i have a feeling pretty much only gamers watch the conferences on tv. Casuals probably arent flipping thru the channels and decide to watch a few hours of gaming news.

Spike TV is a channel for men. G4 Had it but they wont be getting any coverage this year as XPlay is pretty much done.

im well aware of that but i just cant imagine many non gamers sitting thru multiple hour long conferences

Well the ratings are good enough to keep it on, so whoever is watching it is watching it.

ya im sure alot of people watch it, i just have a feeling its mostly 18-24 year old males which is what Spike TVs market is and probably are already gamers. I could be wrong tho, i have nothing to back this up, just my personnel opinion

Thats perfectly fine, but it has multiple outlets and the news speaks about it and much  more. I posted reports from CNN about it so I does get the attention it deserves. The problem at hand is I think some gamers dont think very much about it or prefer other conventions that are smaller, yet still prop them up above E3.

But they are still having a conference for the media so wont CNN and other non gaming news sources still report on it? Maybe not as much attention as PS4 and the new Xbox but new consoles will always be the most talked about aspect of E3.

New consoles are being unveiled and no one knows what they look like. The press will be ready for E3. My local news was talking about the new Xbox.

Thats what i mean, Nintendo has no reason to go all out on a big press conference since they dont have new hardware to show and hardware will always get the most attention. They will still have a small conference for press/media and will show off all the games they have coming in the next year. Gaming sites and the news will still mention the big Nintendo games on the way.

For example the local news might have a few minute segment on E3 and talk about PS4/Xbox and then at end say also Nintendo showed off the sequels to some of the best selling games of all time: Wii Sports U and Mario Kart U, and show off a few seconds of gameplay footage.

Nintendo needs to stand tall and represent their brand as one of the big three on the biggest stage of gaming instead of hiding in front of their gamers. They will have given in to the opposite marketing the Wii had granting them less buyers. They are already selling less than the 360 and PS3 they dont need to add fuel to that fire.

Secondly, the news doesn't give a crap abot Nintendos exclusives unless they are a gimmick or unless the games have cause pandemonium like Halo. Halo started the midnight release trend that would cause the news to wrap around. In retrospect, its funny how Sony and Microsoft have brought a elements of wow factor and credibility to the gaming industry where elsewhere it was ignored. Sony brought anticipation for consoles to the forefront after the PSX people actually started waiting for console launches and Microsoft brought Halo midnight releases. 

If you can cause pandemonium the news will come. With Sony and Microsoft involved in the gaming industry there will be a lot of noise. If it was just Nintendo no offense but i can understand why the news would shut up unless a console is launching.