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• Nintendo admits 3DS is 'tricky' to market

  

  Promoting a 3D-capable portable that relies on its own screen to produce the effect must be a frustrating marketing prospect, and it comes to something when not even Nintendo quite knows how best to get people hyped up. System producer Hideki Konno has admitted the challenge, and explained that Nintendo is constantly trying to figure the problem out.

  "We are constantly discussing how to market the product," he explains. "Our internal PR departments are saying that we should use cinema advertising, because cinemas are capable of showing 3D movies. But our key point with 3DS is that you don’t need glasses, which you obviously need to use in cinemas. So we think regular marketing and promotional activities will be very tricky for us. I think that a lot of awareness about 3DS will be spread by word of mouth.

  "We did hear doubtful voices. We weren’t completely successfully with Virtual Boy so there was a suspicious tone within the company. First, I introduced the latest technology -- the 3D panel -- attached it to the Wii and showed a demo showing Mario Kart Wii and Animal Crossing. In Japan there’s a maxim: a glance is better than a hundred words. Even with words I wasn’t able to convince anyone. So I presented the demo to Miyamoto and Iwata and they were stunned and agreed to take it in that direction."

  Funnily enough, the improved in-game graphics and the new interface are what I find truly exciting about the 3DS. The whole 3D portion is just gravy to me. It's certainly amazing technology and when I saw it, I declared witchcraft, but Nintendo could have just announced that system with the graphics and the analog nub and I'd have been happy.