It sounds like Nintendo's Press Conference is probably once again 2nd in the Big Three.  Maybe I misunderstood the process, but don't the 3 hardware manufacturers normally rotate slots every year so different companies have a spot at 1st or 3rd in the conference line?  :confused;

I've always recalled Nintendo going second -- usually in the morning...as is the case once again this year on a Tuesday morning.

Microsoft usually goes first on a Monday night with a dud of a presentation, Nintendo the next morning, and finally Sony closes it out talking about how "innovative" they are with a presentation on Tuesday late afternoon/night.

I expect the exact same this year, too. Woo.

All aboard the HYPE TRAIN!!!!!!! CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Someone post that awesome BttF flying train gif.

I suspect the conferences will be better than usual this year.  Microsoft actually has to show a Kinect-less game other than Halo 4 (sadly, that'll probably be Black Ops 2); Nintendo has Wii U software to finally unveil; and Sony has a good lineup of PS3 titles to show off (Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale; The Last of Us; Sly 4; God of War Ascension; etc.) as well as unveiling new Vita software.

I still think Microsoft's will be a total wash since they seem to have completely sold out to Kinect, but the other two should probably be quite good.  I'm really looking forward to both Sony and Nintendo's conferences (with the appropriate threads, as usual.  ;) ).

Nintendo actually went last in 2011 - it went Microsoft -> EA -> Ubi -> Sony on Monday and then Nintendo in the usual slot. I suspect they're doing the same this year.

It's only a month away already? Where does the time go...

What we really need to know is: Will there be new F-Zero?

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f118/Cericme/WiiAmbulance.png
I know its a not a train and one day I'll get a wild hair and animate it.

Kick Ass.

That's just as awesome.

Nice.

Sweet it's the day before the Zelda concert, can't wait!  ;D

That's a +1 for Ceric. Well played, sir.

Did he make that himself?

Does it matter? He introduced it to our lives and we're all the better for it.

Anyway, it sucks I can't see this live. I got grad practice to go to. :(

Sony's press conference used to be right after Nintendo's, but Sony's kept running into the E3 show floor opening, which was great for us Nintendo folk, since the show floor would be a little emptier. Last year, Sony did theirs Monday night, and they're staying there again this year.

Microsoft has recently always gone Monday morning, and then EA and Ubisoft come next.

Wait, does that make Nintendo's conference to be the last one of the Big Three?

That is so true. Microsoft is going completely against the fanbase that set up the Xbox brand and made it popular all these years. They're chasing after that casual crowd, but they don't realize that the casual gamers don't really care about hardware loyalty, they go to whatever is "in" (iPhone, iPad, Android, Kindle, Wii, DS, etc.). Microsoft will get some short-term profits from the casual market, but casual gamers aren't going to give Microsoft the long-term profits they need from XBLA purchases, DLC, Xbox Live Gold subscriptions, etc.

Of course you mean that Microsoft locked up the North American hardcore fanbase years ago, are continuing to cater directly to them with Halo 4 and Black Ops 2, and are now cashing in on the casuals as well with Kinect.

Yes and no.  The Ambulance I actually settled on is from Macross, because mine weren't cutting it.  The rest is me.  Here's the thread that this came about in.

That's exactly why they're trying so hard to make Kinect the "in" thing, since the Wii should be falling out of favor.

Space.  The Final Frontier.  That is one of the biggest problem I have with Kinect.

Couldn't I make the some point about Nintendo?  If casual gamers will drop Kinect in a heartbeat, they'll do the same with Nintendo's systems.  At least the Xbox 360 is the console of choice for core gamers.  If the casuals all bailed tomorrow, MS would still have a strong core gamer userbase while Nintendo would be totally fucked.

Nintendo still has their own strong fan base. Their business model caters to those consumers the most, not casual gamers. Nintendo knows who their audience is and that's why the majority of their releases are for their fan base.

I dunno. We've had discussions listing games from Nintendo that fall under "core" and "casual" with core games winning by headcount. I think the system itself was designed for the casual crowd but still led to the ultimate core experience in Skyward Sword. Would've been nice to see more of a duality, but instead we kinda just saw core titles designed for a casual system.

Is that the reason why Reggie took years to finally bring over Xenoblade Chronicles and Pikmin 2 NPC?

To be fair, it took Europe awhile to localize Xenoblade as well (over a year), which isn't horribly different from the time it takes most RPG's to be localized. So at most it took Reggie "months" to bring it over after Europe got it in August. Pikmin 2 on the other hand is ridiculous.

I still agree Nintendo does know who their userbase is for the most part, even if they bungle it every once in awhile (with North America seemingly taking up the mantle of the bungler).

The Nintendo fanbase isn't as pro-Nintendo as they were in the past.  Just look at this forum of Nintendo fans and opinion is split regarding the Wii.  There are some Nintendo fans who were not happy with the Wii and won't be a guaranteed Wii U sale.  General core gamers who aren't specifically Nintendo fans think of the Wii as a joke.  If you assume all the casuals bail for iPad games then who does Nintendo have left?  Even if the Nintendo fanbase is on board that's like Gamecube level sales which I don't think would be very good for Nintendo.  Except the Wii turned off a chunk of the Nintendo fanbase so it would really be LESS than Gamecube level.

With the Wii Nintendo pissed away the core market and turned off a part of their fanbase for the casual buck.  If the casuals bail it is going to be an uphill battle for them with the Wii U.  Core gamers see Kinect as an even bigger joke than the Wii BUT it isn't like the Xbox 360 has transformed into a casual system like the Wii became known as.  A core gamer Xbox 360 owner can just not buy Kinect and continue to enjoy the numerous core games still being developed for their system.  Even if MS focuses more on Kinect the third parties are making lots of core 360 games and third party games are more the draw for non-Nintendo systems anyway.

MS actually has the right idea.  They don't have a casual system and they still got casuals to buy their system despite the supposedly intimidating complexity of the superior hardware and reputation as a "hardcore" system.  Kinect turned the Xbox 360 into an "everyone" system like Nintendo claims to have, but never does.  The system has everything from casual fluff all the way to the most hardcore niche genres.  And the two groups co-exist.  MS didn't compromise the hardware to accomodate casuals as the system is a fully capable of running cutting edge games.  Hell Kinect is an optional accessory and the combined price of a system and Kinect is double that of the Wii.  But it didn't matter, which pisses in the face of Nintendo's insistence that they had to have a cheap system with glorified last gen hardware and had to shove their gimmick controller down everyone's throats.

Normally, I support snark but I'm not really understanding it here. I was referring more to NCL since they handle most of the development duties. In any case, you cited 2 games, 1 being a port of a game that came out almost a decade ago. I don't see how that points to Nintendo somehow not catering to their own fan base most. There are dozens of examples supporting Nintendo's commitment to their fans.

That's a far cry from "totally fucked" like you originally said.

And are we even 'split'? It seems a few loud people make up the negative portion of the Wii argument.

Yes, as with many things a vocal minority does not always indicate a massive dislike for something. Message boards should never be used alone as a measuring stick for how positive or negative something is received.

So its all NoE's fault? They should have busted their ass and got the port done quicker so Reggie could release it in NoA?

All Reggie did was piggyback off NoE's effort. NoA could... you know... also do some porting of their own. They don't need to wait for NoE to do it and then copy it.

You are absolutely correct. We can use sales figures to gauge massive dislike for something. If a major franchise game bombs and sells far less than Nintendo's expectations then you know there is a massive dislike for it.

You don't need to take the word of a "vocal minority" for it. Its a stone cold fact and the sales figures are the proof.

And as far as Vocal Minorities go, keep in mind it can go BOTH ways. Perhaps the Vocal Minority in this case is the ones who love the game? I'm inclined to believe that, because again I point to the sales figures as evidence.

And let's say I'm wrong and the overwhelming majority of gamers do LOVE the game, then if that' the case why did the game fail to sell as well as Nintendo expected? Even though I don't like the game I preordered it and bought it at full price, so my purchase is certainly included in the total sales figure. But even with my support the game didn't do well. Initially yes, but after word of mouth spread there was no legs to it.

Not necessarily.  I can think of some notable Nintendo-published games that sold below expectations but are generally well-liked.  Just off the top of my head, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and Sin & Punishment: Star Successor come to mind.  I can also think of some Nintendo-published games that are generally thought significantly less of that sold well above expectations (New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Mario Kart Wii, etc.).

Any Nintendo fan forum is going to be more pro-Nintendo than anything because anyone who doesn't care isn't going to bother to be here.  There aren't any true Nintendo haters here.  Anyone upset with Nintendo on this forum is deep down a Nintendo fan that is merely upset with the direction the company has gone lately and wants things to be better.  As a result most negativity is going to be from a vocal minority as that perfect storm of love and hate is going to be rare.  An outright Nintendo hater or someone who has completely abandoned them is not going to be here.  It's all fans and fans of anything are typically going to be more positive about it.

Coming from the closest thing to a Nintendo hater on these forums... ;)