Thanks to Jason Krueger from GotFrag Hardware, we recently learned of an interview with Perrin Kaplan, Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Affairs for Nintendo of America conducted by GameDaily. According to the interview, Nintendo plans to bring its redesign strength that was so successful with the Nintendo DS to Nintendo DS Lite conversion to the Wii.

While the Wii Console cannot get much smaller, nor does it need to, there are some great modding techniques that we could see with the Wii. The most basic changes include new colored shells for the Wii as outlined in a previous news release on GotFrag. Also, colored remotes could start showing up soon.

While Nintendo has already released that DVD playback capability will be coming to the Wii in 2007, it is just one step in a series of changes that Nintendo may be bringing. Current owners of the Wii don't have to worry that their consoles are going to become obsolete, however, as the Wii will increase usability in future releases and not anything that hinders the functionality of past Wii consoles.

The interview also discusses the success Nintendo has had in marketing the Wii to multiple age groups and demographics. When asked how Nintendo is finding success with non-traditional demographics, Parrin Kaplan stated, "We have a lot of research that's showing us that we're making great inroads with both the DS and the Wii, and that we're holding steady with those who love gaming. So for us, it was a really high risk thing to do, but we're seeing the pie get bigger and that's exciting for us. So we're just going to keep going headstrong in reaching all the different audiences."

Kaplan later outlined Nintendo's very well thought out strategy and niche in the market of console gaming and how it defends itself against Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 offerings. "What the Wii offers is uniquely different than the other systems. Those two systems are much more similar to each other," Kaplan explained. She went on to say, "I think we feel pretty confident about our position; at the time online comes [to the Wii] I think people will be pleased with it. But for people who are hardcore gamers nothing can ever come fast enough for them, ever."

While the interview showed Nintendo's plans to keep the Wii fresh and mainstream in society and its potential changes, online gaming will never be the centerpiece for the console that is changing how America games.

Full Interview

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