EuroGamer: Nintendo Wins E3 On It's Own Terms

Last year, Nintendo's retreat from the annual press conference popularity contest seemed like an admission of defeat. This year, it looked like tactical smarts and forward thinking. Nintendo has come bang up to date.

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So Nintendo arrived in Los Angeles with a spring in its step. And then it did something you never expect Nintendo to do - get mean. Its E3 Digital Event was whimsical, yes, but also slickly produced, persuasive, even illuminating, and it took a firm step away from the gawky, homespun and humble tone of the Nintendo Directs. It began by characterising the old-style E3 press conference as a stop-motion farce and took a pot-shot at the cynical hacks and entitled fanboy bloggers Nintendo has spent decades being bullied by. "C'mon Reggie, give us Mother 3!" whined one before the Nintendo of America president set him on fire. It was silly, but the message was serious and clear: that was the old way of doing things, and now Nintendo would set its own agenda, thank you very much. You want a new Metroid? "Not my problem."

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The best part of all, though? It didn't stop with the game announcements. After the Digital Event, Nintendo's E3 continued online with its Treehouse live streams and best-in-class YouTube presence. There was a live-streamed Smash Bros eSports tournament, something you would sooner expect of a company like Valve or Blizzard. There were developer presentations with reams of live gameplay that were considerably more lengthy and detailed than the "behind-closed-doors" demos we journos are accustomed to at E3. I strongly recommend checking them out. No coyness, a minimum of hype, just raw information and enthusiasm transmitted direct from the developers to the players, without the publicists, the marketers - or even us journalists - getting in the way. Was this really E3?

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Will all this "save" Wii U from its ignominious sales? Probably not. Does it matter? Not in the long term. What matters is that it saves Nintendo. In my decade as a games journalist, and during many preceding years as an amateur industry-watcher, I've had a consistent watchword: never write off Nintendo. The Kyoto company is tenacious, inventive, wealthy enough to weather a long storm, and it just loves making games. After E3 2014, I'm not going to be changing my stance.

I completely agree.

Nintendo's format was by far the best out of anyone at E3. I much prefer a pre-recorded video with announcements and the Live Treehouse format. It's informative, straight to the point and without the fluff bullshit we're accustomed to from E3 pressers.

On top of that it's crazy to think that Nintendo not just one, but two new IPs (maybe 3 if you include Project Robot and Project Guard) with Code Name S.T.E.A.M. and Splatoon, both of which look fantastic.

Nintendo letting the young talent have some more freedom is definitely a good thing. I'm liking this shake up at Nintendo. I hope it continues into 2015 and for their new platforms.

EuroGamer.

As far as I'm concerned Nintendo's E3 could have just as easily been its own festival dedicated to the fans. The Smash tournament, the treehouse event and a digital event that beat the pants off of their 'superior' competition. It was beyond fantastic for Nintendo and I agree. Nintendo won E3 on its own terms and in a big way.

Last year, I was already a pretty big fan of what Nintendo did. The presentations feel much more relaxed when they are pre-recorded, and it also gives them the chance to add some fun visual effects to make the time in-between announcements entertaining.

This year, they took it to a whole new level with the Treehouse and the Smash Bros tournament. Honestly, I see no reason why they should go back to the old format. It is working great this way!

Yeah, this is easily one of Nintendo's best E3's. Not only did they announce a solid 2015 lineup, and some decent titles throughout 2014 too, but the way the handled themselves this E3 was without equal. Nintendo's Treehouse was my most watched livestream throughout the event, and there Smash Bros Invitational Tournament was amazing, and I hope they continue to do them or something similar every year.

After this, I think E3 might change. I can honestly see Sony, Microsoft, EA and Ubisoft all moving to pre-recorded presentations, and possibly other developers/publishers looking to do them in the future too, as it's a much cheaper option and allows them to have a bit more fun with the presentation.

Splatoon? Because you're 9?

@Jaysonguy: Since when have you ever been worried about playing kids games? You play Pokemon and so do a bunch of 9 year olds :P.

Hey I liked Splatoon's concept. It looked fun. They better add WiiMote and Nunchuck controls in it though. That'd be a pretty big miss if they didn't.

Splatoon's awesome. I got a chance to play it on the show floor, and it's classic Nintendo fun. The one thing I kept telling the Nintendo folk was that the game absolutely needs a reticule.

That's great to hear but it also needs a way for the other players that don't have the gamepad to quick jump to their friends because they don't have a touchscreen.

Splatoon looks surprisingly good. I have a feeling that unless it's really cheap, the sorry Nintendo online community will ruin any chance of it being good. Maybe this can be a successful online gateway shooter to get more people online consistently :P

Personally, I might consider Toad Treasure Tracker as a new IP too. So yeah, it's kind of weird how many new IPs were announced.

I'm firmly in the "Splatoon looks really fun" camp. I may be a 33 year old in reality, but at heart I'm totally a nine year old.

Yup Splatoon looks really fun..if Nintendo gets it right..it'd be a hit. 3rd person shooter! Wiimote+ nunchuck control needed!

I don't see it working, too basic.

Everything we've seen from the game is one mode in one of the popular FPS games. The only problem is that they have about a dozen other modes as well as a campaign.

Splatoon is too dumbed down to be any sort of fun, no one is going to be coming back to this for a year or two. Worse yet is that Nintendo's not going to support it with DLC that will keep it going. They think right there is a full game, it's not.

That's why you can't even say this is a beginner or entry level FPS game. If someone is going to start on a FPS game it's better to put them on one of the established ones.

It does seem pretty basic but that hopefully will change with about a year worth of development time left. Isn't it in the Alpha stage still?

Also the devs stated they were going to be adding alot more to it. I'm glad they are adding a local multiplayer.

I do actually see this game benefiting from additional content.

I'm 32, but I don't feel that has anything to do with Splatoon looking awesome. I own plenty of Call of Duty games and Battlefield. An M rating doesn't make a game "grown up" by default. Even with the light hearted visuals and premise, isn't it fun itself that makes games enjoyable and worthwhile to play? It's cool to see so many gamers excited for it!

All of your criticisms are assuming that the demo they had was the final build. It's slated for 2015, with confirmed single player and other modes. I don't know why you're being so critical on a demo. The concept is interesting, that's all they aimed to deliver. We'll see in future Direct's as well as more journalists impressions the true depth of the game. No need to start calling it out for being "dumbed down" so early. You're being critical for cynical's sake.

I don't agree with Nintendo's direction they've taken with their E3 presentations, and I never will. The perception Nintendo gives by not doing a live conference does them no favors. It's not about content. It's about the way it's given. If you go around the boards on the net during E3 you will see people posting words such as "conceding defeat", "can't compete", "frightened", "running". This is a sentiment that is the last thing Nintendo needs right now.

Live PCs are fun. Yes, they can be boring and embarrassing at times, but that's all part of the fun and if they're well done they are irreplaceable. As much as I enjoyed seeing the 40 second Zelda trailer, nothing will replace the stage darkening and seeing Miyamoto running out on stage with sword and shield, that goofy grin, the Zelda theme blaring and him acting like a dork, the crowd roaring in excitement. Could you imagine what the response would've been this year with that trailer? It would've been insane. There's just no comparison. I would currently be more hyped for Zelda had that been the case.

What Nintendo does is surely sufficient, but it's a thrill-kill. It's like a beautiful woman that has no concept of foreplay. They're a company supposedly focused on fun, yet they take steps in doing nothing to help manifest it. Watching some pre-recorded video is just not as fun as having the spontaneity and unpredictability of a live audience. I get a lot of enjoyment out of sharing excitement of others of the things I like, even when I just watch it from 2,000 miles away. I didn't even watch Nintendo's recording, that's how much the audience means to me, so I don't know as much about their products as I would've otherwise. And if I've done this, then so have others.

There's a very good reason companies spend millions for live PCs. It's not about the content, it's about asserting yourself and putting some "ompfh" behind your showing. It's a show of confidence, enthusiasm and a way to make this hobby more fulfilling. People who don't understand this are beyond help. Nintendo doesn't do live PCs for one reason and one reason only: they're cheap.

I would've said the same thing, until I watched the presentation...

...so you might want to do that.

Watching Nintendo's presentation was exponentially more entertaining and informative than either Microsoft or Sony's, and I've heard that sentiment from a lot of people, not just Nintendo fans. People who think Nintendo still lives in the stone age and is completely tone deaf even admitted that they were surprised.

Did you at least watch the Treehouse demos? Those were fantastic and far better than anything any other major company did at the show.

Too dumbed down but you like those Pokemon side games which are also dumbed down.

You're making this too easy Jason lol.

You mean the ones where you're a Pokemon and they're rougelikes?

looking around on here the major consensus is that Nintendo won E3. And in the majority of people who didn't like Wii U were either moved to buy one or are now interested. People can say Nintendo's E3 was a success or failure, but what their E3 has done is get people to talk about them and that is a major win for Nintendo. The real question is if Nintendo can find a way to turn this positive buzz into console sales.

Even more proof of their effective tactics:

About 47% of all tweets sent out during last week's expo mentioned the gaming giant, according to social media intelligence analytics provider Crimson Hexagon.

The #Nintendo hashtag surfaced 30,000 times and #e32014 featured 55,000 times.

Meanwhile, PlayStation claimed 28% of the conversation, while Xbox trailed with 25%.

I don't want to make this into a System Wars thing but those stats are nuts. The Treehouse approach was amazing and I really hope they continue going forward. I don't need a conference, the digital format was forward thinking and super effective.

Link.

The whole "who won E3" is a silly concept to its core. No one can win, if anything you can only be the biggest loser by having embarrassing hiccups on live floors or game demo glitches or boring lineups.

But this is the most objective way to measure it.

Garbage stats, that's to say that all of them were positive.

So far I have a friend creating an algorithm to see what percentage of each company's social presence was positive.