Topic: E3 2012 Press Conferences - Days 2-3: Nintendo Main PC & 3DS PC

[Spak-Spang]

You know, I really don't understand why people say Nintendo's E3 conference was bad.  I actually watched most of the show live-ish...and I was pleasantly surprised with the overall quality of the entire presentation. 
 
First, people complaining about Nintendo's games showed.  For the past 2-3 E3s (or more) has only been showing off what games are coming out this year.  Also, we all assumed Nintendo would have only 2 games at most 3 games at launch...which is really what we have.  Pikmin 3, Nintendo Land,New Super Mario U,  Wii Fit U.  However, that doesn't mean Nintendo doesn't have other games coming out or potentially a late December game that will launch.  It just means Nintendo at this show wanted to highlight those games.

Now, people have also stated that the third party support was weak...accept that I counted at least 5 launch games that I was eagerly anticipating playing, ZombiU, Assassin's Creed 3, Rayman Legends,  Darksiders 2, Lego City.  And I know there are more games than that being prepped for launch...including the very important Madden franchise, and FIFA franchises for sports fans. 

And Nintendo delivered proving that they will be aggressive with online support, voice chat, video chat, and more for games.  I think everything Nintendo showed was extremely promising...and the fact they have more hidden games to show later...like the game from Retro, makes me even more excited. 

[tendoboy1984]

I think everything Nintendo showed was extremely promising...and the fact they have more hidden games to show later...like the game from Rare, makes me even more excited.

Rare is owned by Microsoft. I think you mean Retro Studios.

[Adrock]

Now, people have also stated that the third party support was weak...accept that I counted at least 5 launch games that I was eagerly anticipating playing, ZombiU, Assassin's Creed 3, Rayman Legends,  Darksiders 2, Lego City.  And I know there are more games than that being prepped for launch...including the very important Madden franchise, and FIFA franchises for sports fans.

It's not weak compared to what Nintendo typically gets. It's extremely weak compared to what PS3/360 gets. People are practically willing to settle for straight ports.

It would have been nice if more 3rd party games were announced. I was disappointed but as I've said, I'm going to be patient. E3 isn't the be-all, end-all. We have the rest of the year to hear more announcements. Already, we've heard that Madden and Fifa will be on Wii U.

[tendoboy1984]

It's not weak compared to what Nintendo typically gets. It's extremely weak compared to what PS3/360 gets. People are practically willing to settle for straight ports.

It would have been nice if more 3rd party games were announced. I was disappointed but as I've said, I'm going to be patient. E3 isn't the be-all, end-all. We have the rest of the year to hear more announcements. Already, we've heard that Madden and Fifa will be on Wii U.

The PS3 had plenty of ports during it's first year. Ports and quickly-developed games are to be expected during a console launch.

I can't believe people aren't excited about a new 2D Mario game at launch. We haven't had a Mario game for launch since the N64 era. I remember when people were complaining about the GameCube and 3DS launches because they didn't have Mario games. Now we get one on the Wii U, and people still complain?

[broodwars]

I can't believe people aren't excited about a new 2D Mario game at launch. We haven't had a Mario game for launch since the N64 era. I remember when people were complaining about the GameCube and 3DS launches because they didn't have Mario games. Now we get one on the Wii U, and people still complain?

I think the reason people blow that game off is because it's a New Super Mario Bros. game, the very definition of "playing it safe" with a property.  With the exception of adding multiplayer (which actually made the game worse), that series just isn't willing to actually live up to its title and show me something I haven't seen before.  It may be the most solid 2D Mario experience ever, but there's nothing about that game that excites me to play it and that's really the problem with this entire series.  I feel like I played all these games 20 years ago, with none of the evolutions we've seen in game or level design since then.

Honestly, I'm starting to wonder if Nintendo simply isn't tapped-out on new ideas for 2D Mario.  At least with the 3D ones we'll get games that try radical new things like gravity physics or water guns.  Sure, in the end it may not always work, but at least they try with 3D Mario whereas the New Super Mario games just feel incredibly lazy.  They're games created for investors, not to create an interesting or creative experience.  So far all 2D Mario has managed lately is...collecting more coins than ever before.  Whoop-dee-frickin'-do.

Seriously, play Rayman Origins and look at the footage for Rayman Legends, and go ahead and tell me with a straight face that the New Super Mario games deserve to even be in the same league as those games.

[leahsdad]

You know, I really don't understand why people say Nintendo's E3 conference was bad.  I actually watched most of the show live-ish...and I was pleasantly surprised with the overall quality of the entire presentation. 

Actually, to be honest, this is probably their worst presentation in years.   Remember when DKCR was presented at E3?   Remember the 3DS announcement, with the games and the models(as in girls) with the models (as in 3DS prototypes?  And that's just the last couple years.   

I'm think the disappointment stems from messaging and leaks.  If no one knew about Castlevania, Epic Mickey, the Mario games, Pikmin 3, Arkham City, etc... going into E3, we would be shitting dollars bills right now to give to Nintendo.   No one would be saying it was a bad presentation, even if the games were exactly the same.

I think Nintendo, being secretive, set itself up as the company that will bust out with surprises.   And so I, along with everyone else, wondered "Okay, those are the games I know about.  What will be the games that I had no idea existed?"   Turns out, all it was was Mass Effect 3.

With that said, I think this is a strong lineup.   Was hoping for a bit more for 3DS, but oh well.   I guess this is Nintendo's way of saying "Maybe you should pick up a Wii U and some games too?"

In the end, I was kinda disappointed, but at the same time, I'll be picking up most of those 3DS games at launch, and a Wii U, and most likely Mario, Pikmin, and maybe ZombiU.   

[ShyGuy]

Looking back, I think it would been a much better conference if Nintendo had just rearranged it a bit. Swap Nintendo Land and Pikmin 3, so the best game is shown last, give us some Heroes or Ruin or Kingdom Hearts 3DS in the the handheld section, so it's not all Mario based games, and instead of so much time with Batman, spend time with Project P-100.

Nothing new, but the press conference would have been much better.

[noname2200]

 
 
First, people complaining about Nintendo's games showed.  For the past 2-3 E3s (or more) has only been showing off what games are coming out this year. 

This is not true. It's a line they stated publicly four years back or so, but one they've toed whenever it's convenient for them.

See, e.g., Luigi's Mansion 2, Paper Mario, Metroid: Other M, Mario Galaxy 2, Skyward Sword, Kid Icarus.

It's not weak compared to what Nintendo typically gets. It's extremely weak compared to what PS3/360 gets.

 I can't agree with this. For a system's launch, this is actually quite strong, and I expect it to get stronger as the launch grows nearer and more games are announced.
 
 Where we do agree is that this approach is not the best way to launch a system. Asking a consumer to spend a couple of hundred bucks on hardware is a tougher sell when you don't give him numerous reasons to do so. Deliberately not showing (or at least talking about) a plethora of titles, like they did with the 3DS and especially the Wii, is inexplicable to me.
 
 I'd love to hear what their thinking was on this one.
 

Looking back, I think it would been a much better conference if Nintendo had just rearranged it a bit. Swap Nintendo Land and Pikmin 3, so the best game is shown last...

 The audience would have been comatose by the time we got to Mario. Your other suggestions are good ones though. I'd add that they should have opened with the 3DS (complete with far more content for that section), then focused on the Wii U. For the latter part, show us more of what's coming.
 
 Basically, there was plenty of room for improvement.
 

[tendoboy1984]

Actually, to be honest, this is probably their worst presentation in years.   Remember when DKCR was presented at E3?   Remember the 3DS announcement, with the games and the models(as in girls) with the models (as in 3DS prototypes?  And that's just the last couple years.   

I'm think the disappointment stems from messaging and leaks.  If no one knew about Castlevania, Epic Mickey, the Mario games, Pikmin 3, Arkham City, etc... going into E3, we would be shitting dollars bills right now to give to Nintendo.   No one would be saying it was a bad presentation, even if the games were exactly the same.

I think Nintendo, being secretive, set itself up as the company that will bust out with surprises.   And so I, along with everyone else, wondered "Okay, those are the games I know about.  What will be the games that I had no idea existed?"   Turns out, all it was was Mass Effect 3.

With that said, I think this is a strong lineup.   Was hoping for a bit more for 3DS, but oh well.   I guess this is Nintendo's way of saying "Maybe you should pick up a Wii U and some games too?"

In the end, I was kinda disappointed, but at the same time, I'll be picking up most of those 3DS games at launch, and a Wii U, and most likely Mario, Pikmin, and maybe ZombiU.

The reason E3 was so lackluster (for everyone) is because of the leaks. The leaks aren't Nintendo's fault. Blame overzealous "reporters" and websites for that. E3 would have been much more exciting if people didn't spoil the fun.

[Tamazoid]

Leaks? There were no leaks. Epic Mickey Power of Illusion was announced by Warren Specter. Castlevania got leaked early before the Nintendo Power reveal. Pikmin 3 was announced last year, so was Batman. The only surprises were Mass Effect 3, Tekken Tag Team Tournament(We knew a Tekken was coming though,) Project P-100, Killer Freaks evolved into ZombiU and NintendoLand. (I am not counting WiiKaraoke)


Everything we knew about concerning Nintendo was officially announced before E3, not by leaks. People are crazy if they think this a weak launch lineup. Why do you expect a third party to fully embrace a console with 0 install base. Most Western publishes tend to wait and see what happens. Some like Ubisoft tend to heavily support launches, their strategy seems to be putting as much crap out there as possible to get sales. Whether Nintendo has third party support or not will be made apparent next year. Go look back at the Wii Launch line up, it wasn't that great. Everyone seems to think it was amazing as it had a port of a Gamecube game which just added motion control support and nothing else.

[Adrock]

I can't agree with this. For a system's launch, this is actually quite strong, and I expect it to get stronger as the launch grows nearer and more games are announced.

I don't know what you're disagreeing with. I didn't say 3rd party support was weak for a system launch. Rather, it's weak compared to the competition. I don't know how anyone can disagree with that currently. Look how many upcoming games Wii U is not getting. Most of Wii U's 3rd party games came out months ago from today. Like I said, I'm going to be patient and see what else gets announced. Right now, it's not even close.

[Chozo Ghost]

A year later and we're a far cry from this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THVkkfCIBOk

I would have posted the Gif, but I don't want to crash everyone's browser.

[Ceric]

A year later and we're a far cry from this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THVkkfCIBOk

I would have posted the Gif, but I don't want to crash everyone's browser.

I like that more then the Gif.  That is the reaction Nintendo should have wanted.  In fact I be tempted to get Chris Rock to do that to start the E3 presentation with Dummy cases to throw.

[nickmitch]

Chris Tucker.

[Ian Sane]

I can't believe people aren't excited about a new 2D Mario game at launch. We haven't had a Mario game for launch since the N64 era. I remember when people were complaining about the GameCube and 3DS launches because they didn't have Mario games. Now we get one on the Wii U, and people still complain?

Well I got a new 2D Mario only a few years ago and Mario platformers have been very frequent lately.  The Wii has three of them and the 3DS already has one.  A Mario release is routine.  The fact that it's at launch doesn't really matter to me.  Besides do I really NEED a Wii U to play a four player 2D Mario game?  No.  For me it's very much a "if I have the system already" kind of game, but not a system seller.  Plus they showed it off last year so any excitement towards it would have been expressed last year.

For me the biggest disappointment is that this seems no different than the Wii.  After all their talk about trying to get back core gamers I see no difference in their approach.  We got some core gamer focused sequels (and we got that on the Wii) with the everything else feeling very casual oriented.

[UncleBob]

Wii has 3 Mario Platformers?

[broodwars]

Wii has 3 Mario Platformers?

New Super Mario Bros. Wii
Super Mario Galaxy
Super Mario Galaxy 2

I'd also throw Super Paper Mario into that mix as well, since it's more platformer than RPG.

[UncleBob]

Yeah, I'd go with NSMBWii and SPM.  I suppose Wario Shake and/or All-Stars, if you wanted to reach.

But I assumed Ian was talking about 2D Platformers, as he mentioned "2D" multiple times.  2D Platformer is a very different type of game than a 3D Platformer.

[nickmitch]

I think the antecedent from his previous sentence makes it clear that he was referring to Mario platformers in general. However, I would include SPM in the list.

[noname2200]

I can't agree with this. For a system's launch, this is actually quite strong, and I expect it to get stronger as the launch grows nearer and more games are announced.

I don't know what you're disagreeing with. I didn't say 3rd party support was weak for a system launch. Rather, it's weak compared to the competition. I don't know how anyone can disagree with that currently. Look how many upcoming games Wii U is not getting. Most of Wii U's 3rd party games came out months ago from today. Like I said, I'm going to be patient and see what else gets announced. Right now, it's not even close.

Apologies, I was extremely unclear. To clarify: I disagree. This is a new system. I expect it to be widely judged accordingly, i.e. I believe most folks are not expecting it to get all the games its established competitors are getting. In light of how this is a new system, it is actually launching with a strong third-party lineup, certainly a better one than I can recall from other systems. And I expect more and more games to get announced as the launch approaches, which leads me to further disagree.

Its third-party production will not match the more established consoles, but I do not believe it is reasonable to expect a new console to do so, supposed ease of porting notwithstanding. It is actually much closer than I would have expected only a few months ago.

[dack25]

I think my gripes with the press conference was there was nothing that really blew me away about the Wii U or the games that are going to be on it. It's cool that you have some games Wii-only owners never got to play like Batman and Mass Effect 3 but if they were trying to get the core audience or the people who own PS3 or 360 then I think they failed miserably. After mediocre to terrible showings by Microsoft and Sony I really wanted Nintendo to have a great showing to at minimum have something to get excited for going into the fall. I think they should have shown AC III or Darksiders II on stage to show how the Wii U will have an advantage over the other consoles and not games that have been out for almost a year like Batman. There's no real incentive for someone like me who mainly plays on PS3 and 360 to pay probably more than $300 for a new console to play games I could buy for the current consoles. I'm concerned about what will happen once the other new consoles come out; will they completely overpower the Wii U leading to inferior ports?