Speaking of putting on the gear, what exactly is “the gear”? To explain this, my lovely friend Eileen helped me out with a complete description and pictures of what the team wears as part of their Street Team uniform.

The basic GameCube set-up consists of:

Sharp 15" LCD monitor

GameCube with 2-4 controllers

Battery Backpack ( the battery is an ADP computer back-up battery that lasts about one hour.  Batteries are swapped-out as needed and charged overnight. )  

Armed with their gear and the training they received in boot camp, these chosen few have set out in teams across the country to bring the Nintendo gaming experience to you. There are a total of 6 teams with eight members and several alternate members. Teams are located in Los Angeles, Seattle, Atlanta, Dallas, Boston and Chicago. The Nintendo Street Team makes appearances at large community events like State Fairs, City Beaches, Amusement Parks, Boys and Girls Clubs and Malls...anywhere there are people, the Street Team is there to bring gaming goodness to the masses. 

We will be conducting an interview with a member of the Nintendo Street Team to learn a little bit about what type of person it takes to want to join a team of marauding game players that roam public places in packs...looking for unsuspecting people the engage in a game of Super Smash Bro. Melee, or duke it out against others with a linked Gameboy Advance. Our interview is with a lovely young lady from the Seattle Nintendo Street Team.

Tanya Woo

Nintendo Street Team, Seattle

1.) Who are you, how old are you.... and what do you do?

Tanya Woo:

     n. A strong and Energetic 23-year-old Female; without coffee, she is barely recognizable.  A member of the Nintendo Street Team. 

Now that we know who you are, let's talk about WHO you are.....

2.) When a person thinks of a "gamer", stereotypically the image that comes to mind is a young MALE, how is it a lovely young lady became a "gamer"?

That’s a very good question.  Large portions of “gamers” are female, yet the majority is male.  Females have come along ways compared to ten or twenty years ago. I would have to say it takes a lot of hard work, persistence, determination and practice! It’s a natural lifestyle choice…  I didn’t decide to be a gamer… it’s apart of my personality and apart of my life!   

3.) How long have you been playing games? Do you remember your first gaming experience?

I’ve been playing for as long as I can remember!   My uncle once worked for Nintendo, and he managed to give me two game boy systems and a couple of games.  Soon followed a Nintendo system… and he became my favorite uncle.

4.) In a male dominated industry such as gaming, how do you feel about the "Bikini Model" approach to advertising for games. I can see where it could potentially be offensive to a female gamer. . . . does this have any effect on you?

This approach has no effect on me.  The “Bikini Model” approach is just a way to target a certain demographics for a specific game. I can’t think of any recent advertising in which Nintendo has utilized this approach.  A large majority of Nintendo games are rated E for everyone so the Nintendo advertising reflects that.

5.) When you first heard of the campaign from Nintendo offering $100 a day to play games....what made you want to apply.

It wasn’t the pay that made me want to apply for the job. I have one word to describe it, loyalty!  I grew up with Nintendo!  I wanted to become apart of the Nintendo family!   Also why would I pass up an opportunity to get paid to do what I love and that would be to play Nintendo video games!

6.) When you heard you were selected, how did it feel? What did you do??

When I found out I made it to the top twenty, the suspense was excruciating!  I sent daily reminders for my friends to vote for me on the Nintendo.com online poll.  I got the call Sunday morning.  I hope the lady who called me can still hear out of her ear.  I was so excited when I found out I couldn’t contain myself. At the same time I felt some disappointment that my friends didn’t make it.

7.) $100 a day is pretty good money....um, can I borrow $5??

Yeah, You can borrow $5, but only if its for Nintendo products  

8.) Joking aside,  do you have big plans for the cashola you will be making???

I have really big plans!!  I want to get a wireless Wave Bird controller!  Once you try it, you just can’t go back to the original controllers.  I got to try it out the first day of training and I didn’t want to let it go.  We managed to get it to work in the parking lot!  I also have a whole list of games I plan to purchase such as Eternal Darkness, and the soon to be released Mario Sunshine, Metroid Prime, and Zelda.   I could go on and on.  

         

    Eternal Darkness     Metroid Prime     SuperMario Sunshine

9.) You were a student, what were you studying??

I just graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in communications. 

10.) Have you ever considered employment in the gaming industry after graduation?

That is my dream!  I would love to work in the industry, or perhaps to work in a field related to the industry!  Such as a reporter for a news station or a newspaper related to technology and video games.  Video games are the fastest growing industry in the country!  So there are a lot of exciting things happening!   

A long time ago, I interned for the Seattle Times and one of the highlights of my internship was the opportunity to visit and tour Nintendo with some reporters.  I had the chance to visit top-secret areas of Nintendo.  Since then I hope that I will be able to write about the industry!

11.) What kind of stuff do you do in your spare time?? Extracurricular Activities?

I enjoy volunteering with children, I practice and teach ballet and Chinese classical dance and I’ve competed in several different types of competitions such as the 1999 World Performing Arts Championships against 2,000 people from 36 countries and placed in the top one percent.  I also have done martial arts placing as the Grand Champion in the 1997 National Karate Classics.  I've also done a few pageants placing third in the 2002 Miss Chinatown USA Pageant, and second in the 2001 Miss Seafair Pageant.  No matter what I do, I will always make time for a little Super Monkey Ball or a little Super Smash Brothers whenever I am at a home.

12.) HOLY COW....how do you have time for anything else??

When you love and are passionate about what you're doing, you don't need time for anything else! 

I want to ask you a few questions about being a part of the Nintendo Street Team,

13.) What exactly is your job description as part of the Nintendo Street Team??

As a part of the Nintendo Street Team we create awareness and excitement of the GameCube, Game Boy Advance and their games by encouraging people at the different community events to play the games with us.   

That’s the book description of what we do.  I consider the Nintendo Street Team as a special unit of Nintendo that saves people of all ages from the evil forces of boredom.  We’re equipped with our special utility belts, and superhuman boredom fighting abilities. Now the world may finally be safe!  

14.) What type of training is involved...any hand-to-hand combat or weapons training??

Training, otherwise known as Boot Camp, was extremely intensive!  We received training on game play techniques, Nintendo history, promotions and marketing so that we’re prepared to share some Nintendo excitement!   All our mental, physical, and video game knowledge skills were put to the final test when we had to compete in the obstacle course.  We even had a boot camp sergeant yelling at us!

15.) What was the audition / tryout session like??

Nintendo received about 800 applications with 2-minute audition tapes from people across the country.  The competition was very rigorous.  You had the choice of either auditioning at a local Circuit City or to individually send a tape detailing why you wanted to be on the Nintendo Street Team. 

Being the last minute person that I am, I filmed my audition tape together with four other friends.  Then we drove frantically to the airport to find out that we had missed the last mail pickup by half an hour!  We decided to submit them anyway.  We got lucky that New York received our videos on time.

16.) I am sure after the audition you were told why you were selected for the Street Team....but looking back why do YOU think you were selected ( what qualities do you think they saw in you in particular )

When I was filming my addition tape with four other girlfriends, we had three minutes each before the deadline; I just let the camera know how passionate I am about Nintendo. Afterwards my heart felt like it was going to jump out of my chest.  I just think I got extremely lucky!

During boot camp, I got to meet the lady who screened all 800 tapes!  She said that if the video didn’t catch her eye within the first few seconds she pressed eject!

17.) So....If you have an aggressive gamer who will not take "NO" for an answer....do you have a secret "ZAP" switch hooked to the controllers or do you have a Super Smash Brothers style move you put on em'??

I don’t think there is such a thing as an aggressive gamer!!  But If I were to ever come across one, I would give them the Tanya evil stare of death.  That seems to scare most people away.

18.) What exactly does your Street Team gear / outfit look like?  

I’ve been told that a well-known New York fashion designer designed our street team outfit and gear.  It’s definitely going to be big this coming fall.  Everyone will want to sport the street team logo!  Shorts, shirt and visor! 

19.) What games are you demonstrating / offering to the public to try out...anything Top Secret??

We are hiding no secrets!  All the Nintendo GameCube and Game Boy Advance games we are demonstrating are ones that have been released recently.  Nintendo GameCube games such as Super Monkey Ball, Super Smash Brothers, Soccer Slam, Wrestlemania, Bomberman Generation.  We are demonstrating Nintendo Game Boy Advance games such as Star Wars Episode II, Spiderman, Tony Hawk 3, Mario Kart and Super Mario World Advanced.

Personal Gaming Preference Questions:

20.) What are your favorite types of games?? Strategy, Action, Shooters, Roll Playing??

I love roll playing and action games, such as Spiderman and Mario Land, you can get so immersed into the game… there’s action, excitement… and best of all... fun!!

21.) Favorite game?

My current favorite game definitely has to be Super Monkey Ball!  I never thought that monkeys in clear plastic balls could be so fun!!  You can race them, punch them around and drop them on targets.  I can’t wait for Monkey Ball 2 to come out!

22.) Are you a GameCube Girl or do you go for the Game Boy Advance?? ( which platform do you prefer? )

Oh that’s a hard question.  I am always on the go so the Game Boy Advance goes where I go.  The Game Boy has a fantastic line-up of games especially since you can play old Game Boy games with the Game Boy Advance but I would have to say I prefer a GameCube.  Since I don’t get to play as often as I liked to.

23.)  Sexy Street Team girls when they are at home...is it; Lace and flowers or combat boots and khaki's?

It would be flowers and lace in bold colors. Nothing too girly but something that definitely will make a statement that says “Hot stuff!”

24.) If you had to choose your Boyfriend based on a Nintendo character, who would it be..... Mario? Luigi...Fox McCloud....Bowser??

I would definitely have to be true to my man Luigi.  He just got his first-ever solo title in Luigi’s Mansion on Nintendo GameCube, after all these years as Mario’s side-kick.  It goes to show that even though you might not be the star at first, hard work does reap rewards!  It should be fun to see Luigi rise up to super stardom!  

Final JEOPARDY Question:

25.) If you had the opportunity to say anything you like, kind of like an "Open Mic" to the world....what would you say?

I so gotta put in a shameless plug for Mario Sunshine coming out August 26, 2002!!  I would also like to say that don’t ever put cans of coke into the freezer, they explode -- I found that out the hard way!  I had a lot of fun with this interview!  I have to go now and clean out my freezer!  

Want to talk to Tanya?? Any Comments or Questions for TANYA can be submitted to her personally here.

As an added bonus, courtesy of Hypothermia and Nintendo, we are giving away three Nintendo GameCube Packages during this interview. You may enter once per day, per e-mail address for one week. Simply fill in your name and e-mail address and you will be entered to win one of these awesome gaming packages. We will also pick random people throughout to win a little Nintendo Swag...just for the fun of it. Good luck to everyone and let's have some fun.

GameCube Package Giveaway!!