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General Gaming / Anyone else think Nintendo had a lame show?
« on: May 17, 2003, 02:00:14 AM »
I was fortunate enough to attend e3 and left the show with an overall feeling of unmet expectations. Like Rick stated, though: the exhibition was unimpressive on all fronts.
The reason that Nintendo's showing seemed so lackluster relative to that of the other console manufacturers is that Nintendo, for the past two years, has shocked the public with either stellar line-ups or massive surprises (or a combination thereof). This year, the public was instead treated to a score of rehashes and franchise-milkings (presented under the guise of the gimmicky GBA-GCN connection) combined with an underwhelming display of sequels. Star Fox, for example, played and looked absolutely horrible -- certainly not up to Nintendo's standards of quality and not even up to those of Namco. The greatest showings in the Nintendo booth (in my opinion) weren't even 1st-party games; Soul Calibur II and F-Zero GX garnered the most personal attention and seemed to be crowd-pleasers moreso than Nintendo's own titles such as Pikmin 2 and the lackluster Kirby Air Ride. Titles scattered about the rest of the show floor such as Viewtiful Joe were better-received still than the majority of Nintendo's showings.
Conversely, Sony-specific products such as Final Fantasy X-2 and Microsoft-licensed products such as Conker: Live and Uncut were sickeningly unimpressive given hype and expectations.
This is an awkward time for the game industry. We're roughly halfway between generations with three consoles on the market, with third parties being juggled about, with rumblings of mergers, with franchises being outsourced to exterior developers (Star Fox, F-Zero, Metal Gear, etc.) -- it's not especially abnormal, then, that this year's e3 fumbled about itself.
What is abnormal -- at least to me, as a Nintendo loyalist -- is the apparent utter lack of an attempted push forward ahead of the competition. Nintendo generally exceed its competitors at this show -- not match them. It's for this reason that I'm disappointed in Nintendo's showing. This was their time to shine -- rather, to outshine -- yet, in my opinion, they failed to do so.
Here's hoping to a grand Spaceworld this August.
The reason that Nintendo's showing seemed so lackluster relative to that of the other console manufacturers is that Nintendo, for the past two years, has shocked the public with either stellar line-ups or massive surprises (or a combination thereof). This year, the public was instead treated to a score of rehashes and franchise-milkings (presented under the guise of the gimmicky GBA-GCN connection) combined with an underwhelming display of sequels. Star Fox, for example, played and looked absolutely horrible -- certainly not up to Nintendo's standards of quality and not even up to those of Namco. The greatest showings in the Nintendo booth (in my opinion) weren't even 1st-party games; Soul Calibur II and F-Zero GX garnered the most personal attention and seemed to be crowd-pleasers moreso than Nintendo's own titles such as Pikmin 2 and the lackluster Kirby Air Ride. Titles scattered about the rest of the show floor such as Viewtiful Joe were better-received still than the majority of Nintendo's showings.
Conversely, Sony-specific products such as Final Fantasy X-2 and Microsoft-licensed products such as Conker: Live and Uncut were sickeningly unimpressive given hype and expectations.
This is an awkward time for the game industry. We're roughly halfway between generations with three consoles on the market, with third parties being juggled about, with rumblings of mergers, with franchises being outsourced to exterior developers (Star Fox, F-Zero, Metal Gear, etc.) -- it's not especially abnormal, then, that this year's e3 fumbled about itself.
What is abnormal -- at least to me, as a Nintendo loyalist -- is the apparent utter lack of an attempted push forward ahead of the competition. Nintendo generally exceed its competitors at this show -- not match them. It's for this reason that I'm disappointed in Nintendo's showing. This was their time to shine -- rather, to outshine -- yet, in my opinion, they failed to do so.
Here's hoping to a grand Spaceworld this August.
