Jim Merrick and Nintendo part ways
In case you didn't know, Jim Merrick was Nintendo of Europe's senior director of marketing. Oh, and Nintendo is this company that makes really cool games and stuff. And by "part ways", we mean Jim Merrick has decided to leave his position in the company in order to chase after his other dreams, possibly ones involving fishing and easily obtainable sticks of dynamite.
As the generic press statement from Nintendo says, "After nearly 12 years with Nintendo, the last three of which were at Nintendo of Europe, Jim Merrick has left the company to pursue other opportunities. We thank him for his many years of valuable service and wish him luck in his future endeavors."
Why should you care? For one thing, there's no European equivalent of The Reggie, and so the job of bringing Nintendo's name, image and games to the public is made all the more difficult and all the more important. As much as we'd love to think that we live in a utopian society where good games alone are enough to guarantee commercial victory (though they do play a large role, as witnessed with the DS), the fact of the matter is that people won't buy something they've never heard of. With the huge success of the DS in Europe, Mr. Merrick must have been doing something right in that respect. Let's hope his successor doesn't disappoint.
