Reggie talks to Wired - Weekly DSi downloads, friend codes are here to stay, Virtual Console on DSi isn't something Nintendo has talked about, don't expect Nintendo retail games to hit download services, Nintendo will continue to focus on games, no new...

A few select excerpts from a Wired interview with Reggie Fils-Aime…

Wired.com: You’re releasing one or two WiiWare games per week. Is the same going to follow with DSi?

Fils-Aime: Our strategy with DSiWare is the same as with WiiWare in that we want to provide new experiences every week. Whether that’s one, two, three, it really is going to depend on how quickly the products pass all of their quality checks and what the pipeline is as far as Nintendo-produced (games) and third-party.

Wired.com: Speaking of user-generated content, you’ve said: “I’ve been very intrigued with Little Big Planet (from Sony). I don’t know that it belongs on their platform.” Wii and DS, with their friend code systems, stop users from getting access to this broad array of user-generated content if they can only see the content that their small list of friends create. Is that something Nintendo is trying to fix?

Fils-Aime: Let me address a couple of points in your question. First, friend codes are about making sure, in a connected experience, that a consumer has a great experience. What we mean by that is that when you’re playing with a friend, you are provided full functionality with the WiiSpeak microphone, you can talk to your friend, or in a game like Animal Crossing you can invite friends into your town — but there’s a recognition that for players that you don’t know, what we don’t want is a situation where either consumer is having a negative experience. The trash-talking that happens now online is a prime example. For us, friend codes are about making sure that the consumer has a great, positive, connected experience.

User-generated content, in my view, is something very different, where we have always been about allowing the consumer to create some content and post it for the world to see. The “Check Mii Out” channel is a prime example of that. So I really view friend codes and what we’re trying to do with user-generated content as being very different, and going against very different objectives.

Wired.com: So bringing back classic Game Boy games, for example, would not be something you’d want to see.

Fils-Aime: The concept of Virtual Console on DSi is not something that we’ve talked about, nothing that we’ve commented on. I know it’s something many of your readers would like to see, but it’s not something that we’ve talked about.

Wired.com: With DSiWare you’ve made it clear that you want a different sort of content than what’s at retail. But in the future, will we have the ability to download the same games we can buy at retail?

Fils-Aime: From a Nintendo perspective, our downloadable content is meant to be content that otherwise wouldn’t exist in the marketplace. So we, for example, don’t envision a world where you can buy exactly the same game through a download experience as well as at retail. Why? Because we want the downloadable content to be much more exploratory, frankly much more risky, in providing the consumer with a unique, compelling experience. So that’s our view. We don’t want and we don’t see a world where products and titles live in a virtual world as well as a physical world. We see them filling very different needs for the consumer as well as for the business overall.

Wired.com: Does Nintendo want to leverage this 50 million user install base and do broader services and content, or do you want to stick to games?

Fils-Aime: We’ve always said that Nintendo is an entertainment company, and that our view into that broader category is through games. And that’s going to continue to be our strategy. Any other application for Wii or DSi, right now, it’s all rumor, it’s all speculation, and it’s not something we’re going to comment on.

Wired.com: Virtual Console Arcade. Is Nintendo going to support this service with first-party games, or is it entirely for third parties?

Fils-Aime: We’ve shown a range of the titles that will be coming out over the next few weeks. When we have any first-party titles to announce, we’ll do that, but we have nothing to announce at this time.

Wired.com: Are you announcing at all that first party games will be there at any point?

Fils-Aime: We haven’t announced if we’re going to bring back any of the great Nintendo arcade classics, but, you know, that’s what other announcement dates are for.

Really, the full interview has so much more. You have to click over and read through, otherwise you’ll miss out on a ton of interesting discussion.