brendude13 on 14 June 2011
| Reasonable said: Let me answer from a different perspective - that of the general perception across multiple sources from blogs to mainline "straight" press and media as it seems to me having read a fair bit of it since E3: 1 - Despite strong support in some quarters Nintendo generally seemed to come out of E3 the worst was. They showed exclusive games (and lots of them), they showed cool stuff and seemed to confirm lots of developer support for their new console, but all of that was lost in the confusion of the Wii U launch, the mixed and often confused coverage of this, their stock price tumbling and so on. When you are in first place and bork the first main public announcement of your next model to the extent your share price tumbles, a lot of industry reporters aren't even sure if there was a console or not and senior execs are forced to publicly admit they may have missed the mark then you've not done well at all in terms of general perception. 2 - coming out much better I thought and in second place was MS. Solid performance overall but... too little focus on their current core (which like it or lump it remains what the 360 is far more about than Kinect at this point) vs Kinect meant MS got marked down in general for overplaying to an audience they may not even get vs the Wii and not delivering enough for the faithful. The leak of their 1 genuine big announcement, Halo 4, also took the sails from their conference somewhat. The final point of contention that was touched on in many places was too much focus on multi-platform titles vs exclusive content (that wasn't Kinect). Last year it was all about Kinect. The market perception this year seemed to be that it was too much about Kinect. 3 - coming out a little better than MS and again much better than Nintendo was Sony. Same solid performance as MS but more balance across genres and - at least perceptually - more exclusive content. Coupled with a strong push around Vita - which unlike the Wii U was clearly explained and seemed to get a warm reception in general from analysts, etc. - while Sony didn't really wow (I'd argue no-one wowed at E3 really) they simply didn't really have any gaffes either. Hence, they (just) came out better in general perception so far as I can see. That's my take on what the general perception was and why most (of course not all) coverage seems to put MS behind Sony and position Nintendo as having possibly really screwed up their big reveal. |
Great post, you live up to your name. xD
I agree about the lack of surprises, surprises make the conference. Good presentation and pacing helps as well. As bad as Microsoft E3's are, they always have the best presentation and the best surprises. Their conferences flow at an excellent pace, and they seem to split their E3's up into sections making it easier to digest, start with the hardcore, have casual filler in the middle and end it with a bombshell. Nintendo and SONY should take note of this.
