Feature: A Summary of Nintendo's Key Announcements on NX, E3 and Mobile

Nintendo screwed up with their E3 plans.

WELP. Nintendo, please tell me there's actually more to be seen at E3 or this is actually a late April Fool's Day joke (Please be the latter).

I'm just sitting here laughing my butt off. I'm loving how everyone is losing their minds over this cause they only want to know what that secret thing is.

For me personally as long as they bring out the great games I can wait. I have plenty of great games to keep me busy until Nintendo reveals the NX.

I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo doesn't even have a digital event this year. At least then we can understand that they just want to pull out of E3 and not be there anymore.

What else could they show at E3? There is only three other games on the calendar and two of them drop that month.

What I do expect is that they will do another Nindies @ home preview and maybe work a second Nindies Humble Bundle in to the calendar since they will be depending almost fully on Nindies to supply new software this year.

EDIT: Goes to show how out of touch I have been the past few days due to being on the road for work. The second Humble Bundle is here already. So maybe a third is in the future.

@liljmoore

Exactly. I finished Bayonetta 2 today because I thought I was in a hurry. I'm glad this gives me more time to complete the remaining games from my Wii U library. I still have incompleted games from every past generations. It's just not a good feeling missing out on something because you lack the time required.

don't forget guys... last e3 all we wanted was Zelda...

@mudmask

This. This. This. So much of this. People were clamoring for Zelda to be at E3 and were really only into that (and Mother 3). Now we are getting what they asked for.

I don't understand how Nintendo wants us to believe in their "launch dates", they don't mean nothing at all.

can't say I'm thrilled with their E3 plans, but the more I think about it, the more I'm ok with NX being pushed to next year. I think it's the smarter thing to do to ensure having a strong lineup and not having to compete with the PSNeo (and maybe an Xbox1.5). I'm still partly convinced the Neo will split the fanbase and get a lot of bad publicity.

I just don't understand Nintys approach anymore.... I want to be optimistic but everytime they have "news", it seems to be a letdown.

@liljmoore

"I'm loving how everyone is losing their minds over this cause they only want to know what that secret thing is."

Nah, I don't think it's that. Me personally? I'm ok with the NX release date, cause it's ready when it's ready. A shame they'll miss the Xmas schedule, but that's just how it is then.

It's more that Nintendo might as well not show up at E3 this year if they have nothing to show (after Reggie implied that they were going to show the NX at the Digital Event last year).

Not properly building enough hype was what sunk the Wii U within 3 months, so yeah, we're a little shaken by the lack of a proper NX reveal. E3 2015 was nothing short of a disaster, and Nintendo needed to come back full swing this year to make up for it. Showing up with a Zelda title on a dead console that releases in a "2017" window is just stupid beyond belief.

What I understand is that they must be working on the launch line-up for the NX and since they're not showing any NX footage, they wont show anymore games.

I doesn't make much financial sense at this point to invest time and money in games for the Wii U.

I still feel a little bit betrayed as a loyal Nintendo consumer.

How long do you think the NX has been in development? A few years before they even announced the name "NX"? 5-6 years maybe?

@MoonKnight7 I'm not just talking about this site but all sites in general(IGN, Gameinformer, ect).

I feel the same way. As long as they have some great games to release with the NX I'll be happy.

But I also can't understand not releasing Zelda WiiU during the holiday and hyping the NX with some good marketing to get consumers hungry for it. That is dumb.

But then I think March huh. Tax time. Could work. I don't know.

I just hope they give the NX proper marketing because if not it's gonna be another long gen for Nintendo.

But I don't have a Wii U and I don't play Zelda games...

They need to give Zelda a name so the NX version doesn't get stuck with the Wii U label.

I'm tired of the argument "as long as they do a good job, I'm willing to wait for ___". Like we have to choose between crappy games released on time or a great game delayed. How about releasing a great game by the first release date? Too hard to ask?Zelda has been pushed back for well over a year by the time it comes out. This is getting ridiculous.

Nintendo confirms they have no interest in making money this year!

@liljmoore agreed. I remember just a few years ago, Miyamoto commenting on how gamers are very hard to satisfy these days. As an indie dev, that kind of potential fan base is pretty scary.

Have anyone considered that Nintendo can still have surprises for us? Last year they brought a little bit of E3 directly to the consumers via the [email protected] campaign. Imagine if they did a similar thing with their own titles. Trying out upcoming Nintendo games from the comfort of your own home with no time restrictions, that would certainly make a lot of people happy, and I would not be too surprised if it happens.

For the past few years Nintendo has evolved their E3 pressence in their own direction targeting the people at home more and more. Digital Event, Nintendo Treehouse, [email protected] I'm pretty sure that they have surprises in store for us, and I'm looking forward to the complete reveal of their E3 plans.

@Mario-Man-Child If he feels that way he can. A growing number of people are growing frustrated with him, especially for, as @Yorumi mentioned, generic and gimmicky games. If you admire Miyamoto, then good for you - someone can still be a Nintendo fan regardless of liking Miyamoto, however.

My trust in the company has been shaky at best for the last 5 years or so but damn now I can't even trust ANYthing they say. "Zelda coming in 2015. No wait 2016. No wait 2017" "Oh we will never go mobile" oh what's this, Nintendo going mobile? "We will never do DLC" What's this, they do DLC? "DS is a third pillar won't replace GBA" Oh what's this DS replaced GBA? "We have a few surprises left for Wii U owners!" The surpirse is that there is nothing left to look forward to. Good job, Nintendo, you successfully made me into a Sony fan.

Well written and laid out, good job Nintendo Life!

March seems to be a bad time to release a console , 3DS , Wii U- both had horrible releases the 3DS eventually came around and pulled good sales via an instant price cut and a few really good titles the Wii U still in desperate need of a price cut which wouldn't help a lot at this point , I cannot understand what the thought process is at Nintendo headquarters they are alienating their own fan base the NX needs to and should be released in November or December to boost sales Nintendo really really needs to overhaul their corporate level and hire people who know how to keep Nintendo successful cause the ones in charge now are way out of touch and are running the company in the ground.

@Yorumi It does not. Also, why can't we have an opinion different than this man I wonder?

@"intriguingly stating that both versions have been in development "in tandem""

I don't believe that, it's just an excuse they made to justify delaying the Wii U version, the truth is they want both versions launching at the same time, that makes sense for them, to try to divert attention to NX console. They might even release first the NX version like they did with Twilight Princess for Wii.

"@"in order to provide attendees a complete immersion""

You know, these excuses NIntendo is making are kind of cheap.

@PikminSalad Prepare to be a Microsoft fan: The Last Guardian.

@Yorumi: Do you actually know all the decisions he made or just the ones we talk about the most? Everyone makes mistakes, and thus everyone must be horrible at what they do since they make mistakes.

Interesting that they're only having one playable game. I do like the idea of a more portable, simple FE. I really miss the old sprite based FEs. I'm blinded by nostalgia, but I have not enjoyed FE as much as either of the GBA titles.

@mudmask True, but why is exciting about a whole conference about a story game, plus seeing Treehouse playing different parts of that game? Isn't it intrinsically a bunch of spoilers? I don't want to see that! I know many people will, but they will spoil the game if you ask me, they should not.

So very disappointed. With previous delays Nintendo has given us at least something to chew on to hold us over. ex. Twilight Princess HD. Now there's almost nothing. Nintendo will give us information on Zelda U to keep us satiated for the next 9 months. (assuming the NX and Zelda are not delayed again). How disappointing!

I practically guarantee Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem will be delayed later this year; it wouldn't surprise me at all. However, keep in mind that right now there are no major titles on the calendar for Wii U for Fall/Holiday. Even with Zelda's delay, they still may have some surprises in store for the holiday season. (They better!)

What about Paper Mario Colour Splash, assuming it's old school and not another Sticker Star? Will it launch on NX and Wii U at the same time like Zelda or what?

@VanillaLake see that's a fair spin, I can see how almost every presentation at e3 or conferences like e3 could potentially spoil a game... I guess it's up to you (or me) to decide if it's worth it. so far they've really just shown little bits and pieces of the new zelda, and gamexplain might have a lot of things here and there to pick apart but really nothing major has been revealed at all.

@VanillaLake Nowhere does it say that Nintendo won't show other games at E3. It's just that Zelda will be the only playable title at the show floor, and those two are very different.

I expect the Treehouse team to show a bunch of other games, and since I won't be at E3, I really don't care if one game alone is playable, as long as they show us other things in their presentations.

Nintendo is doing E3 right. Last year everyone was so hyped that they got let down when it didn't pan out the way they wanted. I for one wasn't let down by last years E3, I wasn't blown away either but I was left excited to play some of the games coming out, and some of them I am still excited to play (M&L Paper Jam, Bravely Second, Still playing Xenoblade Chronicles, Federation Force, Star Fox, etc.) This year they are getting everyone mad and disappointed before E3 so that everyone's expectations are so low that they will come away saying that Nintendo actually did a really good job this year. Very smart move Nintendo. slowly clapping

I kinda have no idea what the hell Nintendo is doing these days. What the hell is going to happen once it shows of NX. . . .

@mudmask Yeah, I can understand that people won't resist. This game has been delayed several times. People can't play it but they can see it. But I don't want to see it, I want to play it. I'll skip Nintendo's event because of this, and it's going to be the first time since I can remember. It's not worth seeing gameplay videos for the sake of my curiosity if they are showing me a story that I want to live by myself and that I will buy anyway.

@KJ85 The only game I can think of at the moment is Paper Mario Colour Splash for Wii U (if it's not delayed for a NX/Wii U release) and a few 3DS games: Pokemon Sun & Moon and the new Ace Attorney game.

@Kirk Sunshine and rainbows. That's what

Well, we won't know anything about NX past E3, but what if they announce some launch titles at the Digital Event. They HAVE to show something, right?

@Kirk If it's another one generation older hardware and Microsoft has already reacted to Sony, it's going to be Wii U all over again. Nintendo would better become a third party developer and focus on games, as their hardware and business decisions are so out of touch.

@Yorumi

What games is he ruining If I may ask. Because I haven't had a problem with any of Nintendo's games. Even Starfox took me 40 mins to master the controls and it's fun and immersive.

I'm still getting my head around this.

My guess is that Nintendo has been holding out hope to be able to release NX the end of this year — the best timing possible — but it was somehow impossible. There could be many reasons to delay a console launch to the 3rd month after the Holiday season, but I have to guess that there was simply no other way. If Nintendo could release their console then, there aren't any obvious reasons it wouldn't.

I mean the best Nintendo can do to fight through the next round of XB1 and PS4k console sales is show how great NX is going to be... so save your money. That's rough going.

For those arguing that NX would launch in 2017 do you see how absurd that was? Especially if you were thinking end-of-year 2017. And yet, here we are.

Star Fox has turned out to be another great Wii U game, thankfully, but what do I buy from Nintendo this Holiday season?

The dream of a less painful drought for the last year of Wii U seemed attainable, but less so now. I have to say I think I prefer the painful drought if we can have a strong launch.

Nintendo also said that we did not have Wave Race because the Wii Sports Resort jet ski mini game was more than enough. As a Wave Race fan, you can imagine my thoughts.

@aaronsullivan Wii U launched before PS4 and Xbox One and failed. Even with this 2017 launch, NX is launching mid-generation, it will be out 4 years and 4 months after Wii U, the shortest lifespan for a Nintendo home console to date. I don't know what all this means, you might be right at that if they could they would release it ever earlier, this year. What does Nintendo expect with this, though?

Also, if NX is underpowered how it would compare to PS4Neo if is was released this Christmas holidays? And how will it compare to PS4Neo and Xbox 1.5 if it launches next year and the hardware is what they have already prepared?

The questions...

All things considered, 2015 wasn't THAT bad of a year for Nintendo. Splatoon and Mario Maker were great.

@Yorumi
You tend to use words like "shoehorned" "gimmick" and "waggle" a lot. I'm curious to know what Nintendo Wii games truly shoehorned unnessecery waggle?

I can only think of DKCR and maybe Mario Galaxy. Most of the times you shook the controller it either made sense from a gameplay perspective or was integral to the design.

@Yorumi
Couldn't you use the Classic Controller for Kirby though? It's hard for me to completely find fault with waggle if there is an alternate method of control.

@brandonbwii On Wii U Star Fox Zero, Super Mario 3D World (touch the door to open it, really Nintendo??), Pikmin 3 for the map even if we are using another controller, etc. Also, if you are playing Trine 2 or Resident Evil Revelations with a pro controller you need the GamePad turned on by your side.

Many Wii U games shoehorned the GamePad like Star Fox Zero, Zombi U, Captain Toad... The only Wii U games that make an excellent use of the GamePad that could not be done otherwise are Super Mario Maker, Nintendo Land and Maiden of Black Water.

@TingLz The Last Guardian and Horizon Zero Dawn delayed to holiday 2017

@VanillaLake Not really too worried about the ps4k upgrades. It's an interesting situation because most PS4 owners will not upgrade. At this point, I'd wager that the ratio of ps4k to ps4 won't shift in favor of the ps4k for years.

The games offered will be the same and the advertising will show the better performing PS4k, but, like PC gamers have become accustomed to, PS4 owners will discount the imagery realizing their own box won't handle it.

No games are allowed to have significantly different features on the PS4k, so that limits it much further than a traditional console launch.

While Sony is being coy about it, I think the impetus for the PS4k is the VR. There will be a notable difference there. Any increase in frame rate and fidelity will be much more appreciated inside that gear.

Oof. I have to think that delaying the console has more to do with software than hardware. They cannot afford another threadbare launch window.

I think this generation, all the way around, is the best advertisement for not just buying in to one company's products. I'm glad I have each of the three consoles (and both handhelds) this generation, and I know I'm fortunate to be able to do that. But while Nintendo's E3 isn't looking promising from this perspective at this moment, I'm still excited for a new Forza game coming (please be Horizon 3), plus Persona 5 and some other goodies.

@VanillaLake
"The only Wii U games that make an excellent use of it that could not be done otherwise are Super Mario Maker, Nintendo Land and Maiden of Black Water."
Personally, I'd add Kirby Rainbow Curse, Rayman Legends, Star Fox and Splatoon to that list.

@aaronsullivan Yeah, I agree about Neo. Actually I have Wii U, PS4 and Xbox One and I will not upgrade PS4. The thing is, I consider that PS4 and PS4 Neo to become a winner combo, new users looking for best performance will surely pick up the Neo, while most PS4 owners will not upgrade. It's good for Sony, they don't anger PS4 users and they provide new customers and fusspots a higher specifications hardware. I expect Microsoft to do a similar thing, specially now that Nintendo is missing the party for some time.

@Yorumi Have you played Star Fox Zero? It's pretty great. Lots of love put into it and the various vehicles and situations set it apart from previous games to stand on its own quite nicely. Basic story elements are a rehash, but my kids were swept away by it and nobody had more than a momentary issue with the controls. Helped that we had plenty of co-op play time maybe.

@VanillaLake
Totally agree that the PS4 Neo is a great move by Sony. The careful attitude towards PS4 owners and the pricing is pitch perfect.

anyone else catch these quotes from Nikkei?

“However, it’s not merely the successor to the handheld 3DS or stationary console Wii U. This will be hardware that’s been made with a new way of thinking. I’d like to announce more particulars regarding its specs and how it works another time this year.”

“When asked why Nintendo wasn’t launching the NX in time for this year’s big holiday season, Kimishima explained that Nintendo wanted to make sure there were games to go along with the NX.”

When the Nikkei asked Kimishima what the likelihood that Wii U production would end, the Nintendo president replied, “Since we are making a big shift to the NX, there is that possibility (in the future).”

@aaronsullivan Yep, as a New 3DS owner I can understand how unfair it is for older 3DS owners not being able to download SNES games. But I don't download them anyway because I refuse to pay twice for the same ROMs on the same user account (Wii U/3DS). Nintendo could learn a thing or two about this, too.

@Yorumi I do think the $45 $15 split between those games (SF0 and Guard) should be more like $40 $10. Can't see an indie pulling off a vehicle combat game as polished, precise and satisfying as Star Fox Zero though. Not sure on the amount of content yet because I haven't gone through to the end alone (only co-op) or been through the cycle of finding secrets. I should check the hours we've racked up...

@Yorumi I can see that. My concern is more than perhaps none of their games are ready for the holidays. Makes 3rd-party support all the more crucial this time around to have that steady stream they need.

I'd like to be optimistic, but I'm struggling to be right now. I think I'll be playing on my other systems more later in the year based on forthcoming releases (that don't interest me a ton).

I'm guessing that when the NX is released Nintendo are going to have a killer line up of (mainly first party) launch titles for the console and this is why they're holding it back.

It will be worth the wait in the end but I do worry missing the holiday period may do some damage, especially if consumers pick up rival products beforehand. I myself might be tempted to buy a PS4 and that means I wouldn't buy the NX for a while after.

Having to wait so long for Zelda really SUCKS - it had better be mind blowing!

@abe_hikura Interesting. So, if they are waiting for a game lineup at launch... wonder if there is one big holdout. Next Final Fantasy or some other key first party game. I mean, Zelda, yes, but I'm just curious now.

@VanillaLake
It wasn't exactly shoehorned in in ZombiU. It was built from the ground up for it. It made for a more intense experience IMO.

@Yorumi I don't mean to disparage indie games at all. I'm an indie developer by night. This type of game is underrepresented at the $10 price you quoted, though, isn't it?

XCX is so different, but I understand your point about content. The time that game took and the amount of content, I do wonder how a game with such a low volume of sales could ever pay for itself. Do you think it made a profit? It was funded by Nintendo at a time when there was hope for a significant Wii U user base.

Anyway, you are looking at it from a consumer perspective and you're probably right. Right now, though? Wandering-the-landscape-number-crunching-RPGs with 100+ hours have little value to me as a gamer, personally. Especially, since I'd just be relieved to ever finish it, where I know I'll go back to Star Fox Zero many times over in the coming years.

It's sad to read how many here are so desperate and angry because of this news. But when waiting for some good new Nintendo game it's possible to play games for exempel on PS4, Xbox One... Or why not on PC? Im really interesting in this new VR gaming. Looks Cool!
For me I haven't had time playing much except just buying my games... For hope that I will have time plating them one day... (I even have games on NES i haven't had time open yet!)
I really hope Nintendo will have more suport from the 3rd party. Nintendo can't work alone on NX or Wii U. They will likely become 3rd party if this goes on...

@ThomasBW84 Xenoblade Chronicles is coming to the Wii U eshop in NA! Thought I should mention that. The link you can see is at http://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/xenoblade-chronicles-wii-u

Tbh, I don't care about the actual launch date because I refuse to buy it at launch, unless Mario Kart is a launch title. I bought the 3DS at launch, and I barely touched the system until Mario Kart 7 came out. Had no interest in a Wii or Wii U until Mario Kart came out.

I could also care less about their E3 showing. All I want is some presentation sometime this year where they better explain what the NX is and what we can expect from it. No one's going to buy the stupid thing no matter when launch if no one knows what they're getting.

@Yorumi Make sure that it is set up to be a pretty entertaining console with excellent day one software. Word of mouth and advertising used to do wonders back in the day before e3 hype was even a thing.

Nintendo's last two e3 presentations were fantastic, even when they didn't have much to show. Does this mean they're basically sitting this one out altogether like a third party or will there be another Nintendo World Championship or something?

After today it feels like Nintendo just doesn't care too much about E3. Last year I thought they just messed up, but this year seems to give off a signal that Nintendo is just treating E3 like a Nintendo Direct. I mean what's the point of watching their E3? Zelda seems to be the major focus, but that game isn't even Wii U exclusive! Nintendo has nothing to impress their current supporters of the Wii U, and people who might be interested in picking one up.

I don't know what is going on down there, but Nintendo is changing, and not in a good way.

So no notable Nintendo games are coming out this year? Nothing to look forward to for the entire year, not even trailers at E3?

How is Nintendo planning to fill in this gap? There better be some MK8 DLC coming our way or something. They better have a good reason for not showing off a CONSOLE that's coming out in MARCH at E3.

@mariovslink62
Wii U was dead in the water. Of course they're not trying to impress new buyers, that's for Wii U 2.0, erm, I mean NX.

@brandonbwii It was NX or bust, and Nintendo just did the most logical thing to do and not show anyone their latest console.

@mariovslink62 maybe because A iwata past away last year and nintendo is more interested in doing directs instead of e3

@Camilla That doesn't mean Nintendo should dumb down their E3 in favor of Directs that are less important to Nintendo's overall performance. More gamers are watching E3 over Directs. Plus Iwata passed away after E3.

I definitely think not showing the NX or even talking about it at the biggest gaming event in the world is simply a terrible idea and I have a feeling it will come back to bite them. They better have an AMAZING marketing plan in store for NX because if not I think we may be in a Wii U style situation all over again.

Basically, it's going to be a lull until NX launches with Zelda in March.

So be it. I mean, NX is going to have games. We know this. So there is news, they're just not revealing it to us at e3. But rest assured that news WILL drop sometime this year. It has to. Cause NX is coming. It's coming and the games are coming with it.

The pill that people have to swallow is that it's gonna be a lull between now and NX. Personally, I don't care. I'm playing Star Fox Zero and Guard, Dark Souls 3, Ratchet & Clank, Severed, Bravely Second and Fire Emblem Fates. With Monster Hunter Generations, #FE, Star Ocean V, Final Fantasy XV and Dragon Quest on the way. And tons of other games.

If the NX has a decent launch lineup and a decent number of titles to look forward to for the next two years, I'll excuse the release date and the lack of an E3 presentation.

The only problem is, I'm one of the few to say that. I'm honestly thinking the NX might fail worse than the Wii U, but it's too soon for that.

@Project_Dolphin
I want to say yes.

But if @rjejr has taught me anything, it's that everything is subject to change.

I think the system kinda has to stick to March. Cause a delay would put it in the summer which is the worst time for a console launch.

November and March are the only months Nintendo has ever released hardware as far as I know (Wii U in Nov, 3DS was Mar, for example)

@Yorumi They have released games pretty quickly after announcing in the past. The ones that I can think of off the top of my head that were 3-6 months after announcement:

Super Mario 3D World
Majora's Mask 3D
A Link Between Worlds
M&L: Paper Jam
Twilight Princess HD
Kirby Planet Robobot
Wind Waker HD

And if you up that to 9ish months you can add:

Pokémon X & Y and Pokémon Sun and Moon
Hyrule Warriors
Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze

And I excluded things like Captain Toad, Rainbow Curse, or Tri-force Heroes because I assume you would argue they're shovelware or that they were easy because they reused assets. I included the remakes because even though they are remakes, they are hardly shovelware. If we got a couple of good HD remakes this year, I'd be content.

And again this is only the things I could think of quickly from the past several years. I am sure I missed plenty.

Why does Miyamoto look like he just farted? And Kimishima's like "Ehh it smells in here..."

@Yorumi #70... Yea, I agree it is a very puzzling situation. The only thing I can think of is that it's not software that is causing them to skip the holiday but manufacturing. Maybe the games are ready but the hardware isn't because of delays with the chips. Or maybe the specs just aren't finalized yet.

Well hopefully when they say "only playable game at E3" that means more will be shown. Perhaps we will get an NX teaser reel but none of them will be playable? I doubt that they will just show Zelda, say it's playable for the event and be done with it. If nothing else they'll probably show more of Paper Mario Colour Splash ... though whether that will help is questionable.

Fire Emblem mobile? Color me interested.

@liljmoore Couldn't agree with you more. Here's to more people with attitudes similar to yours.

So Nintendo is going to only immerse E3 attendees with the lesser version of Zelda (the WiiU version)... Sounds like a horrible way to introduce the game as everyone will associate the game afterwards with the WiiU version. Which if it looks anything like Star Fox Zero then that means garbage.

Nintendo leadership needs a serious shakeup...

One things for certain. I don't care if the NX is so powerful it can create a solid hologram of Natalie Portman for your "enjoyment". I will NOT be buying an NX at launch. I simply don't trust Nintendo anymore.

Not a lot of great news from Nintendo in that report to be honest.

Anyone else see the following IGN article?

http://uk.ign.com/articles/2016/04/27/why-nintendo-is-in-real-trouble

Because it's basically all true, sadly.

I recall brining up the whole "average Nintendo game rating thing" with someone the other day in here, and we were saying it would be interesting to see if we could actually get a stat that showed if Nintendo's games really had dropped in quality in recent times, which I was claiming was the case. Well, it appears they have. And, not only have they dropped in quality but Nintendo is actually making less games overall, which makes the drop in quality even more of an issue imo.

That IGN article captures how I feel about where Nintendo is at these days to be honest, and it's a sad state of affairs, and one that anyone who isn't slightly blinded by fanboyism has likely been noticing for quite some time now. You guys certainly know my thoughts on where Nintendo is at.

Nintendo needs to get it's act together and soon.

PS. I love Nintendo too, just like Justin, but the facts are the facts and I think it's time more people faced up to them, because if we all just keep our heads buried in the sand, or worse, financially support Nintendo's actions when it's standards are clearly and visibly dropping (to my eyes at least, and that's borne out by the actual figures too), then we really are just part of the problem as far as I'm concerned.

@Mario-Man-Child

Somebody is always unhappy, that much is true. With7 billion people in the world, very few will have the same interests/hobbies. But Nintendo has lost a tremendous amount of market share. If you they want to get back to the top, they should take some of that criticism into account. Not necessarily everything, but certainly some.

@Kirk

I'm not going to go into that article, but I do believe that Nintendo has been overwhelmed with HD development. They skipped the Wii generation when Sony and Microsoft were learning about the challenges of HD development putting them behind. Then with the Wii U they didn't increase the size of their teams because they didn't know initially and then expected third parties to fill the gaps. Then when they realized HD development difficulties their financial difficulties prevented them from increasing team sizes to develop games in a reasonable time.

@cleveland124 It's definitely one possible cause of the various issues.

PS. You should go into that article. Hiding from the truth is not going to help you, if you're a Nintendo fan who actually wants the best from, and it's not going to help Nintendo, if you're a Nintendo fan who actually wants the best for Nintendo. And, I'd think you'd ultimately want to do both of those things.

But, we all have to just man up and admit there is a problem, that's both the Nintendo gamers and Nintendo itself that have to accept this truth, before we can start to figure out how to fix it, if we even can.

Wow, a total drama only for:
>1 year more for waiting Zelda Wii U
>No Nintendo NX in this E3
>Hope for less sales for Wii U
>Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing to smartphones

oh well, a day more in the internet, XD

I don't get why everyone is going mad about E3. Nintendo will not be on stage (as normal for the past few years), only having 1 game playable on the show floor is surprising but remember this is Zelda one of the biggest franchises in gaming! Also there maybe other games shown to the press (remember Star Fox). We also are yet to hear anything about a Nintendo Direct being held during E3 and history favours this happening again, I also believe we will have some sort of event like the Smash/World Championships of previous years

@Mario-Man-Child I never said I hated Miyamoto. I said I was frustrated with some of his design choices, but I still like the man. Besides, without him, we wouldn't have Mario! Still, you're being really narrow-minded about this.

i'm waiting fire emblem and animal crossing to mobile this fall to see the potential of this markets,so miitomo is fine ten hit milion downloads but not in western and some asian region... so then i hope nintendo get better from the stratch and for this The NX masterpiece....

@Project_Dolphin

I think that's a gross simplification of people that think Nintendo can do better. I'd say there are multiple levels of satisfaction from Nintendo fans including many that will buy an NX and will ultimately support Nintendo whichever decision they make.

I also think brand loyalty doesn't exist with most consumers. I mean, in a hypothetical, what if Nintendo went back to selling just hanafuda cards as they once did. Would you continue to support them, follow them, and be excited about their products the way you are now? Would you expect Nintendo fanbase to have the same following as it does now? If the answer is no, then you also are looking to get something out of Nintendo. And that's not a bad thing inherently. All consumers want to get things out of their money and tastes change over time. It's great Nintendo is innovative, but they need to find something that resonates with the market or that innovation isn't good innovation, it's just doing things differently and being stubborn.

One thing people ought to consider is that they said Zelda will be the only PLAYABLE game at E3, it stands to reason that they may reveal many more titles or details on games like Paper Mario as well.

Alright, let's get to the important stuff.

https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2016/160428e.pdf

Sad day that Nintendo is getting out of professional baseball.

This could turn out to be a good strategy for Nintendo. Winding down the Wii U a bit slower than the NX eager fans want perhaps...but building longterm anticipation instead of short term, avoiding direct immediate competition with PS4K and having time to process and possibly counter Sony's VR success or lack thereof, and most importantly, increasing their mainstream exposure with the mobile venture 1st. They may need this time to build that audience, or it could be another Wii U (sales wise) all over again.

@Project_Dolphin

Nintendo does change though. It'll be interesting to see how this new president makes his stamp on the company. He's not Iwata, even if he shares some of the same principles. I guess I didn't think Nintendo was all about change before the Wii. The SNES is just a better graphical version of the NES. Technology allowed 3D for the first time in the N64 so it was a natural progression. The Gamecube was a souped up N64. Then the Wii was totally different. I don't even really think the Wii U was much more than a souped up Gamecube. The gamepad was rarely mandatory or used in a gamechanging way. It's kind of Gamecube HD to me, which I actually liked except their inability to get third parties on board. I feel they are going for a Wii like swing for the fences with the NX. Innovation is great when it hits, but when you rely on innovation there are more misses than hits.

@Project_Dolphin

I'm not really sure what impact not announcing at E3 really does or anything non game related, so I'll let you criticize them on that:

"Either way, I have this feeling that overall, this is once again going to be one of those truly memorable E3's that we will be talking about for years to come, for all consoles..."

Still feel that way about Nintendo's E3?

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2016/04/rumour_nx_software_lineup_will_blow_away_wii_u_controller_streaming_gimmick_was_made_up#comment3463981

Nobody cares about the Mariners? Man, I must be the only sport/Nintendo fan.

@cleveland124 I'd worry more if they were up for sale rather than selling their shares to the other owners. I'm more worried about their bats waking up than the sale.

This is crazy, only one playable game at E3??? That would have been an unthinkably abysmal showing back in the 90's and '00s. It's definitely a sign of Nintendo's current weakness. Five years ago, ten years ago, twenty years ago, I wouldn't have believed Nintendo could ever be in such a weak position that they'd ever only have one game to demo and show off at any E3, no matter what. It doesn't even matter that it's Zelda. This is just... unbelievable.

@cleveland124 The Mariners used to be more of a big deal back in the 90's, with the Ken Griffey sponsored baseball games on the SNES and N64. For some reason, Nintendo started tossing those types of games by the wayside in the '00s onwards. All sorts of games like that have seemingly gone extinct at this point.

Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem going mobile, huh? Well... I guess Mario, Metroid, and Zelda are inevitable too.

Still no mention of a price drop on Wii U, or on 3DS to phase them out before NX touches down. I hope Nintendo pays more attention to their price brackets when NX arrives than they've done in the 8th generation thus far. They used to be on top of their price brackets...

I think launching the NX at a time missing the holiday season, when Nintendo is now desperately in need of a brand reboot and a huge marketing blitz with the right timing, is an enormous missed opportunity. I think this decision is going to bite Nintendo in the ass really hard.

Miitomo hitting 10 million users sounds good... Until one realizes that's a worldwide count. That is actually not so great for a Nintendo IP making their breakthrough into the mobile space. It would be good if that were 10 million in just one region, not even counting others. But 10 million globally is not as good as it sounds in this case.

Good, Reggie is being moved, maybe we can nag his successor for Mother 3 and actually get it.

Fourteen titles between Wii U and 3DS were million+ sellers last year... sounds great, until you realize those properties include Mario Kart, which sold over 23 million on the DS and over 36 million on the Wii. The 3DS incarnation is only at over 13 million, and the Wii U version is struggling to reach 10 million.... Granted, there's only 12-13 million Wii U's sold, so I guess the one positive here is that Mario Kart 8 has one of the highest attach rates of any mid console life title in history.

Well, there's definitely a lot to think about here...

@PlywoodStick Considering that the 3DS will sell half as much as the DS sold, and the Wii U will sell 1/7th what the Wii sold, those Mario Kart sales numbers are quite impressive.

Also, I am pretty sure Nintendo really, really wanted to launch the NX during holiday 2016, but some conflict forced them to launch 3-4 months later instead. My guess is that Nintendo wants to ensure that the NX has new compelling launch titles (Zelda) rather than yet another NSMB and another mini-game collection aka Nintendo land. Personally, I think the NX will go fine, much like the DS, Wii, 3DS, and Wii U launch. The problem is, will the platform have any momentum after the initial launch period?? The Wii U certainly didn't, and that's why it utterly failed to sell.

@Kirk Trouble is as with anything BLIND Fanboys will always support whoever it is with their money as the Average consumer is NOT very wise or clever FACT. Me ive gone off Nintendo's ways/business and now as you say there lackluster quality of games BIG time.

@westman98 Yeah, the attach rate is definitely higher, even though the total sales are much lower. That doesn't make them more impressive though, it just means the ceiling is that much easier to hit.

@mudmask lol comment of the week right there!

@TingLz

Nope. Pretty sure The Last Guardian is PS4 exclusive.

@mariovslink62 Because their E3 last year was such a groundbreaking event, right?

I am sick and tired of you Nintendo fanboys giving Nintendo crap about the E3...Nintendo is your father, treat them with respect. Seriously, calm down....Remember, Nintendo is dying since 1889 TM, and at this rate, and once we are nothing but ashes or carbon that was absorbed by the earth, Nintendo will be everywhere, in every household, in every brain, in every neural implant, everywhere.... so think about this. All you will do is close your eyes and choose a game that has already been pre-loaded to your brain.

NX= gimmick console+handled device with WiiU hardware incoming, a wii strategy, in iwata's memory

E3 is overrated and no longer the main game event it used to be.
There are big studios that don't even attend E3 anymore, like Activision Blizzard, who host their own event every year.
Other studios have skipped E3 from time to time as well.
The GamesCon events are much bigger now and more popular, especially since the "actual" gamers / fans can attend those events.

In case with Nintendo, it just shows the NX isn't anywhere near ready yet and I hardly doubt they going to make the March 2017 release time frame. I am betting they just put that date in it to please the investors, so they have a carrot on a stick to hold on to.
I am more inclined to see the NX release more towards the end of 2017 before holidays.

@brandonbwii But what was the point really in having to look at the GamePad for the inventory? I think it does not make the experience any better, but that's just me probably.

@luke88

But what the point teasing you with only one game whose the launch date is a year after the E3 ?!?!

@Project_Dolphin

My point was you seemed very excited about E3 for Nintendo a couple of days ago indicating you thought we'd be talking about their E3 for years. Now it appears they'll have a more minimal appearance than they ever have had. I'd think that'd be disappointing to you but you seem to shrug off Nintendo related disapointments.

As far as Nintendo games, I think they have created alot over the years, but I don't really see their current lineups as that different from competitors. I.E. Mario Kart was groundingbreaking and I believe the first kart racer of it's time. But their have been several good kart racers since then including currently, Sonic Racing and Modnation Racers. The only real game that I can think of that doesn't have an equivalent on comparable consoles is games like Nintendoland that focus on dual screens as competitors have chosen not to match that aspect.

I'd argue that's the problem for Nintendo from a consumer perspective, that the market generally doesn't see that Nintendo as better or even different enough to justify purchasing a console for just their games. Declining sales are a big issue. You can say Nintendo do what Nintendoes, but doing the same thing they've done is why they are in the boat they are in.

@XyVoX Nintendo still makes a bunch of great games, and it's hardware has many great aspects, but yeah, I think its overall quality standards have dropped considerably in the last few generations. And, even when the quality is there, the sense of scope and production value often isn't, so it all feels rather small-scale and unimpressive compared to the competition. Also, there usually comes a lot of major compromises with whatever it puts out these days, in one way or another, in both the hardware and software.

Nintendo doesn't really impress or excite me too much these days, and most of the times it does impress me it's when it does something a bit more old school and on a small scale but just done really well, Nintendo well, like Mother 3 (10 years old but I only just played the fan-made English translation recently) or Super Mario Maker. But, sometimes I also need to be blown away too, with just pure and genuine epicness, and in that respect Nintendo has fallen way short for the most part for quite some time now imo.

@liljmoore I'd like to congratulate you for summarising my feelings.

What is better, becoming a third party developer and improve games quality (more time and resources) and sales (more platforms) or developing for smartphones (simpler games and worse controls) and one dying/DOA exclusive hardware (NX)?

I do hope their E3 showing will be AMAZING when that is all they have. Good luck, Nintendo. Good luck with that.

So, to recap. Nintendo will have ZeldaU at E3 2016, despite it having a vague 2017 release window. Furthermore, it will only be the WiiU version.

Maybe they'll have NDirects to show off the other 3 WiiU games they have set up for the next 10 months.....before the NX launches.

Welp, looks like my PS4/XBO will get the lions share of games this year. Then if NX is just another Fisher Price gimmick, it could be ignored while I stick with a dusty WiiU. Afterall, NX isnt a replacement right....so why should I care about buying it.

@VanillaLake

If Nintendo goes third party, smart phones are probably going to be a big part of their plan.

@cleveland124 You might be right seeing their current plans. I wish it would be more important for them the gaming platforms and the "hardcore" audience though.

@Senpai_Bruh only zelda wii u. and federation force gameplay. just to mess with our heads.

@mikegamer I never said they had a ground breaking one. I said the event itself. Yeah companies have backed out, but seeing how Nintendo has to deal with both games and hardware, E3 is much more cruical to them.

Some more cold, hard truth:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zsmj7ukLDs

I'm only half interested in the NX news, it comes when it comes, curious to see how and what, but the release date is the most important info about it, so thats good news.

I'm not interested by the E3 news since i won't be there, so i wont be playing anything anyway (they could still SHOW gameplay/news of other games, and that's what Im interested in). So this isn't really saying something unless your actually attending E3.

Will not be playing on mobile, so i'll skip that news. Only thing that bugs me is that between the lines is seems to state that WiiU will not be getting much more, but i could be wrong...

@Mario-Man-Child My apologies; you tagged both of us, so I could only assume. Despite that, I have to agree with you.

@Project_Dolphin

You're right. You were replying to a quote and I didn't initially notice the italics.

Zelda at E3

@Mario-Man-Child What you have said about me is a lie and nonsense, once again, stop reading me, man, won't you? I won't change because of you. Also, stop feeling like your opinion's better and that you convey everybody's feelings. For the last time, stop being offensive and repetitive. I won't read you.

@Mario-Man-Child @VanillaLake

If I may, I think you're being a little too harsh on VanillaLake. Perhaps saying that NX is DOA is a bit extreme, but there are clear signs that this could be Nintendo's last hurrah in the home console space. NX has a significant hill to climb, and unless this goes exactly right, it could very well be their Dreamcast. Other than the Wii and DS, Nintendo has seen a significant decline over the years. Wii U and 3DS, now fit in as if the Wii and DS never existed. A shrinking base is a major problem. Given that the Wii U has about 13 million in sales, if we see another decline... Well, you get the picture. There's not much wiggle room left.

What's more, Nintendo is likely to have it's worst year in recent memory because they have no NX, and Wii U is on life support with only Paper Mario around, I'm assuming, the holidays. This year, the 3DS is once again tasked with the impossible, to keep the ship floating through turbulent times. It's a tall order for the aging system.

Despite having lots of assets, and plenty of cash on hand, they are in serious trouble if the NX fails. Given that they aren't showing off NX at E3, at least right now, looks like a massive mistake. What sunk the Wii U out of the gate was not building the hype necessary to properly launch the system. I know some view E3 as a pain, but it is where the whole gaming world watches, and after such a disastrous E3 last year, Nintendo really needed to step up and get the reveal off to a good start.

Sure, who are we to know what Nintendo's plan is. How could we? But given that this thing launches in less than a year, they need to show something to prove why they are important to the industry. Coming in with a yet again delayed Zelda, with a vague "2017" window, on a dead console, is not a strong showing. They might as well not even go, if that's all they do. We'll see if there's more plans, but with less than a million Wii U's being projected this year, it obviously isn't about new games coming there. I guess they'll show Color Splash, Pokemon Sun and Moon and perhaps a surprise or two on 3DS. That's really not much to talk about. Maybe they'll show NX game trailers, but I think that's weird if you don't show the system, so I find that unlikely.

Obviously, they're waiting to announce any plans on a reveal cause they don't want to get lost in the noise from E3. Try to control the space after they do reveal it, I guess. I don't know. What worries me is that if they wait too long to show something, and not build the hype necessary, we'll see a repeat in history and the NX will fall flat.

We all want Nintendo to succeed, that's why we come here, but if I'm to be completely honest with you, I'm not filled with confidence, cause it sounds like Nintendo isn't either by neglecting to focus on the NX at E3 all together.

@Yorumi True their advertising has not been the best when it comes to their current console and handheld. It could be widely improved, not sure why they haven't been putting a lot of effort into it? I miss back when we were "playing with power!".

@JaxonH

I'm in the same boat. I don't care when Nintendo releases the NX, I have too many great games I'm playing now. Thanks to the industry's obsession with 80-hour open world games, I'll never catch up by the time the console's released anyway.

@MoonKnight7

I'd say the contrary. Any hardware developer who decides to launch a console in March has to have confidence in their product. The new Prez already said they want to make sure the "games are there" so I have confidence that the NX will have a launch.... unprecedented in the company's history

@JaxonH Away for vacation, got back to 60 emails, 3 from you, I'm answering them all here.

Zelda was a no brainer. Only 6 more weeks and maybe it will finally get a title to go along w/ that release year. Maybe even 2 titles if U and NX are a little different.

I was way off on NX though. Unveiling next week, games at E3, launch in Nov. was my prediction. Now it's not next week, not at E3, launch in March.

I know you've been your usual beacon of hope on here, (from what I've seen perusing 2 days worth of news) but it's your comment on PS that seemed most true.

"As disappointed as I am to discover I won't be playing NX games this Chrismas, ..."

I was really considering putting off my PS4 purchase until I heard what NX launch games there would be and what the PS4k price woudl be, but I'm not waiting until March - maybe, that's 11 months off, delays happen - to buy my next console. That means NX won't be here until Christmas 2017 at the earliest, doesn't matter what the launch games are. March is the worse possible time to launch hardware I think even worse than summer, people have their holiday bills paid off by summer, and kids graduate - high school and college - nobody spends money in March, April and May 3DS should have taught Ntinedo something, guess it didn't. Mid May would be better.

But Nov 2016 was necessary. If I don't get a PS4 sooner or later what will we get for Christmas? Paper Mario will probably be my kids birthday gift game in Sept. No Zelda U. Only Zelda U playable at E3. I'm still not sure Ntneod coudl have a worse 2016 than 2015, but yesterday they tried really hard.

39 emails to go. And some bills to pay. And laundry to do. And the day is mostly over.

@Mario-Man-Child Apologies accepted. I am quite critical in the good way. You'll have to deal with it. It's not a bad thing, really. I'm also a long time Nintendo fan so I have some knowledge, like many other people here. Just try to accept everybody's opinions and be respectful and we can be happy even if we don't agree.

@MoonKnight7 Yeah, saying that NX is DOA is saying too much, agreed. I only used that term (DOA) because somebody used it before me and this was my way of saying everybody that becoming third party would be better for Nintendo and for players, because Nintendo would have more money and resources for developing games, more platforms to sell the games for, more customers and more quality. Also, we know that they are developing for mobile phones now. Not only Miitomo but beloved Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem franchises. Do people accept that but they don't accept PS4 and Xbox One? Games would be better if released for dedicated gaming hardware, we all know that.

If you look at 3DS and Wii U's library of games, you'll see many games paid by Nintendo but developed by some other teams. Some of them are great, let me say Luigi's Mansion 2 on 3DS and Donkey Kong Tropical Frezee on Wii U, but many other are mediocre and even if you like them, they are missing the quality that Nintendo used to give to their games years ago. They have wasted a lot of money on hardware and marketing that are not profitable, because Nintendo is out of touch when it comes to hardware.

I agree with your post. I also wish Nintendo success, but if I'm honest, I cannot pity them after how they treated their fans lately: poor hardware, gimmick controls, limited and expensive Virtual Console, no cross-buy, disappointing games from their most important frachises. I won't even complain about their online service, since it's free, but it is quite disappointing, too, and people these days expect much more of it. Even though I have a new 3DS (and a Wii U), I don't understand why should I pay twice for SNES ROMs, and I don't understand why older 3DS models owners can not get them. It's a long list of things that make me think they don't care about us any more, and also make me wonder why should I worry about them.

@Turbo857

I will kindly disagree with you, but your comment is noted. I simply find that March (actual release date) and November (really wanted, but couldn't get it done) are close enough together that Nintendo could still show the NX and start to build their hype. That tells me that they're afraid to show it off cause it would get lost in the noise at E3. I don't think that shows confidence, I think that shows a lack of it. They have less than a year to build and market the NX brand, I think they're wasting daylight, personally.

@VanillaLake

So true, especially the last paragraph. For me personally, the Wii U completely upended my Nintendo gaming world. When the whole console came crashing down and the third parties left, it really seemed like Nintendo had no plans in place to use the gamepad after Nintendo Land dropped, and somehow expected the third parties to figure it out.

The gamepad was easily the most disappointing thing I've purchased from Nintendo, cause as nice as an inventory screen and map are, this just isn't what was promised. For every Super Mario Maker, there was a DK tropical freeze (great game, but didn't use the gamepad), for every Splatoon there was a MK8, for every Kirby rainbow paintbrush, there was a Super Mario 3D World.

Some great games, but the gamepad just didn't do anything with half the games they put out.

I'm totally with you on the other stuff, cross buy, online infrastructure, old 3DS hardware vs new. It's all major obstacles that Nintendo has put up themselves. It's no wonder fans are leaving them.

Off topic slightly but I thought I would do a search for the "G" word on the site and it returned 26,800 results. Very impressive. It's definitely the word of the site.

@Mario-Man-Child Thank you.

@liljmoore Dude, I feel you. I still have so many games to finish, and there's still more to come. To me, E3 means nothing anymore since Nintendo has their Directs ANYWAYS. But, whatever Nintendo makes video games, and I play them! That's the bottom line.

I think Nintendo's E3 for this year will be more like a Nintendo Direct, where it will show more details on games we already know about (in this case, the 3ds) and Zelda U... but it will have a few surprises.