The Nintendo DSi Launch at Universal City
Posted by Bayani Domingo on 04.07.2009
Our own Bayani Domingo checks out the handheld's launch on Saturday night at Universal City Walk.
Nintendo hosted their launch party for the Nintendo DSi last Saturday night, April 4th in front of the Gamestop in Universal City Walk in Los Angeles and I had the opportunity to check it out. This honor was bestowed on me by the Games Editor, Ramon Aranda, after an exhausted interview process and after passing a very strenuous and arduous qualification process which included me being the only 411 writer from the LA area available apparently. I was told to simply show up at the media check in, give them my name, and look for one of two PR people who have worked with the games section before from both Nintendo and Gamestop. Well I showed up at 9:10 with my girlfriend to Universal City Walk and found my way to the party. There was a giant glowing ball with digitalized artwork of Nintendo characters above a DJ booth, a small stage with a band set up, an oddly shaped area with various boards and platforms set up, 3 large kiosks with DSi game systems around them for demo, and a red carpet set up with a tiny little man with a crew cut standing there in a black suit. I believe most of you know him as Kevin Pereira, host of G4 TV’s “Attack of the Show”, I know him as the small Seacrestian sized sidekick of the uber tantalizing Olivia Munn. I guess it’s true what they say about TV, it really does add 4” to you.
I walked around the venue for a little while, there was a space set up right in front of the theater, and figured that the “launch party” also included a space below the food court that also included a few small booths belonging to the people from Iam-8-bit, a video game art group that specializes in art work involving classic video game images. There were 3 booths set up with artists autographing some of their limited edition posters and a table for t-shirts. Unfortunately only those who pre-ordered the DSi were able to pick up those goodies, however I guess that’s why it pays to pre-order and it was a great way to get people committed to the product ahead of time. After a quick look around I decided to head to the media center check in. After explaining to the man at the desk that I was in fact a writer for 411mania, however I was not Jeffrey Harris, the guy finally let me check in. I got a badge and a small “give away bag” and pointed to the “media tent” where water and snacks would be available if I was interested. I was interested…very interested, however I had a job to do and once I figured out what the hell that job was, I would be back for said snacks.
I took a look at the proposed agenda and steadied myself for 3 hours of whatever Nintendo felt would be both hip and cool in regards to promoting what they hoped would be the next evolution of the handheld gaming industry. The evening began with an introduction by the diminutive Kevin Pereira and a DSi demonstration by David Young. Next was another welcome by Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo’s Executive VP, and then a performance by the Parkour stunt street team known as “Team Tempest”. Basically this was a “Free Running” team that ran a 5 minute demonstration which consisted mainly of 4 white guys running around a space the size of a medium sized bedroom and flipping and spinning around a number of platforms. It was like, white guy Lucha Libre in a way, but without the pinfalls and armdrags. After that was over there was to be a “Special Surprise Band” performance and I was pleasantly surprised that they managed to procure the popular Hip Hop group, Gym Class Heroes. I consider myself a mild fan of the band, but after their 4 song live performance I became a pretty big fan. They played some of their more popular songs like “Cupid’s Chokehold” and “The Queen and I” as well as two songs off their new album “Quilt”. I’ll be damned, but the concert was worth the trip alone and they are damn good live. While there were a few more live demonstrations and interviews by various execs from Nintendo, the real star of the show was the DSi.
The DSi is like your basic DS Lite, but on anabolic steroids. But don’t worry, because the DSi had his cousin injecting him and he had no idea what it was at the time. The DSi is not just your basic handheld gaming system, but it also is an interactive gaming experience that allows you to not only download your music (in MP3 form, but not via iTunes) but also manipulate it as well as any voice or sound recordings, it has 2 cameras and allows you to not only take pictures, but manipulate them and add your own effects and animation to it. The DSi also has internet capabilities via a WiFi network that allows you to surf the internet, access the Nintendo store, and have picture messaging with friends. A pretty damn cool little device all in all. For those of you with an iPhone or a Zune, you might not be interested in this, from a music and Internet aspect, but the gaming is a lot better than you’d find on some of those other devices. Then again…does anyone out there actually have a Zune?
While VJ Fader was pumping out the techno tunes all night with special videogame remixes thrown in the night was steadily plodding along with plenty of Nintendo reps and street team members roaming the crowd and demoing the games for the people passing by as well as giving out free DS headsets and styluses. There were people carrying out 4 or 5 headsets apiece and it seems that as the night went on I began to notice that only 1/3 of the people there at the event were probably there specifically for the launch party and to stand in line to get their pre-ordered DSi, the rest seemed to be foot traffic from people hanging out at City Walk who had no idea the event was even going on. Still there was a good turn out regardless as even if you weren’t there specifically for the launch there was enough to entertain you and get you interested in the DSi if you had never even heard about it before. In fact my girlfriend will be picking one up in the next few weeks herself since she doesn’t have an iPhone or iTouch of her own. I think the DSi has been targeted really for the tween to early 20’s set, but considering that there is still a small subset of casual or serious gamers without the urge to pick up an iPhone nor the money to spend on the monthly bill, the DSi could find itself a nice little niche market.
While the clock was winding down I was hoping to catch up with at least 1 of the 2 PR contacts I was given, but alas I couldn’t track them down and no one at the media center knew where they were since they had a full schedule of interviews set up already. It didn’t help that no one had nametags and everyone seemed to have the same Staff/Media badge. I had resigned myself to simply taking in the scene and writing about my own experience with the DSi (I was semi-impressed, although since the WiFi connection was not presently active it was hard to take the DSi for a full “spin”), then I saw an older gentleman with a mysterious red badge talking to some people who had recently picked up some free swag of their own. The guy noticed my girlfriend’s “I <3 Wii” t-shirt and came over to complement her and ask her where she got it from.
The guy seemed very friendly and introduced himself as “Tony”, we bantered back and forth about the event and how I happened to score a badge myself. Tony had just flown in from Dallas and was flying out the next day and was working at Gamestop in the Marketing/Finance Dept. I asked him whether this would be considered a big deal for Gamestop and apparently it was. Gamestop was the exclusive partner of Nintendo in launching the DSi and although there were several midnight shop openings for the launch LA was the only city with an actual launch party. I asked Tony if he thought that with the new evolution of this technology whether the DSi would be competiting against the PSP or the iTouch more in the market place and he said he felt like the DSi would be a real competitor to the iPhone itself. He cited the photo and voice manipulation, downloadable content, games, and MP3 music and the over all “Nintendo Magic” that would give them an edge over the iPhone. I agreed that “Branding” is an important aspect to the system and that the Nintendo name really makes it stand out.
We also talked a little bit about video games themselves and I admitted that I wasn’t much of a gamer and I just recently bought Gears of War 2 and Left 4 Dead. Tony suggested trying “Call of Duty” and that he and his sons were very competitive, unfortunately he was not always on the winning end of said competition. I told him about trying GoW first as a used game, then coming back and trading it up for the 2nd version. He mentioned that while the average hardcore gamer had at least 70 games but only played about 20 regularly. Since most gamers liked to “try it before they buy it” their used game program is the most popular thing they have going in the stores. I believe Gamespot actually makes the highest profit margin on their used game business so this makes sense. Tony said that if you were to trade in your old games or only buy used games that you could almost afford a new “game wardrobe” in the course of the year in savings alone. Great point, also making me realize that he must be very good at his marketing job. My girlfriend mentioned that she was going to take advantage of the program to trade in her old DS for credit towards a new DSi. I asked him whether he felt like the DSi was geared towards the older 20’s and 30’s crowd since their recent commercials featured Lisa Kudrow, who wasn’t exactly a “tween” icon these days. He said that was true, but he felt that the younger crowd in their teens and early 20’s would probably be the biggest draws to the DSi. Tony then said that he had to excuse himself since he had an interview set up, thanked us both for coming and taking advantage of the trade-in program and hoped we would enjoy our DSi when we got it and left. Very nice guy and it really made me glad to be able to make it to the event although I was a bit disappointed that I wasn’t able to get to talk with any of the PR reps or Nintendo people that were impossible to actually find.
Later before we left I noticed “Tony” standing with Kevin Pereira on the red carpet and being interviewed only a few minutes before midnight. Apparently “Tony” was actually Tony Bartel was the VP of Merchandising and Marketing from Gamestop. Well, not bad I guess. It’s funny that while Kevin Pereira seemed a little fake to me on TV, in person he was nothing but nice, accessible, and down to earth with the fans. I guess it’s not hard to maintain your sense of humility when you work exclusively in a line of media that caters to gamers, I mean, it’s not exactly the center of the tail getting universe. As the clock hit midnight the crowd began to form and energy level grew as more free swag was being thrown to the crowd. Me being weighed down by a bag full of headsets I couldn’t use and a few cookies and bottle of “Power Up” energy drink I snuck out of the media tent, I watched the final seconds click off the timer and a burst of fireworks shoot up from behind the Gamestop. People were slowly being let into the store through the intricate lines of barriers set up and I was biding farewell to the launch party and hoping like hell that the parking lot wouldn’t be a mad house when I left. Luckily for me it wasn’t and I still had a few hours ahead of me left in my Saturday night and a promised trip to Benito’s for a quesadilla and rolled tacos. I guess that’s the last time they send a wrestling writer to do a gamer’s job. =)
I walked around the venue for a little while, there was a space set up right in front of the theater, and figured that the “launch party” also included a space below the food court that also included a few small booths belonging to the people from Iam-8-bit, a video game art group that specializes in art work involving classic video game images. There were 3 booths set up with artists autographing some of their limited edition posters and a table for t-shirts. Unfortunately only those who pre-ordered the DSi were able to pick up those goodies, however I guess that’s why it pays to pre-order and it was a great way to get people committed to the product ahead of time. After a quick look around I decided to head to the media center check in. After explaining to the man at the desk that I was in fact a writer for 411mania, however I was not Jeffrey Harris, the guy finally let me check in. I got a badge and a small “give away bag” and pointed to the “media tent” where water and snacks would be available if I was interested. I was interested…very interested, however I had a job to do and once I figured out what the hell that job was, I would be back for said snacks. 
The DSi is like your basic DS Lite, but on anabolic steroids. But don’t worry, because the DSi had his cousin injecting him and he had no idea what it was at the time. The DSi is not just your basic handheld gaming system, but it also is an interactive gaming experience that allows you to not only download your music (in MP3 form, but not via iTunes) but also manipulate it as well as any voice or sound recordings, it has 2 cameras and allows you to not only take pictures, but manipulate them and add your own effects and animation to it. The DSi also has internet capabilities via a WiFi network that allows you to surf the internet, access the Nintendo store, and have picture messaging with friends. A pretty damn cool little device all in all. For those of you with an iPhone or a Zune, you might not be interested in this, from a music and Internet aspect, but the gaming is a lot better than you’d find on some of those other devices. Then again…does anyone out there actually have a Zune? 
Later before we left I noticed “Tony” standing with Kevin Pereira on the red carpet and being interviewed only a few minutes before midnight. Apparently “Tony” was actually Tony Bartel was the VP of Merchandising and Marketing from Gamestop. Well, not bad I guess. It’s funny that while Kevin Pereira seemed a little fake to me on TV, in person he was nothing but nice, accessible, and down to earth with the fans. I guess it’s not hard to maintain your sense of humility when you work exclusively in a line of media that caters to gamers, I mean, it’s not exactly the center of the tail getting universe. As the clock hit midnight the crowd began to form and energy level grew as more free swag was being thrown to the crowd. Me being weighed down by a bag full of headsets I couldn’t use and a few cookies and bottle of “Power Up” energy drink I snuck out of the media tent, I watched the final seconds click off the timer and a burst of fireworks shoot up from behind the Gamestop. People were slowly being let into the store through the intricate lines of barriers set up and I was biding farewell to the launch party and hoping like hell that the parking lot wouldn’t be a mad house when I left. Luckily for me it wasn’t and I still had a few hours ahead of me left in my Saturday night and a promised trip to Benito’s for a quesadilla and rolled tacos. I guess that’s the last time they send a wrestling writer to do a gamer’s job. =)
