Fils-Aime Talks Mii During Second Life Appearance

Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime has visited the Reuters Auditorium in the Second Life virtual world to talk with bureau chief Adam Reuters about the future of Wii and the possibilities of further Mii expansions. Appropriate for a virtual world discussion, Reuters, in avatar form, quizzed the Fils-Aime avatar about Nintendo's own new approach to the avatar system with their Miis. Asked if Nintendo had any plans to further expand on the Mii concept to add online profiles or create a social network, Fils-Aime said, "We think the ability to customize your Mii if very fascinating, adding more personality, more information, so certainly that’s something we’re looking at." Asked if Nintendo would be interested in bringing Miis to Second Life itself or any cross platform virtual networks, Fils-Aime added that the company had already seen interest in cross-overs with virtual networks, saying "We have Miis showing up on MySpace, and other places, so I’d love to see it show up on Second Life." On the possibilities of Wii-based MMO projects, Fils-Aime said that though Nintendo itself is not currently investigating the space, it is something it is taking an active involvement in, he said: "I have spoken with a handful of developers and it’s something they’re intrigued with." Finally, on the Wii's forthcoming Opera web-browser integration, Reuters asked how the Wii might handle web games made in Flash. With no plans to directly partner with Adobe to make an actual SDK for utilizing the Wii remote's expanded capabilities, Fils-Aime promised at least a similar experience to using a standard PC mouse: "The Wii is a closed system. But if we worked with publishers to make Flash content, we could make it available. If you go to a Web site with a Flash game you should be able to play it, but not necessarily with the full 3D motion of the Wii remote. There have been a number of development companies that have reached out to us who say they want Flash-enabled games to play on the Wii console."