Support NeoGAF

[SalvaPot]

A lot of their reveals also fell flat. Mostly because of how they were presented. They were basically gameplay clips instead of actual trailers.

Sorry to cut this part out of the rest of your post (I agree with a few bits of it), but this is the main reason why I really dislike what E3 has become. Call me cynic, but everytime I see a CGI Trailer instead of actual gameplay I can´t help but role my eyes, since publishers have shown time and time again that the finished games does not look even close to what is promised. They are great to get hype going, but Nintendo seems to be focused on showing what they actually have and let the gameplay speak for itself, maybe that is why the Treehouse has such a good following.

I know I am in the minority here but trailers do not sell me on games, gameplay does.

 

[DICKS AHOY]

Much like the longer version you posted in the other thread I think this would've at least helped their E3 showing come across better.

Everybody seemed to be in pretty good spirits about Nintendo during the Smash Direct and Nintendo World Championships announcements like Earthbound Beginnings, so integrating some of that alongside the stuff we already know is coming but wasn't in the Event would've worked.

 

[MatrixMan.EXE]

I just mentioned this in another thread but, I sort of agree with this. The problem this year is that the direct was that in many ways, Nintendo having multiple directs throughout the year harms their E3 one.

How many Nintendo directs am I going to have to sit through where Xenoblade and Yoshi's Wooly World are major features? They do need to manage their announcements a lot better. Having directs throughout the year is great but it soon reaches a point where over exposure becomes a thing.

Yoshi's Wooly World was featured heavily in the Threehouse event last E3. Why does it need even more time this year?

 

[Dreamwriter]

- STAR FOX ZERO: Immediately establish three things: 1) It's a collaboration with Platinum Games, with Hashimoto involved; 2) Say the graphics will improve, and they're targeting 60 fps on both the TV and GamePad; 3) Note the gyro is optional, and players can switch the GamePad view to TV at any time. Now proceed to explain the expanded mobility and combat options, like flying one way while shooting another.

But, are these things true? I haven't heard anything about them. In fact, from reading all the hands-ons, it sounds like the game just wouldn't be possible without the gyro/TV combo. And there hasn't been any mention of graphics getting any better. As for "A collaboration with Platinum Games", that wouldn't tell anybody anything. Especially considering most people who watch those things would have no idea who Platinum Games is. We aren't the majority.

 

[kittens]

Yeah :-(

 

[Chezzymann]

All in all, what Nintendo actually have for this year is amazing. For the rest of the year we have:

There is a good 5 games I want to buy there, minimum, and that is ignoring 3DS.

Also fast racing neo which looks great

 

[PBalfredo]

I definitely agree the Smash info and EarthBound Beginnings reveal should have been rolled into the Digital Event. I was feeling great coming off of those on Sunday and Beginnings alone in the Digital Event would have had me delirious with delight despite the shortcomings of the rest of the show.

I don't think retconning SMTxFE to being revealed at E3 is legit. That was Direct material well before their E3 suite and what's the point of having Directs if you're just going to cannibalize their material for E3 months down the line?

The fandumb taking Federation Force oddly personally is getting so absurd that I'm not sure even announcing it in a specific spinoff showcase would have softened the blow.

 

[SalvaPot]

But, are these things true? I haven't heard anything about them. In fact, from reading all the hands-ons, it sounds like the game just wouldn't be possible without the gyro/TV combo. And there hasn't been any mention of graphics getting any better.

All Nintendo games look way better by the time of release.

 

[Neiteio]

But, are these things true? I haven't heard anything about them. In fact, from reading all the hands-ons, it sounds like the game just wouldn't be possible without the gyro/TV combo. And there hasn't been any mention of graphics getting any better.

They confirmed on Treehouse Live today you can switch the GamePad view to the TV by tapping the Minus button — they even demonstrated it. Someone translated a dev tweet last night that confirmed you can turn off the gyro, as well, in which case I imagine you would have to aim the old-fashioned way. And they have said they're aiming for 60 fps on both screens.

The only thing they haven't confirmed is that the visuals will improve. But if they have any intention to continue working on the presentation, it would've benefitted them to say such, framing it with the 60 fps target.

 

[Astral Dog]

That or skip E3 altogether, a bit of honesty would had been nice, yes the way they handled their presentation was very poor, just broken promises and jokes.

Horrendous pacing, strange lack of already announced games and even a mention of the NX to scream Wii U is dead., as soon as i saw that Skylanders Amiibo thing i knew that was their big third party announcement.

 

[Boney]

People would rather get 1 trailer debuting at e3 than two trailers one debuting a month before.

Ok

 

[Neiteio]

Man, imagine if the digital event had started off with a splash screen like

That would have been fuckin HYPE

It's bizarre Nintendo saved the Platinum confirmation for Treehouse. It reminds me of E3 2012, where they saved the Platinum mention (P-100, what would later become TW101) for a press interview after the show.

 

[ElectricKaibutsu]

I tweeted this thread to NOA, not that they'll care since they don't really do social media (unlike Sony who seem to base their conferences on the wildest dreams posted by GAFers).

 

[DICKS AHOY]

The fandumb taking Federation Force oddly personally is getting so absurd that I'm not sure even announcing it in a specific spinoff showcase would have softened the blow.

"Spin-off" would've made it clearer this is an offshoot and not meant to be any sort of replacement or new direction for a proper Metroid game after people have waited 5 years for one

Spoiler

and 8 years for a good one.

 

[Pizza]

Once again, your setup would have been great even with the leaks.

Yep, I got most all of that on my own(happy home designer stuff in the amiibo festival is hella appealing, had no idea this was a thing until literally right now)

But I follow Nintendo news closely. They had a fine e3 showing but fumbled hard. They should have pretty much done what you said.

Also sakurai should have done patch notes. No one would have started feverishly data mining smash if they had no reason to.

 

[Neiteio]

"Spin-off" would've made it clearer this is an offshoot and not meant to be any sort of replacement or new direction for a proper Metroid game after people have waited 5 years for one

Spoiler

and 8 years for a good one.

In addition to stressing it's a spinoff and not a replacement, they could've had a dev say, "We're always thinking of new ideas for Metroid, both 2D and 3D, and hope to have something for you soon. In the meantime, please enjoy this fun new concept inspired by the Metroid universe." Then quickly show the trailer, before proceeding to the other spinoffs. Oh, and mention it's by Next Level Games, so people at least know it will be a quality title.

 

[Belgian Dude]

Even Blastball - didn't they say there would be some focus on verticality IIRC? Then why do you show the simplest stage stage to demo it? Show us the wild stuff!

 

[entremet]

So much is being put on a "conference showing" and I think its just stupid. Nintendo had an all around solid E3. There was a very nice amount of content delivered without the need for some awe inspiring showcase. Shit, the stuff delivered by Nintendo in their direct will see the light of day long before most of Sony's stuff in their conference! I will be playing and enjoying those games before FF7 Remake sees a real gameplay trailer FFS. lol

Eh, whatever.

I feel the same way. It seems we're a minority. This whole winning e3 thing is so silly.

 

[Zubz]

It's bizarre Nintendo saved the Platinum confirmation for Treehouse. It reminds me of E3 2012, where they saved the Platinum mention (P-100, what would later become TW101) for a press interview after the show.

It's weird... It's almost like they don't like talking about their PG collaborations, when they need all the support they could get.

And that's honestly an amazing idea for what the Digital Event should have been. I mean, I'm not saying you should have been in charge of the event, but... Actually, that's exactly what I'm saying. All the bad news is softened, all the good news is primed... Even with the leaks, Nintendo would have crushed it if they went that route.

 

[Moon_frogger]

Clearly announce and explain what it is before having Itoi appear. Problem solved

So announce the announcement and then trot the guy out on stage to announce it? That's horribly redundant.

 

[Shiggy]

That content would not really have changed a lot. E3 is not about overpriced DLC or VC releases of 20 year old titles. In comparison with the competition, Nintendo would've still disappointed due to lacklustre looking titles (AC Amiibo Festival, Starfox, Metroid) and a lack of anything major.

To not disappoint, Nintendo would've needed to change their software planning.

 

[Neiteio]

So announce the announcement and then trot the guy out on stage to announce it? That's horribly redundant.

As someone said, they could've started by simply showing Mother 1 footage, out of context. Start with scenes of people just walking around... then show them talking... in English.

Then Itoi appears onscreen, and confirms the good news: Mother 1, finally coming to the west, renamed EarthBound Beginnings. Available right after the Digital Event. Boom!

 

[GameGuru59]

Wait. Is the gyro off option in Starfox confirmed? That's huge for me.

I still hope it gets delayed to 2016 or even the NX launch, but being able to turn the gyros off is a must.

 

[Neiteio]

Wait. Is the gyro off option in Starfox confirmed? That's huge for me.

Yes. StreetsAhead translated a tweet by Iwata confirming this.

 

[Hiltz]

Fact of the matter is, Nintendo has a habit of thinking differently from others, including us gamers. Things that seem obvious and logical to us are not always the way Nintendo thinks about it in its marketing and game design choices. Even as a Japanese company, Nintendo thinks differently from Sony.

 

[Belgian Dude]

Honestly I think I know what it is. Doug Bowser made the presentation and is trying to kill Mario from the inside.

 

[GameGuru59]

Yes. StreetsAhead translated a tweet by Iwata confirming this.

Whew, good. I'm on board. I want to see alot more polish though.

 

[DICKS AHOY]

In addition to stressing it's a spinoff and not a replacement, they could've had a dev say, "We're always thinking of new ideas for Metroid, both 2D and 3D, and hope to have something for you soon. In the meantime, please enjoy this fun new concept inspired by the Metroid universe." Then quickly show the trailer, before proceeding to the other spinoffs. Oh, and mention it's by Next Level Games, so people at least know it will be a quality title.

Next Level Games, who gave everybody the fantastic Luigi's Mansion 2 and Punch-Out!! for the Wii just a few short years ago, getting wrapped up in this hate is the worst part of all this. Presented differently, explained properly and maybe even taking the "Metroid Prime" out of the title until closer to release to avoid knee-jerk reactions would've smoothed things over.

 

[Converse]

You're a mind reader, Neiteio. I didn't quite lay it out in a specific order as you did so well, but as I watched (and was downright bored by the Digital Event -- which was un-fucking-believable), I had very many of these same thoughts.

I don't know that the Fatal Frame and SMTxFE announcements should've been saved (you've got to have something for the Directs -- Fatal Frame most certainly should've been highlighted, though), but I'm still trying to understand the point of rolling out the Mini Direct, the Smash Direct, the Earthbound Beginnings reveal and the Devil's Third news all so close to E3 when the actual Digital Event was devoid of virtually any exciting reveals after Star Fox. The framing, as you said, was also completely nonsensical at times (not in terms of style -- which was great -- but in terms of excluding key positive information and repeatedly setting viewers up for disappointments).

It's really a head-scratcher. Nintendo's lineup is fantastic this year, but their Digital Event would make you think they've got nothing but mobile-esque spin-offs until the NX comes out. I've said it before and I know I'l say it again hundreds of times: love 'em as a I do, marketing and mindshare are this company's biggest problems, at least on this side of the world. This completely inexplicable Digital Event illustrates the issue once again.

 

[Caddywompus]

That would have been an acceptable conference but there would still be whining and crying over Nintendo losing E3.

M&L: Paper Jam should have been a bigger showing especially when combining two franchises, it has me worried. And definitely not some off handed Mario-spinoff sizzle reel. Though saving Dr. Mario MC release for after the Direct would have been perfect. I love when they try and hype a game and turn around and announce it's available now.

 

[Alphahawk]

The thing I hope Nintendo takes away from this is that E3 isn't another direct and if the direct goes bad "Oh well": If it goes bad everything you've just shown us looks bad. Coming out of the event I heard people talk trash about both Starfox and Mario Maker, both of which look amazing, however the presentation was poor and so people just think everything looks terrible.

Another thing wrong was it started with Reggie stating that Nintendo would talk about the new Nintendo system next year, then for the next hour they bombarded us with 3DS trailers with only a handful of WiiU titles. This does not make me want to go out and buy a WiiU it's saying that WiiU is essentially over. If you want to focus on 3DS well that's fine but don't proceed by talking about the next Nintendo system.

 

[marc^o^]

You forgot Fast Racing Neo Neiteio. Otherwise it's 10x better than what their marketing team did plan.

 

[ss-hikaru]

I like the idea of a localisation reel. Those kinds of games don't need to take up a lot of time since we'd probably know a fair bit about them already and it's good to remind people what's actually coming over, it's easy to lose track!

 

[Dice//]

Hindsight is 20/20, but I agree 100% this is how it should have been done. Revealing things before E3 makes less sense than during or right after it too. Why spoil surprises?

 

[SoulUnison]

All in all, what Nintendo actually have for this year is amazing. For the rest of the year we have:

There is a good 5 games I want to buy there, minimum, and that is ignoring 3DS.

I dunno, Nintendo's my favorite company that does both hardware and software, and there's literally nothing on the Wii U that I'm interested in playing in the foreseeable future. I can't think of a game I'm excited about except Zelda U. I used to want Xenoblade X, but watching gameplay and hearing impressions has completely dropped it off the radar for me.

The 3DS is going pretty strong though. Seem like the handheld is the place to be until the NX comes out.

I'm even interested in Federation Force if it ends up being fairly decent and they can make it stop looking like a remastered N64 game.

 

[Timbuktu]

Hindsight is 20/20, but I agree 100% this is how it should have been done. Revealing things before E3 makes less sense than during or right after it too. Why spoil surprises?

It must be that they just thought E3 doesn't really matter.

 

[Absoludacrous]

Hindsight is 20/20, but I agree 100% this is how it should have been done. Revealing things before E3 makes less sense than during or right after it too. Why spoil surprises?

Why the need for surprises? Somehow the content is worse because it was spaced out instead of all packed in to a one hour conference?

Why are people only able to judge Nintendo on a one hour presentation instead of the breadth of stuff they have?

I'd rather get things like Mother 1 and Smash characters days early then have them hold on to it so they can win extra internet points.

 

[mitchlol]

Nothing highlighted how out of touch I had fallen from Nintendo than seeing the puppets.... I've grown up and don't care for their "Charm" or their Amiibo.

 

[EulaCapra]

Game reveals at Directs pre and post E3 are a good thing. They get people hyped up every 2 months or so. No need to bottle every game up just because the others are doing it too. Yes, save the big stuff like 3D World and Smash for E3. But Mario and Luigi? Gets lost in the E3 shuffle so it doesn't matter when you unveil it. People are assuming you're unveiling your Triple-A games for E3 and I think that was their E3 problem.

Letting Nintendo World Championships go after, Zelda and Smash shown at the end, letting Fatal Frame and Devil's Third make appearances, and showing more of Xenoblade X and Yoshi's Wooly World would've lessened the blow, but the presentation would still suffer from a lack of visual flair besides Zelda. Think back to Microsoft and Sony's presentations. Play a montage of games in your head. Stunning worlds. Fantastic art styles. Visual fluidity. All expensive looking.

Now play a montage of Nintendo's presentation. Star Fox you don't want to admit looking a little too rough to show just yet. Mario Maker. Ugly low resolution 3DS games blown up on the big screen you swear you've seen before: Animal Crossing redecorating, Hyrule Warriors, Mario and Luigi and Paper Mario, Zelda game with deja vu graphics. Mario Maker. A questionable Animal Crossing Amiibo game. A Metroid game with an art style that triggered people. Mario Maker. Barebones Mario Tennis. tons of anime people that aren't exactly pushing the system's abilities. Guy playing maracas. Mario Maker. All of the visual pizzazz was missing. It felt like watching E3 2011's 3DS sizzle reel. Jaggies everywhere! There wasn't enough time allocated to see that the Wii U could make people turn heads and be wowed by visuals even though they really do have a solid release schedule for 2015. But a presentation's a presentation and they lacked in the AAA-looking games department IMO. But their loss are Runbow's and FAST Racing Neo's gains lol.

 

[Mory Dunz]

Yeah.
Not sure about saying Star Fox gfx will improve though. It may have prettier stages later, but that's improving the gfx. If Corneria looks the same.

All in all, what Nintendo actually have for this year is amazing. For the rest of the year we have:

There is a good 5 games I want to buy there, minimum, and that is ignoring 3DS.

There's also Lego Marvel something I think.
Didn't know Guitar Hero was coming to Wii U

 

[Stiflers Mom]

They should have shown Devil's Third and Fast Racing Neo instead of that chibi Metroid stuff nobody gives a shit about.

 

[Francokid1]

I agree, Nintendo could've had an E3 direct that was at least passable. They fumbled it soo hard.

After the Smash Direct and the NWC, everyone expected something to release all of that hype tension. StarFox is great, but we already knew that was coming. Even a 10 second CG trailer of Metroid or some Zelda footage would have helped. Nintendo only needed to throw the fans a bone.

 

[Interceptor]

You should apply for the job.

Spoiler

Funny how the content is the same but suddenly doesn't suck.

 

[Morokh]

I don't see how, name-dropping Platinum may have done some good and stating that the Animal Crossing board game was free to play would have prevented myself to litterally facepalm, but that's pretty much it.

 

[pinkurocket]

Nintendo does have a solid line-up of exclusives, and a lot of good indies they didn't mention are also making it to Wii U (eventually), like Yooka Laylee. There would still be people upset over the fact that they didn't reveal anything new, but with Wii U's sales we have known for a while they keep the releases quite limited and Mario Maker + Star Fox are 'good enough' reasons, alongside titles like Yoshi and Xenoblade to fill out the year.


Now... If only they added a Rhythm Heaven localization, and maybe Phoenix Wright (even though that's Capcom). Some Bravely Second footage would've been a decent filler as will with how popular the first game was. Throw some Fatal Frame in there as well, make a hype sizzle real. FAST Racing Neo looks awesome. They had so much to work with. u~u

 

[MisterGrey3000]

It must be that they just thought E3 doesn't really matter.

And it really shouldn't matter.
Other artistic entertainment mediums have trade shows, but (as far as I'm aware of) they don't tend to take priority over other events (like ComicCon) and just other days of the year (would revealing Zelda U at E3 really have been that different from revealing it in a big December Direct or maybe an earlier March Direct with the same production values as the E3 Digital Events??); movie studios, animation houses, TV networks, and musicians plus their labels basically pull "Nintendo Directs" all the time. AFAICT It's actually the norm to prioritize making big reveals and announcements on your own time.
The toxic obnoxiously competitive "end all be all" console war mentality that's been built around E3 and the unnecessary amount of value that is placed on it in the industry is entirely ridiculous.

I'd honestly really like it if Nintendo just pulled a Valve or Rockstar, and ignored E3.
The older I grow, the more I realize how dumb the whole circus that surrounds E3 is.

 

[The Lamp]

Yarp. Nintendo had a bad presentation, not a bad lineup.

They intended it to the be the way it is. They have said they prefer slowly dripping content via directs throughout the year. June was a bad month for them.

Doesn't mean their strategy is a winning one, though. Getting negative attention at E3 is bad.

 

[Mihael Mello Keehl]

Idk we are too accustomed to Nintendo directs. Do yall really want to wait a year to see new stuff just to "WIN" E3? Honestly want to see Zelda S-O-O-N!

 

[openrob]

How do you think they could've played their cards better (if at all)?

Shinen FAST Racing Neo. That footage was kind premiered the day before.
Could have had an indie sizzle reel.
Yooka-laylee
Bloodstained
Etc etc

 

[ugly]

So much is being put on a "conference showing" and I think its just stupid. Nintendo had an all around solid E3. There was a very nice amount of content delivered without the need for some awe inspiring showcase. Shit, the stuff delivered by Nintendo in their direct will see the light of day long before most of Sony's stuff in their conference! I will be playing and enjoying those games before FF7 Remake sees a real gameplay trailer FFS. lol

Eh, whatever.

It's the rabid fans wanting orgasmic levels of content in one sugar rush hit that fosters that situation, and devs feed it by making crazy showings. It's just what E3 is, and a strange subset function of gaming culture