Topic: Nintendo Clarifies E3 Plans: Treehouse Live All Day 1

[Shaymin]

The spoiler averse can probably pass this year.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/42642/nintendo-clarifies-e3-plans-treehouse-live-all-day-1

Nintendo has clarified their E3 plans for this year's show, and Treehouse Live has a  starring role.

In lieu of a Digital Event on Tuesday, June 14 Nintendo will present an all-day Treehouse Live starting at 9 am Pacific time (12 pm Eastern) focused entirely on The Legend of Zelda for Wii U.

Developer interviews and "plenty of fun" are promised as part of the show as well.

[Soren]

At this point I seriously question why they even bothered to go to E3.

[TOPHATANT123]

That's disappointing, not even a Nintendo World Championships, where will they announce Mother 3 now?

[Luigi Dude]

They already said Zelda was going to be the only game they show at E3 last week, not sure why some people are still surprised?  When you tell your investors at your end of year financial conference you will only have Zelda at E3, you're not going to magically have a bunch of non-Zelda games shown, or else Nintendo wouldn't have said we'll only show Zelda at E3 last week.

[Soren]

Probably because even though they said that no one really thought they were going to fill 8+ hours worth of Treehouse Live programming with just one game. Also, you'd think a Nintendo Direct or Digital Event would have included some 3DS stuff since, you know, they still plan to sell 5 million of them this year and Kimishima said there were still some unannounced games.

[nickmitch]

I thought the initial statement was that New Super Zelda U would be the only game playable.  I didn't think it'd be the only game they even talk about.  And not having a digital event at all is such a bummer.

I'm honestly worried that by the time the NX launches, Nintendo will have no more social cache.

[MrPanda]

Hopefully, there'll be any kind of Direct prior to this because I feel like Treehouse Live is usually a slower experience compared to showing highlight after highlight in a row.  There are some who'd prefer a digest trailer rather than watching for a whole day waiting for special announcements.

[Ian Sane]

Here's the kind of silly thing about focusing on Zelda so much - without the NX this is an incomplete picture.  They can show off all this great Zelda stuff they want but that key decision of whether to get the Wii U or NX version can't be considered until the NX debuts.  They're showing off what will almost certainly be the LESSER version since it would be pretty stupid if the newer console couldn't do the game better than the current one.  So let's all get hyped up for the Wii U version that's going to take a backseat to the "real" version on the NX?  Huh?!

[lolmonade]

I like treehouse a lot.  That said, the nice thing about the Digital event was the level of polish in the presentation, while Treehouse was fairly casual in nature.  I was looking forward to at least a long-form reveal for Zelda with that digital event shine.

[Evan_B]

...I joked about this a few days ago on Twitter, saying they would probably spoil a bunch of the game if they did something like this.

But this. I mean, for real? Is this really their plan for Wii U this year? Show a game that's not even coming out on the 30th anniversary for E3 2016 and nothing else...?

[Triforce Hermit]

Nintend00med

[Ian Sane]

I really don't understand why they don't also have a Direct.  You figure they'll show a trailer or something.  When they stopped doing the presentation they still would have a Direct so it was like the same thing but not live.  People have jobs so watching a relatively short Direct is a lot easier to fit into their schedule then a dragged out day of streaming.  I'm concerned about spoilers of course but I also like having a simple video to look at to get an idea on how a game is coming along.  There is some marketing value in having something short and sweet like that that someone can just provide a link to.  It's an accessible way to provide a sneak peek.

Plus I figure only really hardcore fans are going to pay attention to this Treehouse stuff.  Directs and the old E3 presentation are in a format that is more enticing to general videogame fans that aren't specifically interested in Nintendo.  Only the converted will be willing to tune in to an all-day event focused on one game.  I don't see a problem with having the Treehouse event but JUST that?  That just isn't good marketing.  It requires too much investment from the audience.  They need something short and to the point for a more general audience.  Maybe they'll still have videos and screenshots released online.  I sure hope so.

This is the last E3 before the NX comes out and Nintendo is being weird even by their usual standards.  That doesn't give me a lot of confidence.  By this point, several years after it was clear the Wii U was a flop and a new approach is needed, I feel Nintendo needs to have shown a major positive change and I don't see that at all.  Seems like the same old Nintendo.  So the same old Nintendo is secretly getting everything right with the NX while publicly being their usually out-of-touch goofy selves?

[nickmitch]

To say they're only showing one game and that game won't come out for another 9 months is bonkers.  A broader Direct is needed.

[ForgottenPearl]

I still haven't completely wrapped my mind around how stupid Nintendo is acting now...

[Enner]

E3 isn't the show it used to be, and Nintendo is making sure of that.

[Oedo]

After the reaction to last year's digital presentation, this isn't all that surprising. Since they've decided to hold back all the NX stuff and all their big reveals until later this year, skipping the digital presentation is probably the right call. I'm just excited to see Zelda at this point.

[Mop it up]

While I'm still fine with the plan of launching the NX in March 2017 (or later), I do think they could be handling E3 better than they are even if they don't want to show the NX. Zelda is not the only game they have in the pipeline, so I don't see a reason to not feature anything else.

[Evan_B]

After the reaction to last year's digital presentation, this isn't all that surprising. Since they've decided to hold back all the NX stuff and all their big reveals until later this year, skipping the digital presentation is probably the right call. I'm just excited to see Zelda at this point.

The reason the reaction to last year's direct was so poor was because it was a jumbled mess in comparison with the year before, which they nailed pretty flawlessly.

All I'm saying is, Zelda better be a damn good looking game. The past few snippets we've seen of the game looked markedly worse than the initial reveal, which was gorgeous. It better look great, and demo well, or I'm gonna be at a loss for words during the next 9 months- rather similar to Nintendo's own message, hilariously enough.

[broodwars]

Yeah...no, I think I'll pass on watching this, thanks. Zelda is my favorite franchise, but I couldn't watch an all-day stream of it. Thing is, Nintendo does have other games on 3DS & even some Wii U stuff like Paper Mario. I just don't understand why they're overexposing Zelda this much. Even if the game wasn't 9 months away, I wouldn't want to spoil so much of the game for myself.

[Ian Sane]

Since Nintendo says they're only covering Zelda, is it possible that Paper Mario, which is the only other remaining Wii U release I can think of, has been moved to the NX?  You figure if that's still a Wii U title that this is it's last E3 so why wouldn't they show it?  Why would Nintendo intentionally restrict themselves to only one game if they had more to show?  It really doesn't look all that good to show only one game since it implies you only have one game in the pipeline.  So if they have other stuff in the pipeline, wouldn't they show it?  If it has been moved to the NX then it gives a valid excuse to not show it since Nintendo can't without revealing the NX itself.

[Adrock]

At this point I seriously question why they even bothered to go to E3.

Nintendo probably bought the space before NX was moved to 2017.

Kimishima admitted that NX is launching next year so more games will be ready. Good. I'll gladly take a delay if it means there won't be a repeat of Wii U's ass cancer of a first year. Unfortunately, that leaves an NX shaped hole in Nintendo's E3 floor. Still, will it matter? EA, Activision, and Disney are all ditching E3 this year. Granted, I care about Nintendo's output a lot more. And I have always loved E3 season, but I've been spoiled by the Nintendo Directs. With social media and all the other ways to reach fans, huge press only events like E3 are getting harder to justify.

[TOPHATANT123]

Since Nintendo says they're only covering Zelda, is it possible that Paper Mario, which is the only other remaining Wii U release I can think of, has been moved to the NX?  You figure if that's still a Wii U title that this is it's last E3 so why wouldn't they show it?  Why would Nintendo intentionally restrict themselves to only one game if they had more to show?  It really doesn't look all that good to show only one game since it implies you only have one game in the pipeline.  So if they have other stuff in the pipeline, wouldn't they show it?  If it has been moved to the NX then it gives a valid excuse to not show it since Nintendo can't without revealing the NX itself.

https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2016/160427_4e.pdf
It's still a Wii U game according to the investors report. I should hope that Nintendo has a mini direct planned for shortly before or after E3 to show the rest of their line up with a few localisations that NOA has neglected up to this point, like Box Boy 2 and Picross 3D 2. For the end of a cycle there is actually a decent amount of stuff coming, but it seems like they are intentionally trying to screw themselves over with their messaging.

[ShyGuy]

What should I do this year instead of E3? open to suggestions.

[Lemonade]

With all the focus they are putting on it, Zelda had better be amazing.

[Oedo]

After the reaction to last year's digital presentation, this isn't all that surprising. Since they've decided to hold back all the NX stuff and all their big reveals until later this year, skipping the digital presentation is probably the right call. I'm just excited to see Zelda at this point.

The reason the reaction to last year's direct was so poor was because it was a jumbled mess in comparison with the year before, which they nailed pretty flawlessly.

That was a big part of it, true, but a lot of the criticism was centered around the fact that they had nothing big to show. No matter how on point they are with the presentation, they're still showing Tokyo Mirage Sessions, a Paper Mario game that a lot of people are already angry about, and possible second or third tier Wii U releases they haven't announced yet. Is that really exciting for most people? The biggest thing it does is reiterate the fact that they've effectively abandoned the platform. There are a lot of interesting 3DS games coming out this year so from that angle it makes a bit more sense, but even if they focused on those, the story would still be how there's barely anything for the Wii U.

Really, they can do a digital presentation showing off these games whenever they want in the form of a Nintendo Direct. It doesn't have to be during E3, when they're competing with everyone else and fans have come to expect big announcements. Maybe they even do one a couple weeks before E3 like the "Direct Micro" last year (except with content on par with what we got in the March 2016 Direct), where there's less pressure.