Keith Nallawalla
I’ve loved video games since I was a kid one thing about them that was particularly exciting in the 1990s for me was the ability to play them at kiosks in shopping centres. As a kid with no money, it was always really cool to spend a few minutes trying out a new game on the Nintendo 64 or Game Boy Color.
It’s always exciting for me to see mall events in our local shopping centres where companies like Nintendo install a bunch of TVs and consoles so kids can force their parents to see how much fun they have whilst playing them. It’s a great way to make kids beg for a Nintendo Switch for Christmas (which is only a few weeks away in this instance) and lets kids learn which game they want to nag for if they already have the console.
Today I saw this display at Pacific Werribee and whilst I already own most of the games they had on display (Luigi’s Mansion 3, Super Smash Bros Ultimate, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe etc) it was cool to see the new fitness video game Ring Fit Adventure which was not on my radar at all.
I didn’t stop to try it out as one of the Nintendo representatives asked me to, but I did at least Google it later on. I think hands-on tours around shopping centres like this can be a really influential way to market directly to consumers. I saw a bunch of kids wearing the free Mario and Luigi hats at the EB Games store right afterwards, so it looks like it’s doing a good job at controlling the Christmas wish list for kids in my town today.
