Many criticize the reuse of franchises like Mario. Do you prefer to create new characters or work with old ones? —Shabaab Kamal, BETHESDA, MD.
I try not so much to create new characters and worlds but to create new game-play experiences. If a new experience is better suited to a new type of character or world than one of our existing franchises, then we might create a new character or world around it.
Do you think violent or explicit games can negatively influence young children? —Reinhart Klein, SEATTLE
The obvious objective of video games is to entertain people by surprising them with new experiences. Violence is one means of doing that, [though] I look to make people laugh or smile. But the more we have parents playing video games themselves, the more they will understand the interactive world and how to deal with games that have a tremendous amount of violence.
Are video games something we should grow out of? Are you still a kid at heart? —Christopher Solis, SAN FRANCISCO
I think that inside every adult is the heart of a child. We just gradually convince ourselves that we have to act more like adults. Nintendo wants to make it easier for people to never grow out of video games.
In most games, the female is the one being rescued. But in Metroid, the main character was female. Is Nintendo trying to make games more appealing to female players? —Rosendo Leon, Vista, California
I wasn't the one who created Metroid, but I have long been interested in games with females playing the lead role and I think we will continue to see more. Nintendo doesn't try to focus on games that specifically appeal to females—we just try to create games with a universal appeal.
As High-Definition adoption becomes mainstream over the next few years, how does Nintendo plan to compete in this new market? —Wes Schiel, Atlanta, Georgia
Clearly people are adopting HD and I think over time that will be something we will start to look at. We felt that with this generation, what was far more important was making a hardware system that was approachable—something people could look at and say, 'I want this in my home. It is small, quiet and intuitive and I know how to use it.' As HD adoption rates increase, it is likely that we may start looking at that in the future.
The Legend of Zelda has enough potential to be the greatest video game based movie of all time. Could we see Link on the big screen in the future? —Jason Zarrilli, Huntsville, Alabama
[Laughs] That is a question that always comes up. We have been approached by people before and we have thought about potential ways that it could happen. But I struggle with the Hollywood process. So it is just a question of whether or not we can find something down the road that will meet our desires.
