Wii Warm Up: Give us your three cents about E3
by Phil Larsen 
{ Jul 16th 2008 at 8:00AM }
Go on, Nintendo can take your punishment. If you hated it, let fly with reasons why. If you loved it, gush about your favorite game (aside from the default selection of Animal Crossing). All in all, was E3 2008 a success or a blunder for Nintendo? You decide.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
mandarin @ Jul 16th 2008 8:09AM
Doods! Dead Rising comes out for Wii. Post a story! Weeeeeeee :)
Agumen @ Jul 16th 2008 8:23AM
It makes me sad that the hardcore have funded Nintendo's push towards the casual market by being early adopters and purchasing a ton of VC titles only to be (apparently judging by the conference) forgotten about. It's not a question of hardcore vs. casual, it's a question of Nintendo appearing to break their tradition of delivering deep and engrossing traditional games every year, a tradition that was probably a huge part of many gamers' decision to buy a Wii. Now they are more interested in cheaper software that relies on clever marketing and pushing a ton of peripherals to make money. Does Wii Sports Resort look great? Yeah. But in terms of gameplay that's all they showed. I love Animal Crossing, but it was already a little stale by the time it was ported to the DS,so to have what could be mistaken for a GCN port + voice chat and a new area is just shockingly lazy. Poor show Nintendo, very poor show.
misfit410 @ Jul 16th 2008 8:24AM
It was a pathetic showing, I for one love the casual games like Wii Sports and such, but Wii Music was given too much attention, and it's just not going to be a success even with the most casual of casual, the only people I could see being entertained by it are very small children who have fun playing with fake instruments toys that just make noise..If they think grown adults are going to be even remotely into this they are insane.
That being said, Happy about Wii Sports 2, AC looks good, and the third parties are given their chance to shine (Hopefully a lack of core Nintendo franchises will let awesome games like Fatal Frame 4, Dead Rising, Mad World, etc.. tear it up in sales)...
I'm still excited about the Wii's future, just not excited for the things Nintendo wants to show us at press conferences.
psyborg @ Jul 16th 2008 8:31AM
Agree completely.
There are some really cool core games in the pipeline for Wii, enough to be pretty damn excited, Nintendo just didn't mention any of them.
GTA for DS could be pretty sweet though.
And screw E3 anyways Famitsu just anounced Dead Rising Wii.
Brad @ Jul 16th 2008 8:57AM
Yeah, Wii Music looks relatively pathetic. And I say 'relatively' because it looks like Mario Paint had more musical appeal than this game will. The percussion instruments might be a fun toy to play with for about 10 minutes, but after that I don't see myself playing a virtual sax or trumpet by simply pressing random buttons in time with the music and dancing around like an idiot to MIDI tones that make the SNES sound like a symphony. I mean, come on, the GCN was able to produce amazing music using MIDI... what's the deal with this crap?
This seems especially dull when there's apparently not going to be any challenge. No winners, no losers... might as well call it Wii Special Ed. At least Rock Band, Guitar Hero, and hell... even Samba de Amigo make the player feel like they've accomplished something.
supa_s @ Jul 16th 2008 11:55AM
that's what most of the fans said about wii fit and now... you can't even find it anywhere
racecar @ Jul 16th 2008 12:24PM
I'm still not impressed with Wii Fit. Remember the Kotaku Report? 64% of Wii Fit purchasers in Japan have stopped playing it. I don't think it's as great as people think it is and it doesn't seem to have the staying power. Sure it may fill Nintendo's coffers because it's at the front of the hype train, but sales don't make it the greatest game in the world (see Red Steel).
Link to article: http://kotaku.com/5022132/64-percent-of-those-polled-gave-up-wii-fit
Hamster @ Jul 16th 2008 8:29AM
At the risk of seeming self-important (unlike Nintendo) I'm just going to pretty much copy and paste what I said yesterday. I'm too depressed to write anything else:
Nintendo's E3 presentation was an absolute travesty. Nintendo just died on stage and it wasn't quick and painless either, it was death by a thousand cuts. I was watching with my hands covered over my face. Just more casual, casual, casual, back-slapping, back-slapping, back-slapping. Why are they so proud of themselves? For selling their soul? For appealing to audiences that don't know any better with unimaginative mediocrity? What's there to be proud of? There's certainly little to be proud of as a Nintendo fan at the moment. Is money all they care about now? Why do they insist on insulting and alienating their fans and gamers at every opportunity when it's us who will still be around when all the casual gamers have gotten bored (or died of old age in grannie's case) and moved onto the next fad? Seems like a pretty stupid long-term strategy. It was arrogance and complacency that cost them last time and it looks like it will be the same thing again.
Where were the games? Animal Crossing will be great, but it wasn't a surprise and it's geared towards casuals (what isn't?), Wii Sports 2 (boring!), Wii Music (even more boring!) Shawn White Snowboarding, Raving Rabbids TV Party (need I say more), more bits of white plastic (urghh), everything using the stupid Balance Board which I don't have because I'm not stupid enough to buy Wii Fit. I just can't believe what happened today. No Kid Icarus, no Pikmin 3, no Disaster: Day of Crisis (the only disaster was the show itself), no new IP, nothing remotely interesting or exciting. What the hell Nintendo? As for that Cammie woman? Could she have been anymore annoying or patronising ("I broke my wrist!", shame it wasn't your neck you stupid bitch). Why has Reggie gone from our hero to our worst enemy? Why is Miyamoto, the greatest creative mind in the universe wasting his time on bland mediocrity like Wii Fit and Wii Music? The casuals aren't watching E3, they don't even know or care what it is, so why spend the whole show pandering to them? Why don't they just be done with it and tell us to go fuck ourselves? It would save us the heartache in the long-run.
I'm severely depressed now. I've read a lot of people saying that watching Nintendo yesterday made them feel like their inner child had died and I totally agree with that. I wish the audience would have started a "YOU SOLD OUT!" chant or at least booed them off stage. It was a disgrace. If the video game industry was a human body Nintendo has always been the heart and soul, now it seems more like the cancer.
Ryan P. @ Jul 17th 2008 12:52AM
I miss Perrin Kaplan allready.
Dylan F @ Jul 16th 2008 8:32AM
Well other than the oblivious choice of Animal Crossing City Folk, nothing else really struck my interest. Although ACCF does look like it will be loads of fun and a perfect sequel we've all been waiting for. It looks like it keeps the same, wholesome Animal Crossing we all know and love, and adds features we all wanted and even adds features we didn't even expect! Like the wi-fi (expected) and voice chat (totally out of the blue). I can't wait to pick up my copy come this November.
But I was really dissapointed that there wasn't more news on the next Zelda, other than, "their working hard". How long does it take?! A few months after TP was released, they told us that even before it was released, they were working on the next Zelda. Now, 2 years later, we still don't have a single word on it.
C'mon Nintendo!
Hughesmar @ Jul 16th 2008 8:38AM
I'm not going to rant like that guy above, but I will ask this:
Why is everyone gushing over AC:CF? It looks exactly like the prior games in the series with the addition of a city that seems to be populated with the stuff that randomly happened in your town in the prior games. Unless there's a bunch of wiz-bang features that will be revealed later I may have to pass on it.
Other than GTA and WiiSports Resort, every other announcement was for stuff we already knew, and subsequently, didn't care about. What a waste.
Dylan @ Jul 16th 2008 8:46AM
I was just backing up my decision that Nintendo did not do as well as I expected. Sorry everyone if I sounded like I was complaining. I was just a bit annoyed that after two years, I havn't heard anything about my favorite franchise.
TheOverlord#2 can has Animals Crossing? @ Jul 16th 2008 12:59PM
Animal Crossing isn't about changing everything around cause the formula works and is a lot of fun. The graphics look good for Animal Crossing, you can take screen caps of your game and send them to people, go to the city(as already said), and a couple of other small things add up to new features.
And besides...this isn't like if Nintendo said Super Mario Galaxy in '07 then said, '09, "Super Mario Galaxy 2: The Same Galaxy!", keep in mind that there have only been 2 games in the Animal Crossing franchise(exclude the Japanese-only Animal Forest which is basically AC on the US GCN but with N64 graphics) so it doesn't deserve all the negative critisism is is getting.
Anthony @ Jul 16th 2008 10:38AM
I think Nintendo just got cocky. They think the sunshines out of their and Mario's behind lol.
Let's hope that games like The Conduit, Call of Duty:World at War and Dead Rising make them stand up and see there are many people wanting to play these games on the Wii!
They may take the hard out of "hard-core" but its up to non-casual/kiddy gamers to speak up with our wallets and support the games that we want. Which most definitely is not what they demoed on the big stage yesterday!
Oh and I am going to have great fun with Wii Music with my little nephew and neice... it will be worth every penny to see them play with that!
Shadow31 @ Jul 16th 2008 8:44AM
My opinion has been asked too much about it. The short gist? It sucked, what is the point in showing casual games at E3? I know no casual gamers who pay attention to E3, many don't even know what it is. Even if they do have some core titles planned, if they don't reveal them before this is over, they screwed themselves over.
Jason @ Jul 16th 2008 11:30AM
This is a decent point but off the mark. This is a PRESS CONFERENCE. It is aimed at the PRESS not core gamers. The main purpose is to feed information to a wide variety of media channels. Case in point, this morning I saw in my BBC RSS a story about Nintendo's announcements. I'm sure other main-stream media outlets are reporting the same.
I totally agree that it was a severe disappointment and I think Nintendo is alienating a very large portion of their long time supporters with the software they are choosing to produce, but if they only focused on the core gamer at E3 the main-stream media wouldn't say a word about Nintendo and their money printer would run out of ink. I haven't seen any main-stream stories about Microsoft or Sony's press conferences, and I think it is because they know that no one outside the video game industry loop cares.
Shadow31 @ Jul 16th 2008 10:47PM
And all I was saying was that I was disappointed and I'd like to point out that Nintendo can EASILY have access to the press, as they already have the world's attention with the Wii. Most casual gamers still, in fact, don't know what E3 is. You do have a valid point as well, but I was mostly staying that Nintendo disappointed me (it asked our opinion), and I don't believe I'm alone.
Oh, and Reggie's total attitude about this is horrible as well. "We gave you Animal Crossing and GTA DS. Stop complaining."
reef @ Jul 16th 2008 8:46AM
I thought it was a decent presentaion. I'm excited for the one to one motion of WiiMotion Plus - not alot of people are talking about it, but the real time motion shown during the Disc Dog and Sword Fighting demos were very impressive.
My big hope for WiiMotion Plus is that it makes it easier for developers to make great motion controlled games. Nintendo tends to get it right with their games, but the third party games have been much more hit or miss.
Obviously, the announcement of Wii Speak is a pretty big deal. I'm pretty sure that it won't be long until someone manufactures a headset portion.
Call of Duty World War for the Wii is a HUGE deal. I saw an interview where they state that they have a team of engineers that are specifically focusing on the Wii version. Hopefully they put as much effort into it as they have with their EA Sports titles.
The announcement of GTA for the DS was interesting, but I wish there was more mention of how it would work, and possibly a trailer.
I also wish that there was more Mad World!
z3r0x @ Jul 16th 2008 8:51AM
The only good part for me was Animal Crossing: City Folk, and Wii Speak. Everything else just sucked.
I especially hated that girl..forgot her name, but she was annoying and wouldn't shut up about her life.
futhamucka @ Jul 16th 2008 8:54AM
I didn't mind most of the presentation, but the Wii music segment at the end was so embarrassing! I don't know who the drummer guy though he was, but it sounded so bad. It makes me very sad to see Miyamoto dragged out to promote what is essentially a toy for toddlers.
racecar @ Jul 16th 2008 8:57AM
From a post I made yesterday:
"Well, at least I have future WiiWare titles to look forward to.
I'm still not sold on the Balance Board games and MotionPlus doesn't seem that appealing. 1:1 isn't going to be as great as people want it to be. No real tactile feedback (read: nothing to stop my sword when it clangs against my opponent's sword) means that controls or NPC intelligence will be dumbed down to compensate for wild swingers. Besides, for as much as any gamer wishes they were as good as Star Wars Kid (ha ha), none of them are really all that deft with a weapon. Again, true 1:1 sword-fighting will not be what everyone dreamed of.
Anyway, that keynote left me perturbed. Our console is turning into a casual-gamer and peripherals magnet. At E3, no less. There is no sacred ground for hardcore Nintendo gamers anymore."
To add to this, I can't say that everything was bad. Your live comments on the event made it fun (even if the announcements weren't that great). Favorite comments? "JC: It's a Reggie! Eric C: Hide your names and asses!" and "Dave H (on Iwata): I bet his socks smell fabulous." Definitely worth tuning in to on my iPod Touch during class lecture just to hear you guys comment.
Also, beyond my knee-jerk reactions from yesterday, I am still at least looking forward to The Conduit as well as a few other 3rd party games. Reading a few Miyamoto interviews over at IGN also convinced me that Nintendo doesn't hate us hardcore folks completely; they just don't have any hardcore games near completion enough to show them off at E3 apparently. Faith somewhat restored. Still, that was a horrible keynote yesterday.
Verdict on the announcements?
Animal Crossing: Don't know. Haven't played the previous titles, but I like the idea of an MMO with voice chat coming to Wii. Here's hoping for compatibility with other microphones for Wii Speak (i.e. Bluetooth Headset might be nice).
Wii Speak: See above.
Snowboarding Game: Not convinced yet. This will have to be one of those games that I play first before I buy to see if the controls really make it worth while.
MotionPlus: I stick with my comments from yesterday.
Wii Sports Resort: How many of those Motion Plus things am I going to have to buy separately so I can play with my friends (i.e. the whole point of Wii Sports)? At least 1? Probably 3. Not happy. On the other hand, some of those games look like they could be pretty fun. Reggie on a Jet Ski is a good marketing tactic.
Wii Music: I'm not impressed. This one takes casual way beyond what I care for. I'll take Guitar Hero World Tour instead.
redace @ Jul 16th 2008 9:09AM
Can I say crap!.. I just did. Nintendo is still riding on the wii is revolutionary and amazing and we can just have gimicks in one of the biggest video game conferences in the world.
Get over it. I followed the N E3 on liveblog and I was just dissapointed at the end comparing it to Microsoft and Sony.
Wii snowboarding.. crap
Animal crossing.. great but prolly the only highlight
Wii speak.. good but any implementation for other games, home screen maybe?
Wii sports resort.. now instead of playing golf I can play frisbee.
Wii motion plus.. great accessory but will it improve all games, can it be attached to nunchuk??.
No storage issue addressed, 16 digit code still remains( my freinds can join in the wii parade...can they introduce floats next), Mario and zelda are working hard.... and nothing, no conduit, no enhancements to the firmware
I hate to say it... sony president comments abt wii being a gimmick and not a competitor seems true. The last major firmware for wii was .. adding a clock. I do not hate my wii, iam just getting tired of nintendo's negligence
Hamster @ Jul 16th 2008 9:04AM
I think you can pretty much sum up an E3 performance with the resulting gifs. Here's one that says it all:
http://nintendoe32008.ytmnd.com/
TheCoats @ Jul 16th 2008 10:20AM
thats exactly what it was like!
John Rios @ Jul 16th 2008 10:53AM
Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahaha! Perfect.
TheOverlord#2 can has Animals Crossing? @ Jul 16th 2008 1:12PM
XD ROFLCOPTER!1!ELEVEN!!345
Nigeria: SSBB: 0731-6347-2110 @ Jul 16th 2008 9:11AM
Ok, so a lot of you guys are pretty mad, right? I'm no Nintendo diehard - in fact, this is the first Nintendo console I've owned since the NES - but in retrospect, I don't think it was all that bad. Yes, there seems to be the slow lurch towards the casual market, but, to be honest, they're the ones bankrolling Nintendo at the moment, not the people complaining here.
And everyone seems disappointed that there wasn't a new Zelda or Mario announced, but I believe that's quite a good thing. Would you rather Nintendo pump out a Zelda every single year? I wouldn't. Honestly, I hardly lasted five minutes in Twilight Princess. I had just finished Wind Waker, what a game that was, and TP just felt so stale. So old; too close to the Ocarina game. Regurgitation often leads to stagnation and we could be left with a Halo 3 on our hands; I really don't think you guys would want that.
Anyway, Mr Khan said something yesterday, and I'm paraphrasing: the goodness is still coming. There was a multitude of games they did not bother to mention, plus, third party support is getting much stronger, so lets not all commit harakiri. Put those kitchen knives away, boys and girls, it'll be ok.
Brad @ Jul 16th 2008 9:13AM
I was foolishly hoping that Nintendo would unveil a REAL online gaming network... eliminating the need for all of these stupid friend codes for each individual game. Instead... I get Wii Music. And a microphone that may work with 1 or 2 more (1st party) games before it's abandoned.
Nintendo... you wanted more smiles? Well, you've got them. Unfortunately for you, they're the uncomfortable type of smile that you give to a retarded 3 year old showing you something he's built with Legos. "Oh, that's interesting... what is it again?"
Dylan F @ Jul 16th 2008 9:27AM
What game do you think he was talking about here?
http://nintendo.joystiq.com/2008/03/17/reggie-big-wii-title-coming-this-holiday-revealed-during-e3/
Agumen @ Jul 16th 2008 9:56AM
Animal Crossing, obviously. I'm thinking that since Animal Crossing became somewhat of a cult game among Nintendo fans, I guess they miscalculated and imagined it was a 'hardcore' title, and that AC would hold the core gamers over for this Christmas. I think that's a pretty big misunderstanding right there.
Animal Crossing was only ever popular with a certain section of Nintendo fans. It became popular back when relaxing casual games were a novelty, as was the quality of the dialogue in the game. Now that we're swamped with casual games, AC seems like more of the same, and loses a lot of the appeal it had.
We're not asking for sequels or specific franchises, just one quality AAA title from a recognizable traditional game genre that will hold us over for the holiday period. They think that game is Animal Crossing. They fail.
Billy Magnum @ Jul 16th 2008 9:34AM
Yes I have a Wii and love it. Yes I was absolutely disappointed in Nintendo at E3. They had nothing. I had a lot of "...oh great(sarcasm)...what's next?(hopeful)" and nothing happened. What they announced is not E3 caliber news. E3 is where you are supposed to drop jaws, but Nintendo dropped the ball. They proclaim that the Wii is not a fad, but as a Wii enthusiast, I found myself for the first time worrying that maybe the Wii will just fade. I mean even though I love Wii I don't even play it anymore because there's nothing interesting to do anymore. So here a sum up of what I thought in just a couple words cuz I don't wanna rant about this all day....
Nintendo's conference:
1. Awkward
2. Boring
3. Uneventful
4. Unimaginative
5. Uninspired
6. Uncaring
7. Suicidal
8. NO FRIGGIN' HARD DRIVE
Johivin @ Jul 16th 2008 9:54AM
Don't forget that Nintendo is famous for leaving out important games and keeping them off radar. From the statements from Miyamoto we may have some key games to look forward to.
I agree that we want to see more of the things they are working on, but with the MotionPlus we're that much closer to a 1:1 sword/lightsaber game.
samfish @ Jul 16th 2008 9:55AM
It was terrible. Utterly freaking terrible.
The only good news to come out of the entire conference, Wii-wise, came through interviews later on. We know they're semi-officially working on 2 new Zelda games, a new Mario game and a Kid Icarus game. Also, Dead Rising Wii.
So yeah...in my eyes, my two favorite publishers who failed the hardest at E3 have been slowly redeeming themselves.
I just...don't understand why they didn't show anything like this yesterday!
But yeah...overall, E3 still sucked ass this year (much like last year). I'm hopeful that Nintendo REALLY redeems themselves this fall with another conference or something.
earl_the_pearl @ Jul 16th 2008 10:02AM
While I don't agree with Nintendo's decision to focus so much of their press conference on the casual market, I still have hope that the games we all want are coming. They all but confirmed a new Mario and a true Zelda Wii. And I do still think that Kid Icarus is in the works even though it didn't show at E3. I also have faith that Pikmin, F-Zero and Star Fox can't be too far behind. I wasn't too impressed with anything shown at the conference (I've never played Animal Crossing and I don't have plans to buy this one) but I don't think it means Nintendo is abandoning the "hardcore" gamers. Still it would have been nice if they could have throw us at least a bone or two.
John @ Jul 16th 2008 10:08AM
They showed casual games to hardcore gamers, obvious that everyone is pissed. I think resort and music will sell well to casuals but there were so many great things they could have shown :/, animal crossing is the only thing on bingo that I got right.
TomSkib @ Jul 16th 2008 10:14AM
I'm glad I didn't sit through the presentation and just read the recaps. I would have been even more disappointed.
Not a single thing that I care about mentioned. I don't own a DS (nor will I), so GTA means nothing to me.
Horrible. Just horrible.
WiiDSguy @ Jul 16th 2008 10:30AM
I totally agree with Hamster. Couldn't of put it better myself.
No Kid Icarus. No Pikmin. No 'proper' Pokemon (all the fans knew about Ranger 2). No Metroid. No console Kirby, (even the one shown on DS is a remake). No StarFox. No F-Zero, No Donkey Kong, no Fire Emblem DS, no Wario (Shake It had been announced and furthermore it's not WarioWare), no new IP, no Zelda, and perhaps the biggest stab in the heart, no Mario. Hell, I would have settled for a new Mario sports title. I mean, Mario is Nintendo's Mascot! He's the FACE of Nintendo, well used to be. Now its those little bastard Mii's, who everyone adores.
Mii's were fine at first and they're good Avatars but they now look bland, and some of them retarded, especially compared to Microsoft's new, although blatant rip-off, avatars.
Nintendo have gone down the pan. And you know what hurts the most? The fanboys were right.
The Wii is now no longer a console for everyone. Because its a console for Casuals. My Youtube account is WiiDSguy. Now I feel like changing it to NintendoSoldOutAndTheFanboysWereRight.
All the times we stuck up for them and defended their reasons. And I know I'm over-reacting but I don't care. Maybe because 2007 E3 sucked a little bit and we got our hopes up, or maybe because of the rumours that spread, but when alls that Nintendo delivers is Animal Crossing (the only thing to get excited, or worth getting excited about IMO), Wii Sports 2 and some shitty music game that makes you look like a bigger retard than guitar hero or rock band does, is pitiful.
Out of all their franchises, NOT ONE FIGHTER FROM BRAWL, the game that shows all their best franchises come together, has a new game on the way.
And I am using Brawl as a referance because its the game atm that you can play as some of Nintendo's neglected characters.
Remeber E3 a few years ago? Mario, Link, Samus, Fox, Kirby and Pikachu were all there. Not necessarily all in the same year but there was no more than a two year gap between seeing old faces. Now we're lucky to see one of those. If any.
Like I said before, they're just games, there are other things in life besides them. But to the fans that have given Nintendo the money to develop this new stuff is a horrrible slap in the face. What games to the casuals really have in their Wii games library? Wii Sports, Play, and Fit. Maybe Mario & Sonic Olympics. What do I have? All the key franchises games, because those are the games that you remember and have had fun with. Lets forget that these games can be a bit kiddy and some may have grown out of them, but just remmber your child hood. Who do you remember? Mario. Link. Pikachu. Thats if your my age.
When attendees said their inner child died its because it was as if Nintendo had grown out of them. Their own creations. It was like they were embarassed of showing them to the casual market. As if money was really all they cared about. It's as if Nintendo used those characters to get the core gamers to buy a Wii and then ditch 'em and start printing money with Music and Sports Resort.
Now I am fully aware they have projects on the go, and am fully aware they are still early in development and that the titles will appear. But from a customers point of view, what reason do I have to keep the Wii? Sure I can play the older games, but as Nintendo have said, gamers need to be kept interested. Oh and fanboys, cut all that crap like, next years E3 and Nintendo will give us the goods eventually. No.
They've had the time. Plenty of time. One freakin' screenshot was all that was needed. One game. One screenshot. That would have kept spirits high. No. What's this Christmas gonna be filled with? Animal Crossing. Sure that's fine. But that's it. Last Christmas we had more games than that. Galaxy to start off without thinking back too hard. And I know Christmas isnt a time for just games but it made that wait oh-so-more special.
I know this is getting a bit stupid, ranting on, but I just feel like I've been cheated on. Like all the times I supported Nintendo.
Now I know I am over-reacting, like I said before. And I have a life and all the rest of it, but when video games is something you really enjoy and you get dissappointed like this, it makes you wonder why you spend do much time supporting the company you love. I realise it was one insignificant conferance, but it was supposed to be the return of Nintendo's beloved franchises. And they failed.
Nintendo did more than die and therfore destroy the heart and soul of the gaming industry body at that conferance. They mass-murdered the inner child of every single person that loved Nintendo, even just for one moment, for all the cool games that used to make the fans happy.
Game Over, Nintendo. Game Over.
samfish @ Jul 16th 2008 11:00AM
Oh christ. I was pissed about the shitty conference, too, and think they need to do some damage control, but you're laying it on juuuuust a little thick there.
We KNOW there are 'hardcore' games coming this year, we KNOW they're working on a new Zelda game officially now and Miyamoto basically confirmed a new Kid Icarus yesterday. We also know Retro is working on something. They're supposed to be at E3, so I'd be surprised if they weren't previewing it behind top secret closed doors.
The conference sucked and Nintendo went too far with the casual angle...and they're getting slapped in the press for it. NYT and Yahoo both said the conference was a dud and the lack of familiar franchises was a huge disappointment. With any luck, Nintendo looks at this and next year decides to show some core games alongside the casual games if they want better press.
Davedrastic @ Jul 16th 2008 10:40AM
I'm surprised about a few things...
Firstly, I'm surprised why all the bloggers i've read so far, and plenty of the posters keep referring to the presentation skills of the presenters - I mean really do we give a shit? If I wanted to watch something for pure entertainment purposes I would have watched a movie. The guys that are presenting are the top guys in the company, and their mere presence is note-worthy. I found what Iwata was saying very interesting. This is THE guy that has brought Nintendo back from the brink and he was sharing his somewhat insightful understanding of the market with us. That's what E3 is about isn't it? Certainly MS and Sony went on about sales figures, growth and whatever else. At least Iwata did it in, in my mind, a very interesting way.Would you rather it was presented by a Britney look-a-like, or someone from marketing? I just don't get why all the complaints about the presenting.
Secondly, i'm surprised about the disapointment by so many fans of the actual forthcoming releases. People bemoaning Wii Music - I don't get it. It has 60 instruments - you can learn how to play the drums. Sure it will have it's flaws, and yes likely will get boring as a lot of "games" do after a short period - but the potential is huge. And the new Sports game - didn't we all LOVE Wii Sports. And this time it's going to react to our every movement - in my mind this is great. For me the Wii has been somewhat of a novelty and the shine has gone off of it, as to be expected, but that motion plus thing has such potential.
So my take on it is...
Snowboarding, not that exciting but at least the balance board is getting a look in
CoD 5 - sweet, just as long as it has multiplayer
Animal Crossing - perfect for my gf
Rabbids - another good one (for a night or 2)
Wii Sports 2 + Motion thing - excellent, another innovative move forward
Wii Music - potentially awesome - and I hate using that word
I think the so-called hardcore gamers that are getting upset by the Nintendo Press Conference should remember that
A) It isn't all about you you know, "casual gamers" are humans too
B) Nintendo hasn't forgotten their fanbase - Nintendo has always been about fun first, following the crowd and latest tech second. Same deal now
C) If you want some more energy filled games, checkout the 360 or PS3. You bought the Nintendo for Nintendo games and that's what you've got
Jason @ Jul 16th 2008 1:48PM
Interesting that you are backing this stuff up saying things like "another good one for a night or 2". C'mon if I spend $50 bucks on a game I want to play it for more than 2 nights before it gets boring. That's the main gripe I've had with the Wii ever since I bought it (at launch). Every game I've played has been fun, but only for short play sessions and they have never had me sitting at work itching to get home so I can play.
Memo @ Jul 16th 2008 10:46AM
I hate to join the club, but the press conference was pathetic. After watching Microsoft's presentation, Nintendo's was just dumb. Microsoft stole Nintendo's idea for avatars and took it to a new level. I was hoping for a big announcement like a Wii Fit and a Mario Kart type announcement. Animal Crossing looks nice, but I will not buy Wii Music when I buy Guitar Hero: World Tour. I was hoping for Hard Drive, better Internet Channel to watch videos with updated Adobe Flash, Or some type of DLC for some games that we have now. Another big announcement could have been online play with Wii Sports Resort. That would have been cool! Or even a new Mario Party with online with the new microphone. Just so many options. It seems that Nintendo took this year to feel out the public.
Dylan @ Jul 16th 2008 11:03AM
Yea. On top of Microsoft sucking at making hard and software, now they have to copy off of other people?
michael @ Jul 16th 2008 11:05AM
Nintendo confirmed my original suspicion: They don't want me as a customer anymore. They spend their time making casual games to bring in new customers, and simplify their existing franchises to the point of making them borderline unplayable. They couple this design philosophy with the most conservatively designed, minimally changed sequels to their games aimed at core gamers.
The combination leads to a company that makes great games for my grandmother to play, but with nothing for me. They have no substance left after they sold out their fanbase to achieve greater profits.
Roman @ Jul 16th 2008 11:05AM
A speakerphone???
The last thing I need is for my gaming friends to hear my wife yelling at me to pick up my socks.
Dan @ Jul 16th 2008 11:36AM
It was a failure for the hardcore. Not a single action, shooter, platform, or adventure game. But we'll have plenty of minigame collections and non-game toys for the casual players.
I know Nintendo is gonna make huge money off of this. But what about their core loyal fans?
CJLopez @ Jul 16th 2008 11:58AM
Man, Phil, you just set on fire a pretty nasty bomb here.
As for the topic, can't say much what was already stated before me
LongshotX @ Jul 16th 2008 12:09PM
Were people expecting the Wii to have a long console life span. This thing already looks like its out of steam.
raindog @ Jul 16th 2008 12:12PM
I've been really happy to see what's now called "casual games" taking over the industry, since what we now call "casual games" were what we simply called "video games" until about 1991. What Nintendo has been doing I've seen not as a sea change, but as a return to form after 10 years of the gaming world being ruled by the equivalent of Spike TV and ESPN2. Hardcore was the fad, and now the industry (er, at least two out of the three major players) is over it. It's not an aberration, it's a correction.
That said, all E3 has done for me so far is to make me want an Xbox 360 slightly more than I already slightly wanted one.
Dylan F @ Jul 16th 2008 12:22PM
Nintendo is trying to much to attract new gamers, it's fogetting about the ones that have been with Nintendo from the very beggining, the ones that care about Zelda and those games.
If it wasnt for those amazing, perfect games Nintendo manges to squeeze out every three years (Zelda, Metriod, etc.), Nintendo would have lost all its fans.
NutMac @ Jul 16th 2008 12:49PM
The biggest news by far is Wii Sports Resort with Wii MotionPlus add-on. Most Wii owners will get it, many will (try to) get a Wii for this title. Although interesting on paper, Wii Music seems lame in practice. Simulating instruments with Wii Remote and Wii Balance Board are poor substitute for more realistic Guitar Hero/Rock Band instruments, not to mention childish music tracks.