a great deal to say on the advent of Nintendo's new DS system and how and why it will conquer the known world.[br][br]Fils-Aime began by drawing a distinction between how Nintendo viewed the advent of new technologies and its difference in approach to historical rivals, saying: "The distinction is this: while we've steadily improved the technology of Game Boy, Nintendo has never considered itself in the technology business. We are in the entertainment business."[br][br]Bold words indeed and it's a point well made, but then Fils-Aime went on to detail how he saw the upcoming launches of both the DS and Sony's PSP, focussing on why he thought the DS would embody the vital 'wow' factor.[br][br]Stacking DS against Game Boy, Fils-Aime indicated that Nintendo is aiming to have the new system "markedly increase the average player age", but raised the sensible and rhetorical question, "What do those older players want from a portable game machine?", adding "If, indeed, they want a portable game machine at all?"[br][br]"The less obvious answer... But perhaps the more accurate one, is that older gamers may well expect and accept a different kind of game experience on their portable," Fils-Aime said. [br][br]In terms of marketing strategy, Fils-Aime said that DS will certainly be marketed as a portable playing device, drawing a parallel here with Game Boy, but went on to highlight a key distinction between the two, what he termed "socialization factor" - or the DS's ability to connect 16 players wirelessly. Apparently this for Nintendo "marries the same excitement of competing side by side with your friends in GoldenEye, but expands it four fold". [br][br]We were also reminded that the DS is equipped to allow long distance connections via wireless Internet browser, although Fils-Aime added that "...but as we know, we're still some time away from actually having wireless head-to-head play in any contemporary game sense."[br][br]Also spoken about were DS titles in development, familiar franchises Final Fantasy, Madden, Castlevania, Harvest Moon and Rayman mentioned, and presumably assuming that some might have responded to recently announced line-ups for East and West with "what a load of old hat", Fils-Aime commented that "what isn't represented in those lists are the novel ways in which those games will play on Nintendo DS." [br][br]"Fresh approaches owe to the way these games are reinvented by the technical innovations of DS, he said. "Because the interface is altered by the inclusion of two screens... one of them a touch screen... and wireless multiplayer and the possibility of voice command. That means that you can literally experience these adventures like never before-no matter how long you've been playing games."[br][br]Fils-Aime said that for the next fifteen years, just like the last 15, handheld gaming will be known by one name: Nintendo. Nintendo, he said, has always made handheld players say the same thing - wow! - "...with more than 75 games in development worldwide... with brand new player interface and brand new player interaction... I can promise you you'll see things you've never seen before."