Topic: So what are your thoughts on Nintendo's new E3 presentation approach?

They seem to be moving towards bringing their news 'directly' (and on their own terms) to the public online. I'd rather get half-hour bits of gaming goodness every month than one hour once a year.

I think maybe if Nintendo were in a better position (i.e. better sales of Wii U) then it would not be a bad idea. But gamers are just gonna assume that because Nintendo is having a rough time with the Wii U that they are giving up by not having a big presentation.

Massive overreaction is massive.

I've pretty much explained my own reasons for why I believe it's okay.

Stop overreacting.

E3 hasn't been as interesting since it became a press only event. I'm not bothered by this at all.

Couldn't care less. No one else should either. Nintendo should focus on advertisements on a regular basis on TV, billboards etc, and on games. The E3 conference is not that interesting or helpful.

I personally feel its a brilliant approach. Communication from Nintendo always seems to get misquoted or not fully understood by the press. The confusion over the Wii U being a new controller or console was ridiculous and a good example of his. Now with Nintendo giving specific, direct information to each audience separately (depending on their interests) the information is reaching its target audience with any additional, unnecessary bits added on. Its win/ win for people interested in the different aspects of Nintendo!

My only worry with is that they might be doing it cause they might not have enough games to fill an hour and a'half i have faith in NINTENDO though so we shall see.

Honestly I think E3 has lost it's appeal over he years... IMO E3 is just for the gamers. Not an Avenue to market to the public. Sure mainstream media might do a write up of it.... And?
Hopefully once the games come along, Nintendo will do more marketing on tv and in store (demos).

Disappointing to me, it's less for me to look forward to at E3, but I refuse to comment on whether it's a good strategy, I don't have the background knowledge or business experience to be fairly judge it. I hope Nintendo knows what they're doing though.

why do a big presentation at E3 when you're only showing off software? you guys are overstating the importance of E3. even Microsoft and Sony are announcing their new hardware outside of E3 and i don't see you guys complaining about that. I think it's better this way. They are still having a presentation at E3, it's just not going to be a big one and it's going to be for the investors. They are still going to be at E3 showing off the software, just not on a large scale. I like the Nintendo Directs better. Plus if I was allowed to go to E3 i'd rather play the software then sit in an audience trying to see over the person in front of me. Plus we already have a pretty good idea of what 1st party games are coming out on the Wii U and the 3DS for the rest of the year anyways.

Nintendo needs to create some buzz & start hyping up things. You can best do this on large crowds, not closed doors in small venues. I think Nintendo needs to think twice before moving forward & start avoiding large crowds. They need change their current market strategy. I often questioned how Nintendo does their advertising. For a company that's worth billions the best they could do is make some sub standard advertisements mainly available for people to see on Youtube. They need to advertise their products on major TV networks during prime viewing hours. A toothpaste maker does better than Nintendo. Look at the Crest Pro Health toothpaste commercial on TV. It's always ON whole day. They also need to start going hardcore on their commercials than going with the typical smiley faces playing in the living room commercial.

Considering my little sister has Disney Channel on all the time, I can confirm that Wii U commercials are on that station constantly during prime hours. Probably have seen Lego City commercials hundreds of times already. They are advertising the system a lot to kids throughout the day.

Because E3 is for the mainstream press who only pay attention to big games and big events.

That and I personally feel that while Nintendo Directs are cool you lose some of the experience that you get from when the event is hosted live.

E3 is the mother of all gaming conventions.

Nintendo needs to take the Wii U beyond Disney Channel. The Wii U is not for kids anymore. It's for everybody. If it's going go beyond softcore to hardcore then Nintendo needs to take it to a higher level beyond cable. Look at Activision with their "Surprise" Black Ops 2 commercial videos. It came out not just on Youtube but on major TV networks as well. They even hired Robert Downey Jr. to pull the plug for them. I don't think Nintendo doesn't have the money to pull such thing as what Activision did. It's all about strategizing on their part. Their current strategy doesn't work.

A Lego or Mario commercial doesn't cut it. It will only add to more confusion on people who were already confused of the Wii U. EA did a better job doing the Need for Speed: Most Wanted U than Nintendo. Nintendo needs to add some harcore elements on their advertisements. More gore, etc.

While I agree that it's a good idea for Nintendo to expand its audience in its advertising, you think that the advertisements need more "Hardcore" elements? I think you're forgetting that a lot of Nintendo properties aren't meant for the Call of Duty audience. Very little COD players, no matter how much blood and gore there would be in a Mario commercial, want to play the next iteration in the Super Mario Bros. series.

EDIT: As for my opinion on this news, I'm both surprised and not surprised. On one hand, E3 is E3 and it still matters despite the event seeming to have degraded over the years. On the other, Nintendo is using its Nintendo Direct gig to maintain the (comparatively) small Nintendo-dedicated fans and keep them in the palm of their hand.

I don't mind, honestly. E3 is less relevant these days. But... Media-wise, it could backfire too. I can see everyone going "big n had no conference". On the other hand if this will bring our first actually footage and/or shots of Super Mario U, or Smash Bros. U, I think that it will garner enough attention to be ok. I'd like an ND "summary", so to speak, honestly.

@skywake It's kinda sad how little media gaming entirely gets here. Even for new games, I only see commercials for a few days. I haven't seen an ad for Luigi's Mansion 2 in quite a while.

Nintendo's "all about the same" is a recipe of failure. It's like a bird without wings or a plane without an engine. It cannot fly. Yesterday, while meeting with investors Iwata discussed one of the biggest problems of the Wii U. Here's what he said...

"Some have the misunderstanding that Wii U is just Wii with a pad for games, and others even consider Wii U GamePad as a peripheral device connectable to Wii. We feel deeply responsible for not having tried hard enough to have consumers understand the product."

http://nintendoeverything.com/119881/iwata-discusses-wii-us-p...

The Wii U has an identity crisis. People have hard time differentiating it with the original Wii. Those Nintendo advertisements failed time & time again to explain all about the Wii U.

By being hardcore, it doesn't have to be all about the Call of Duty audience. Nintendo needs to have something very catchy added to the elements of it's advertising. The 3rd party games such as Watch Dogs or Splinter Cell for example are good games to advertise. This games showcased more about assymetrical gameplay with the use of the Gamepad on a game. It got more catchy graphics than your typical 2D Mario game. Instead of just mainly targeting kids at Disney Channel, Nintendo needs to take its things to a new level by branching out & reaching the casual & hardcore audience as well.

I was watching Toonami on Saturday night, and I believe on occaision they ran Lego City Undercover's commercial.

God people were calling this at E3 2011 so how did Nintendo allow this too happen.

It's part of a bigger problem with Nintendo. Nintendo's response to this about a month or so ago was doing the same stuff they been doing in the past by making the same cheesy Youtube & kids channel commercials of people playing in the living room on the Wii U. They've also handed flyers differentiating the original Wii & the Wii U which we all know by now was a total media disaster.