I recently sat down and had an interview with James Higginbothom, the Head Editor and Public Representative of Pure Nintendo, a company dedicated to all things Nintendo. Do not worry though, the staff of Pure Nintendo do not just play Nintendo and disregard all other consoles. These are people who enjoy video games regardless of want console they are on.

On January 21, 2012 , starting at 6:00PM EST, James Higginbotham, Justin Sharp, Kevin Klein, and Eli Courey will be in a 48-hour marathon known as "Nintendo Icons" to raise money for Child's Play Charity, an organization that raises money for toys, movies, books, and games for children's hospitals around the world (for more information, please go to www.childsplaycharity.org) . This is the third year that they will be doing this event.

This year, Pure Nintendo will be focusing on the Nintendo Wii. The four will be playing what they consider their four favorite Wii games. Justin Sharp will be playing The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. James Higginbotham will be playing Disney's Epic Mickey, Kevin Klein will be playing Super Smash Bros Brawl, and Eli Courey will be playing Red Steel 2.

This was not an interview in the conventional sense. This interview was done via e-mail. I want to again thank James Higginbotham for taking time out of his schedule to answer my questions. Below is the interview. The first part deals with what the company Pure Nintendo is about, and the second half details the marathon.

I Believe That An Introduction is in Order....

Me: So tell us a little about yourself...Who am I talking to?

James: My name is James Higginbotham and I am the Head Editor/PR at Pure Nintendo. I have a background in Communications and a winning smile.

Me: What is your history with Nintendo?

James: The main reason I am such a Nintendo fan has to do with my history with their products. My childhood was full of NES, SNES, Gameboy, [etc].  I grew up playing Zelda, Mario, Donkey Kong, [etc]. It is hard for me to turn my back on some great gaming icons.

Where it all started for a lot of us

Me: What was the reason for starting Pure Nintendo?

James: The reason Pure Nintendo started was to provide a place where Nintendo fans can come together and discuss their favorite passion...Nintendo! It has morphed into something more with providing a place for Nintendo enthusiast to voice their opinions, concerns, for the whole world to see.

Me: What is the goal of Pure Nintendo?

James: Like any news site, our main goal is to provide the most up-to-date happenings on all things Nintendo. Our focused has shifted over the last year and a half to offer more in-depths analysis about happenings in the video game world.

Me: Are the people who work for Pure Nintendo doing this as their career, or do they have other careers?

James: Pure Nintendo started out as an opportunity for participants to work on their skills in an environment that provides a real world experience. Over the years we had a great staff that has been knowledgeable in film, writing, design, and so on. A lot of staff has used Pure Nintendo to help build their portfolio of work. Over the last year I have taken more of career and full time role at Pure Nintendo.   

The first two issues of the magazine

Me: Your About Page states that you are, "Nintendo-purists as far as gaming loyalty is concerned." What is your experience with video games on other platforms? Do you (have you ever) play games on any other platform at all? What is your take on Nintendo's main competition, Microsoft and Sony?

James: We all enjoy all types of video games and we each have one other video game platform that we play. Be it the Computer, PS3 or 360. I myself own a 360 and currently playing Skyrim.

Me: Are you apart of communities on other video game websites such as Gameinformer or Kotaku?

James: I check out both those sites, among other sites, but we are currently not part of any community.  Besides our great community [at Pure Nintendo].

Me: In regards to your loyalty to Nintendo, how far will you go to defend them? Will you hesitate to criticize Nintendo?

James: I am a video game fan, that happens to enjoy Nintendo products the most. To truly REPORT on Nintendo, one cannot be lead by biases thoughts. Some people forget that Nintendo is a business not your friend. I will not hesitate to call out Nintendo for making a mistake. Who knows I could start a revolution about something. That would be awesome! 

Me: In regards to your work with Pure Nintendo, do you talk with Nintendo (e.g. conduct interviews with Nintendo staff, receive advance copies of games for review)?

James: We have worked closely with Nintendo with helping provide our readers a deeper looking into E3 and their round-tables, CES, and other Nintendo held events. We do receive games from Nintendo for a review pleasure.

Pure Nintendo also works closely with a lot of 3^rd party developers like, SEGA, Capcom, Xseed, Renegade Kid, Activsion, and more.