Nintendo Backpedalling on E3 Conference
- Scribbled on July 23rd, 2008 by Jonah Falcon
- Filed in Casual Gaming, E3, Editorial Content, Industry News, Interviews, Nintendo Wii
Nintendo may be starting to realize that catering exclusively to little kids and old people may be a mistake, but even that realization isn’t being backed up by any real plans. For instance, in an interview with Joystiq, Nintendo spokesman Charlie Scibetta first admits storage space is a problem, but that all you need to do is “manage space” on the SD card by deleting the stuff you don’t need now and redownloading it later, and as for real storage, “We don’t have anything to announce now on that, no.” When asked about the lack of promotion of third-party WiiWare titles, he basically shrugs and implies word of mouth on day of release is good enough.
Meanwhile, in an interview with Forbes, Satoru Iwata, Nintendo’s global president and CEO, noticed the lack of any sort of excitement at their conference, and rationalized:
If there is any perception that Nintendo is ignoring the core gamers, it’s a misunderstanding and we really want to get rid of that misunderstanding by any means. We are sorry about [the E3] media briefings, specifically for those who were expecting to see Nintendo show something about ‘Super Mario’ or ‘Legend of Zelda.’ However, the fact of the matter is the so-called ‘big titles’ need a long, long development period. … We really didn’t think this year’s E3 media briefing was the time to do so.
Let that statement sink in before you pick it apart, folks.
Someone inform him that it wasn’t really the absence of certain titles - it was the content of the conference. It wasn’t the lack of a Zelda or Mario title that made it a twinkie conference - Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is a pretty big third-party non-casual title - it was the tone. People didn’t want to hear about new motion peripherals. To paraphrase that old Wendy’s commercial:
Where was the beef?
[You can watch the conference here.]
July 23rd, 2008 at 1:12 pm
If they’re making new motion controls, people do want to hear about it. There are plenty of complaints saying the Wii Remote isn’t sensitive enough or has problems in certain games. This is a solution, it beats hearing more whiners talking about bad motion sensing controls.
The spike in people searching for “Wii Motion Plus” in google was huge for the next three days after the announcement (at least), If they didn’t want to hear, what were they looking to find?
The tone sets the entire thing, but in defense of the speakers, the crowd also helps set the tone.
E3 was a press briefing, press are supposed to sit quietly and listen to everything and take note, absorb and build understanding.
Had they filled the front row with fanboys and people actually excited to see them, perhaps they would have fed from the crowd and helped bring up the tone.
E3’s dead. It’s challenging to keep a big tone when you know nobody is there to cheer you on. Ask any musician.
July 23rd, 2008 at 1:30 pm
Then why is Nintendo apologizing and trying to state, “No, really! We like ‘hardcore gamers too!’” There’s a perception here, and it IS based on reality.
You yourself said the conference was “meh”, and by the way, how come there was a ton of response from the other conferences - Microsoft’s in particular?
The Joystiq interview was particularly damaging - I suggest you read it.
July 23rd, 2008 at 1:35 pm
I did say it was “meh.” And I stand by it. Don’t read into the comment and believe I said something I did not.
Let me sum up my points:
1. We wanted to hear about Wii Motion Plus
2. The intensity of the show is helped by having non-press to invoke a positive reaction
3. E3 is dead.
Never did I say Nintendo had a kick ass conference.
As someone that watched the Sony presser, what response are you talking about? The crowd was just as quiet. Their too busy blogging and taking notes.
July 23rd, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Well, Microsoft, they were more vocal, especially the announcement of FF13.
July 23rd, 2008 at 3:03 pm
yeah, comparing bordem with non-enthusiasm with almost enthusiasm, they were better.
In all cases, it was flat.