Pretty much, and that is quite the problem..

If the developers and/or Nintendo breath life into the direct then yes.
If Iwata says "Please understand" then a big NO.

Close, but not quite. The purpose of Directs is to bypass the media for purposes of disseminating information (announcements, release dates, trailers, etc.), so that Nintendo can distribute this information without the filter of the Kotakus and Polygons of the world. It is not meant to replace marketing or advertisement.

Especially the game specific Directs have knocked it out of the park this month!

Not sure if serious.

Some has been good, but you cannot replace a live conference with this one. Sorry.

I love Nintedo Directs. They often delve deep into the gameplay and even development of certain titles, which is quite interesting, and the whole production feels a lot more intimate and, well, direct.

However, I do agree with others who argue that NDs shouldn't replace more traditional means of advertising. Nintendo Directs are preaching to the converted, after all.

If their marketing hadn't been so lacking in the past year or two I might have been inclined to agree.  Directs are nice complimentary pieces but as of late it seems to be all nintendo offers.

Everyone who "absolutely loves" Directs have either Mario or Link in their avatar or sig lol.

That's more true than it should be, but I don't think it's because they're using Directs. Their marketing has been lackluster from the get go this generation, certainly in comparison to the prior generation, beginning with before the 3DS' introduction. I recall a quote from Reggie before the Wii U launch that they didn't plan to market it heavily at first, because with the Wii they tried that and were unable to sell units which were already sold out.

Long story, their marketing is a mess for a multitude of reasons, with the Directs playing only a small factor (if any).

Because ____________________________.

My wife, who doesn't play video games, always comments when she hears me watching one that it makes no sense that they would have Iwata do them because his accent is very thick. I think he needs to stop letting his ego prevent him from making the sound business decision of letting Reggie do the NA directs. Unless he wants Reggie to start doing the Japanese ones in that language?