Nintendo hopes Wii spells wiinner
REDMOND, Wash. — Nintendo’s soon-to-be-released Wii video game console is getting raves from reviewers and others who have gotten an early peek.
The Wii (pronounced wee) sports an innovative controller: To hit a tennis ball, you swing it like a racket; to drive an SUV over treacherous terrain, you twist it like a steering wheel; to shoot a duck, you point it like a pistol. Getting consumers to try it — and jump-start Nintendo’s (NTDOY) ambitious plan to trump Microsoft’s (MSFT) Xbox 360 and Sony’s (SNE) PlayStation 3 — falls to Reginald Fils-Aime, 45, Nintendo of America’s new president and chief operating officer.
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Fils-Aime (pronounced FEES-oe-MEY) knows pop culture. Prior to joining the company in 2003, he worked at Procter & Gamble, Pizza Hut and MTV. He spoke to USA TODAY’s Byron Acohido about why he believes Nintendo, the top maker of handheld video game players, can retake top dog status in the billion dollar industry it helped create 20 years ago.