Nintendo's E3 was underwhelming

[Zim]

Mr Khan said:

Zim said:
Well this is depressing. I just saw a list of games that were shown at the E3 before the Wii's launch. Apparently it was:
Zelda: Twilight Princess
Metroid Prime 3
Super Mario Galaxy
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Wario Ware Touched
Wii Sports

That's 4 BIG core titles, a very high quality mini-game collection and the new casual experience of Wii sports.

I do wonder if Nintendo's attitude in the last few years of only wanting to show games close to release has messed them up. They really needed to show some games that are outside the launch window for Wii U. Coming out next year etc.

I think had they shown Retro's title, switched NSMB-Wii U with 3D mario and perhaps shown a tease for Monolith's game then they could have wowed people. Still not really sure why we are getting two 2d mario games so close to each other. Seems the 2d one for 3ds and 3d for Wii U would have made much more sense.

The strategy has its weaknesses, to be sure, because then it looks like you have nothing in development when you're really just being secretive (which has been Nintendo's continuous problem throughout the latter part of this generation), but at the same time it allows Nintendo to dodge situations like The Last Guardian or Final Fantasy Versus XIII, where assuming that game development is going well leads then to vaporware and egg on your face.

The thing is though that generally speaking what Nintendo shows gets released. There are a few examples where it didn't happen but usually it was something that was only briefly shown (Project Hammer) or simply it morphed into something else (Zelda tech demo becoming WW, Mario 128 becoming sunshine etc). 

Not only this but I think showing something too early and then getting egg on your face is probably the lesser of two evils compared with showing nothing. You show something too early and it gets people excited in your platform. If years later it hasn't shown then yes it's bad but your platform should already have enough good games. Whereas if you show nothing to do it at a later date.... well you are hoping that people had interest in your platform anyway. You can guarantee 3rd parties are looking at what the core market's reaction to Wii U is and making decisions for the future now.

I will start sounding like a broken record but simply a teaser for Monolith Soft's game and a trailer for Retro's game would have totally changed the situation. MonoSoft are riding very high off the recent release of Xenoblade in the US and the word of mouth that got, and they have been working on the Wii U for a while. Meanwhile Retro have been working on the Wii U for over a year and have been hiring people from Naughty Dog, Vigil games etc. Clearly they have something big in the works. 

I had even missed the games Rol mentioned (honestly I just copypasted that list from neogaf lol). The Wii showed actually very strong core market games at the start of it's life. This diminshed later on in the cycle and now Nintendo had to prove they would have core titles with the Wii U.... and they didn't. 

Now I'm hoping very strongly that Nintendo will show something later in the year as this would still be before the Wii U launch. However I'm just baffled why they didn't tick certain boxes. Graphical showcase, 'mature' title etc etc. 

From a marketing stand point it seems like a crazy decision too. Generally speaking the early months/year of a console's lifecycle is HEAVILY driven by the 'core' gamer. The 'casual' gamer being happier to wait for price drops, hear about it through slow word of mouth etc etc. It seems madness to try and push the console with the more casual games first then later reveal the more core titles. The reverse would surely be better. Start with a focus on core games and just a few casual titles. Then move to a more even mix through the console's cycle.