Is Hitman's Next Target Assassin's Creed? 
Why Kotaku Australia Should Never Work With Children... Or Robots 
Three Words I Said To The Man I Defeated In Gears Of War That I'll Never Say Again 
New Doom 3 For Xbox 360 And PlayStation 3 Supports Head-Mounted Displays 
Far Cry 3 And The Stranger In A Strange Land 
Why Robin Makes Batman Better Nintendo of America announced that it was taking the Club Nintendo customer reward programing stateside in October, just prior to Tokyo Game Show. Details were scant, only revealing that Nintendo fans could accrue points through filling out surveys and, of course, buying armfuls of Nintendo stuff, then registering that stuff. But what kind of stuff will we, the purchasers of Nintendo stuff, get in return?
Nintendo’s E3 2008 press conference left a lot of folks finally unsatisfied and disappointed. It was like Nintendo wasn’t speaking to a portion of its audience anymore and just kept patting himself on the back. Now that the dust has settled and time has passed, what does Nintendo’s Cammie Dunaway (pictured) think of how things went down?
I would say the message is we were disappointed with our performance at E3. There were titles like Wario which we think will be really fun titles that we should have showcased. We were excited that Mr. Miyamoto made the commitment that Pikmin is coming. It would have been nice if we could have said that on stage. But, we think it was a good recognition for us that we care for our core fans, and not just the new people who are now discovering Nintendo.
Oh. Okay. Well, want to learn more about Cammie Dunaway? That, after the jump.
E3 2008 is over. Finished. But Nintendo hasn’t forgotten and is sending out thank you notes, thanking folks for attending its presser. The letter reads: “THANK YOU for attending our E3 media briefing. Nintendo aims to bring people engaging experiences…to make them smile…and we hope we provided you at least a little of that during our event”. Below that, it’s signed by Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime, vice president of corporate affairs Denise Kaigler and vice president of sales & marketing Cammie Dunaway. Regardless of what you thought of Nintendo’s E3 press conference (eh…), classy of them to send out thank you notes.
We’re bored with our Wiis. They sit there, don’t get played, just flash blue at us every now and again. Know what would get us very interested in Wiis again? Wiis that come in different colours. Colours to match our moods, our decor, our favourite summertime hats. It’s a shame, then, that Nintendo still aren’t thinking about making good on their 2006 tease, with Cammie Dunaway telling IGN “when you’ve got something that’s still selling out about as fast as we can put it into the market, we’re not thinking about further colours at this point”. All well and good, Nintendo, but you won’t be selling any more around here, until we see a Wii in lime green.
Are those of you who felt let down by Nintendo’s E3 showing hanging onto hopes that maybe, just maybe they’ll pull something out just for you at the last minute? As if it were your birthday, and all day everyone seemed to have forgotten, and just as you’re heading home for the night, surprise!
If that sounds like you, here comes Cammie Dunaway to crash your party.
“You have seen the extent of Nintendo’s 2008 holiday lineup”, she told Wired recently, in the same interview wherein she also said she’s really as jaw-crackingly smiley in real life as she appears to be during press conferences.
When you think about it, though, the holiday’s not that far off. And before you know it, it’ll be a brand new year, and time for brand new announcements. Such as?
Nintendo’s E3 conference didn’t really go to plan. Lots of disappointment afterwards. Disappointment that manifested itself into hate. Hate that was then focused on Nintendo of America’s Cammie Dunaway, and her Mother’s Day cards, and her cute puppies, and her world-devouring grin. People felt she was grating, annoying, that she was, worst of all, fake. Well, she’d like you to know she’s not fake. She is, indeed, for real:
I’m really a genuinely smiley, nice person. Because people think I’m fake, smiling up there. I’m just not! It’s just me! I am who I am.
Which is likely true! Though in the Nintendo acolytes defence, it was probably the content they were most displeased with, not necessarily the delivery.
I spent the first half of this week hanging out with the likes of Michael Pachter, Peter Moore, Mike Gallagher and Nintendo of America’s recently appointed vice president of marketing, Cammie Dunaway at Ziff Davis’ Electronic Gaming Summit.
It was the first time I met Dunaway and we ended up chatting quite a bit during a dinner on the last night, hosted at a nearby vineyard, held in a castle of all places.
Dunaway, it turns out, had just flown in from New York where she helped kick off the launch of the Wii Fit in Central Park.
“I’m sure Wii Fit is going to sell very well,” I told her, “but I suspect it’s going to be like every other piece of exercise equipment people buy for themselves: In a few weeks or a month it’s going to have laundry piled on it or be back in its box.”
Not so, Dunaway insisted.
The average Wii gamer is a hardcore gamer, Nintendo of America’s Cammie Dunaway told the Electronic Gaming Summit today.
Seventy-nine percent of Wii gamers are male, most older than 18 with an income of $US 50,000 or more and more than half game for five or more hours a week, Dunaway said.
While the people who buy Wii tend to be pretty typical for gaming, the other household members who play Wii aren’t, she said.
About 45 percent of the other household members who play Wii are female, with 38 percent 25 or older. Sixty-five of these gamers play at least two hours a week, while only 32 percent play five or more a week.
“The real break-through, the real magic of the Wii console is that it brought new consumers into the game,” she said. “We in the industry have a choice to make, do we want to appeal to the few or to the masses? Do we want to sell to more people or sell more and more and more to less people? Do we want to be inclusive or do we want to be expansive? At Nintendo we definitely believe in the power of the expanded audience.
“We hope everyone will join us in showing everyone just how much fun video games can be.”
More games were purchased in the first 18 months of the Wii’s life than any other console’s first year and a half, Nintendo said today.
About 50 million games were sold for the Wii in its first 18 months, compared to about 42 million games in the first 18 months of the Playstation 2′s life. The Xbox 360 came in at 30 million or so, the Xbox at roughly 28 million and finally the Playstation 3 at about 20 million.
Speaking to a gathering at the Electronic Gaming Summit, Cammie Dunaway, executive video president of sales and marketing for Nintendo of America, Dunaway used the numbers to launch into a talk about Nintendo’s strategy for expanding the market.
Dunaway also showed a chart plotting out the first 18 months of each console’s life. According to the chart, about 9.5 million Wii were sold in the first 18 months, 8.5 million PS2, 5.4 million Xbox 360, 5.2 million Xbox and 4.2 Playstation 3.
“While we appreciate the impact the Playstation 2 had on sales and the industry, perhaps we are even more impactful,” Dunaway said, adding that there wasn’t a single month in the Wii’s first year and a half when Nintendo could meet demand.
Update: I just clarified with Nintendo: Those software sales numbers only include boxed games sold at retail and not virtual console or Wii Sports.
Could Cammie Dunaway, the marketing maven who just jumped ship from Yahoo, be looking to land somewhere with game? That’s what several tipsters tell us. Specifically that Yahoo’s soon to be chief marketeer may be on her way to Nintendo of America, where a trio of vacancies are looking to be filled thanks to the recent departures of George Harrison, Perrin Kaplan and Beth Llewelyn.
In her internal goodbye note Dunaway says:
“While I can’t share the specifics until mid next week, suffice it to say that it is a natural fit for someone who loves driving profitable revenue for big, well loved consumer brands and can’t pass up the opportunity to be the coolest Mom in the universe.”
She also added that she would be staying in the area.
Of course all of that could mean Disney. Heck it could be anywhere from McDonald’s to the NSA depending on what type of kid you have. Even if it is in gaming, there’s always the possibility that she could land at Sony Computer Entertainment of America, where David Karraker’s shoes have yet to be filled.
What say NOA and SCEA? Absolutely nothing, dressed up to be a big fat no comment. We could wait until next week to find out, but it would be oh so much more fun if someone just shot us a tip now and cut the suspense.
The Cammie Dunaway Files [Valleywag]
This Crysis 3 Screenshot Is Sticky Like An Arrow To The Chest
In Injustice, Where Superman Is Standing Matters A Lot. Really.
Watch The New Tomb Raider Trailer Broken Down, While It Breaks Lara Down
‘Resident Evil?… Lost Planet?… Forget Them. You Know Dead Space 3 Is Going To Annihilate Them On Horror, Thrills And Action.’
