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With the competition hotting up in the most vital shopping season of the year, Nintendo of America President, Reggie Fils-Aime, used an appearance on GT.TV's latest episode to outline his reasoning for Wii U optimism, while also outlining lessons learned from a tough 2014.

Speaking to Geoff Keighley, Fils-Aime reiterated the often-repeated — and often proven — mantra that "software sells hardware", before boldly predicting that Super Mario 3D World, Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros. on Wii U would all be top 10 sellers across the whole generation alongside the PS4 and Xbox One.

It's all about install base, and it's all about having a top-shelf game that sells over a long period of time. The fact of the matter is, games that Super Mario 3D World, games like Mario Kart on Wii U, games like Smash Bros. on Wii U, they're going to have a fantastic sales curve over time. I can guarantee, those games, in this generation that is about to start, are going to be top 10 selling games across the entire generation, selling only on one platform. I can guarantee it.

... I'm calling it right now.

Naturally, the revival of the 3DS after a rough start was highlighted as a positive example. Fils-Aime also acknowledged that Nintendo needs to drive the Wii U install-based to encourage third-parties on board.

Moving onto 2014, Fils-Aime stated that the company is working on utilising NFC and is keen to show-off the feature with the right software. On that sticky subject of moving to smartphones and tablets, once again, Fils-Aime — visually exasperated at the question — hinted that, should he want to, he could highlight financial reasons why that'd not be the best move, but instead focused on the importance of hardware designed with physical controls and gameplay at the forefront.

The fact of the matter is we create systems that have buttons, that you interact with in a variety of different ways, because it makes for a better gameplay experience. That's the primary reason why, for us, this is not a proposition that makes a lot of sense. Now, separately, we could talk about all the financial and profit reasons why not to do that, but for the player, in the end, it's not as good an experience.

With the Wii U's fortunes clearly a priority Fils-Aime promised greater momentum and marketing throughout 2014, and teased something special at the upcoming VGX awards, an occasion that often prominently features new trailer and even fresh announcements.

The way we're going to be different is... we're certainly going to have a steadier pace of games, both for Wii U and for 3DS. The marketing activity is going to be constant throughout the entire year; you teased me a little bit about "boy, the first half was a little quiet" and, you know what? You look back and it was. We're not going to be making that same mistake in 2014, so the pace, the ongoing activity, touching the consumer and messaging what we're all about, that's going to be a big difference next year.

At the close of the interview Fils-Aime does a rather decent Waluigi impression, shows some solid Nintendo character knowledge and teased that Nintendo may make an appearance and do something "special" during the VGX awards on 7th December. The only hitch was GT.TV flashing up a graphic with the old Wii U hardware prices at the worst possible moment.

Check it out below for yourself — Reggie is interviewed in the opening and closing segments, with the latter kicking off at roughly the 16 minute mark. The show also has some interesting Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze details, which we'll summarise separately.

[source gametrailers.com]