14 DAY TRIAL // Perin Kaplan, Vice President of Marketing & Corporate Affairs for Nintendo of America told GameDaily in an interview that the next Nintendo console (and maybe later the DS/DS Lite too) is going to have some serious changes done, regarding hardware. This doesn't have to strike you with concern, it's not happening very soon and it won't be a change on all levels, so the Wii still stays in business and the next machine Nintendo is coming up with will be very similar to it. The GameCube isn't what they're thinking about at all.
Kaplan talked about the planned Japanese version of the next machine (with DVD Playback capability) and the eventual hardware changes occurring for the DS and DS Lite handheld systems. He was a bit concerned though that any small alteration of the Nintendo products might result in loss of customers. And when Kaplan was asked whether there was a certain quota he had for introducing new properties, the Vice President of Nintendo America replied:
"I wish it was as simple as that, but it's really not. When you're in the business of art... I don't think an artists sits down and says, "I'm going to create this many masterpieces this year." I mean, we do try to plan the year so that we've got sort of flagpole products that are launched during key times in the year to keep people engaged and bring them something new, but we don't sit down and say we're going to do X number. If you were to ask Shigeru Miyamoto and his team, creativity blooms at the time it blooms and they're constantly working and there are a certain number of games that I think they do try to accomplish creating, but it's really in reverse; it's an art, not a science.
While we remain in the blur, there is only one important thing to be taken into consideration: even if Nintendo's team decides to do a little trimming here and there and maybe add more features to its upcoming machines, the outcome is likely to be a good one as Nintendo doesn't even know how to make a mistake. Even their customer service is irreproachable.