May 13, 2004 - Thursday afternoon at the Electronics Entertainment Expo 2004 IGN sat down with Nintendo's VP of corporate affairs and Jedi master Perrin Kaplan for our traditional interview. As always, Kaplan attempted to use Jedi mind tricks to throw us off the case and we hopeless held the course. Did we walk away with any information? We'll let you decide. The full interview below:

IGN: Are you aware of the Reggie-lution?

Perrin Kaplan: I might be part of the Reggie-lution. We have a lot of secret plans as far as the Reggie-lution is concerned. We conspire often. We conspire greatly. And just be careful because the flowers that bud around his feet are toxic.

IGN: The DS is apparently the third pillar. How will you market it independently from Game Boy Advance?

Perrin Kaplan: I sense that you're not with us on that -- that it's a third platform. So your question is how we're going to market it?

IGN: Yeah, and not just the DS either. The Game Boy Advance too.

Perrin Kaplan: Well obviously the Game Boy Advance is selling very well, as you know. We have sold 21 million units in the US and if you look at the Game Boy history 168 million have been sold worldwide -- that's a huge number. It continues to sell very well. I think the SP, nobody will argue it's a pretty sexy product. It's selling at light speed and that's going to continue. The DS really is a different product. What our intention is, and I believe we will see this happen, is that universe of portable players will expand. The DS really allows us to extend this whole portable gaming experience. So now what we're going to figure out now that we've seen people's reaction to the DS, which has been very, very good, is to sit down and figure out how we're going to market the product.

IGN: It's coming out at the end of this year. That's not a whole lot of time to tell everyone what it's all about. How do you plan to do it?

Perrin Kaplan: I think anything that's really interesting -- anything that's got sex appeal to it -- you won't have a problem communicating it pretty quickly. We pulled stuff together for E3 in a pretty subtle fashion and impressed people here -- we didn't have a lot of time to do that. The DS was just announced not that long ago and here we are: it's the buzz of the show floor. At least, that's the feedback we're getting. But I don't think we'll have a problem with time at all.

IGN: Since the DS can play GBA games and more, why own a GBA?

Perrin Kaplan: I think what this does is that if we're able to extend out our number of portable players, I think the initial appeal the DS gives you is that you can start with a library of 500 games. That said, if you want games that are built for two screens then those are going to be the DS games. You're going to buy that hardware to have those games. It's nice to start with a library of 500 games. That's a very big positive. But that product will continue to extend out for a little, if that makes sense.

IGN: So do you think with all the excitement for Nintendo DS that developers will abandon GBA development in favor of the dual screens?

Perrin Kaplan: I don't think so. You see people who develop for all of the platforms. It's not a matter really of abandoning one for the other. This I think will have different teams applied to it. There will be teams that work on Game Boy Advance games and others that work on DS games. There will be some similarities between the two in terms of development, but there will also be definite differences too. I mean, building something for a separate screen will take a different set of rules.

IGN: Will there be any regulations on how to develop for DS? As in, if developers don't want to take advantage of, say, the touch screen, would Nintendo recommend instead that they develop for the GBA?

Perrin Kaplan: A lot of that has to do with personal relationships you have with them, but no, developers are encouraged to come up with whatever ideas they can conceive. The DS is a blank canvas and we're encouraging developers to come up with ideas. I do think that if they were going to make a game that was just for one screen, though, they would make it for GBA.

IGN: Is that the final design of the DS?

Perrin Kaplan: We're getting close to what will be a final design.

IGN: What changes will be made to the final design?

Perrin Kaplan: I think you should spend your time guessing.

IGN: Don't worry, we will.

Perrin Kaplan: No, you'll see it shortly. We're mostly home.

IGN: So when will we see it?

Perrin Kaplan: At… I'd say before launch. Once we begin taking this on the road again. Once we're home and get stuff wrapped up from E3, get ourselves ready, and go back out -- you'll see it about that time.