February 18, 2005 - Welcome to IGNcube's Nintendo Minute. Every Friday, an executive from Nintendo of America will answer a single question of ours. Depending on the week, the interviewee will be different, but the answers will always come from one of the following three company bigwigs: VP of sales and marketing Reginald Fils-Aime, VP of corporate affairs Perrin Kaplan or VP of marketing and corporate communications George Harrison.

Readers can make their voice heard by sending us an e-mail and submitting a question for Nintendo of America's elite to answer. If we agree that the question is an important one, we'll pass it along and try to get it answered.

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This week's question: Some analysts view Nintendo as a "sleeping dragon," a company whose financial resources and internal talents are enormous, but also one that has chosen to remain conservative amongst a market of aggressive competitors. Do you agree with that view of the company? Why or why not? And how do you see Nintendo evolving as an industry player through the life cycle of Revolution?

George Harrison, senior vice President of marketing, Nintendo of America: Since the early 1980s, Nintendo was one of only a few dragons in the field. And as you know, our company quickly matured and led the industry into the 1990s and beyond, ensuring it became a permanent form of entertainment. Of course the success and immense market we built began to be eyed by competitors. And as the industry has grown, so has the competition. Who wouldn't want a piece of this market? But you can bet Nintendo will continue to be a very active innovator and we'll keep producing and positioning our products so consumers know what we have they can be excited about.

Is there more we can be doing to be assertive? That would likely be the case for any company that is part of a competitive landscape. We've worked hard this last year to make sure we are strong with our grassroots efforts - giving consumers a chance to touch and feel the products; sponsoring our own music tours; and teaming up with other relevant companies to showcase our products. We'll keep doing this and always want to hear from our consumers and your readers about what they'd like to see Nintendo involved in. Remember that Nintendo is founded with a passion for quality and fun, and we will never settle on being considered second-best at what we do.

Looking to the future and Revolution, it's still too early to discuss specific strategies, but I can tell you that we have learned much from the launch of the Nintendo GameCube. We realize that things such as having a strong software line-up at launch is critical to the success of Revolution. We understand what kinds of technologies and experiences the market is asking for. You are certainly correct that our financial and creative resources are vast, and we intend to fully flex this muscle more than ever in the coming years.

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