Nintendo Gets Blog Ambassadors SeattleEnthused For 3DS

Photo collage by Lisa Douglas

Last Thursday, over 120 brand ambassadors were flown or otherwise transported to Seattle to get their hands on the new Nintendo 3DS handheld gaming system with glasses-free 3D views.  An interesting mix of mom bloggers, 20-something bloggers, gaming bloggers, one baby, and other influencers attended the event as guests of Nintendo working with the word-of-mouth agency Brand About Town.  Participants stayed at the Hyatt in downtown Bellevue, which is across Lake Washington from Seattle proper.

The event started with a cocktail reception on Thursday evening.  A lavish buffet, open bar, and funky DJ (who played Kenny Loggins’ “Footloose,” no less) entertained the group as people mixed and mingled with BAT reps and Nintendo staffers.  Later at least 30 of the bloggers headed across the street to Paddy Coyne’s, an Irish bar, to toast with dad blogger Whit Honea and his wife, Tricia.  

Friday was the big day.  For these brand ambassadors, a day at the office meant being a guest inside the year-old American headquarters (that is north and south Americas) of Nintendo in Redmond, WA, playing video games, shopping at the Nintendo store, and eating lunch and snacks.  Oh, and there was a tour.  Disclosure:  As one of Brand About Town’s Nintendo Enthused ambassadors, I attended this event.  And it was rad.

We were separated into groups of about 20 using character coded name tags (mine was Wario), and rotated throughout a secured room.  We were given 20 minutes at each station to play with a featured game or function of the Nintendo 3DS.  Guests needed a Nintendo staff escort to leave the room for bathroom breaks or phone calls, and we were not allowed to take pictures anywhere in the building besides the main room we were in.  That meant no quick shots of the cool decor, the arcade game gallery, or the giant staff lunch room.

After opening remarks by Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo’s COO, we were told that we’d spend the day previewing the Nintendo 3DS and that we would all receive a unit before we left that day.  What I found most interesting was that the 3D option can be turned off – and locked with a parental passcode, as can the wireless Street Pass function that allows you to interact with other players.  Nintendo recommends that the 3D function be reserved for children over age 6 because there isn’t significant research about the long-term effects of 3D viewing on their young eyes.  

The 3-D feature of the Nintendo 3DS was met with astonished and pleasantly surprised exclamations from many in the room.  There are already posts-aplenty from the bloggers who were there (this one is a great recap with very good photos), and I encourage you to check out their posts.  (A full list of attendees’ Twitter handles can be found on the Twitter list compiled by Carrie Koehmstedt.)  

There was was another reception in the evening after our long day of hard work at Nintendo headquarters, and then a bunch of buses took us out for wining and dining in downtown Seattle.  It was during the evening that we bloggers bent our heads toward each other and listened and talked.  Deep conversations were had.  Cackling laughter was heard.  Food was photographed and shared.  And the true value of bringing people out of their homes, across the country, away from their internets, and together in real life was experienced.