Exterminieren
Banned
Now, this has been bugging me for a while, and it's only really crystallized into a coherent thought today... Do Nintendo even have much of note to bring about at this E3?
I mean, yes, we've heard that Zelda will probably be there. Exciting, yeah... but what else? What is going to appear that's at least going to turn some heads?
Let's break it down:
Hardware
Now, they'll of course have interesting stuff- Zelda will probably be good, Smash will grab some attention, and I'm sure X and Bayonetta will be praised. However, in terms of turning heads, I simply cannot see anything apart from Zelda that they are even remotely likely to reveal- Animal Crossing Wii U is a possibility, but beyond that... I dunno. Third parties aren't interested, and there isn't a single title from one of Nintendo's core teams on the slate for either system? Am I missing something, or is this going to be utterly underwhelming in every sense?
I mean, yes, we've heard that Zelda will probably be there. Exciting, yeah... but what else? What is going to appear that's at least going to turn some heads?
Let's break it down:
Hardware
- Wii U bleeding out, but it's absolutely far to early to expect any replacement or official phasing out. Might hear about a bundle or two, but no sign of a shift in strategy beyond running down the clock.
- 3DS tepid at best. No sign of any mooted successor in anything Iwata's said lately, and the revision that the 2DS brought about didn't have the desired effect.
- QOL platform probably receiving most internal attention, but fundamentally unsuited to the event.
- Many of Nintendo's top teams and creatives- EAD Tokyo, Retro, Sakurai- have either just put out titles or are in the final stages of development. New reveals from any of these guys are unlikely.
- Much of the software that should have been revealed at this E3 have already been revealed far, far in advance. Last January's Direct was one hell of a double-edged sword- Nintendo held themselves back enough to reveal Smash, 3D World and Kart at E3, but they've totally spunked their load on reveals for this year- the likes of X, Yarn Yoshi and SMT x Fire Emblem had absolutely no good reason to be revealed so long in advance, and anticipation for some of this stuff has fizzled as a result (admit it, you forgot about Yarn Yoshi, didn't you?)
- Nintendo throwing every franchise they have at the 3DS and, to a lesser extent, the Wii U, has left them desperately short of stuff to show now. With Mario (both 2D and 3D), Mario Kart, Pokémon, Animal Crossing, etc. all having been pulled from the drawer, and stuff like Metroid, Star Fox and F-Zero clearly having been deemed to be too niche to be worth the investment of a modern budget, what exactly have they got left to pull from the drawer?
- QOL concerns again: there's going to be some manner of software developed for whatever this platform actually is, and that's going to be drawing manpower away to stuff that, again, is not going to be suitable for an E3 presentation.
- Yes, yes, I know Nintendo didn't actually skip E3 last year. However, that really isn't the point. The PERCEPTION was that Nintendo skipped E3 last year, and E3 is all about perception. They need to absolutely come out swinging for the fences this time out.
- However... can they really? I think that, in terms of actual content, this year's E3 is going to be less big for Nintendo that last year's. No new iterations in the megasellers, with the exciting revealed stuff already having been shown off last year. If they considered it worth their while to turn an E3 Presentation showing off Mario, Kart, Smash and Pokémon into a Direct, can they really go back to a stage show where Zelda's the only reasonably big card that they're likely to be able to play?
Now, they'll of course have interesting stuff- Zelda will probably be good, Smash will grab some attention, and I'm sure X and Bayonetta will be praised. However, in terms of turning heads, I simply cannot see anything apart from Zelda that they are even remotely likely to reveal- Animal Crossing Wii U is a possibility, but beyond that... I dunno. Third parties aren't interested, and there isn't a single title from one of Nintendo's core teams on the slate for either system? Am I missing something, or is this going to be utterly underwhelming in every sense?
