No, I agree. Its better to focus on games that are actually coming relatively soon. Any company can throw out "OMG, Killzone 2! 1 year away"

But it takes another kind of company to show you stuff that's launching soon. I know MS is getting some heat for the highlight being XIII - a game that won't come out for awhile, but they did it to show off that they're gettng it now.

Both Microsoft and Nintendo followed a similar strategy - show what is coming out now, rather than in the future. Fallout 3, Your in the Movies, Wii Sports Resort, Rockband 2, Wii Motion Pluss, Animal Crossing Wii, Fable 2, Gears of War 2. Every single game Nintendo showed off is 2008. And the majority (about 80%, only RE5 XIII and SO4 aren't shipping this year) of X360 games were in a similar boat.

And like you said, Nintendo held back on what they're doing. Your still getting core franchises. Why bother hyping them to all heaven when they're 2 years away? It's not like Animal Crossing is some sort of small-selling game like God of War. And AC is this year.

So I agree, it's better to focus on whats coming soon. And FYI, Nintendo did announce Chinatown Wars for DS, with no release date. I think that announcement was huge for them, and they deserved it. It wasn't their highlight, they didn't bank their entire conference on 1 game, but it was a great footnote.



And again, as I've been stating.....Nintendos game highlights, as maligned as they are in the hardcore gamers eye:

Wii Sports Resort
Wii Music
Animal Crossing Wii
GTA: Chinatown Wars

I can pretty much assure you that those 4 games will outsell the X360 presented games, and PS3 presented games. Maybe even combined? So yeah, their games aren't ones I care for (but I am interested in Chinatown wars and Wii Music), but they're going to sell better than most anything, unless MS announced H4 at their conference.

The issue people have is not whether these games are coming at some point, but when they are coming. I think people were hoping that these games were further along in the development process, so that they'd see them this fall or winter.

They're rumored to be 2009 releases... I'll believe it when I see it. Killzone and LBP have taught me to ignore anything Sony says regarding release dates for games.

Mwah, maybe you're right.

I think the main difference is that both Sony and Microsoft, although their conferences were pretty bleak as well, at least thought about their audience.
Why did they show GoW3: because the fans like that.

Nintendo gave me, as a fan of Nintendo's core games, absolutely nothing whatsoever. True, 1:1 motion was cool and has enormous potential, but another WiiSports demo...I'm a bit tired of it tbh. Never been a fan of Animal Crossing. WiiMusic was lame. Really, it's not even a game.

Don't get me wrong here, I know that Nintendo has to show all that stuff, I don't mind their strategy, I even applaud it very much. I don't want them to be like Sony that shows 20 trailers 2 years in advance.

But what I really missed this year is a bit of affection for the fans. You know they look forward to E3 because they anticipate something. To leave those fans, some that have stuck with Nintendo from the NES onwards, without a single core announcement is a bit sad. These are the people that dragged Nintendo through the Gamecube days.

And it's not that they don't have it. I'd be very surprised if Nintendo will serve the approx. 45 million Wii owners this holiday without a real core game. That's the same as throwing money away. They have something, at the very least the Fatal Frame 4 trailer could have been shown. Or something about Disaster. For me it didn't have to be something the magnitude of Kid Icarus, just something to show that they still know that the core is also an important part of the Wii audience.

Aren't they . Seriously though, they are because they know that that's where the $$ is.

Wii sports Resort isn't coming out to 09.

Neither is FFXIII, Resi 5, and Star Ocean 4.

DC Universe, MAG, God of War III, inFAMOUS, and Killzone 2 coming out in 09. But Sony showed DC universe, inFAMOUS and Killzone 2. So they don't really count.

The rest that Sony showed was 08.

I have serious doubts about MAG in 2009, but I agree that the others you listed have pretty solid dates, with MAYBE GoW getting pushed to Spring 2010.

Again, bull.  GoW3 is not coming on 09.   Not a chance.  If it was, again it would have been in the trailer.  The only time Sony gave a release date for GoW3 was on the show floor while be being pressured by press.

Okay Naz.  We'll see.

I'm most assured that we'll see a 2009 release of the game.

Nintendo had choice to at least mention core games, they could have at least mentioned Madworld, Conduit, Deadly Creature, Fatal Frame 4 etc, just shown a few minutes of footage and fanboys would have been placated.
But they choose to go 100% casual focus (2 ubisoft games no less, Why they give them the time of day is beyond me) It leaves core gamers wondering their intentions on the way forward.
It was core gamers that kept them alive in the n64/gc days, if not they would have sunk like Sega. Before the conference they say "we have not forgotten core gamers" the conference then completely focused on casual. Then after Reggie has the gaul to say "How can core gamers feel left out, Animal Crossing and GTA DS" He is taking the piss or completely lost touch of the industry he is in.