Topic: ign pans nintendo's e3 conf

[Fro]

I just watched the 800k version of the conference, and MP3 definitely looks better than MP2... just hard to tell on low quality.

[couchmonkey]

Well, I guess I just have different expectations than everyone else.  I didn't expect to hear the price today, or the release date.  That's strategic info, and "under $300" and "in quarter 4" is good enough for me.

The game footage looked great.  The graphics were not that impressive, but that doesn't matter because the games look FUN, and Nintendo showed how they would work with the remote.  Sony's demos were flat-out boring, and Microsoft's footage looked like...well, Xbox.  Same old games.  Viva Pinata was the only title for the 360 that looked really different.  (Too Human and 99 Nights get honourary mention for only looking 85% like typical Xbox games).  

I felt Nintendo really only had to do one thing at the press conference: show how the games work.  They did it with Zelda and Red Steel, and they look like fun.  Lots of fun!  The press can play the other 25 games to their heart's content tomorrow through Friday, and tell us all about it.  After all, that's why they're invited to E3.

Edit: added that Nintendo is demonstrating 27 games this week, way more than GameCube, DS, or (I think) Xbox 360 in their launch years.

[jasonditz]

I'm fine with "Q4", but I really wanted a hard price point for the system and at least a guide for what the VC games were likely to cost.

[wandering]

Quote
Originally posted by: Magik
Nintendo missed a big opportunity to really let the general public, the group Nintendo is trying to go after, know all there is to know about the Wii.  E3 is pretty much the only gaming related event that the mainstream media outlets such as CNN ever cover in depth.  TGS?  When was the last time a mainstream media outlet ever talked about news about TGS and broadcasted them on television?

With Sony caving in and releasing actual prices and the reaction they got for it, Nintendo could have really stuck it to Sony and won over the jaded crowd, cause there are a lot, since we know that it is at least cheaper than a 360.

Their presentation was great, but it could have been even better if they released some more information.

I think you're confusing what would be strategically good for Nintendo with what you personally want. Revealing the price too early just wouldn't be a very good move...there's no need to 'stick it' to sony, they've already done that to themselves.

Anyway. I never really bought into all the hype about a giant final secret being revealed. All I wanted was game footage, I got it, and I was blown away.  

[willie1234]

I created a monster with this thread...

I'm surprised at all the angst here.  Who cares what the price is, it is almost certanly either 199 or 249, both of which are perfectly reasonable given a modest hardware upgrade, wifi and a hugely complex and likely expensive controller.

The conference blew me away.  The energy in the crowd and onstage was great, the gameplay demos were great, and the tenis game at the end was a lot of fun.  Nintendo is absolutely right to hold on to a few cards, both to keep the hype going, and also to give them some wiggle room should Sony or MS change course last minute.

What the whiners on e3 are missing, and I think people here are too, is that the main point that Nintendo delivered on in spades is their continued dedication to excellent games.  Just look at the boards from the last few months to see that this was absolutely in doubt, with people worried about a cheapening of Metroid, Zelda and a focus on non-games.  Nintendo showed us that they were dead serious about the kind of 4 star game quality we've come to expect from it's flagship hardware, but this time with the energy and innovation that comes from a new control scheme.  

If they can pull off metroid, zelda and mario by christmas 2006 then I think they'll be #1 in 2006/2007.

ps - in contrast, Sony showed us their dedication to nothing but frills and hardware horsepower.  Other than the tilt control, we saw nothing innovative in the games at all.  And even the tilt control did not inovate in the game _play_, just how the controller was used.  A joystick already can move a plane in the same manner.

[denjet78]

Nintendo's conference completely blew Sony's away. There is no denying that. The simple fact that we got to see Wii games played in person as well as all the new titles announced was incredible, but I still feel like it could have been better. Outside of Zelda, which we've seen a billion times already although true, not being played on the Wii, there wasn't that huge, new, explosive title that I wanted to see. Some people have said before that they didn't see a Wii controller killer-app, and I think they're right. Where was the completely new, totally out there, fresh and exciting title that showed what the Wii was completely capable of? Wii Sports was a good start but it's... Wii Sports. Not exactly groundbreaking. And where in gods name was Pikmin?

And I'm completely fine with critiquing Nintendo. I mean, if no one says anything bad, they'll never know what they need to change. However I'm completely astounded by the lack of feedback on Sony's conference. I have seen absolutely no negativity in regards to anything that they announced, including the rediculous price. And the worst of all, everyone is saying how smart Sony was for throwing gyroscopic control into the PS3 controller. And a lot of these were the same people who, just the day before, were still bashing Nintendo for using it in the first place.

How can these people call themselves journalists when they have absolutely ZERO credibility?

Without feedback we end up with the Duel Shock controller for 10 years. Including this next generation, that's going to be 15 years! My god... 15 years with the SAME crappy user interface? Am I the only one out there that can say "stunted"?

[ruby_onix]

[GoldenPhoenix]

Den, no way has Sony stunted the market, they have been innovating like crazy. "6 degrees of control" I mean wow, that SOUNDS cool so it has to be innovative, and they even said it was so it must be so! Not to mention the fact that they came up with the innovative idea of having not one, but TWO digital sticks. Oh yeah, they also came up with the revolutionary idea of putting force feedback in their controller instead of an attachment, I mean wow you can't say they have stunted the gaming industry with a history like that.

[Dryden]

These people are journalists.  They've highlighted every missing element from Nintendo's strategy every time they make an announcement - last E3 we were given a shiny box and promises.  IGN complained.  This year we were given a lot of information, finally, but very little hard consumer data.  IGN complains.

So?  IGN's writers are consumers too.  Even if they can take that bias out of their reporting, they still serve other consumers with their info.  Consumers want to know launch dates and pricing.  So does IGN.  I don't think they panned the conference at all.  They simply pointed out the missing info.

[denjet78]

Quote
Originally posted by: Dryden
These people are journalists.

I have more than a few problems with this statement.

[Ceric]

(I've only read half-way through)

The problem with this whole thing is what Nintendo left out isn't really that great for speculation.  I mean for me that's half the fun of the next console.  Speculating with everyone.  What was the big secret?  Missing. I know.

There were little secrets.  I mean putting a speaker in the controller has some potential but in the end seems like the most sparkling innovationy thing in the controller.  But it was glanced over.  The most exciting newish, "read not officially announced", thing about the controller was the Nunchuku sensor.  But it too was glanced over.  Confirmation of Rumble would have been nice too.  But it wasn't mentioned. (It's on the Tech Sheet)

I mean Nintendo's being just a big tease.  You can only tease someone so far.  If the keep teasing it will be like calling wolf.  No one will care when its actually something worth a good amount of attention.  6 months until release.  Unless it has something to do with a camera, Sony can't do another total retool.  The fact is we probably see the controller they showed as an accessory later on if the Batarang had acceptance.

I mean everything in the conference was pretty much, "glanced over".  Nintendo most have had everyone practice there parts alot.  Because if you look, beside Miyamota and Iwata, they have the same hand gestures and measured paced.  That doesn't happen naturally.  While I'm griping why didn't they have it end with Iwata conducting again and going to the logo with a catch phrase?

Edit:  Did anybody else notice that the "incased in glass" look was in most of the more notable footage? (MP3 (Samus), Red Steel(Just about Everyone), Mario Galaxy (Mario in the PGC Screen Shot))
Edit2:  Going solely on the Pre-E3 conference I agree with Bozon.

[Nick DiMola]

I really enjoyed the conference on a whole. As others have said, I think my expectations were a bit different. I wanted to see games and I wanted to see them played with the controller. I saw this and more and it was very satisfying. Not to mention the controller looked very natural and very fun. I can imagine playing a game like Red Steel and feeling the rumble and swinging the sword and hearing the blade right in my ear. Very engaging.

On another note, I hate video game journalists. It's like a big joke. They were the journalists who weren't good enough to hack it in the real world and ended up in games. There is no professionalism, there is no stripping of bias, and as a result, there is a significant impact in the market. People trust these people with their money and that is a very big thing. What winds up happening is these jackasses spout off their completely ridiculous opinions and they are carried into the minds of the people they preach to. I actually come to this board for my news and reviews. I trust all of your opinions and news more than I trust any single gaming site out there. I wish there was some way to legitimize game journalism. I thought G4 had the potential when it started, but they turned out worse than anyone else.  

[couchmonkey]

I'm pretty sure they did confirm rumble at one point, and some people even claimed that the guy demonstrating Red Steel was actually affected by some kickback in the controller while shooting.  I felt Nintendo let the games speak for themselves yesterday.  Every demo looked like fun (well,  I didn't get to see the tennis one - seems like some thought it was the best and some thought it was the worst).  The thing is, the three Microsoft and Sony demos I saw were dead boring.  That's all I care about, fun games.

I admit, ballpark prices for the virtual console games would be nice and it's probably not a huge part of the strategy for Nintendo.  For me, it doesn't matter, I'm buying the system for the new games, the virtual console is just a bonus.  

[jasonditz]

Yes, they confirmed rumble. Reggie mentioned it.

I enjoyed the conference... and I agree that it was way better than Sony's. But so what? That's like saying I'm a better basketball player than the retarded kid with all the clumps of hair sticking out of his helmet. Doesn't make me a great player.

Nintendo did well with what they did provide at the conference, but when the end rolled around and all my major questions were still unanswered... I became instantly dissatisfied. At least Sony told us enough that I was able to dismiss it out of hand.  

[willie1234]

Quote
I became instantly dissatisfied. At least Sony told us enough that I was able to dismiss it out of hand.

hah, you don't think that's why they rarely/never spill all the beans at once?

[Ian Sane]

One thing that I think is a completely valid complaint regarding the conference was the lack of information.  I wanted to know the price and the release date.  I wanted to know details about the virtual console.  I want to know which games are available at launch.  I'm excited about the Wii because of the games shown but I wasn't impressed with how the games were shown.  Nintendo's E3 site doesn't even have any screenshots of their Wii games.  They have artwork and about one screen per game but that's it.  Meanwhile the DS games have a couple of screens and a movie each.  I know Nintendo wants people to try the games out but most of us don't get to go to E3.  So we need more information about the games.  We need screenshots and movies.

[ruby_onix]

Quote
I really enjoyed the conference on a whole. As others have said, I think my expectations were a bit different. I wanted to see games and I wanted to see them played with the controller.

That's the job of the show floor (and with 27 playable games, they're doing a damn good job of it). Not the pre-show press conference.


Nintendo is lucky to have beaten Sony and MS, in the eyes of Nintendo fans (their usual E3 score). Because Sony and MS came in to the show with nothing much to speak of (a cobbled-together PS3 and the ever-obvious Halo 3), while Nintendo came in with everything. They should have dominated. But no, they want to "tease" us some more, and "give us a taste" even though we already had a pretty good idea what this tasted like, because these oversecretive bastards have been telling us to "wait for E3" since before the last E3, and the console is most likely launching in less than six months.

Oh no! Sony stole the Revmote functionality? Big deal. Delays won't stop that. The N64 launched a year after the PSX, but that didn't stop Sony from stealing analog. Should Nintendo delay the Wii for another year, only to watch the remote get stolen anyways? What would be the point? That's the problem with Nintendo's lack of competition. They can run away. Go chart some new blue ocean, kick back and make it look so easy and profitable, and someone will inevitably come along, put up more of a fight, and take a bite out of them. You can't hide from that under a veil of secrecy.

I would imagine that we didn't hear Nintendo's price because of Sony's $600 announcement. Nintendo was probably all set for Sony to come in with something like an extremely agressive $300, at which point the'd go with something like $150. But since Sony's gone a lot higher, they're wondering how high they can go. $250? $300? They shouldn't have to worry about price drops from MS for now, thanks to Sony's announcement. Yeah, that sucks. But my bigger (well, more immediate) problem with that train of thought is that Nintendo is supposed to go into E3 with contingency plans. $600 isn't off the scale of predictability, so Nintendo should've had their prepared response ready at a moment's notice.

Also there's the fact that Nintendo's not taking advantage of Sony's timing. Sony said $600 and we all had a good laugh. Then we all turned to Nintendo, expecting to repeat the joke in a more official manner. All Nintendo had to do was say something in a "low two" and we'd all be laughing at Sony again. But then Nintendo goes and says "Price doesn't matter." WTF? Not only did that just kill the joke, but now we have to wonder if the joke's really on Nintendo.