I was thinking something similar. Most of the first directs after E3 sets the tone for the holidays. There is still a chance for more announcements since Nintendo is unpredictable, but that chance is small indeed.

Wasn’t the E3 direct already a smash direct?

Committing the same mistakes as the Wii? What on earth are you talking about?
You do realize it is virtually tied as the second highest selling home consoles in history, right?
Also, if you think the Wii U started out strong, it's strongest sales are still lower than the Wii's 7th year on the market.

I'm sensing some people are still sore about the E3 direct...

People mainly don't want another Smash Direct. We already saw the game, we don't need another full Direct wasted on it. What purpose does it serve?

It was always a given that there was going to be another Smash direct. I would have expected it to be closer to the release, but I'd have been shocked if there wasn't one by November at the latest.

But what Nintendo needs now is a direct to show off other games.

Show casing Single player and multiplayer modes, detailing online, showing new and returning features, etc...

This is stuff I would like know. People seem to be under the impression that they revealed the whole game already when they haven't... outside of characters and a few stages we have no idea about any other content and I would like to know whether or not we're gonna get stuff thats as enjoyable as Melee and/or Brawl or a single player that makes me want to nail my dick to  the ceiling.

Because some people do in fact want to see more of the game.  The people who don't want to can go about their lives and will be completely unaffected by this.

It serves a big purpose actually we need to know the game's actual content, this is a 10m seller so why people are surprised the's a ND on it is baffling.

Maybe people that you think are being "WAY too soft" on Nintendo, either are assuming that if there was there would be a general Direct it would be in September(witch still seems likely), like there as been in the past, or they are excited to see what else Smash Ultimate as to offer, not only that but this Direct is only the 3rd to happen in August, with the 1st being the W101 Direct in 2013 and the 2nd one was a Japan only 3DS Direct, so it's not like there is a precedent for a Direct during this time of the year.

And finally, nobody knows if Nintendo is running out of steam, but if they are,2018 is not the year to see , or should I say the lack of a general Direct in early August(again a month that as never been a big Direct month), specially since 2019 seems like it will, at the very least be good, since it already as Pokémon Gen.8,Yoshi(that hopefully is better than it looked last year) and FE Three Houses, with the possibly Prime 4 and Bayo 3.