Nintendo Downloads will Complement Retail

Nintendo's Managing Director, Marketing & PR, Nintendo of Europe^* has been speaking at a Nintendo event down in London today (more on that from our reporter later).

He's been making the case for the DSi to expand the gaming market even more. "The market for video games is changing, reaching different people and in different ways" he told the massed crowd. "Wii and Nintendo DSi are also part of a new way to develop, deliver and experience games - by download."

The really good news is that - as with the PSP Minis giving access to start-ups and (really big) kitchen table devs, "Exciting, new, smaller developers are able to use the Nintendo Shop to reach consumers where they may have struggled before. This is encouraging different types of games to reach people, and encouraging customers to play those games direct from their consoles."

Of course, he doesn't leave retail in the cold... yet:

"We believe that this will complement the traditional retail model and in fact expand the overall gaming market, offering unique, innovative games that will appeal to all types of gamers. We also believe that the download phenomenon will encourage more creativity, co-creation and sharing of experiences between gamers themselves."

^{He's called Laurent Fischer, but we're all about the job title today}