Topic: Should Nintendo do a live E3 next year ?

I think yes because....

1. To commemorate Mr. Iwata and show off the work he did for the gaming community.

2. To show off the NX in the best way possible.

Or do you think live events can be a bit messy?

I'd say no as a direct adds more options (like skits, pacing etc) than a guy presenting clips but I'm not sure how 1 can only be done live when the same thing can be achieved in a direct too.

I don't think it's needed. Live press conferences are kind of an archaic pre-internet age hold-over anyway. There's nothing they could do with a live conference that they couldn't do with their Digital Event.

As for showing off the NX, E3 is a 3 day long trade show attended by tens of thousands of people. There will be plenty of time to show it off at their booth.

Nah, they should stick to the new norm. They're doing this for us, so do it in a direct to us. The directs are too much fun to forgo in favour of a press conference.

Stick with Digital Event style given that the last major console reveal for Nintendo was a disaster. People didn't understand that the Wii U was a successor to the Wii but maybe if they ditched press conferences earlier (i.e. last one in 2010) it would've been different.

If they are introducing new hardware, they should absolutely do a live event to show off said hardware. There's a reason why studies continue to prove that, even though the internet has been "out there" and selling lots of stuff for years, people still prefer to see a product in-person with their own eyes.

Now, most of us here are not so lucky to attend E3, but hopefully you get what I mean. There's a BIG difference between showing NX to us live on a stage, and showing NX to us in a pre-recorded, completely planned-out way. Doing it in a Direct will make it feel way too fabricated and cashioned for my liking.

Also, I don't think you guys are considering: Doing a live E3 for the new hardware WILL reach a broader audience. Lots of non-Nintendo fans don't watch the Directs, even the E3 one. They know the reputation for a Direct is "short, a bit lackluster overall," and they don't even own a Nintendo console. Nintendo's even stated that Directs aren't really aimed at pulling in new people. So...uh....when you're launching new hardware, why the heck would you choose THAT format to introduce it?

This doesn't mean your Directs need to go away - but just do a live E3 if 2016 is the year for NX. Don't mail this one in. (literally! ha!)

Definitely a live show if they're showing off new hardware. With people able to try it out immediately. If anything, they can just mix the two. Have the skits/whatever in a direct portion of the event and then have the hardware reveal live on stage.

@Rallydefault yeah I completely agree. Very well said!

Depends on the release schedule for the NX or other gaming systems. If it is going to be announced 2016 and released 2017 then I wouls say direct 2016 and live event 2017. The press event should be the year they plan on releasing, to get the press covering it more and excited about it.

No. The only advantage of a live conference is having an audience (which can also be a negative if it sucks like this year's Digital Event did). I have no clue why people think a conference will bring in a wider audience or is a better format to show how the NX works. If a person didn't watch the Digital Events they aren't going to watch a conference and there is no difference between a prerecorded demonstration and a live one unless they take unproctured questions from the audience which isn't going to happen.

I think a lot of the press has a better reaction to a live conference and that is why I think having one the year the next aystem is released would be important, to get the press talking about it.I feel a lot of press ignore directs or brush them off as not important and that just adds to the difficulty of Nintendo getting positive articles. Basically, a live conference is more about the press and less about putting the information out there lol

A lot of people would see it, on the show floor, where the press does all of their work anyway. This is much more hands-on and extensive than a conference reveal. Actually, I'm pretty sure that no console has ever just been shown off on a stage in a press conference and that's it, because that's silly. Press can't write an article on something they saw on a stage 100 feet away for 5 minutes. There's always a show floor. E3 happens to be the biggest one in the world, lasting 3 days.

And what broader audience are you talking about? Conferences are a closed press event. It's not televised. The only way to watch it is on the internet. Which site did you use to watch E3 press conferences this year? Because I 100% guarantee that the same site also covered Nintendo's Digital Event.

Digital Events extend pretty much the entirety of the internet. You can watch the stream literally everywhere you watch the streams for the press conferences. All the major sites, IGN, Gamespot, everywhere, will embed streams. Nintendo streams it themselves through YouTube and Twitch too. Press conferences do not have a further reach than Digital Events. They are all hosted in the exact same places to the exact same audience. If someone does not watch the Digital Event, they would not have watched a live conference either.

There's a difference in context between a regular Nintendo Direct and E3, the biggest, most heavily covered gaming convention on earth.

I think they would still be fine with a Nintendo Digital Event for most announcements and either continue with the NX or do a live reveal instead. It really won't make much difference in the long run.

I say yes cause of the NX reveal.

I think so. They're gonna show off the NX next E3 so I think they should.

No. Do a live reveal PRIOR to E3. Revealing the NX at E3 is a foolish move - hardware reveals demand media attention anyways, so there's no reason to waste E3 on a hardware reveal when they can do that beforehand and have E3 be about the games.

You get the best media coverage at E3 and revealing it at E3 will give them the ability to deliver the strongest message, especially if they still make it all about the games. Maybe a live presentation for the reveal and the games, then a Direct following it to cover the detailed information lol.

Sony and Microsoft both revealed their consoles prior to E3. Worked well for one of them, not so much for the other. Again, hardware reveals demand media attention anyways thanks to the internet, so that's not an issue. Revealing the NX prior to E3 in like mid-late May to get the hardware and firmware stuff out of the way and then having E3 be about the games allows them to give the most fleshed out message possible.

For the people who don't understand why a live conference would reach more people: Are you more likely to watch a live conference or a Direct? We're Nintendo fans, we've been spoken to by Nintendo and conditioned by Nintendo to look for Directs.

Other people haven't. If I game only on Xbox, I might not even know what the heck a Direct is. Oh, it's a pre-recorded Nintendo video? Ok...nothing to see there...moving on....

Right? Come on, you have to admit. That makes sense. I wouldn't give a flying hoot about a "Direct" if I wasn't part of the Nintendo culture.

Also, if Nintendo suddenly comes back in 2016 with a live evet at E3 after 2 years (2 years, right? or 3?) without one, you can bet your bottom dollar that that news alone will draw attention and get more viewers than if they just stick with the original Direct plan. And on a base level, I'm more likely to tune in to another live conference just for the awkward moments and gaffs lol...

When you reveal a console, you do it in person. It's more relatable, and the reveal is more exciting. The crowd reaction/noise alone is worth way more than silence or ill-chosen-elevator-music in a recorded video.

I feel announcing the system prior to E3 works, when you aren't in dead last. (in the "console race") Sony and Microsoft had enough momentum to require the attention. Nintendo doesn't and any information Nintendo puts out there will need to be extremely clear because people take a single phrase of a sentance and make it mean twenty different things. The benefit of E3 is the press is there and after the conference they are able to take 3 days and ask any/all questions they have. With a separate event those questions become less direct and more PR like. Just my opinion however.

@rallydefault: They don't reach more people actually. Anyone watching E3 knows that Nintendo's Digital Event is their presentation. They'll watch it anyways. Everybody else just catches up with articles on the various sites or hears about it on social media. Makes no difference.

Also, stiff corporate suits and awkward jokes aren't something I'd call "more relatable". There's far more advantages to doing a Digital Event at E3 than the outdated, behind the times press conference.