Topic: E3 Information straight from my personal E3 experience

so as some might now, this year I had the chance to go to E3 invited by Nintendo, with access to their Business Partner Presentation among other stuff (much better than going on my own last year too )

I got some very interesting information from them that I wanted to share:

1. The Wii U is doing bad. Really bad, and Nintendo is fully aware. They are greatly increasing the Wii U marketing budget to help that. Not only that, they are also throwing all their big guns at it and created the biggest first-party streak of games in Nintendo's history (According to Nintendo themselves)

2. "Software drives hardware" was a big theme for Nintendo. They are sure the stream of awesome games coming to Wii U will do the same thing Mario Kart and Mario 3D Land did for the 3DS.

3. Right now, 3DS is the only platform with year-over-year growth, so the Wii U isn't the only one doing bad

4. Nintendo is very aware of the "smartphone and tablets" threat. However, numbers show it really isn't as big of a threat as some people online want to make it look: Before the first iPhone even launched, the mobile market was bringing in around $900 million US dollars in revenue, and 60% of it was for Nintendo. Right now, the mobile market is bringing $1.2 billion US dollars per year, and Nintendo's share actually increased above 60%. Even though hardware-wise the dedicated mobile gaming category is only 25% of the market, it still accounts for most of the profits thanks to software. It is true that people buy lots of inexpensive phone games, but 3DS games can still sell better and produce more profits.

5. Nintendo apologized for the Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon retail shortage in the US and other countries. They promised to try and improve that from now on.

6. Pokémon is as aline as ever. A $1.6 billion / year franchise that always takes the market by storm. Every time a core Pokémon title launches, software and hardware sales for the platform it comes out to explode.

7. Wii U has the highest satisfaction levels (90%) so it isn't a question of "is the console good" but rather "how can we show people what Wii U is". They believe having great games available is the key to show people why they need the Wii U.

8. Monster Hunter 3, LEGO Batman 2, Angry Brids Trilogy and Resident Evil: Revelations all sold insanely well on 3DS, well above internal projections.

9. Mario Party 3D will have 81 minigames, 6 characters and 4 player local and online multiplayer (still work in progress, online multiplayer is not guaranteed to make the cut)

10. No Basic / Deluxe rebranding or recall. No ETA for international support on eShop. No ETA for 3DS Nintendo Network (planned by December 2013, no info to share right now).

There's still a lot more information but I would like to ask if there's any game you would like to know more info about? Again, I have direct access to Nintendo only, so if it is a third party game can't guarantee much information.

Last but not least, this is the currently confirmed launch dates for games:

3DS:
Mario & Luigi: Dream Team Aug11
Pokemon X & Y Oct12
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds November
Mario Party November

2014

Yoshi's New Island (2-player, gyroscope support)

Wii U:
Game & Wario June23
New Super Luigi U (June 20 DLC, Aug25 Retail)
Pikmin 3 Aug 4
The Wonderful 101 Sept15
The Legend of Zelda: The Widnwaker HD October
Mario and Sonic at the Winter Olympic Winter Games Sochi 2014 - November
Wii Party U October
Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze November
Wii Fit U December
Super Mario 3D World December

2014

Mario Kart 8 Spring 2014
Smash Bros 2014

Games not on that list are not expected to launch before July 2014.

Wow, thanks for the information. I'm sure this onslaught of 1st party games for Wii U will greatly improve sales, no matter how much some of them have been criticized.

Interesting fact about Super Mario 3D World: Peach was added thinking of casual players. Her floating ability makes her an overall easier character to control, perfect for newcomers to the Mario universe.

Did they say anything about upcoming 3DS exclusive 3rd party games?

The only ones I can find videos for on YouTube are Etrian Odyssey Untold: Millennium Girl, Shin Megami Tensei IV, Project X Zone, and Hometown Story. Needless to say, I'm dissapointed that there seem to be only 4 (two of which are from the same dev).

Heck, the 3DS eShop didn't get any love this year at all, from what I could tell (even from Nintendo)

Based on all the videos @JGMR is posting in the Vita thread, it seems like the Vita has been a popular platform at this year's show, and while I'm glad to see it get attention, I'm a bit bummed that 3DS has seemed to be left behind this year.

Nintendo is very confident on the 3DS right now, while the Wii U ois lagging behind, that's why 3DS didn't get much attention during E3. They mentioned software sales for the 3DS are up 58% year over year, also the only console to do that.

they did mention however that there are over 40 3rd party games in development for it. Can't talk much about those though since some haven't been officially announced, but the group of logos they showed contained everything from licensed titles to Indies to completely new ips.

Also remember, the Vita is right now doing way worse than the Wii U so of course Sony made a huge deal about it

That is interesting to hear, thanks man. I just hope doesn't waste money trying boost sales and everything. Nintendo could potentially go out of business or become a third-party developer, or may even stop making games. We can't be so sure yet, though. Once Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros. comes out, Nintendo is gonna be hopping in sales.

did you get any sort of indication on the size of 3d world? im one of the people who do think this looks really good but im a bit worried it will be a standard 8 worlds, can be done in one sitting kind of game.
i mean the levels shown at e3 are all the 2-3 mins to complete so saty theres 8 levels in 8 worlds i work that out to be about 3 hours total gameplay, this is a major worry to me, in the NSMB games i dont mind but this is the big 3d mario game we've all been waiting for. cheers mate

Good read thanks for the info! that means X is coming after July sigh.... I just want it to come out while I'm in Year 12 next year because once I'm out of school I have all the responsibilities of being an adult and that means less gaming time!

dont worry small fry, theres plently of time for grown up gaming, hell i probably play games more now than when i was your age

Oh yeah! Do you know what all color powers is gonna be in Sonic Lost World? I've already spotted some (Cyan Laser, Yellow Drill, Violet Void), but what all are in the Wii U?

Hehe that's good to know I love video games always have always will and I guess they will be all the more satisfying getting home from work just sitting back and playing some games! I don't want a job I hate thought I want to work with Video Games when I'm out of school

yeah it is great retreating to my man cave after work if you want to work in video games make sure to make the right decisions now. you cant just give up your career and be like F this im going to open a game shop or something like that it aint that easy.

right back on topic now haha

No info on the size of 3D World, however it was explained how it isn't just a 3DS sequel on Wii U but rather a game built from the ground up with concepts from 3D Land that weren't doable on the 3DS. They also mentioned 3D World was the perfect time to bring back the 4 unique player mechanics last seen in Super Mario USA / Super Mario Bros 2

They didn't give us much info on Lost World since it is still technically 3rd party so Sega was the one in charge of revealing info on it. They did stress how strong the Nintendo-Sega relationship is right now, including Sega execs praising Nintendo because their games always sell best on Nintendo systems, and a promise of more exclusives to come if the first 3 do well. From my time with Sonic Lost World this week I barely noticed the existence of Color Powers though.

Another interesting bit: both Bayonetta and The Wonderful 101 were referred to as new Nintendo IPs.

All right, thanks man. Probably should have known. It's a third-party game.

Revelations sold well? Last I heard, Capcom suffered losses on that title, and it did come before the 3DS boom. Unless they just massively overspent during development.

Capcom suffers losses on every title they throw out at the moment, it seems.

Anything on that Free To Play game Nintendo is working on?