Anyone else becoming frustrated with Nintendo?

It's like they live in their own little private world where the sun is always shining the the air smells like warm root beer...


IGNcube: Regarding online plans, Nintendo has really just announced its retail price for the modem and noted Sega's plans. What about the physical nature of getting GameCube online. We've heard that Nintendo is just instructing third-party publishers to set up their own networks. Is this true?

Beth Llewelyn: Yes.

IGNcube: So, will Nintendo host its own service separate from third-parties when it's ready?

Beth Llewelyn: Nintendo hasn't announced any plans for this yet. I think those kinds of plans will come later when we are ready to announce what games will come from Nintendo that take advantage of online.

IGNcube: So, just to get an understanding of it all then. There's no unified online service. For third-parties it will be completely up to them to run their own networks for their games. Is that right?

Beth Llewelyn: Correct.

IGNcube: Is Nintendo recommending any kind of charge for the service? Or is that up to the third-party publisher?

Beth Llewelyn: That's up to the third-parties and we're waiving our fees to them.

IGNcube: Why does Nintendo feel confident that third-party publishers will support its plan when Sony and Microsoft are being much more aggressive with their plans.

Beth Llewelyn: We're kind of looking at this from two standpoints. One is that of a hardware manufacturer. And, we recognize that online is an area that people want to explore and we want to make it as easy as possible for third-parties to do that. But, from a software publisher standpoint we're still very cautious. It's a niche market right now, we're still figuring out how to make money -- what's the business model? For us it just doesn't make sense to sort of jump into that. When we have a game that online would be a natural extension to it -- to improve the gameplay and make it more exciting -- then we'll be there with that. But, until that time we're doing a lot behind the scenes, but we're not ready to come out and say, "Hey, here's -- you know -- Mario online." For third-parties, certainly it is an area we want to make available to them.

IGNcube: Do you think that Nintendo itself as a software developer is really ready to bring GameCube online, or was this announcement prompted more by Sega's readiness to release Phantasy Star Online?

Beth Llewelyn: Again, it goes back to that from a manufacturer's point of view. The day that we announced GameCube was coming we talked about a broadband and modem adapter being available. But, from a first-party perspective, from a software publisher perspective, we're not ready to talk about that yet. We're still exploring. Our main objective has always been to make games that are compelling, exciting, entertaining. So if there's something that lends itself naturally to the online environment, you know, we may explore that. Right now there's still a lot of unknowns. And, when you have a game like Mario or Zelda where you sell millions of units as is and the online environment is still so limited -- why limit it that way?

IGNcube: All right, and we're going to throw you a little curve ball here. With Sony and Microsoft dropping the prices of their consoles in the U.S. does Nintendo have any plan to continue to price GameCube as the better buy by dropping its price?

Beth Llewelyn: We have no plans to make any price drop announcements. We set this price to what we thought was a good mass-market price and we still feel that way.

IGNcube: Nintendo still feels this way even if GameCube doesn't include DVD functionality as the PS2 and Xbox do?

Beth Llewelyn: It goes back to our core philosophy that GameCube is a gaming machine. That's what we're about. I don't have any numbers, but my understanding is that most people out there are buying game systems to play games. I don't think that has become a huge selling point.

IGNcube: All right, thank you very much for you time. Congratulations on your successful launch in Europe. We hope the trend continues.