E3 Nintendo Conference Thread

[Cryect]

The reason Wii had a bad showing this year is they were catering to an audience that wasn't there. You can't try to sell your console to a casual market and expect those casual gamers to follow a big tradeshow that generally caters to hardcore gamers.

I think they were talking to an audience that simply wasn't paying attention / wasn't there.

They were catering to the nongaming press which was there. Nintendo knows gamers will pay close attention to all the news no matter even if they don't show all the games at their press conference (they released a lot more information about games actually after the press confrence). But they knew to get the nongaming press's attention they actually had to show it at the press conference and let gamers pick over all the text/video information they release afterwards. At the moment a lot people seem to be ignoring Nintendo is releasing more actual games (in addition to more nongames) for the Wii than they ever did on the Gamecube.

As a result their press conference succeeded for the people who the conference is actually meant for (which is not the gamers no matter how much we hate it). I mean why bother showing us information we would find other ways no matter how hard they make it for us to find?

 

[tha_con]

They were catering to the nongaming press which was there. Nintendo knows gamers will pay close attention to all the news no matter even if they don't show all the games at their press conference (they released a lot more information about games actually after the press confrence). But they knew to get the nongaming press's attention they actually had to show it at the press conference and let gamers pick over all the text/video information they release afterwards. At the moment a lot people seem to be ignoring Nintendo is releasing more actual games (in addition to more nongames) for the Wii than they ever did on the Gamecube.

As a result their press conference succeeded for the people who the conference is actually meant for (which is not the gamers no matter how much we hate it). I mean why bother showing us information we would find other ways no matter how hard they make it for us to find?

Maybe you saw a different conference than I did. I think Reggie made it pretty clear with his delivery of release dates and "big announcements" that they were looking for a reaction from the gaming community, who did not care.

Nintendo did what Sony did last year, no matter how much you want to cut it. They tried desperately hard to bury us with sales numbers and success talk, and then showed us nothing. The thing is, gamers watch press conferences. The Press may write about them, but millions upon millions more watch them via live stream over the internet. It was their job to show games and information in reference to games, in a manner that wasn't sickeningly pathetic.

Also, you proved my point. Nintendo was catering to an audience that wasn't really there, and wasn't paying attention: The 'nongaming' press. E3 is almost entirely made up of 'gaming press' this year, and eveyrone else is an afterthought. It was a wrong move for Nintendo to try to sell their console to a casual market at a hardcore trade show. The impressions from 80% of all media coverage will be poor, which means once the casual market is done, the buck could possibly stop there...then where will Nintendo be? I mean, their big 'surprise' was Wii Fit...if that doesn't scream "hey casual market, come look at us, we want to be what DDR was for 'gaming fitness' buy a Wii now" then I don't know what does.

 

[Carl B]

The impressions from 80% of all media coverage will be poor, which means once the casual market is done, the buck could possibly stop there...then where will Nintendo be? I mean, their big 'surprise' was Wii Fit...if that doesn't scream "hey casual market, come look at us, we want to be what DDR was for 'gaming fitness' buy a Wii now" then I don't know what does.

What makes you think it will ever be done?

 

[NERO]

What makes you think it will ever be done?

Once they capture the market past the Sun or gain control of the baby market (ages 1-3)

 

[Scott_Arm]

The "hardcore" gaming community is far too elitist. Nintendo has made a product that people enjoy, so I don't see what the problem is. If you don't enjoy it, you don't have to play it, or follow any of the press coverage.

I didn't get too much out of Nintendo's conference. I would have liked to have seen more games. Nintendo is smart though, and they know more people will get their information about their products through mainstream press, so that's how they focussed their presentation. News programs aren't going to run stories on game trailers or live game demos. I think there's a strange focus from gamers wanting to know everything about a game years before they'll ever be able to play it. The games that are shown on the show floor, or shown behind closed doors, are going to be covered to death by the gaming press anyway.

 

[<nu>faust]

I like how nintendo keeps: dominating sales charts, increasing its market share, getting contstant positive mainstream media coverage while xbox and ps fanpersons keep: arguing about slightest differences in graphics & technical superiorities that barely have effect on actual software, defend/attack corporate entities, let pr and corporate hype effect their purchases and downplay/ignore great games just because they on the "other" platfrom. i believe videogame industry& some hardcore gamers needed a wake up call and wii is that call.

 

[valioso]

i belive videogame industry& some hardcore gamers needed a wake up call and wii is that call.

I think thats a ridiculous point, there is absolutely nothing about the wii that appeals to me, and I am sure like me there are plenty of other people that have been playing games their whole life.

Nintendo is making money and selling their stuff to another audience, good for them, but what does have to do with people that like to play games?

 

[Scott_Arm]

I think thats a ridiculous point, there is absolutely nothing about the wii that appeals to me, and I am sure like me there are plenty of other people that have been playing games their whole life.

Nintendo is making money and selling their stuff to another audience, good for them, but what does have to do with people that like to play games?

This comment that people that like to play games do not like the Wii keeps coming up and it's ridiculous. I'm sure there are a lot of people on this forum that like games and technology, and can still have fun playing with their Wii ..... ha ha ha.

Personally, I wanted to see more titles announced, but they didn't necessarily have to show them to me. They did say there would be 100 games coming out in the next year, or something like that, I just wanted to know what some of them were.

 

[<nu>faust]

Nintendo is making money and selling their stuff to another audience, good for them, but what does have to do with people that like to play games?

i'm not quite sure if i'm understanding you right. are you saying that the people who buy nintendo videogame systems and video games are the people who really do not like to play games? you don't have to be a harcore gamer to like games you know.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

i'm not quite sure if i'm understanding you right. are you saying that the people who buy nintendo videogame systems and video games are the people who really do not like to play games?

What are they playing on Wii if not games (ignoring WiiFit!)

 

[Corwin_B]

i'm not quite sure if i'm understanding you right. are you saying that the people who buy nintendo videogame systems and video games are the people who really do not like to play games? you don't have to be a harcore gamer to like games you know.

The theory goes like this : the Wii sales are powered by rabid Nintendo lovers who don't want to see their favorite company going down...But once the Wii reaches Gamecube level (because, you know, only rabid Nintendo fans bought a Cube too), then its sales will plummet. Those Nintendo fans don't really like games (or they would play real games on real consoles), they just don't want to see Nintendo disappear, so they create the illusion that Nintendo is succeeding.

A similar crackpot theory is that Xbox excellent game sales are the result of some kind of "Xbot hive mind", that makes Xbox360 owners get the "game of the month". Like Nintendo fans, Xbox fans don't really like games, they just want to see huge 3rd party support on Xbox. I don't know why they would want that if they don't really like games, though.

In other news, denial is not just a river in Egypt.

 

[ninzel]

Something that's interesting to see from Nintendo of all companies is how they are expanding their library to software that is not characters based like Zelda or Mario,but to software that is about the player and is based on activity and concept.
Nintendo has relied so heavily on it's characters which are arguably the most recognizable in the industry. The positive results of this kind of game are obvious,but the downsides are rarely talked about.
Any character,no matter how generic you try and make it,involves choice and is specific.Is the character male or female,black or white,old or young etc? Each choice attracts people who relate to the choices,but at the same time alienates some. Also a secondary negative result of creating a specific character is that each character fit's a certain type of game,somewhat limiting your choices again.
It's interesting from Nintendo because a) as I said they have in the past relied so heavily on their characters and b) this is not just one game, but a whole suite of games.

 

[quest55720]

I like how nintendo keeps: dominating sales charts, increasing its market share, getting contstant positive mainstream media coverage while xbox and ps fanpersons keep: arguing about slightest differences in graphics & technical superiorities that barely have effect on actual software, defend/attack corporate entities, let pr and corporate hype effect their purchases and downplay/ignore great games just because they on the "other" platfrom. i believe videogame industry& some hardcore gamers needed a wake up call and wii is that call.

I could not agree more the Wii doing well is good because sony and MS need a wake up call. I am sorry but 599 dollar consoles and 100 dollar wireless add ons are just plain wrong. The 360 has enough of a user base to support HD-games so I root for nintendo to finish number 1. Then next time maybe sony and MS will think twice about ripping off customers with outrageous pricing.

Sony and MS brought this on themselves as far as I am concerned. A 299/399 dollar PS3 SKUs and none of this happens. Instead sony got greedy trying to use gamers to win a stupid movie format war. MS is way to stubborn on pricing on both the console and accessories. Almost 20 months and not price drop shame on them.

 

[Asher]

I could not agree more the Wii doing well is good because sony and MS need a wake up call. I am sorry but 599 dollar consoles and 100 dollar wireless add ons are just plain wrong. The 360 has enough of a user base to support HD-games so I root for nintendo to finish number 1. Then next time maybe sony and MS will think twice about ripping off customers with outrageous pricing.

As an owner of all three consoles (and currently a not-too-happy 360 owner due to many failures), I do not follow your logic at all.

You speak of "ripping off customers". The Wii is very expensive for what you get with it. The graphics are pretty bad on my TV (the shimmering and aliasing drives me nuts, not even all games can even muster widescreen!). The CPU is weak.

They're making a fortune off of the hardware by, IMO, ripping off the customer. Of course, demand keeps exceeding supply, so in terms of market dynamics they're not ripping anyone off...but in terms of bang for your buck, they're certainly ripping a lot of people off.

The Wii also comes with only 512MB of storage -- not nearly enough for people like me (I'm a VC junkie...), which means I need to add in an SD card into the cost. Add in the very expensive controllers (how much do 4 Wiimotes & 4 Nunchuks cost?)...and you get a very expensive system that, in terms of physicaility and technicality, doesn't get you a whole lot.

The 360 is the middleman...it's pricey now, but IMO it wasn't in 2005 when it launched. If you compare the output of the 360 to Wii, you'd think there was an order of magnitude difference in pricing, which says a lot.

The PS3 isn't a "rip off" either (look how much money Sony is losing on it). I'll say it's too expensive, but certainly not a ripoff...

As for the Wii doing well -- it's great. The Wii is essentially establishing its own market. Look at this year's E3...the Wii is a device that women who watch Oprah will probably buy for WiiFit. Elderly people will buy it to play bowling. I'm hesitant to place it in the same category as the other video game manufacturers, it's almost like the "video utility" category. When you start having fitness regimes disguised as games, it really distances itself from the kind of market with people that see MGS4 or Assassin's Creed trailers and wet themselves.

 

[quest55720]

As an owner of all three consoles (and currently a not-too-happy 360 owner due to many failures), I do not follow your logic at all.

You speak of "ripping off customers". The Wii is very expensive for what you get with it. The graphics are pretty bad on my TV (the shimmering and aliasing drives me nuts, not even all games can even muster widescreen!). The CPU is weak.

They're making a fortune off of the hardware by, IMO, ripping off the customer. Of course, demand keeps exceeding supply, so in terms of market dynamics they're not ripping anyone off...but in terms of bang for your buck, they're certainly ripping a lot of people off.

The Wii also comes with only 512MB of storage -- not nearly enough for people like me (I'm a VC junkie...), which means I need to add in an SD card into the cost. Add in the very expensive controllers (how much do 4 Wiimotes & 4 Nunchuks cost?)...and you get a very expensive system that, in terms of physicaility and technicality, doesn't get you a whole lot.

The 360 is the middleman...it's pricey now, but IMO it wasn't in 2005 when it launched. If you compare the output of the 360 to Wii, you'd think there was an order of magnitude difference in pricing, which says a lot.

The PS3 isn't a "rip off" either (look how much money Sony is losing on it). I'll say it's too expensive, but certainly not a ripoff...

That is the thing what sony included I do not want. I have less than 0 interest in high def movies right now. Sony could be losing 1000 dollars a box and I would not care because the extra features are meaningless to me. The 360 should of been dropped a 100 dollars may or even sooner. 479 for the elite come on that is horrible. Even more importantly the accesories need a drop in price. 100 dollars for a wifi connector 69 dollars for a wireless controller and charge pack I won't even get into the hard drive pricing.

Also to get a 360 with a game and memory card you are looking at 400 bones or 449 if you want a hard drive just to get started. The PS3 you are looking at 559 just to get started.

For 250 I can walk out of a store and play a Wii not a bad deal at all considering 199-299 is the standard launch price of a console for the last 30 years or so.

MS and Sony have taken pricing to the extreme and people have reacted. We are not talking a small increase but a doubling in sony's case for non-gaming functions.

 

[Todd33]

I could not agree more the Wii doing well is good because sony and MS need a wake up call. I am sorry but 599 dollar consoles and 100 dollar wireless add ons are just plain wrong.

I'd call the re-badged GC for $250 more of a rip-off than the other two state-of-the-art consoles which actually sell at a loss. Guess I'm crazy though.

 

[Asher]

For 250 I can walk out of a store and play a Wii not a bad deal at all considering 199-299 is the standard launch price of a console for the last 30 years or so.

Since you're more or less playing a Gamecube, to say that's not a ripoff is a bit odd.

 

[quest55720]

I'd call the re-badged GC for $250 more of a rip-off than the other two state-of-the-art consoles which actually sell at a loss. Guess I'm crazy though.

Lets say it is a rebadged GC so 99 dollars for the gamecube 100 dollars for wireless internet and memory card 50 dollars for the included game. Comes up to 250 reasonable in my mind.

I own a 360 but I do not blindly worship a company who is trying to rip off gamers. I don't know how anyone can consider 479 for the elite anything but robbery.

 

[Todd33]

Lets say it is a rebadged GC so 99 dollars for the gamecube 100 dollars for wireless internet and memory card 50 dollars for the included game. Comes up to 250 reasonable in my mind.

I own a 360 but I do not blindly worship a company who is trying to rip off gamers. I don't know how anyone can consider 479 for the elite anything but robbery.

It what you want is value, buy a Ps2 for $130 - volumes more content and the same graphics.

 

[OVERLORD]

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