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Nintendo Not Happy With E3 2009 Media Briefing

by Pedro Hernandez - August 13, 2009, 3:58 pm EDT
Total comments: 20 Source: Nintendo Everything

Despite a strong showing of games, Nintendo believes it could have been better.

When asked at a first quarter financial results briefing about Nintendo's media presentation at E3 2009, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said that despite the announcement of strong software titles like New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Super Mario Galaxy, and Metroid: The Other M, the presentation could have been better and shown the effectiveness of their products in a more convincing manner.

"Honestly speaking, none of us at Nintendo thought that our presentation at E3 was as good as it could have been," Iwata said. "It is apparent that we could not fully convey the charm of our products."

He believes that the charm of games such as the original Wii Sports and Wii Fit were much easier to convey, Because they were "something no one had ever seen or imagined before."

One of the biggest innovations featured in New Super Mario Bros. Wii was four-player gameplay, something Iwata believes wasn't demonstrated well enough at the conference.

"Four people lined up with Wii Remotes was not a scene that no one had ever seen. Those who actually had the chance to play [New Super Mario Bros. Wii] understood how the game would change with four people playing simultaneously, but we could not address that fun sentiment at the media briefing."

Iwata assures, however, that they have learned from this experience and hope to create better awareness of their products for next year's conference.

Talkback

NinGurl69 *hugglesAugust 13, 2009

Yeah, not enough Reggie and breaking things.

SteleAugust 13, 2009

Or ya know, don't bother talking about some weird blood pressure sensing accessory that doesn't have any software or release date... that whole segment was just weird.  :o

NWR_pap64Pedro Hernandez, Contributing WriterAugust 13, 2009

I think they should also mention ALL of their games, rather than focus on a handful and ignore the rest (like Monado, Professor Layton, Span Smasher and such).

Oh and what Steele said. Seriously, the Vitality Sensor made no sense and it was weird how Nintendo talked about it without a clear idea of it.

King of TwitchAugust 13, 2009

"Four people lined up with Wii Remotes was not a scene that no one had ever seen"

Well..neither is a 4-player version of a 25 year old game that's already been ported 12 times.

StogiAugust 13, 2009

Zap, your right but I have been waiting for this game since I played the first.

BwrJim!August 13, 2009

mario war... heheh  really, the briefing was better than last years at least.  Everyone always wants to do better, funny enough, if they feed the "hardcore" what they want like they used to.. problems would be solved..  they forgot though.... you know, how to cater to the demographic that pushes sales in the crowds.   

I liked the briefing a heck of a lot more than the others though.  At least they didint have a 3rd party game as a flagship demo where everyone in the audience didnt care about who was on stage.

Ian SaneAugust 13, 2009

I think Iwata is being way too picky.  Think of the audience.  This isn't fucking Oprah, it's E3.  The ONLY people who pay attention to this are hardcore gamer geeks and the gaming media.  They don't need to be sold on how "charming" New Super Mario Bros Wii is.  They've played every Mario game.  They've played the DS New Super Mario Bros.  They're familiar enough with games to have an idea of what four-player Mario would play like.  The truth is you could just show a quick trailer and the E3 audience would IMMEDIATELY get it.  And this game will sell a gazillion copies.

My problem with this year's E3 was that aside from NSMB Wii all the cool stuff isn't due until 2010.  But that's a release schedule problem and has nothing to do with their presentation.  I don't ever give a fuck about Nintendo's presentation.  All that matters to me is what is going to be released between then and next year's show.  A shitty E3 from Nintendo means a shitty year of products.

Dirk TemporoAugust 13, 2009

The E3 conference was a complete failure. It disappointed almost everybody in some way.

GoldenPhoenixAugust 13, 2009

Quote from: Dirk

The E3 conference was a complete failure. It disappointed almost everybody in some way.

People are disappointed in some way all the time when it comes to E3 conferences. It was a solid game focused conference by Nintendo with a couple of surprises. A complete failure is an exaggeration.

Nick DiMolaNick DiMola, Staff AlumnusAugust 13, 2009

I thought it was awesome. I walked away ecstatic.

I was at first uneasy because I didn't know that Sakamoto was working closely with Team Ninja on Other M. After I found that out, I was damn happy.

Mop it upAugust 13, 2009

Everything could always be better though I guess it's good to know they're looking for ways to improve.

I hope they learned two things which they should have already known:

1. Show ALL games in the works.
2. Don't show off an accessory without a game. It's their job to show how it can be used, we're not the ones who should have to figure that out.

NWR_pap64Pedro Hernandez, Contributing WriterAugust 14, 2009

Quote from: Mop_it_up

Everything could always be better though I guess it's good to know they're looking for ways to improve.

I hope they learned two things which they should have already known:

1. Show ALL games in the works.
2. Don't show off an accessory without a game. It's their job to show how it can be used, we're not the ones who should have to figure that out.

I think this is about right. In truth, E3 2009 was a good for Nintendo games.

They did many things right which include...

- Avoid making shows or comedy sketches
- Focusing on third party games
- Having a balance between core and casual titles

This alone makes the show better than last year. But as Mop states they made the mistake of showing off a peripheral without any games (or even a release date). It didn't help that prior to this unveil Iwata spent a long time talking about something we already know.

And it was sad that so many games weren't shown. They could have even show a montage trailer. But if it wasn't for the press site we would have never known about these games.

steveyAugust 14, 2009

"Nintendo Not Happy With E3 2009 Media Briefing"

Me neither, a new Zelda without so much of a trailer for the fans! If it wasn't for NWR making Miyamoto cry, we wouldn't of had that one piece of game art....

AVAugust 14, 2009

just make up for it with the Fall show and all will be forgiven.

KDR_11kAugust 14, 2009

Yeah, not enough new gamer games and not enough Dynamic Slash.

NinGurl69 *hugglesAugust 14, 2009

Gamer gamers are on their way out.

Casual gamers are the new gamer gamers.

But we need to milk the old gamer gamers for what they're worth.  Bring on more niche games like Dynamic Slash.

broodwarsAugust 14, 2009

The big problems have already been pointed out: having emphasis at all on the Vitality Sensor without a single game to support it; showing off New Super Mario Bros. Wii when it's not a game that shows well on stage like that; no Zelda Wii at the Press Conference whatsoever; etc.  My big problem with the conference is that this is supposed to be the herald for what's coming the rest of the year (as well as driving up hype for next year), but outside of the New Super Mario Bros. Wii stuff and some brief highlight reels of the rail shooters that wasn't anywhere to be found.  If this is going to be the Christmas of 3rd Parties, then substantially highlight the upcoming 3rd Party stuff (like Sony did in its press conference to great effect).  A Boy And His Blob would have played particularly well on stage (it's a Blue Ocean title!), and that game needs all the sales support it can get.  Some more coverage on Dead Space: Extraction and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories probably would have done some good as well.  We also had great-looking DS stuff like Scribblenauts they could have covered that would have played out very well on the show floor that got...nothing.

The biggest problem with the show wasn't really the games that were shown, but the games that weren't.  You watch that press conference, and you suddenly realize Nintendo has next to nothing for the Fall after a whole year of nothing prior.  They shouldn't be happy with that conference, but at least it was better than last year's embarassment.

steveyAugust 14, 2009

There's not much that Nintendo could do about that. Good games take time to make and Nintendo blew all their load in 2007 and early 2008.

(It was still better than the road they took in E3 08, which was not to show the games that were 2/3 years away and make every idiot think that they stop make core games....)

KDR_11kAugust 15, 2009

Quote from: NinGurl69

But we need to milk the old gamer gamers for what they're worth.  Bring on more niche games like Dynamic Slash.

They're making it on a budget of two apples and an egg so they'd probably break even after selling three copies but it'd still be nice to know more about it.

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