Re: “Where’s Nintendo’s Major Nelson?”

Starting off today’s thoughts with GoNintendo’s last thought from yesterday: “Where is Nintendo’s Major Nelson?”

As a company which seems to encourage players to play face-to-face with the Wii, it’s kind of strange that the company doesn’t really seem to have a particular “face” with which to interact with its fans. Sure, we have the likes of Denise Kaigler and Cammie Dunaway, but they don’t seem to come out all that often– mostly around trade shows.

And as RMC points out, it looked for a time that Reggie Fils-Aime might be that person, but he was soon elevated to an even loftier position. Ironically, a higher-profile position within the company wound up meaning that he has generally had less face-time with the media.

RMC suggests that Bill Trinen seems to be getting more exposure as of late. “I think this is a great move,” he writes, “but I’d love to see Nintendo push his status a bit more.”

Wouldn’t it be nice if Nintendo had someone like Major Nelson, the voice of the Xbox fanboys? Nelson definitely has his pulse on the fan community of Microsoft’s Xbox division, and Microsoft seems to think that having this community element is extremely important. When it comes to Nintendo, we really don’t get that sort of thing. I’d love to see the Big N have a figurehead that kept closely in touch with the legions of Nintendo die-hards out there.

Thinking back to one story from yesterday, I wonder if perhaps things would have reached the point of speculation and petitions if they had a person on the front lines, a conduit of sorts (no, not like that) between Nintendo and its fans.

Ironically, it seems that Nintendo did have one such person at one time– Howard Phillips. In addition to being the first Editor of Nintendo Power magazine and Creative Director at Nintendo, he was also something of a spokesman for Nintendo and the official “Game Master.” It’s difficult to say for sure, but if the internet had existed as we know it today during his tenure, I think he could have been to Nintendo what “Major Nelson” is to Microsoft now.

However, after Phillips left the company (and apparently had a tenure at Microsoft, ironically), there has been something of a void in that department. Nintendo often speaks of and to its fans, but it always kind of feels like there’s some sort of wall between the two.

The present alternative is admittedly sobering, as it definitely seems to help remind people that Nintendo is still a business, and we are its customers. Still, “Even if it were a small amount of comfort,” RMC says, “it sure would be nice to know that Nintendo had someone in a position that basically had the job of listening to the cries of people like us.”

Of course, on the other hand, it’s hard to say just how much such an agent would be allowed to say or reveal. Nintendo is perhaps the ultimate Poker player in the industry, keeping its cards close to its chest and maintaining that almost omnipresent Poker face regarding what it is doing at any given time.

One has to wonder if perhaps by providing their own “Major Nelson,” Nintendo feels that such a state would be compromised. Would we just wind up with one more person to inform us that “We have no comment…” or “nothing to announce regarding…” on a more frequent basis?

But, what do you guys think? Would Nintendo benefit from having a “face” to present to the fans on a more regular basis than E3 and other trade show events? I’m all for the idea in theory, but as noted above, I’m uncertain how well it would work in practice.

Side-note: When digging up a little info to refresh my memory about Howard Phillips’ roles in the past, I came across this interview linked on his Wikipedia page. Don’t know if it’s real, but it seems genuine, and it’s a fun look back.

Update: Seems RMC struck a chord with more than just myself; he’s reported that, along with my own response here, Consum’d has written their thoughts as well.