In a recent interview with tech blog Engadget, Reggie Fils-Aime, Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Nintendo of America, took the opportunity to challenge his competitors' corporate philosophy as well as discuss the usual suspects: DS, Revolution, Zelda, Wi-Fi, etc.

When asked about Microsoft's and Sony's positioning their consoles as multimedia hubs versus Nintendo's focus on games, Reggie had some strong words for his competitors: "To be perfectly clear, the Microsoft and Sony strategies are based on overall corporate objectives versus what's right for the consumer. That's a reality. Microsoft is essentially trying to get you to put a PC in your living room because they are fundamentally a PC software company. Sony is trying to get you to put an entertainment hub that has Blu-ray technology because that's important to their movie business and the rest of their entire electronics business."

"We are a gaming company. We are gamers at heart," he continued. "We love creating great, innovative content and superbly designed hardware, that's what we do. And with that passion comes a laser like focus to do things that are right for the consumer and right for the business. That's the fundamental difference in our strategy versus our competition."

Reggie also said that he had a chance to play with the Xbox 360 and that he felt "underwhelmed."

"I played with pre-production units at last year's E3 as well as at other industry events, I've played with production product, and while certainly some games look fantastic, I found the game play for many of the titles lacking. And so for me it was not something that held my interest for very long," he said.

"We certainly are looking at what they're doing from an online perspective and I think to give Microsoft some credit, what they've done with Xbox Live has been very intriguing. But as a console, as a consumer, would I have shelled out what is close to $700 when you look at the premium unit, some software, some accessories? If I would've done that I'd be disappointed right now."

One of the most common criticisms that gamers and Nintendo's competitors have made in recent years is that the company is geared only towards the younger demographic, that they're "kiddie." Reggie doesn't feel there's any truth to that statement, however.

"It's categorically false. I find it quite interesting that our competitors are more interested in trying to pigeonhole us versus articulating a clear strategy amongst themselves that differentiates where they're trying to do in the marketplace," he said. "We have been very clear in our positioning. Nintendo is about innovation and bringing new and unique game play to the consumer -- both the core gamer, as well as new gamers. And we view that mission as critical because as you look at all the demographic data, this industry can no longer rely simply on more and more young men coming of age to try gaming, and being in that, call it ten to twenty year old demographic. The fact is that that demographic is shrinking and the next cohort, their younger brothers, is even smaller."

Reggie continued, "So, for us, we view it as critical to find new ways to bring gaming to the masses. That means women, as we've successfully done with Nintendogs. That means older consumers, as Japan has successfully done with Brain Age and that product's sequel. That is exactly what we will be doing here in this marketplace, not only with DS, but with Revolution as well: bringing innovation to the marketplace that satisfies the hardest of the hardcore as well as brings new consumers into the marketplace."

Reggie also said that the competition is going "down a path that is very expensive for consumers, very expensive for developers to create content against, and they're providing a level of horsepower technology that not many consumers want."

He added, "We in providing to consumers and to developers an approach that is certainly high-tech and certainly powerful enough to create the most sophisticated games, but also has an approach that is open for developers to create whatever type of content they want."

Regarding the Revolution, Reggie said that Nintendo has sent out over a thousand dev kits for the Revolution controller and he seemed quite pleased by the development community's reaction. "The response to the controller has been fantastic. Developers are truly embracing the innovation. They're embracing the approach and quite frankly, they're embracing our vision; our vision of creating games that are as sophisticated as the core gamer wants it to be but could also be as straightforward and as accessible as brand new gamers. And that vision, that strategy is what Nintendo is all about. We want to create a system with Revolution that appeals to all types of gamers versus going down a path that, frankly, is a bit exclusionary."

Read the full interview here.