Going through the investor briefing translation from Nintendo, Iwata does indeed confirm The Big Three for this year, and a simple reference stating that Metroid is targetted more towards the Western markets should ease those here worried that it might be pushed into 2008. We still worry for Europe and Australia, of course, but these comments suggest hope for our international friends intending to play Prime 3 this Christmas.
Back to your question of when we will fulfill the hard-core gamers’ titles lineup: It will be from around the end of this summer to the end of this year. We will then launch a new title of Super Mario (Super Mario Galaxy), Smash Brothers (Super Smash Bros. Brawl) and Metroid Prime (Metroid Prime 3: Corruption) although the last one is primarily for the overseas markets. These will be the key titles for the period ranging from the summer until the holiday sales season of this year, and I think we will be able to cater to the specific needs you mentioned.
Ideally, we should have had one such title already in the spring in order to create a better flow. At the same time, we are strongly holding the belief that we must raise the quality level if we need to introduce something new to our customers. We wanted to avoid a situation where these flagship titles were introduced when they were not perfectly tuned up. Please allow us that it is taking time.
