The Shrine

I don't really know how else to describe the information that's come out in the last 24 hours.

They announced their new console will come out March 2017.

They also announced it will not be @ E3 in any form

They also announced that Zelda Wii U has been delayed to 2017, and confirmed an NX version is in development alongside the Wii U version.

Instead of NX at E3 they will only have 1 game at E3, Zelda Wii U, according to Nintendo PR: This June, Nintendo will focus its attentions on the upcoming game in The Legend of Zelda series. The Wii U version of the game will be playable for the first time on the E3 show floor, and it will be the only playable game Nintendo presents at the show, in order to provide attendees a complete immersion.

I.....what?

Let me translate for you:

"We here at Nintendo still think E3 is a massive cost and that the returns from presenting at the show are dubious. Plus a lot of you guys tend to be giant, entitled jerks about the show. So we're going to continue to plow energy instead into our beloved cash cows instead, which provide rather consistent returns in exactly the way that games journalists do not."

In all honesty? A lot of us who know the industry from the inside might find it hard to blame them.

The industry does not love E3 the way that the public does. It costs millions, possibly tens of millions, to put up a major booth. And then you do not get tens of millions of dollars worth of publicity. Instead you get a dice roll. Either conventiongoers love your games, or they crap mightily upon them - and great games can get destroyed in the press just by being unready for the convention. Things that dozens, even hundreds, of people put heart and soul into experience a minor glitch due to a rushed demo, and then careers and studios are destroyed. And there is no compassion, no sympathy at all, for anyone it happens to.

But the one thing that *can* be counted on is that a lot of games journalists who have *no* idea how hard it is to make a game take potshots at everything they can, because that is the snarky, cool tradition of games journalism in the modern era.

https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2015 ... parabolic1

I remember running into an acquaintance from high school who had become a games journo there one year, while I was there as a developer. We all went to a bar after the show - and watching him was very, very educational. He could not *wait* to start tearing down everything he'd seen that year, under the influence of several alcoholic beverages - and it was painful for me to watch, because as the night went on it became very apparent to me how little he actually knew about games or development. He was a fanboy turned journo, with no real journalistic experience, and was out for attention by any means, fair or foul, and loving what he got in that direction that night - and sadly that is the standard for the game industry, not the exception, though of course there are some very good journalists out there as well with a profound love and respect for the medium.

Now of course the industry tried to *cancel* E3 for these reasons - and it turned out that the industry really needs E3 after all. It may be a giant, wasteful, lavish, pandering party - but it's the best damned giant, wasteful, lavish, pandering party the industry can throw, and it's part of the culture, and too many people have a deep and abiding love for it to turn it to anything but what it is.

And I'm not saying that any of these things excuse the corporate abuses we've all become accustomed to in the industry - the DLC profiteering, the missed release dates, the always-on DRM requirements that shatter games and fun, the lies, and so on. Penny Arcade again spoke to that side of it as well:

https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/09/29

But if you ever have to ask "why is x company bunting/not showing much at E3 during x year" - well, there you go.

I can imagine how stressful it is. Remember the scene in Indie Game: The Movie where Fish is trying to demo Fez at Penny Arcade Expo? Yikes.

I really wonder how Nintendo plans to drum up excitement for this new machine. The WiiU did not light the world on fire, and there were a tiny handful of real 1st party bangers for the system. I guess every time Nintendo puts out a new console we ask ourselves - Is THIS the time that they get third parties back? And you know what?!? If they put this thing on par with the PS4 Neo and/or whatever half-step Microsoft will take, I guess it could just be an easy port for third parties.

I am sitting here rolling my eyes at whatever gimmicky nonsense they may throw into this system. 2 screens was silly and unneeded, 3d was novel but ultimately useless and turned off more than on, the wiimote was more of an annoyance than real innovation, and the WiiU gamepad was unused or very minimally used on my favourite WiiU games. Nintendo makes wonderful games, but their consoles make accessing that wonder a bit of a chore.

Replay wrote:Let me translate for you:

"We here at Nintendo still think E3 is a massive cost and that the returns from presenting at the show are dubious. Plus a lot of you guys tend to be giant, entitled jerks about the show. So we're going to continue to plow energy instead into our beloved cash cows instead, which provide rather consistent returns in exactly the way that games journalists do not."

In all honesty? A lot of us who know the industry from the inside might find it hard to blame them.

The industry does not love E3 the way that the public does. It costs millions, possibly tens of millions, to put up a major booth. And then you do not get tens of millions of dollars worth of publicity. Instead you get a dice roll. Either conventiongoers love your games, or they crap mightily upon them - and great games can get destroyed in the press just by being unready for the convention. Things that dozens, even hundreds, of people put heart and soul into experience a minor glitch due to a rushed demo, and then careers and studios are destroyed. And there is no compassion, no sympathy at all, for anyone it happens to.

But the one thing that *can* be counted on is that a lot of games journalists who have *no* idea how hard it is to make a game take potshots at everything they can, because that is the snarky, cool tradition of games journalism in the modern era.

https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2015 ... parabolic1

I remember running into an acquaintance from high school who had become a games journo there one year, while I was there as a developer. We all went to a bar after the show - and watching him was very, very educational. He could not *wait* to start tearing down everything he'd seen that year, under the influence of several alcoholic beverages - and it was painful for me to watch, because as the night went on it became very apparent to me how little he actually knew about games or development. He was a fanboy turned journo, with no real journalistic experience, and was out for attention by any means, fair or foul, and loving what he got in that direction that night - and sadly that is the standard for the game industry, not the exception, though of course there are some very good journalists out there as well with a profound love and respect for the medium.

Now of course the industry tried to *cancel* E3 for these reasons - and it turned out that the industry really needs E3 after all. It may be a giant, wasteful, lavish, pandering party - but it's the best damned giant, wasteful, lavish, pandering party the industry can throw, and it's part of the culture, and too many people have a deep and abiding love for it to turn it to anything but what it is.

And I'm not saying that any of these things excuse the corporate abuses we've all become accustomed to in the industry - the DLC profiteering, the missed release dates, the always-on DRM requirements that shatter games and fun, the lies, and so on. Penny Arcade again spoke to that side of it as well:

https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/09/29

But if you ever have to ask "why is x company bunting/not showing much at E3 during x year" - well, there you go.

Yeah that's a bunch of nonsense, this isn't some sensitive company with unfinished work that people can bitch about and they feel like they might get their feelings hurt. This is a major player in the console space that's dropping a console 9 months after E3.

E3 is the one time of the year where the entire world is actually focused on video games, not just video game enthusiasts, fanboys, and video game "journalists", EVERYONE. You don't get that kind of opportunity any other time of the year. If you're a console manufacturer it's the one time everyone is paying attention, you have a console coming out and you have nothing to show? And only 1 game? Really? I understood Nintendo skipping the show when Microsoft & Sony dropped the PS4/Xbox One, they had nothing that would really compare to the buzz those 2 created at the time, but they have a fucking console coming out, there's no excuse this time. Pandering to their dwindling and dying base that's getting smaller every generation isn't doing them any favors.

Even the original Wii benefited from E3, it was not warmly received at the time from the hardcore types or gaming websites at the time, but the general public and news sites like Fox, ABC, Yahoo, loved the shit out of it, you can't tell me that positive buzz outside of the normal circle isn't a benefit to whatever Nintendo plans to do.

*shrug*

Another Nintendo failure incoming...maybe this one will finally make them go 3rd party.

But really who cares? Is there anyone really desperate for yet another Zelda or Mario rehash?

I'm disappointed about the 2017 date, but happy to see the confirmation of Zelda as a launch title. I didn't want to get any more home console games until NX unless I had to.

E3 is more of a tradition at this point that people really like, despite its obsolete format and the fact that pretty much all the big companies hate it; Nintendo used to be its biggest supporter. I am sure it is fun for people who actually go, but in terms of attendance, TGS and Gamescom attract much bigger audiences. For me, I am fine however they want to deliver their news to me, so-long as it is in some kind of audio/video format.

Nintendo is doing an independent unveil event later this year where console specifications, features, and game a lineup will be announced. This is unique, Nintendo hasn't released official specifications to the public in a very long time.

http://m.neogaf.com/showpost.php?p=2020 ... tcount=690

Eric wrote:Yeah that's a bunch of nonsense, this isn't some sensitive company with unfinished work that people can bitch about and they feel like they might get their feelings hurt. This is a major player in the console space that's dropping a console 9 months after E3.

E3 is the one time of the year where the entire world is actually focused on video games, not just video game enthusiasts, fanboys, and video game "journalists", EVERYONE. You don't get that kind of opportunity any other time of the year. If you're a console manufacturer it's the one time everyone is paying attention, you have a console coming out and you have nothing to show? And only 1 game? Really? I understood Nintendo skipping the show when Microsoft & Sony dropped the PS4/Xbox One, they had nothing that would really compare to the buzz those 2 created at the time, but they have a fucking console coming out, there's no excuse this time. Pandering to their dwindling and dying base that's getting smaller every generation isn't doing them any favors.

Even the original Wii benefited from E3, it was not warmly received at the time from the hardcore types or gaming websites at the time, but the general public and news sites like Fox, ABC, Yahoo, loved the shit out of it, you can't tell me that positive buzz outside of the normal circle isn't a benefit to whatever Nintendo plans to do.

It is not "nonsense". Do you not remember when the entire industry turned E3 into a closed show for several years because of precisely the reasons I mentioned? That was *led* by an unlikely alliance between Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft - *all* of whom were not "sensitive companies", but instead the industry's three most visible corporations and publishers - and yet they were all tired of the costs of running the show, the way E3 demos literally ate 25% of a year's production budget and development cycle, the occasionally vicious reaction from journos and the public, etc. etc. etc.

I will say to you what you said to me about politics - don't let your personal feelings blind you to behind-the-scenes realities, Eric. Work in the industry for awhile and you will understand their attitudes towards the show better.

Is Nintendo blowing it? Yeah, possibly. I just don't think I'm wrong about the reasons they're not there; though who knows, really, in the end.

Generally, when *anyone* decides not to show prominently at E3, there are only a few possible reasons why:

1) The title or hardware in question is extremely troubled
or
2) Management is sick of the E3 time requirements, cost structures, et cetera.

Nintendo is not particularly known for blowing it on their hardware, so I really have to guess it's the same thing that happened back around '07-'08, the last time they tried this.

But hey, I could be wrong. Let us know what you find out.

E3 has certainly declined quite a bit in importance over the past decade. Certain elements of it, like the AIAS awards, which are still important within the industry, have spun off to do their own thing independentally. Microsoft and Sony have been doing their big announcements outside of E3, Microsoft has been shifting their expo-centric announcement focus later in the year to Gamescom. This year both EA and Blizzard/Activision have canceled their conferences too. E3 is more quickly on its way out.

Also, gaming is MUCH more mainstream now, E3 loses the "this is the time of year when the media turns their focus to E3" value now, too. The media has their eyes and ears open for gaming news all year around these days.

It has to be said, though, that this really marks a change for Nintendo. They're probably the company that saved E3 back in 2007 since then, and the following years, they made it the focus point for their big announcements of the year. But really, the last big announcement Nintendo did at E3 was the Wii U unveil. It's possible that they soured on E3 after bad Wii U and 3DS unveils. They're not completely ignoring it, but they shift more and more focus away from it each year. And not unveiling the NX at or before it is the biggest move yet. Especially if they unveil it at an event in July or August and they flood the Gamescom show floor with NX stuff. Although I have a feeling NX will be unveiled to the public closer to launch, maybe around Christmas.

Nintendo does not consider E3 to be worth much of its time and effort. They attend the show because it's the big industry trade show but if you've noticed, the last couple of years, they don't even have a pre-E3 press conference anymore. They just have Nintendo Directs then show some stuff at the show. This is the same company that doesn't even bother to attend the Tokyo Game Show because for a long time they used to hold their own trade show so it's not overly surprising they just don't care about it anymore. When I went to E3 2001 and 2004, they owned the shows, by far the best booths. They just basically pulled out and went to the online announcements, that's all.

And yes, Kali, we always want new Mario and Zelda games. That'll never end. Whether you've liked the last few systems or not, the games still sell pretty well and are generally well received by the fans (core titles are, remakes do well, other games using the characters are hit and miss). They even sell solidly for a long time still. Nintendo still makes decent money off their core even if it is all that's on their systems