E3: Nintendo's David Yarnton
"No, I don't have a crown."
Opportunities to interview executives have been thinner on the ground than usual at this year's E3. It seems everyone's too busy showing off their new motion-sensing control system / platform exclusives / pulse-measuring accessory / motion-sensing control system. Or perhaps they're just sick of us asking stupid questions.
At least good-natured Nintendo UK boss David Yarnton found the time to talk to us, just hours after his firm's E3 press conference wrapped up. Read on to find out what he reckons the hardcore made of it, whether there will be a Wii price cut this year and why he doesn't have a crown.
Apart from the fact my feet are sore already... One of the best ways to judge is when you're on the stand and you see people queuing up, but also you see them with big smiles on their faces while playing the games. So far, so good! We've been really happy with the response.
I think there's something for everyone. One of the things that surprised me a lot was Wii Sports Resort; the number of people queuing up to play who you would say are more traditional gamers. So even gamers want to have fun. Hang on, that sounds a bit weird, doesn't it? Whatever your tastes are, we can offer something.
When you look at the Wii's installed base of more than 50 million units, DS with well over 100 million... We don't look at winning or losing as such, because we're competing against a lot of other kinds of entertainment. We want people to come and play games and enhance people's experience with our company. The consumer will be the judge.
Most of the stuff on our stand is here and now - not speculation. And we've been offering a lot of the product innovation other people are talking about for quite some time. So I don't really see it as wow factor - it's more someone trying to play catch-up. We've got product like the Vitality Sensor as an example of continuous innovation, and the Wii Fit Plus enhancements. People take some of these things for granted.
I've seen it in operation, but we're not talking about it today. As for surprise, when we launched Wii people were doing the same thing - going, 'What's this all about?' Luckily we were vindicated. It's the company's willingness to push boundaries other people don't even think about. We're just showing a taster, there's more to come in the future.
Nintendo's been around for quite some time and has quite a good understanding of its customers. We found people like to have feedback, such as vibration, when they're playing a game. We give them freedom and interaction, but also feedback.
We've had too much good product here to have time to see any of that. We're very happy with what we've got on our plate at the moment.