Topic: E3 2009 Gathers Over 150 Participants

[NWR_pap64]

For its part, Nintendo is promising their "full support."
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=18310

 Last year's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) looks like it will be the last year to experiment with a small format. Right after the 2008 show ended officials decided to go back to the previous and more grand E3 style, last experienced in 2006. With this change E3 2009 has gained a lot of support from gaming companies. The Entertainment Software Association (ESA), the organization that runs E3, has confirmed that over 150 companies have purchased space in the convention this year. According to officials the support has been overwhelming and they expect a "packed house" as well as long lines once E3 starts on June 2.    

Nintendo has pledged full support for this year's E3, with Nintendo of America Reggie Fils-Aime stating that "E3 brings a wide variety of key audiences into contact with products from many companies, including Nintendo. It's the place where creativity is on display, and as a 'sneak peak' for our entire industry it helps generate excitement for gamers around the world."    

Reggie has mentioned on multiple occasionsthat Nintendo will deliver a much stronger presence at this year's E3. The company's 2008 presentation was met with a lot of criticism and disappointment, and even forced Nintendo to apologize.

[BeautifulShy]

I heard there is going to be booth babes at this E3.Any truth to that Pap?

[Kairon]

*groan*

[NWR_pap64]

I heard there is going to be booth babes at this E3.Any truth to that Pap?

That is correct.

I think the reception of E3 2008 was so bad that it forced the officials to go into alert mode and decided to bring back everything.

I mean I would be lying if I said that no one complained about the lack of booth babes.

[GoldenPhoenix]

I heard there is going to be booth babes at this E3.Any truth to that Pap?

That is correct.

I think the reception of E3 2008 was so bad that it forced the officials to go into alert mode and decided to bring back everything.

I mean I would be lying if I said that no one complained about the lack of booth babes.

That is tragic news.

[NWR_pap64]

I think this was caused by both the lack of enthusiasm from the big tree and the media's desire to see a show. Since the companies didn't deliver they all threw a fit, and when the companies saw the fit they threatened to leave for good.

This is why I am approaching E3 with a big grain of salt. It seems that this year in an attempt to gain back the favor of the media they want to throw a big, amazing show. This could blow up in their faces in the same way that E3 2008 blew up in their faces last year.

[BeautifulShy]

Pap are you going this year? If not who is?

[NWR_pap64]

Pap are you going this year? If not who is?

I can't this year. I have school in June and my funds are limited. The rest of the staff is likely to go, though.

[Mop it up]

This E3 had better be "M3" and show off no less than three Mario games, otherwise Nintendo doesn't love me and I'm throwing the Wii in the trash.

I heard there is going to be booth babes at this E3.Any truth to that Pap?

That is correct.

I think the reception of E3 2008 was so bad that it forced the officials to go into alert mode and decided to bring back everything.

I mean I would be lying if I said that no one complained about the lack of booth babes.

That is tragic news.

Agreed. We need booth Birdos.

[BeautifulShy]

Pap are you going this year? If not who is?

I can't this year. I have school in June and my funds are limited. The rest of the staff is likely to go, though.

Ok Pap.

Any other staff want to let me know if they are going?

[KDR_11k]

Let's hope there'll be more DYNAMIC SLASH at E3.

[AV]

E3 is exciting for me again. THe only problem is June 2nd, I wish it was sooner

[Ian Sane]

I remain skeptical of Nintendo.  They have to show me, I don't take their word anymore.  Reggie hyped up last year's E3, too.

Though I'm glad to see E3 try to be a big deal again.  It used to be an event, like Christmas morning for gamers.  Why the organizers ever wanted to mess with that I'll never know.

[broodwars]

I remain skeptical of Nintendo.  They have to show me, I don't take their word anymore.  Reggie hyped up last year's E3, too.

Though I'm glad to see E3 try to be a big deal again.  It used to be an event, like Christmas morning for gamers.  Why the organizers ever wanted to mess with that I'll never know.

They messed with it because publishers complained about the booth cost and the press complained about having to cover too much ground in 3 days.  Basically, the industry complained, and the market told them to shut the hell up.  That's how we ended up with the New-E3-same-as-the-old-E3.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

I remain skeptical of Nintendo.  They have to show me, I don't take their word anymore.  Reggie hyped up last year's E3, too.

Though I'm glad to see E3 try to be a big deal again.  It used to be an event, like Christmas morning for gamers.  Why the organizers ever wanted to mess with that I'll never know.

They messed with it because publishers complained about the booth cost and the press complained about having to cover too much ground in 3 days.  Basically, the industry complained, and the market told them to shut the hell up.  That's how we ended up with the New-E3-same-as-the-old-E3.

It was easiest to complain right after Wii kicked everyone's collective ass and stole would-be booth visits at E3 2006.

*crickets*
[Some Company] "You know, this trade show thing isn't work out so well for us."

[broodwars]

I remain skeptical of Nintendo.  They have to show me, I don't take their word anymore.  Reggie hyped up last year's E3, too.

Though I'm glad to see E3 try to be a big deal again.  It used to be an event, like Christmas morning for gamers.  Why the organizers ever wanted to mess with that I'll never know.

They messed with it because publishers complained about the booth cost and the press complained about having to cover too much ground in 3 days.  Basically, the industry complained, and the market told them to shut the hell up.  That's how we ended up with the New-E3-same-as-the-old-E3.

It was easiest to complain right after Wii kicked everyone's collective ass and stole would-be booth visits at E3 2006.

*crickets*
[Some Company] "You know, this trade show thing isn't work out so well for us."

For once, we agree on something.  Shall I check to see if Dogs and Cats are living together?

[KDR_11k]

I remain skeptical of Nintendo.  They have to show me, I don't take their word anymore.  Reggie hyped up last year's E3, too.

Though I'm glad to see E3 try to be a big deal again.  It used to be an event, like Christmas morning for gamers.  Why the organizers ever wanted to mess with that I'll never know.

Last E3 was defensive, they acted on the expectation that MS and Sony would make serious advances towards the "casual" gamer and if Nintendo had been caught unprepared then they could have faced defeat.

I don't like this focus on tradeshows though, the internet makes it possible to distribute information easily all year 'round rather than clump it together into a tradeshow.

[NWR_pap64]

I don't want to get anyone's hopes up, especially my own. But I honestly believe that this show will be better on the accounts that...
1. Their recent press events have been great at delivering info on new games
2. The whole focus will be on Motion Plus

Motion Plus will be released a month after the event. From a business point of view it makes sense to hype the new unit as much as possible. The best way to do this is by highlighting many games that use it, both existing and to be released soon.

Sega Virtua Tennis, EA Tiger Woods 2010, Grand Slam Tennis, Wii Sports Resorts and Red Steel 2 are likely to get demoed off. But its likely that they will show at least one new game from Nintendo that uses MP extensively. A killer app so to speak. Whether is a casual or core title its up to Nintendo to decide, but I think it might be a core title because casuals already have the MP killer app (Wii Sports Resorts).

DSi will also be a big focus, especially if there are games that use its features greatly. Spirit Tracks is likely to be the star here.

But like I said, I don't want to get anyone's hopes up. Nintendo just loves to surprise people.

[Ian Sane]

Last E3 was defensive, they acted on the expectation that MS and Sony would make serious advances towards the "casual" gamer and if Nintendo had been caught unprepared then they could have faced defeat.

Realistically Nintendo's E3 didn't suck.  Their lineup for the next nine months or so SUCKED.  Animal Crossing Port, Wii Music and a bunch of a rehashed Cube games.  There was no way they could have possibly polished that turd.

This show will likely be better just because, well, what the **** has Nintendo been doing for the last year or so?  Almost all the stuff we know about is by Nintendo's smaller teams or has been outsourced to another developer.  Nintendo doesn't pay their developers to sit on their ass so there's something in the works and I imagine whatever it is will be shown at E3.  The presence of SOMETHING as opposed to the glorified NOTHING that last year was would make for a better show by default.

I figure this E3 is do or die for Nintendo in regards to core gamers.  It will demonstrate if Nintendo truly cares about that market or not.  If they care they have something big to show.

[NWR_insanolord]

Realistically Nintendo's E3 didn't suck.  Their lineup for the next nine months or so SUCKED.  Animal Crossing Port, Wii Music and a bunch of a rehashed Cube games.  There was no way they could have possibly polished that turd.

This is mostly true, but they still had Wario Land: Shake It in the pipeline and they didn't even mention it in passing in the press conference and it wasn't even playable in their booth, you needed an appointment for that.

[UncleBob]

Time until Megaton Press Conference?

[TJ Spyke]

Just a quick comment on the 150 number, that would be more impressive if the majority of the companies were developers and publishers. Looking at the list of E3 vendors shows that most of them are distributors (companies that just ship games and hardware to stores) and companies that make crap like skins and third party controllers.

Nintendo cares about core gamers, but core gamers will bitch no matter what. They shut up briefly after Nintendo's awesome October press event, but they soon starting bitching again about how Nintendo doesn't care about them and all that other nonsense they have been spouting since the Wii launched. They can keep complaining if they want, I will enjoy the many great games the Wii has already and look forward to the ones coming out this year.

[Stogi]

But its likely that they will show at least one new game from Nintendo that uses MP extensively. A killer app so to speak. Whether is a casual or core title its up to Nintendo to decide, but I think it might be a core title because casuals already have the MP killer app (Wii Sports Resorts).

You just got my hopes up. I would love for Nintendo to unveil a new 'M+ exclusive' game.

[broodwars]

But its likely that they will show at least one new game from Nintendo that uses MP extensively. A killer app so to speak. Whether is a casual or core title its up to Nintendo to decide, but I think it might be a core title because casuals already have the MP killer app (Wii Sports Resorts).

It'll be Star Fox White Water Rafting Adventure, to continue the trend of crappy Star Fox games that completely negate everything that anyone ever liked in the series.  In the game, the Star Fox team will be on vacation on a sunny mountain retreat, so we'll have our obligatory minigames.  The centerpiece of the game will be the WW Rafting experience, where players use the Wii Motion+ to paddle their canoes down a river...only nothing they do will actually matter because the raft is being pulled along by an Arwing via a tether.  Other events will include a hiking adventure where everyone runs around the woods on foot, and there will also be a mode where you fly around the mountain range in the Arwing trying to save Slippy from a bear, which will be approximately 10 seconds in length and revolve entirely around flying through a single ring.

Oh I kid.  Actually, I do think we'll hear something about Star Fox at E3, if only because it's one of the few semi-worthwhile franchises Nintendo has right now that they haven't done anything with in a while.  Honestly, I'm thinking now would be a good time to see some early footage of Zelda Wii with Wii Motion + action.  It would fit the standard Nintendo Zelda-trickle, where we see bits and pieces of the game about 3-4 years before it actually comes out.  More realistically, I expect we'll see a Pokemon game for Wii that may or may not use Wii Motion +...but once again it wont' be an ACTUAL Pokemon game because that would make too much sense.  Instead, it'll be another Stadium clone.

Oh, and naturally DSi will have a decent showing.  But the biggest reveal of all will be the massive amount of money Nintendo's been making, as shown via mountains of flowcharts and graphs on Powerpoint Presentations.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

"But the biggest reveal of all will be the massive amount of money Nintendo's been making, as shown via mountains of flowcharts and graphs on Powerpoint Presentations."

This is what E3 is all about.  Anticipation frothing.