I think Nintendo tried to push multiplats the last couple of years, but they've seen for Nintendo platforms, these games really don't amount to much.

Sony/MS have locked up that demographic over the years. Obviously I think Nintendo was hoping that things like Black Ops 2 for example would help them sell a lot of Wii Us, but it hasn't been the case.

When people come to the Nintendo show, they really only want to see Nintendo games, as that's what they play on Nintendo platforms. And if that's the case, then a Nintendo Direct takes care of that at probably 1/1000th of the cost. They can just shoot that in the NCL offices over a lunch break or two. Why pay a ton of money to the Nokia Theater for that?

E3 isn't what it used to be. Let's be honest here. E3 was terrible last year. The only company that had traditional E3 showing was Ubisoft. They actually managed to show off titles no one knew about it. The Big 3 put on the boring and predictable events.

You're still over thinking this. There is no conspiracy.

Nintendo looked at the cost of a mega-show and the amount of "return" they got in terms of marketing and buzz. They also looked at what they get out of an average ND and its associated costs.

In the end they realized they will be able to spend less money and provide more content to the media by focusing on a combination of private events and Nintendo Directs.

Its just that simple. Only reason I brought up 3rd party content as it will be shown off in those as well, where earlier, with Wii, they'd skip a lot of multi-port content. BTW the 3rd party content you talked about was either exclusive or had exclusive elements to it. But they didn't show off Madden or NFS or Injustice or ..... and so on. Now they will be able to due to the increased time and lower costing ND.

It's not a conspiracy, it just makes sense.

If Nintendo had multiple third parties that were really focusing on the Wii U and giving them mindblowing content, I don't think they'd be going this route.

But since they're getting multiplats of only certain titles at best, and the rest of the show is just going to be Nintendo IP ... why bother with a big stage? It's not just EA. There's basically nothing from Konami. Outside of Monster Hunter not much from Capcom seemingly either. Nada from Square-Enix thus far. Looks mum on the Rockstar front too. That Mikami game? Nope, looks like.

Ubi Soft is the only one really supporting Nintendo with a lot of help, but even they screwed Nintendo on the Rayman deal, privately I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo was thinking "hell no" to having Rayman or Watch Dogs on their stage this year. Why should they help Ubi Soft when Ubi Soft screwed them in a moment when they badly needed content?

It costs a lot of money and Nintendo Direct does a good enough job getting the word out to Nintendo fans.

I think Nintendo just got to the point where they said "well our show is basically just our own games ... why are we spending so much for a stage show again? These Nintendo Directs seem to do a good job with our own fans".

Hey chunk, is EA really the only one that won´t be supporting the Wii U?

I keep thinking Bethesda will end up being added to the list.

They're getting the same games thus far except EA who will come around as a new CEO steps in.

The other ports have unique features like off-tv that others won't have. btw, its an awesome feature to everyone who isn't a kid gaming in their room.

They have Ubisoft, Activision, WB, Capcom, SEGA and many others.

EA said no, for now. TakeTwo and SE have no next-gen games announced yet. But SE will definitely be there and T2... well we'll see.

It has nothing to do with content. Just costs and perceived returns (marketing) from the shows. Private shows and NDs offer a far better return in Nintendo's opinion.

Third-party exclusives are pretty much a thing of the past. Suggesting Nintendo is alone in not have many is misleading. Sony and Microsoft will also be focusing on first-party and multiplats.

Yeah but those games have much bigger impact for Sony/MS. They don't really have any impact on Nintendo consoles.

Honestly if Ubi Soft came to me and said "hey Nintendo, we'd love to showcase Rayman at your big E3 event this year", privately I know I'd be thinking "go f*ck yourself, I'm not paying a ton of money to book a stage so you can sell an extra 20,000 copies of your game".

The versions of Watch Dogs, COD, Battlefield 4, etc. that people are going to want to really see are the shiny/higher end PS4/720 versions, highlighting those types of games at the Wii U event would only serve to showcase that Sony/MS have better looking versions of the same games.

Again, not in Nintendo's best interests. And Sony/MS are going to do things like money hat for exclusive DLC and all that (see: Destiny during the PS4 unveil), Nintendo doesn't do that, so all they'd get is a vanilla stage demo, again not really in Nintendo's interests.

I'm actually not so sure Activision is even going to bother with Call of Duty on Wii U this year. Destiny is not coming either.

I rarely care about other 3rd parties on Nintendo consoles, not handhelds. Just give me Smash Bros, Mario Kart, 3D Mario and Zelda and you've got yerselves a deal Nintendo. I'll only care for third parties like Capcom and Square Enix and that's it. When you think about it Nintendo hasn't had excellent third party support since well... the best I can think of, console wise, is GameCube. Now handhelds, on the other hand, Nintendo is doing just fine on 3rd party support handheld wise as PSV is struggling. Which is why we probably won't see much Vita content.

Now that Wii U is out Nintendo needs to focus on getting their first party software, what made them so rich in the first place, on the console. I think they know this. We might not see Nintendo at E3 like we usually do but hopefully it will feel the same. Man, Nintendo is really scaring me though. Things really don't look good... and that's coming from a fan. I hope they can rebound. There is too much talent there for them to suffer. I wish them the best.

But they won't.