Apologising for the lack of Wii supplies, Fils-Aime explained the difficult process Nintendo has had shipping Wii units to retailers. "We apologize that it continues to be a difficult problem to get your hands on [a Wii]," he said. "The fact is, we manufactured 4 million Wii consoles by the end of the calendar year. Our challenge was getting them not only into our warehouses and then into warehouses of our retailers, but there is some handling of the consoles in terms of putting the "Wii Sports" disc in. That whole inventory chain is what prevented us from selling all 4 million that had been produced."
However, Wii wasn't the only Nintendo console in high demand during the Christmas period. MTV inquired as to why there were shortages of DS units despite the fact the system had been on sale for almost two years. "We put everything in the marketplace that we humanly could by December 25th. But from December 26th until mid-January, we were effectively out of stock," Fils-Aime responded. "It's going to be tight probably until March. And then as we gear up for the April 22nd launch of 'Pokémon Diamond' and '[Pokémon] Pearl,' things should certainly open up at that point."
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, arguably one of the most anticipated Wii releases this year, was then brought up. "What I will tell you about 'Metroid' is that 'Metroid' will be fabulous. I think it's fair to say that all of us were disappointed with the sales of 'Metroid Prime 2,' Retro [the game's developer] included. The focus on 'Prime 3' is to make that the stellar game for a first-person experience on the platform. What that means is we're going to make sure it's perfect when we launch it. I think this is one where your readers — the fans of Nintendo, the core gamer — need to recognise that when we release it, it will be perfect. And if that's a little later than folks would have liked, I'm hoping they're going to be happy. They certainly seem to be happy that we took our time with The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess."
Adding to this, MTV asked Fils-Aime if we could expect to see online gameplay from the title since it will be released when it’s 'perfect.' "That's perfect for you," Fils-Aime boldly stated, hinting that online play would not be part of the Metroid experience just yet.
RPG fans will be happy with what Fils-Aime had to say next: apparently, there is still a possibility Mother 3 (also known as EarthBound) will see a Western release. This is supposedly largely due to Nintendo Japan President, Satoru Iwata, who was once part of the development team for one of the earlier games in the series. "It certainly is a franchise near and dear to his heart," Fils-Aime revealed. "It's something I'm trying to get smart on to understand whether or not there is an opportunity here. But certainly I've seen the success in Japan. That hasn't gone unnoticed. And it's certainly something we're looking at."
Nah I know you probably have a job outside of PALGN. I would also love see Mother 3 in the west, I share your enthuiasm.
Online does nothing for me, Metroid shouldn't be reduced to Quake for some bizarre notion that it needs multiplayer as it's first person. Oh well I'll still get it, should be good.
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