Topic: Next Nintendo Direct?

@Dezzy Yes for the FPS games though I haven't seen the Legendary endings for CE, 2 and 5. 2 is way too hard, CE is annoying with the massive grenade explosion radius and 5's campaign is bad so didn't want to replay on Legendary.

@Slowdive Jeez...that blows. I feel sorry for the MP dev...this is why I always take rumors with a grain of salt. Social media can be quite cruel at times, huh?

This is why I wish leakers would just stop.. because it causes people to harass devs when the leaks end up not being true, or when people bring any sense of actual logic into the conversation.

I partly share @VoidofLight 's annoyance. I mean leakers really don't do anything positive, except maybe give media sites things to report on.

But if they didn't exist, we'd have lost absolutely nothing. We'd still get the same games coming out at the same times.

I do think leakers do offer something positive to the community, it gives people something to discuss during slow times when people might be bored. In fact, it some ways it might be good for marketing in a way because it keeps the game in question relevant and people excited for the next game. Crazy conspiracy theory, sometimes I wonder if Nintendo allows some of these leaks on purpose for this very reason.

@Bolt_Strike

Why would Nintendo do that when they could achieve the same outcome with an official announcement though? Or a better outcome even, as everyone would know it's a fact.

It's not like they NEED their announcements to have a massive amount of effort put into them. That Prime 4 "trailer" was put together by like 1 guy in a few hours.

Also, plenty of devs have experimented with announcing things years ahead of time in order to try and build hype for things. Cyberpunk, Watch Dogs, Beyond Good and Evil 2, Final Fantasy XV. There are loads of examples where they tried that, in a completely official capacity. The results were....mixed I guess?

It's not that crazy, I mean not with Nintendo specifically but it's definitely a thing that happens more generally. As an example strategic leaking is a core part of the Australian government's media strategy. Because it allows them to control the narrative but also gives them a way to test the waters. If there's a backlash to a leak they can always just backtrack.

Although to be fair, out of the big three Nintendo is the sort of company who would be least likely to do it. Nintendo is pretty old fashioned like that. But I don't think there's any doubt that Sony and Microsoft have done some very obvious leaking of hardware revisions.

@Dezzy Agreed. Not to mention, Nintendo can just generate hype for something by dropping a trailer randomly out of the blue, like when they announced Age of Calamity.

Yeah that only really works when you're dealing with more immediate decisions that can executed or reversed equally quickly. It might have worked for something like Sony shutting down the Vita store. It doesn't really work for year-long projects that you have to commit to fully from day 1.

@Dezzy
True, but large projects are also a sum of smaller decisions right up to release. As an entirely hypothetical scenario, if you were Nintendo you might strategically leak "Metriod Prime Trilogy" to gauge what the interest is and how you might approach it. Should it be limited run release? A digital only release? A launch to some NSO exclusive library? How should it be marketed? Is the interest going to be mostly from people revisiting Metroid or are we trying to expand the audience for MP4 before that comes out?

Not saying that they do this, and definitely not saying it's what they did with Metroid Prime Trilogy. But a strategic leak is definitely a strategy for getting a feel for what a reaction might be before fully committing. It's not that much of a stretch to think they might do this. The only reason I doubt they do is because Nintendo, more than probably anyone, like a good reveal.

Well, if it had been that sort of leak, @skywake .... Then I think they must have seen the lots of people wanting that & they thus should be doing it! I've seen at least some people saying they'd missed out on the originals, one way or another & would love to play those before MP4. As well as plenty who'd get the trilogy on Switch to revisit them, anyway, which is all good for sales

@BruceCM
Well I'm not saying they did do a strategic leak I'm just pointing out reasons why a company might to a strategic leak. Also I don't have any strong opinions either way on whether Metroid Prime Trilogy on the Switch is actually a thing.

With that said, if it was a thing that they're sitting on the best timing for its release and the way it's released are interesting questions. eg. if the Switch Pro is a thing with an OLED display and HDR, Metroid Prime might be a good title to show that off with. So maybe there's value holding it back to launch alongside the Switch Pro. Or maybe 2022 is the target for Metroid Prime 4 so next year is the year for building up that hype.

And a reading the response online to a strategic leak, even if I don't think that happened here, could be a way to judge some of these things.

Yeah, while if it wasn't deliberately leaked, it is possible they only considered the idea, @skywake .... I don't mind either way for myself but I hope it does come for all the people that do want it on Switch

I'm still not sure what information they could actually gain from something like that. Shutting down the Vita store is a better example because the possible differences in the reaction are quite broad. But what is the reaction really going to be for Prime Trilogy? Pretty much the same as with any other pre-existing franchise. It's gonna be roughly whatever the response was to the last game they released. Which in the case of Metroid is extremely positive but with a relatively small group of people (given that Metroid hasn't really sold that well since Prime 1)

Personally I'd also rather see a world without leaks, legitimate or not.

A clear example of the negative effect on people is when a Nintendo Direct eventually does roll around.

If a leak turns out to be untrue / a "leaked" game doesn't show it's face? People are disappointed that a game they're hyped for may not be real (see the ongoing disappointment in the lack of Metroid Prime Trilogy).

If a leak turns out to be true? "Nintendo didn't show us anything we didn't already know about!"

It's a lose-lose situation really.

Also even if we do have some legitimate leaks out there, we usually only hear part of the story, or a distorted version of it. I'd rather my first experience hearing about a game to be straight from the horse's mouth.

Regarding Metroid Prime Trilogy - disregarding all the speculation about it, I find the idea that Nintendo would just sit on it quite baffling. Wouldn't it be better for them to release it earlier, giving the game more time to build up sales / potentially generate more Metroid fans prior to Prime 4's release?

@Slowdive I mean leaks are wrong. They’re legit illegal, and ruin surprise announcements. The byproduct is by creating toxic communities who in which take them for face value because mr. poketuber or mr. nintendo youtuber said they’re real.

@timleon
I mean legitimate leaks aren't wrong so they can't lead to disappointment anymore than an early announcement. I think your issue is more with baseless speculation presented as a legit leaks. Which is a different thing, even if on the surface they look similar to us.

@skywake A “leak” can’t be one unless it’s 100% confirmed by Nintendo. Reputable sources can sometimes spread false leaks. Ala Starfox Grand Prix or Pokemon Stars, both “leaked” by Emily Rodgers.

@skywake See my second point:

If a leak turns out to be true? "Nintendo didn't show us anything we didn't already know about!"

I think sometimes the mode of delivery is quite important. I've seen quite a lot of disappointment in recent announcements because people "already knew" about announcements they technically shouldn't have known about. If people are treating, for example, Skyward Sword as all but confirmed prior to announcement, that announcement is going to have a lessened impact on many people.

@VoidofLight I'm not sure you know what a leak is as you're talking about how a leak need to be comfirmed by Nintendo to be a leak and they are legit illegal.

In anycase it's just a bit of non-sense for us to talk about. As rule 190 of The Ferengi Rules of Acquisition says "Hear all, trust nothing". ;p