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What was Nintendo thinking at E3 2008?

A

AdanVC

Member
Yesterday night, instead of sleeping at proper hours, I was watching random videos on YouTube about what's considered the "best and worst" of E3 through the years when suddenly I ran across this kinda summary video thing of what was Nintendo's Press Conference in 2008...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSJuHDBueT0

And I still can't believe what Nintendo did that day. Not only that but the type of games they announced. Literally everything was Wii *Insert something here*, including the infamous Wii Music. Plus the host and her "Yay videogames are fun and for everyone!!1 Throwing fresbees at puppies is the best thing ever!1" attitude didn't help at all to sell the presentation to the millions of people that were expecting huge megatons from Nintendo considering they were dominating everything in terms of sales with Wii and DS at that time. Especially after the masterpiece that Super Mario Galaxy was. Everyone was expecting more games of that caliber but instead, we got Wii Music and an Animal Crossing title as the big games for the Holidays.

The only good thing of that presentation though, is this GIF:
WiiMusic.gif



Now this should not be considered a "hate/trolling thread" or something like that. Just something to remember this and appreciate the fact that Nintendo doesn't do this kind of presentations anymore and the way they have improved their recent E3 shows. Especially last year with their excellent Digital Event and the non-stop Treehouse Streaming on Twitch wich was totally awesome and I just hope Nintendo does something similar this year.

What are your thoughts? thank.
 
J

JehutyRunner

Banned
Legitimately, the only announcement that press conference that everyone gave a shite about was Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars.
 
J

Joe Shlabotnik

Banned
I think the Wii was STILL selling out then. When something is that ridiculously successful you sometimes can't clearly see where to go with it.
 
stuminus3

stuminus3

Member
It would have made more a lot more sense in hindsight had Apple not gone on to steal their blue ocean from them.
 
R

Rösti

Unconfirmed Member
Cisce said:
At least I can appreciate Nintendo's intent. 2008 was a shitty year for every E3 conference.
Click to expand...
Due to the fact The ESA thought rebranding E3 to E3 Media & Business Summit for 2007 and 2008 was a good idea. Luckily they changed their minds in 2009 when the expo returned to its former glory.
 
N

Napalm_Frank

Member
That was the day when my love for Nintendo died and I realized what a shitty situation Wii was in compared to PS3 and especially 360.

Didn't help that I remember Nintendo E3 hype been especially high that year. It was supposed to be the time when Wii future was going to get really good.
 
J

jett

D-Member
I had forgotten about that lady. Awkward as fuck. and Wii Music reveal is one of the worst of all-time.
 
R

reKon

Banned
Sony's 2006 was bad, but in a hilarious way. Ninteno's 2008 was so bad that it was actually pretty sad.
 
N

nckillthegrimace

Member
It was a complete misreading of who actually watches E3 presentations live. Hint: It's not Wii Fit grandma. It was such a fuck-up that they literally apologized for their presentation. Mere months later they announced Sin & Punishment 2, Punch-Out!!, and Bowser's Inside Story, and they probably should have moved those announcements to E3, especially since the prevailing narrative in the media at the time was that Nintendo had completely abandoned core gamers, which was clearly untrue.
 
D

DoctorFling

Member
They were busy blowing their money on cocaine, they couldn't even remember what E3 was. I heard Reggie thought it was a U2 concert.
 
C

CassSept

Member
I AM THE KING OF THE WORLD

Hubris. They thought they are infallible. They were kinda right though, 2008 and 2009 Wii sales were something completely different. That December when they sold what, 3.8 mil Wiis? IN ONE MONTH. In addition to 3 mil DS. In America alone.
 
Kagoshima_Luke

Kagoshima_Luke

Gold Member
I began gaming on Nintendo systems in the 80s. I've loved thier IPs and games for decades.

The Wii was a sad time, where they seemed to stray from the things I loved about them. Games, actual GAMES, were left as a sidebar comment among the "waggle is fun everyone!!1" push for several years. Waggle can be fun in certain instances. But waggle can't be inserted into every genre type with success, but Nintendo soldiered on. To my dismay, the Wii sold gazillions of units, and Nintendo was reassured that this is what everyone wanted.

The 2008 E3 presentation is pretty much the peak of these terrible, sad times.

Now, despite the Wii U's struggle to sell, I see Nintendo doing what made me love them in the first place: offering a wide swath of great first party content in multiple genres, without trying to tie in a gimmick in each and every title. In a way, the Wii U is a new Dreamcast for me, with original ideas and couch multiplayer shining as warm beacons in this era of online play or nothing.

In summary:

2008 Nintendo: :(

2015 Nintendo: :D
 
T

TM94

Member
E3 is the time where companies really reveal how weird they are.

You just have to embrace it.

That conference though was absolutely embarrassing
 
S

Skiesofwonder

Walruses, camels, bears, rabbits, tigers and badgers.
It was a shitty presentation but in reality Wii Sports Resort, Wii Music, and City Folk ended up all selling a ton more than any Metroid, Star Fox, F-Zero, or Pikmin game could have.

And Wii Sports Resort was awesome.
 
F

Fantastapotamus

Wrong about commas, wrong about everything
I don't know what you are talking about, it was amazing to watch.
I felt like I was in a Twilight Zone episode.
My eyes nearly fell out when Miyamoto played an awful rendition of the Super Mario Theme. Man. MAN. MAAAN.
Awesome.
 
T

thefro

Member
CassSept said:
I AM THE KING OF THE WORLD

Hubris. They thought they are infallible. They were kinda right though, 2008 and 2009 Wii sales were something completely different. That December when they sold what, 3.8 mil Wiis? IN ONE MONTH. In addition to 3 mil DS. In America alone.
Click to expand...

Their NA 2008 lineup was crazy:
March 2008: Smash Brothers Brawl
April 2008: Mario Kart Wii
May 2008: Wii Fit

67 million in sales between them
 
S

shadowsdarknes

Member
They really burned some bridges with the Wii in the name of speaking to casuals.

Then when the casuals left, they were only left with the die hards. And the Wii U completely tanked.
 
S

SpecX

Member
Looking back at that videos is hilarious now, but painful during the actual time. What ever happened to that drummer? He's an icon now but I wonder how he feels about it since it's not in a good way.
 
E

Enilced2

Member
I honestly think it was the situation of "Holy fuck the Wii is selling way better than we ever expected what the hell do we do to keep this train rolling." Uhhh people like music?

Getting insane success and not knowing how to keep it moving.
 
I

IAmRandom31

Banned
TM94 said:
E3 is the time where companies really reveal how weird they are.

You just have to embrace it.

That conference though was absolutely embarrassing
Click to expand...

Or they reveal just how bad their ideas can be in the meeting room. Most of this crap is just horrible ideas given fruition and time and money to grow and fester and actually become a real thing.

" hey! everyone loves air drumming right?! "

.... " sure ..... everyone loves air drumming, just like air guitar in Guitar Hero! "

" alright!!! lets get some new age cool looking bro on stage to drum for us! that will be AWESOME! "

" HELL YEAH! "

* birth of bad idea *
 
A

A.J.

Banned
I consider the Wii age a dark time for Nintendo. I'm glad the Wii U was good enough to bring me back
 
O

OrbitalBeard

Member
I attribute a large portion of Nintendo's current situation to E3 2008. A lot of "core" Nintendo fans were burned in a big way that year and many of them started looking for their gaming fix elsewhere. Once the casual market left Nintendo, they found themselves with the die hard fans and little else.
 
F

Furyous

Member
jedivulcan said:
I think the lady on stage ended up managing children's resorts in Latin America after her stint with Nintendo.
Click to expand...

Did this really happen?

--

Let's continue winning the console war. <--- That's what they were thinking. Nintendo won that gen so good for them.

As a Nintendo hater, ESPECIALLY DURING THE WII RUN, I was naturally as upset as the OP. Nintendo's strategy worked to perfection. Hubris caught up with them later so whatevs. I remember thinking where are the games? At the time I wondered if Sony could do the same thing with a motion controller. *sad face*
 
Z

Zombegoast

Member
2011 was almost as bad, 15 minutes of a concert for Zelda, 3DS taking a huge portion of the conference and ends with the Wii U the only game shown was a picture of Lego City Undercover and Killer Freaks which turned into Zombi U.

And no announcement for Xenoblade, the Last Story, FF4, Pandora's Tower to be released on the WIi.
 
T

TM94

Member
IAmRandom31 said:
Or they reveal just how bad their ideas can be in the meeting room. Most of this crap is just horrible ideas given fruition and time and money to grow and fester and actually become a real thing.

" hey! everyone loves air drumming right?! "

.... " sure ..... everyone loves air drumming, just like air guitar in Guitar Hero! "

" alright!!! lets get some new age cool looking bro on stage to drum for us! that will be AWESOME! "

" HELL YEAH! "

* birth of bad idea *
Click to expand...

It really is unfathomable isn't it?

Microsoft's 2011 conference is properly up there with this one imo.
 
Acquiescence

Acquiescence

Member
I actually thought their 2012 conference was worse. When car crash viewing is happening, a la Nintendo '08, Sony '06 or Konami '10, then that in itself is entertaining and worth watching. But what went down two years ago was just flat-out mundane and uneventful, despite the company being on the cusp of releasing a new console. I know I'm not the first to rag on them for ending their conference on a virtual fireworks display through the world of Nintendoland, but... they ended their conference on a virtual fireworks display. It was so bad in a humdrum, shrug-your-shoulders sort of way that they haven't done a live conference since.
 
O

OrbitalBeard

Member
Acquiescence said:
I actually thought their 2012 conference was worse. When car crash viewing is happening, a la Nintendo '08, Sony '06 or Konami '10, then that in itself is entertaining and worth watching. But what went down two years ago was just flat-out mundane and uneventful, despite the company being on the cusp of releasing a new console. I know I'm not the first to rag on them for ending their conference on a virtual fireworks display through the world of Nintendoland, but... they ended their conference on a virtual fireworks display. It was so bad in a humdrum, shrug-your-shoulders sort of way that they haven't done a live conference since.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I really can't decide which was worse, but you just made a really good case for 2012. It was soul-crushing.
 
S

Sayers

Member
I remember seeing screenshots of various forum front pages full of Nintendo fans in different stages of grief after that conference.
 
C

Chmpocalypse

Blizzard
AdanVC said:
Yesterday night, instead of sleeping at proper hours, I was watching random videos on YouTube about what's considered the "best and worst" of E3 through the years when suddenly I ran across this kinda summary video thing of what was Nintendo's Press Conference in 2008...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSJuHDBueT0

And I still can't believe what Nintendo did that day. Not only that but the type of games they announced. Literally everything was Wii *Insert something here*, including the infamous Wii Music. Plus the host and her "Yay videogames are fun and for everyone!!1 Throwing fresbees at puppies is the best thing ever!1" attitude didn't help at all to sell the presentation to the millions of people that were expecting huge megatons from Nintendo considering they were dominating everything in terms of sales with Wii and DS at that time. Especially after the masterpiece that Super Mario Galaxy was. Everyone was expecting more games of that caliber but instead, we got Wii Music and an Animal Crossing title as the big games for the Holidays.

The only good thing of that presentation though, is this GIF:
WiiMusic.gif



Now this should not be considered a "hate/trolling thread" or something like that. Just something to remember this and appreciate the fact that Nintendo doesn't do this kind of presentations anymore and the way they have improved their recent E3 shows. Especially last year with their excellent Digital Event and the non-stop Treehouse Streaming on Twitch wich was totally awesome and I just hope Nintendo does something similar this year.

What are your thoughts? thank.
Click to expand...

That their shit didn't stink. But the turd that was wii music was pretty pungent.
 
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