March 29th, 2002 (12:00am) - At last week’s Game Developers Conference in San Jose, California, IGNcube met up with Nintendo of America’s vice president of corporate affairs Perrin Kaplan and technological guru Jim Merrick for breakfast. The two Nintendo Jedi used their mind tricks on us, as predicted, but thankfully failed to wipe our tape of the conversation.
The following is a transcript of our extremely informal interview. Pay close attention and you’ll even notice a few subtle -- and not so subtle -- hints of things to come.
IGNcube: Why the Star Fox Adventures delay to September?
Perrin Kaplan: Perfection. Have you ever known us not to change release dates on games in search of absolute perfection? You’ve seen Nintendo do this lots of times. It’s the GoldenEye syndrome. So I think what gamers will get is a great product, and Miyamoto has been spending a lot of time on it. I’d love feedback from you guys when it launches and you see what it has become.
IGNcube: So this type of delay won’t befall Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem as well?
Perrin: No.
IGNcube: Definitely not?
Perrin: Definitely not.
Jim Merrick: Hasn’t it happened enough?
Perrin: Eternal Darkness is on schedule and Denis Dyack is half-dead [laughs].
IGNcube: He’s been working his a$$ off.
Perrin: We love Denis.
IGNcube: You guys seem to have a lot of titles for the end of the year.
Perrin: I’m so glad that you say that. It’s been really quiet for the first couple months of this year, and we know that you guys think that. It’s typically a slower time of the year and we’ve been stockpiling some quantity that’s ready to go. And we actually have probably the strongest back-half lineup in numerous years. I frankly think much better than our launch. There is a lot coming and I think you guys will be very happy.
Nintendo of America has absolutely hammered our parent company to death. It’s been pummeled. So it’s taken them about six months to get it together, but they have.
IGNcube: Can you tell us if there multiple Zeldas underway?
Perrin: No.
IGNcube: It’s just the one that’s been shown then?
Perrin: What you thought is not exactly quite accurate. [Editor’s note: we previously inquired about the possibility of a Zelda compilation featuring Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask and Ura-Zelda.]
IGNcube: Really? So then there is something like that happening?
Perrin: Not necessarily.
[laughter]
IGNcube: Well that clears everything up.
Perrin: Wait -- let us go into conference. [Leans over to Jim Merrick and whispers into his ear for a moment].
You’re going to be happy. Don’t you think, Jim? Your Zelda fix will be fixed for sometime.
IGNcube: Will the Zelda that we saw unveiled at Space World 2001 launch this year?
Perrin: Mr. Miyamoto would like to launch it this year. That’s the plan. But he’s a perfection nitpicker. He picked Pikmin until it was picked to death. The end result is great. So I can tell you that’s his plan, but, you know, once he gets himself all the way into it...
And I know you guys weren’t 100% into the anime-styled Zelda he debuted at Space World, but it is really hard to do. It’s quite complex. What do you think about playing a Zelda that looks like that?
IGNcube: We don’t think anybody had a problem with the cel-shading, it was more the design of Link. He looked like a stained glass freak.
Perrin: Stained glass freak. I’m going to pass that along to Miyamoto -- he’ll like that.
Seriously though, we’d be interested to know what you guys think when Zelda launches. Miyamoto’s interested in getting feedback. He went with his heart’s desire on it, which is the best thing for an artist to do. Of course, he got a lot of positive and negative feedback when the game was first shown, particularly at Space World. And it takes a lot of confidence when you get mixed messages to go forward with it. Especially since the responses for his games are almost always unanimously great.
He’s being real bold. I mean, he was bold in doing Pikmin. He put his butt on the line. We were nominated for Pikmin as one of the top five games of the year last night. But Grand Theft Auto 3 won. You know, killing prostitutes is probably better than saving cute little things.
IGNcube: Well that might be something nice to add to the next Pikmin game.
Perrin: That’s true. If the Pikmin squirted blood, would that have been better?
IGNcube: Oh, definitely. Okay. So what is up with the relationship between Rare and Nintendo?
Perrin: Nothing. The status is the same as it’s always been. But as you know, relationships evolve. I can’t tell you what’s next, but we’ve got good stuff coming from them this year and there’s more that you will see.
IGNcube: Will Rare remain an exclusive second-party for the foreseeable future, as in the next few years?
Perrin: For the foreseeable future, yes. But you also have to ask what it is that they want. As they have developed over the years into a deeper developer and publisher, I think their business desires may have changed a little bit.
Jim: We have what we call a pseudo-publishing relationship with them now. As Rare has grown tremendously in recent years, some of the games are published under the Rare label and others under the Nintendo one.
Perrin: They’re not really a second-party.
Jim: Would they become a true third-party? I don’t know. It’s not that far away. But they don’t have quite the publishing resources that a traditional publisher does today. But they are evolving.
Perrin: You see a changing and maturing of the business all the time, but we will always have a good relationship with Rare.
IGNcube: So Microsoft isn’t buying the company then?
Perrin: Not as far as we know. Maybe you can let us know.
[Laughs]
IGNcube: Will Wave Bird release in different colors?
Perrin: As far as I know it’s just the silver. I think they want to see how it sells first. We always tip our toe in that way.
IGNcube: Sega can’t seem to release PSO until Nintendo releases the GCN modem. Is there any plan to accommodate the company or do you want to wait to launch the device with your own product?
Jim: We’re working really closely with Sega and Naka-san. They need the modem to support PSO and we have it -- it’s ready to go. We would like to launch with more than one title, I think. It’s hard for PSO to go out there and go it alone. It’s a great game, but it makes a high barrier to entry when you have to buy a modem for it as well. So we’re working with Sega and a couple of other partners to try to find a way to create a critical mass, enough games to make it worthwhile. But on the other hand PSO is done, it’s just sort of waiting to go. It’s an ongoing debate.
In terms of Nintendo, we do not have a first-party game that we think is compelling enough to launch a modem with right now. We’re not sure if it’s the right time to do it. We’re not going to say that we won’t launch a modem without a Nintendo title, though. And at some point you’re doing a disservice to Sega by not releasing it.
IGNcube: Sony has already announced its online plans. Microsoft, we hear, is brewing a good one. Where does Nintendo stand?
Perrin: Broadband.
Jim: Sony and Microsoft have two different strategies. Sony has made a very good announcement. I’m not sure they have the plan behind it, but they’ve made a good announcement. They’re at one end of the spectrum with GameSpy and the Tony Hawk thing going on -- do your own thing. Microsoft is at the opposite end of the spectrum with Xbox Live for $14.95 a month and some unknown amount of money up front, and of that the publishers get nothing. So it’s a good business plan for Microsoft -- not so sure it’s good for the publisher. And I’m also not so sure it’s good for the consumer. I mean, $14.95 a month is fine for someone who’s used to playing Everquest on the PC, but for the console gamer we’ll have to wait and see.
Nintendo, though, is not going to jump in just because Sony and Microsoft are doing something. You can’t compete by following others.
Perrin: Yeah, they didn’t do Pokemon did they?
[Laughter]
IGNcube: What’s happening with the Triforce hardware?
Perrin: More to come on that. Keep your ears open. There’s definitely more to come.
IGNcube: What’s to come?
Perrin: What’s to come. Like I’m going to tell you. Your tip is that there is more to come.
IGNcube: Oh, more to come? We’ll look into that.
Perrin: It’s good. Actually, some neat things will be announced in the next 12 months that really have to do with people wanting more of Nintendo’s best games and us coming up with ways to achieve that. The EAD team is just maxed out right now. We have the largest resource of any company and still it’s maxed out.
IGNcube: We only know of a few games EAD is working on.
Perrin: Well, they’re perfectionists. And they are working on some other things.
IGNcube: Speaking of other things, we were playing Resident Evil last night until two in the morning.
Perrin: That’s why you look so tired.
IGNcube: We had it up really loud in our demo room and it scared the s*** out of us.
[Laughter]
Perrin: We’re really excited. Really excited about that one. Oh, and Final
Fantasy. Square.
IGNcube: What’s going on with that, by the way? There are conflicting reports everywhere. Can you clear it up?
Perrin: Yes. There is a Game Boy Advance title. There is a GameCube title. They will be connected. I’ll explain it to you further with your microphone off.
IGNcube: Okay. [Click]
Perrin: Did you guys like Pikmin?
IGNcube: Yes, except we thought it was too short. The final stages were great and we kept hoping that they would continue.
Perrin: Well maybe there’ll be a Pikmin 2.
IGNcube: That’d be nice. Are there RPGs coming?
Perrin: I’d say there is stuff coming, I just can’t get specific.
IGNcube: What’s happening with GameCube hardware shortages in the US?
Perrin: The shortages were mostly in January, February and a bit in March to get Europe ready to go. I mean, it’s hard to ship units globally. I think that caused some problems in January and February -- we had a lot of really dry shelves, and that causes consumer disappointment. But stuff is ramping back up and by July our numbers will be even higher than they were at launch.
IGNcube: Is it disappointing to you that Xbox has outsold GameCube in the US, even though GCN is $100 cheaper?
Perrin: Yeah, Microsoft is super aggressive and they’re doing stuff right. I mean, we launched in two countries and they launched in one. We sold every last piece of hardware we could get. Had we been able to get half a million more units I think we could have sold that.
I think they had a great launch and did a really good job. I think it just about killed them to do it. I think we knew that everyone was going to do very well at launch. We expected Xbox to do well. If it hadn’t, we would have been curious as to what went wrong. I’m a little bit surprised, though, that Microsoft has not had a better reception in Japan and Europe. And we’ll see what 2002 does for them.
IGNcube: What do you think Nintendo did wrong at launch in the US?
Perrin: Personally, I think that if Nintendo has Super Smash Bros. Melee at launch we would have done much better. We did great, don’t get me wrong. I just think we would have done better. Agree?
IGNcube: Yes. Now, though, you guys don’t have any first-party titles for the first half of the year...
Perrin: You think I don’t know that? [Smiles] Nintendo has, more so this year than any other, matched its product launches to the type of sales that generally happen for that part of the year. The second half, I hope, will have your heads spinning.
It’s been slow this first quarter, but this is not a time of the year that’s typically high and we also didn’t have the hardware to support the software.
IGNcube: So you’re meeting all of your projections then?
Perrin: Yes.
IGNcube: What is NST doing?
Perrin: Special games to make you happy.
IGNcube: Sequels?
Perrin: I wouldn’t go that far.
IGNcube: Martin Hollis. What is Zoonami doing? Is the company making GameCube titles?
Perrin: Yes... maybe.
IGNcube: Yes, maybe? Anything we’ll see at E3?
Perrin: Can’t say. Good guy though.
IGNcube: What’s happening for E3?
Perrin: Cool stuff. We’ll be as big as last year and NCL will be just as involved. They’re getting really excited about it.
IGNcube: Are there surprises?
Perrin: What do you mean by that?
IGNcube: Games we don’t know about.
Perrin: Yes. But you also know about most of them and you’ll finally get a chance to play them. E3 is going to be good, you guys will be happy with it.
IGNcube thanks Perrin Kaplan and Jim Merrick for the chat.
-- by Matt Casamassina, Fran Mirabella, Peer Schneider, Craig Harris
