Nintendo wins E3

[A Black Falcon]

E3 has changed a lot, DJ. Just as much news? No. Oh, the BIG companies are putting out just as much press, but the small ones? Many small companies were not invited, and the really small ones or "weird products" ones that would have been in Kentia Hall at the old E3 are also completely gone. Also gone are the thousands of EB, Gamestop, and small game store personnel; they aren't allowed anymore, pretty much. The new E3 is an exclusive event for the press and the large developers. That is a bad thing.

As for who won this year, it clearly depends on who you ask. Yes, absolutely, the mainstream press loved Nintendo's show. And Nintendo did a good job at setting things up for that to happen, as they have for several years now but to great effect this time -- they put all of the products the mainstream press might care about in the press conference, while most of the games actual gamers want to know about sneak out as a line in the list of announced games on their press website and perhaps a few screenshots.

I mean... the conference's big, focused game? Wii Fit. The announcements of Advance Wars DS 2, Professor Layton (okay a mass-market-able puzzle game, but did they mention it in the main conference?), Mario Kart Wii, Fire Emblem's US release, etc... not there at all. Nintendo is still making games for gamers, but they try as hard as they can to downplay that fact every time the media looks their way.

Just looking at the three conferences, I don't think gamers would say "Nintendo's was the best 'what games they showed'-wise"... I mean, Wii Fit as the headliner? Yeah. Clear message there.

Now, I'm not saying that that's a BAD message -- it's a message that is clearly getting across and is pushing the Wii to a level of success maybe never seen before -- but it IS their message.

The SMS sold about 13 million units compared to the NES's 61 million. Not realy that close.

And most of those 13 million were in Europe and Brazil, the two regions that the SMS actually did well in. In the US and Japan it was pretty much an asterisk.

If I had to judge by the amount of games shown at the actual show then it easily goes to Microsoft. Mass Effect, Fable 2, Halo 3, Bioshock, Naruto (stunning), COD4 and so many good looking 3rd party games shown on the 360. Too bad their conference didn't set a better mood.

Microsoft's problem is that they had no major new announcements (like the badly needed price drop)... of course Sony and Nintendo didn't have any either, Sony's price drop aside (and going from $600 and $500 to $600 and $500 isn't much of a price drop, even if they increased your value for the money)... it was a pretty boring E3, that's for sure.