Reggie Fils-Aime, president and chief operating officer of Nintendo of America, addresses the media at the Nintendo Wii U software showcase during the Electronic Entertainment Expo in 2013. Reggie Fils-Aime, president and chief operating officer of Nintendo of America and one of the video game company's most outspoken executives, will retire this year. In a statement released Thursday by Nintendo, Fils-Aime will leave the company on April 15. Doug Bowser, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Nintendo's American division, will take over as president. "Nintendo owns a part of my heart forever," Fils-Aime said in a statement.

Third-grade students at the Douglass G Grafflin School in Chappaqua, New York, participate in an interactive learning session with the Nintendo Labo: Variety Kit for the Nintendo Switch system, led by Rebecca Rufo-Tepper, Co-Executive Director of the Institute of Play. Nintendo Labo is going to school. The video game maker is teaming up with the non-profit Institute of Play to bring its Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Labo cardboard gaming kits to 100 elementary schools around the country. "Our goal is to help teachers and students have fun with the basic principles of science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics, collectively known as STEAM," says Nintendo of America President and COO Reggie Fils-Aime. "We believe Nintendo Labo can be a powerful learning tool to foster 21st Century skills such as communication, collaboration, creativity, critical thinking and problem solving."

Ever since Nintendo unveiled the Switch about one year ago, one message was immediately clear: The ability to interact with the console in a variety of different ways -- docked to a TV, held in your hands, or propped up on a table -- was going to be the device's distinguishing characteristic. Nintendo is now taking that idea one step further with the announcement of Nintendo Labo, a new line of do-it-yourself products that lets Switch owners build interactive cardboard add-ons for the console. Nintendo Labo involves sheets of modular cardboard cutouts that when assembled can take the form of various Switch accessories. The company calls those accessories Toy-Cons, a reference to the console's Joy-Con controllers. The $69.99 Labo variety pack comes with five different kits, including two RC cars, a motorbike, a fishing rod, a house, and a piano.

The Nintendo Wii is the best selling video game console of all time. But the Nintendo Switch, so far at least, is on an even faster sales pace. On Thursday, Nintendo announced that the Switch had become the fastest selling home video game system of all time in the U.S., selling over 4.8 million units in 10 months. That's 800,000 more than the Wii did in the same timeframe. "Whether this is a dedicate gamer who doesn't want to stop playing Mario or Zelda, or whether it's a child experiencing these franchises for the very first time, we believe the value proposition as well as the compelling content is what's fueling our momentum," Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America, told Fortune.

Nintendo has confirmed that "Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild" will be the last first-party game to be made available for the Wii U. Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime confirmed the news sometime after the launch of the Switch console last Friday. "From a first-party standpoint, there's no new development coming after the launch of the'Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild,'" Fils-Aime told Polygon. "We really are at the end of life for Wii U." The game is scheduled to be released on March 3 alongside the Nintendo Switch. The Nintendo Wii U was first released back in November 2012, just a year before Sony's PlayStation 4 and Microsoft's Xbox One were launched. Even with its one year head start, the Wii U failed to meet sales expectations becoming the company's worst-selling console.

NEW YORK--Nintendo of America President and Chief Operating Officer Reggie Fils-Aime is ready for the question of what went wrong with the company's poor selling Wii U video game console and how the fortunes of the make-or-break Nintendo Switch will be different went it launches March 3 for just under $300. "I would say the greatest challenge we had with the Wii U was being crystal clear in our communication of what the product was and what the product could do. When we first showed off the Wii U for example it was misinterpreted that it was simply a tablet and not a device that truly was connected to your TV and could create two-screen types of gaming experiences. With Nintendo Switch we are being very aggressive and clearly communicating the proposition that it's a home console you can take on the go wherever and whenever you want… We're working hard to make sure it's going to be a success." Indeed, in the house, the tablet-like device slides into a dock that is connected to the television, with players using standard video game controllers to have a go at The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, or other upcoming titles.

Everywhere you look at E3 -- the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo gaming conference -- there seems to be something pitching virtual reality. At the Nintendo booth, there's only calm, traditional video game playing. In fact, there is only Zelda, and it is totally wrapped in fantasy. I asked Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America, why Nintendo isn't pursuing the big trend of the moment. He said Nintendo still isn't convinced of the full mainstream potential of virtual reality. The company has experimented with the technology before -- namely in the form of the much-maligned and yet still well-remembered Virtual Boy.

Instead, the Japanese gaming giant is looking to its legions of cutesy avatars. Nintendo has launched the'Miitomo' app in Japan featuring customisable characters called Miis. The avatars can be created with the app using a smartphone camera and then fitted with virtual clothes and quizzed by other Miis. The avatars can be created with the app using a smartphone camera and then fitted with virtual clothes and quizzed by other Miis. 'Miitomo' - 'tomo' meaning'friend' in Japanese - is scheduled to come to the US and other markets later this year, but Nintendo has yet to announce a release date'Miitomo' - 'tomo' meaning'friend' in Japanese - is scheduled to come to the US and other markets later this year, but Nintendo has yet to announce a release date.