Nintendo's E3 performance

I've had a few days to think this one over, but my opinion has remained pretty much the same.

After the abysmal E3 performance that Nintendo had last year, I feel they've learned and corrected their mistakes this year.

Last year Nintendo had a very limited show were they did little to show games and mainly trumpeted their success. We saw titles such as Wii Music and Wii Sports resort flaunted about while the more traditional Nintendo audience went pretty much ignored.

Nintendo went into this conference needing to show something for everyone and focus on delivering software. On this level they more than succeeded. Many in the core gaming press had perhaps expected a big blowout news conference from Nintendo as perhaps a more apologetic way of making up for performance last year. Instead it seems Nintendo simply balanced the formula and delivered the kind of performance necessary of them in their current market position.

They nailed down their new casual audience with more in depth demonstrations of "Wii Sports Resort" and the announcement of a sequel for "Wii Fit". They threw out some great hardcore gaming announcements with the exciting announcement of "Metroid Other M" and "Golden Sun DS" (a RPG that many fans have been wanting for quite some time). Filling in the middle ground between these two sides was Mario. Two Mario titles were announced, "New Super Mario Brothers Wii" and "Mario Galaxy 2".

This was a perfect mix, Mario has always stood as a great gateway into more traditional gaming fair. People that would prefer to stay on the casual end of the pool saw more of one game which I would consider Nintendo's casual ringer (the first "Wii Sports" was a huge reason that people bought the Wii I can see Resort being an even bigger deal as it's a better package) and a new announcement in "Wii Fit Plus", I should also mention that Nintendo announced a new Vitality Sensor (I'm a bit skeptical about this one but we'll see were they go). The hardcore mix was the final balance that really showed Nintendo understood the desire for deeper storytelling in games.

Sadly though, while I can't see Nintendo balancing audiences any better, there were members of the press and the gaming community that felt letdown by Nintendo. The main pressure comes from the fact that both Microsoft and Sony debuted their own motion sensing systems at the expo. While the Wii Motion plus concept is over a year old and has yet to hit market there was just no way for Nintendo to really use it to counter other companies high concept ideas. I can't say what my opinion on what these concepts is until they actually launch though. Many gamers and members of press were excited about this seeing them as a one up to Nintendo's offerings. (If I were to hedge my bets though I'd place them on Sony who seem to have formed a superior version of the Wii's infrared tracking system by using a camera and colored light on the end of a baton like controller.)

However ultimately Nintendo is simply done in by its family image. Many of the more self defined "core" group that both watch and attend this event feel betrayed by Nintendo's new market. So now that Nintendo is trying to play both groups their old fans feel that they're only getting a bone thrown towards them. It's very strange to see this kind of all or nothing feeling come from a group of people but past experience has probably done alot to enforce this.

I feel most of this belief is caused more by Nintendo's more conservative stance on issues rather then any true desire to lose their old audience. It has to be tough to stand in Nintendo's place, as the gateway to new gamers while still dealing with many who have nostalgia for old Nintendo franchises. Nintendo is also held to a higher standard then most developers. Hence many gamers are disgusted by Mario Galaxy 2's reuse of the same game engine/setting despite this being common practice for many of the best selling franchises.

I could delve into more detail on alot of the facilitates of their show at E3. However I think I'll simply end this post with a suggestion.

If Nintendo wish to truly broaden the audience of their platform, they are going to need to find ways to encourage third parties to hold back surprises and debut them at their trade show. If Microsoft and Sony can announce games not developed internally at their main trade shows, then Nintendo needs to do the same.

There was more to Wii then first party at E3 and while many of those impressions were seen once writers hit the show floor itself. It would have had greater impact (especially on those watching from the distance) if Nintendo had debuted and shown personal confidence in some of these efforts at their press event. It is critical that Nintendo separate the assumption that they are the only company to produce significant titles on their console. If Nintendo wants gamers to believe that third parties will be the ones providing them with more "core gaming" experiences they need to push it more at events and not make it sound like a PR cop-out