I agree with the bolded, but disagree with the italicized.

The Wii U does not need to sell very much in order to beat their "worst selling systems."   Virtual Boy, Game Cube, and the N64 all did not sell amazingly well but it is very likely that the Wii U will sell better than all of them.  This does not, in any way, make it "among one of the worst systems in terms of sales." 

The markets may be different, but that's irrelevant to the comment you made.

OP certainly makes sense. Did Nintendo really not explain themselves why they made the change?
Either way, I supose it'll be nice to watch their E3 stuffs from my 3DS, though I'd have to go on a computer still to see the Sony n Microsoft's stuff so eh. :L

You are seeing more and more, as things get on the InterWebNets more, that companies end up doing their own events to stand out, and they do get media to cover them.  E3 isn't as important as it used to be.  I know such for core gamers is like a holiday and sacred calendar, but there is ideas of trying to stand out separately, and do be at E3 but do stuff leading up to it and so on.  Sony ends up announcing the PS4 before E3, and Microsoft is doing the same.  E3 then serves as a chance to meet.  Microsoft  blowing off the CES is yet another thing to.

We expect BIG announcements at E3. At Nintendo Direct we get some big announcements but often times they are small announcements so you never know what to expect.

As I said before. I Can't say 100% that this is the right or wrong choice. But for me it is disappointing. E3 will feel different without one of the big 3.

Eeeeeh. Seems like a whole lot of trouble just to show some damn games. They better be the best shit since slice bread.

Think about this option, instead of a full presentation on tuesday, where they have to rent a huge place, bring celebrities, and run demos that can fail. They can do 3 more focused presentations/events...
1 Nintendo Direct at the usual time of the conference, without sales numbers, without all the extra stuff, just 30 minutes of games after games, and they can share the link with mainstream press
1 presentation dedicated only to the publishers and/or distributers, giving them inside info about sales, release calendars, price changes, extra skus, etc
1 short presentation for the press, where they can play behind closed doors the titles before the show floor begins, so the reports can start early

Is a win-win, gamers get their undeluted gaming content, without sales numbers and stupid intros. Publishers/distributers get their boring stuff that is important only to the them
Press gets early access and rounds of questions and answers.

Nintendo started to try this model last year (Nintendo Direct on sunday, conference on tuesday, 3DS event on wednesday, plus Q&A round tables with press) but still having a big conference, this year they are refining the system.

thats exactly the point, we expect big from E3 so we expect big from the nintendo directs at that time, and after that when ever they have a new Nintendo Direct we expect nothing but BIG from them. thats basically my point

im not saying this is 100% true, its just what i think they are doing and i am not saying they arent taking a risk, this could back fire and they could get crushed at E3. they are playing with fire but they seem to want to take the risk

That's a good theory, bk.

But I think it has more to do with Nintendo focusing on making/reinforcing partnerships with other developers and publishers at the expense of a big-budget fireworks show. Also, I think the executives at Nintendo want to ensure that fans and members of the media actually experience upcoming games and the GamePad firsthand, so they can understand the Wii U experience and share that experience with others. It's a grassroots movement, in other words. The idea, I think, is to focus on a bottom-up method rather than a top-down method.

Gaming media will obviously look at ND anyway but the world media won't no or ever.

No company passes up on vast air time at an event with so much hype unless there is a problem. It is that simple.