What’s Nintendo Playing?
Wednesday, October 15th, 2008 at 3:36am by Sean
Imagine you’re working in Nintendo of America’s marketing division in Redwood City, California, and it’s been a long week. Maybe you’ve had trouble organizing a promotion, or maybe you’re up against a deadline – whatever the reason, you wonder how you’re going to make it to the end of the day. A co-worker snaps you out of your trance, “Hey, what are you still doing here? Did you forget it was Friday?” Friday! You forgot all about gameplay Fridays! All your troubles melt away as you abandon your desk and head for the nearest Wii, for the next hour being a Nintendo employee means playing games.
This weekly ritual is practiced nationwide at Nintendo offices across America, reminding Nintendo employees what the company is all about. “Employees put down their pens or get off their keyboards and play games for an hour, from 4-5 every Friday,” Denise Kaigler, Nintendo’s VP of marketing told me, “If you came to our Redwood City offices on a Friday afternoon, you’d see the entire company playing games.” Kaigler told me that all three of Nintendo’s North American offices, Redwood City, Redmond, and New York all participate in Gameplay Fridays, saying that to make games, you have to play games.
What’s Nintendo playing now? When JC Rodrigo’s not pimping Wii Music, he’s obsessed with Animal Crossing, boasting 6.8 million bells in AC: Wide World. Denise Kaigler is hooked on Crosswords DS and Mystery Case Files MillionHeir. What about Reggie? I asked around earlier this month at Nintendo’s fall press event, and nobody was quite sure.
“What is he playing right now?” Kaigler asked a colleague, “ He plays a game all the time, why can’t I think of it right now?” One nearby Nintendo employee thought they saw him playing Fire Emblem, but nobody could be sure. “He plays everything, but there is something he’s really into right now.”
Reggie eluded me at the event, disappearing from sight soon after the opening statements, possibly to fight dragons and conquer uncharted lands. If I ever manage to corner the big guy, what would Infendo readers want to know? Let us know in the comments!
October 15th, 2008 at 5:30 am
Wow that is so cool. what I wouldn’t give to work for a company like that!
As for questions to ask him, could always go with the one relating to a previous Infendo post. When’s he going to start taking names and prisoners at Nintendo of Japan to get us official Earthbound 1-3 releases?
October 15th, 2008 at 10:22 am
he should be playing World of Goo, cause that game is pure brilliance.
October 15th, 2008 at 10:27 am
Reggie plays Resident Evil 4.
October 15th, 2008 at 11:12 am
So is Infendo Radio Bi-weekly now?
October 15th, 2008 at 11:15 am
I’m sure Reggie is a portable game playing guy, so he must be playing something on his DS…
If it’s from Nintendo, he is probably playing Brain Games or Picross DS. Those are so executive-minded games! (For the record, I LOVE Picross DS!)
October 15th, 2008 at 11:29 am
Maybe he’s playing some of those games that NOA likes to localize but then never release…
October 15th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
he’s playing that new Bratz game
October 15th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
An hour a week doesn’t seem like a lot to me, compared to other companies I have seen.
October 15th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Well, you have to realize these are the big guys up near the top of the ladder.
The people who play the most games at NOA are the game testers as well as the localizers (I know one of them).
I am sure they have people from below them who advise the marketers which games they should be trying out and playing for more than the “standard hour”. That way, they’ll have more info on how to correctly market the new game.
October 18th, 2008 at 10:14 am
Actually, during a Media Summit interview with G4, Reggie revealed that he’s been playing Final Fantasy III on his DSi a lot.