The Intentions
Nintendo had one other goal to meet at this year’s show. It had to prove why Wii U would have longevity. The publisher chose to focus on games that would be available in the launch window. That’s a fine strategy, one that reinforces concrete examples that fans can count on in the very near future. Yet a console debut needs a bit more. Fans need to understand that big things are on the horizon, particularly when a 2D Mario and mini-game collection are the broad strokes of first party support before the year’s end.
What’s strange is that Nintendo is the master of looking towards the future. Time and time again, the publisher shows a trailer, logo or piece of key art that signifies the arrival of a grand new Zelda or Mario game, and the fans go wild. Last year it merely mentioned the presence of Super Smash Bros., and millions worldwide instantly paid attention. When the publisher unveiled the Nintendo 3DS, it merely placed logo after logo on a slide, and let the volume and significance of those franchises do all the talking. E3 2004, the first year Reggie Fils-Aime stood on stage, marked one of Nintendo’s greatest reveals, as it revealed the first Twilight Princess trailer. The game wouldn’t arrive until 2006, but not a single Nintendo fan cared. Knowing that game was coming was reason enough to look forward to the years to come.
This year, Nintendo did none of that. It announced no new games for the Nintendo 3DS (and only had two of its own portable titles on the show floor). In fact that entire platform, despite a dedicated conference towards the end of E3, felt like a strange afterthought. It announced only a couple Wii U games, even leaving some of those out of its presentation entirely. Whatever the company’s goals, one of them certainly wasn’t to plant a vision of the future in the eyes of Nintendo fans worldwide.
Nintendo’s failure to win E3 2012 was entirely of its own making. The publisher had momentum headed into the show, and as Microsoft and Sony were stuck highlighting “surprises” everyone had heard about, Nintendo had the promise of being able to show something new, something innovative. Yet what resulted felt like the company was intent on revisiting the same ideas it had presented the year before, albeit with more detail. Curiously the company repeated itself, spending valuable time at multiple presentations going over the same details.
High expectations. Poor presentation. A lack of substance. A narrow focus. Any publisher can be guilty of some of these items at any given E3. Nintendo somehow managed to do all of them in one year, and what’s worse is that it genuinely had some very interesting things to say. It simply said them in the wrong place at the wrong time in the wrong way. It’s certainly true that the company needed to bring more third party announcements, and it certainly could have used a nod towards a future Zelda or Metroid project, but it could have worked with the material it had. It’s as if a company, one that absolutely has mastered the art of revealing products to rabid fans, simply forgot what it’s doing.
In other words, it should have been Nintendo with that black cloth draped over a Wii U controller. Not Apple with its laptop.
Nintendo had one other goal to meet at this year’s show. It had to prove why Wii U would have longevity. The publisher chose to focus on games that would be available in the launch window. That’s a fine strategy, one that reinforces concrete examples that fans can count on in the very near future. Yet a console debut needs a bit more. Fans need to understand that big things are on the horizon, particularly when a 2D Mario and mini-game collection are the broad strokes of first party support before the year’s end.
What’s strange is that Nintendo is the master of looking towards the future. Time and time again, the publisher shows a trailer, logo or piece of key art that signifies the arrival of a grand new Zelda or Mario game, and the fans go wild. Last year it merely mentioned the presence of Super Smash Bros., and millions worldwide instantly paid attention. When the publisher unveiled the Nintendo 3DS, it merely placed logo after logo on a slide, and let the volume and significance of those franchises do all the talking. E3 2004, the first year Reggie Fils-Aime stood on stage, marked one of Nintendo’s greatest reveals, as it revealed the first Twilight Princess trailer. The game wouldn’t arrive until 2006, but not a single Nintendo fan cared. Knowing that game was coming was reason enough to look forward to the years to come.
This year, Nintendo did none of that. It announced no new games for the Nintendo 3DS (and only had two of its own portable titles on the show floor). In fact that entire platform, despite a dedicated conference towards the end of E3, felt like a strange afterthought. It announced only a couple Wii U games, even leaving some of those out of its presentation entirely. Whatever the company’s goals, one of them certainly wasn’t to plant a vision of the future in the eyes of Nintendo fans worldwide.
Nintendo’s failure to win E3 2012 was entirely of its own making. The publisher had momentum headed into the show, and as Microsoft and Sony were stuck highlighting “surprises” everyone had heard about, Nintendo had the promise of being able to show something new, something innovative. Yet what resulted felt like the company was intent on revisiting the same ideas it had presented the year before, albeit with more detail. Curiously the company repeated itself, spending valuable time at multiple presentations going over the same details.
High expectations. Poor presentation. A lack of substance. A narrow focus. Any publisher can be guilty of some of these items at any given E3. Nintendo somehow managed to do all of them in one year, and what’s worse is that it genuinely had some very interesting things to say. It simply said them in the wrong place at the wrong time in the wrong way. It’s certainly true that the company needed to bring more third party announcements, and it certainly could have used a nod towards a future Zelda or Metroid project, but it could have worked with the material it had. It’s as if a company, one that absolutely has mastered the art of revealing products to rabid fans, simply forgot what it’s doing.
In other words, it should have been Nintendo with that black cloth draped over a Wii U controller. Not Apple with its laptop.
