@thekitchensink: Nintendo as certainly not upset with their E3 last year.
Prior to E3 2008, I put out the articles of “Finding Nintendo’s Shield” and “Finding Nintendo’s Sword”. These articles focused on how Nintendo would strategically combat an incumbent’s response to the Wii success. At that time, news and rumors were thick of Microsoft or Sony putting out their own motion controller.
Motion Plus was a pre-emptive attack to this. If Microsoft or Sony put out a new motion controller, it would likely be a better technology than the current Wii-mote. Nintendo had to have something just in case. When you listen to Iwata and Reggie at E3 2008, you can tell their speeches were written as if a competing motion controller was released. Nintendo didn’t even wait until their conference to spring Motion Plus. They blasted out the press release prior to Microsoft’s conference as a pre-emptive response.
With no competing motion controller, Nintendo execs probably had to be giddy. (While everyone else was complaining about the lack of ‘hardcore games’, the reason why they weren’t showcased was because the focus had to make sure Microsoft and Sony didn’t get out of the disruptive box Nintendo put them in.) At the next Nintendo conference (forgot when, it was when they announced Sin and Punishment 2), Nintendo execs were all more and ready to discuss ‘hardcore games’ since the threat of a competing motion controller had passed… at least for now.
But should any company threaten to compete with Nintendo in the expanded market, the hardcore focus at press events will be dropped to focus on securing the expanded market. Every console war has been one based on the core industry. We have never seen a console war based on this new expanded market. Nintendo’s conference at E3 2008 is a good idea how such a console war would look like.
http://seanmalstrom.wordpress.com/2009/03/26/why-iwata-didnt-mention-motion-plus/
With rumors coming out about motion control, I'd say E3 might be like it was last year.
