I know it's a matter of phrasing, but I think the OP should be altered to reflect that the event Nintendo are streaming is not a Nintendo Direct. It's not going to be the format they've established so far, they've changed the terminology and branding of it to "Nintendo Digital Event". There's an obvious intention there to distance themselves from their usual Direct broadcasts, Nintendo openly state that this will be different from their Direct broadcasts, and I think that should be illustrated when we discuss whether or not it's a good plan. Calling it a Direct broadcast is misleading; Nintendo are suggesting something different is on the cards.

That being said, it matters largely what content Nintendo will be presenting, but whatever form their broadcast takes will also be important.

Weird, I could see why they didn't last year since the other consoles were coming out, but this year too? Prob wouldn't matter too much unless you are actually going to e3 though.

I'm not even surprised anymore. It's like they've given up on trying to be competitive.

Nintendo is really out of touch with the western consumer. They need to put on a show and be flashy.

We forum go-ers (the only people who whine about this stuff) are all going to be watching it anyway, so no it really doesn't matter to us, or rather it shouldn't matter.

So we are the only people in the world who matter? Yes, WE will be watching it anyway. An expanded audience of less dorky people won't be. That's what I'm saying. It's not like Nintendo couldn't have done both of the things it is planning on doing. It is in a situation now where it needs to do far more than what is expected.

A bad mistake. It makes them look afraid of the competition, or it makes it look like they have little to show. Even if it is far in the future, they should be there announcing upcoming plans.

I watched both and that was the number the streams themselves said of people watching. You can gander over to youtube to see post-live views if you'd like -> Nintendo . I thought Sony uploaded their conference but it seems they did not. This got a lot of views though and was posted as part of their e3.

I had this discussion with ninpie just a few weeks ago, I'll try to find the stuff we both found.

Any gamer should agree that Nintendo Direct-esque videos are the best way of showcasing new and upcoming video games. They give you trailers, developer interviews and raw information about the software as development progress is made, without the many distractions that otherwise tends to plague promotional broadcasts. However, the great commercial impact that each year's E3 conference tend to have proves that a great deal of gamers does in fact not think this way, and is an indicator of how important a strong E3 presentation has become for the company at hand in today's gaming industry.

Conclusively, we have once again stumbled across a case of Nintendo overestimating the importance of quality and content at the expense of mass appeal and commercial success.

I would just like to add this comment from Dale North over at Destructoid:

"The media are more likely to do deep coverage of streamed conferences and announcements, actually"

This was in response to people saying that the media would gloss over the Nintendo conference because of its format...