In a recent interview with Gamespot.com a few days ago, Perrin Kaplan of the famed “Gamers were bored before Wii” comment, gave some insights to what could be expected from Nintendo in the future. Here are some exerts that I found interesting.

On the question of “When will the Wii shortages end?”

“It will end when the demand ends. I mean, it’s really less a shortage issue and more of a demand issue. The system, this holiday season, and right now, it’s still being introduced to people who have not played in many, many years, who’ve never played video games before, and to those people who are hardcore gamers that have been waiting in line to get it. And I don’t think we see any sign of it slowing down. It’s a fabulous product, it’s bringing people immense joy, and we’ve got all these additional software items that are coming to it that are brand new and wonderful. I mean, Wii Fit is going to be a unique and different product like Wii Sports. “

Well, I think it ends when Nintendo quits messing around and ramp up their production line. But why bother? Keep the hype up by making it hard for people to get one. I sure as hell would…

On the question regarding the future of online and multiplayer gaming on the Wii, Kaplan responded :

“Well, there are two aspects to it. One is the Wi-Fi program, which is going to be a big part of our system. The other is the use of the channels and how that reaches the Internet and the different things that we’re doing with the channels, and there’s more to come on that as well.”

In other words, there isn’t any and she don’t know because she’s leaving the company anyways.

On the question regarding the limited storage space on the Wii and the potential for an add on hard drive, she responded :

“There’s nothing planned right at the minute. I know some people who really like to collect a lot are running into the storage issue. You pack rat, you! So, it’s something that I think we’re paying attention to, but it does force you to keep things cleaned up. “

In other words, nope. You’re stuck with what you have. Nintendo didn’t take that into serious consideration when they designed the Wii. Now enjoy it.

When asked how long she think the Wii console lifespan will last, she responded :

“..You know, it’s really hard to say. I mean, again, the Wii system is built to be flexible so how long the life of it is, is going to be anyone’s guess at this point. I think that we will continue to have a lot of robust things as part of that system, whether it’s channel additions, channel content, the software. It’s got a long life ahead of it. How many years? I guess I wouldn’t want to speculate at this juncture.”

Here, I’ll answer it for you. 4-5 years left. Simple as that.

And finally, is Nintendo gonna release any other colors than white for the Wii?

“The white has worked very, very well. We do spend time on colors and there’s nothing immediately planned, but stay tuned.”

Well at least she made sense that time. And I agree. It’s not like they’re gonna sell anymore Wiis with different colors, because they don’t even have enough of the white ones to go around yet :p.