I'm not sure if its too early to talk about E3, but Nintendo announced some news on their plans with E3. The company announced that there will not yet again not do a Nintendo Press Conference this year, but something entirely different. It seems that Nintendo will use something similar to their Nintendo Direct as they will stream an event online where they reveal new information on upcoming titles and announce new titles for this Digital Event on June 10, 9am PT. So during this event, expect to hear some news on titles like Super Smash Bros, Bayonetta 2 and maybe something on that Fire Emblem/Shin Megami Tensei crossover if I had to guess. I have my fingers crossed that they announced either some new IP's or reviving old franchises, such as the return of F-Zero or Star Fox.

Along with that, they will have the Nintendo Treehouse divison perform live demos of the games announced on the show floor and this will be streamed during all hours of the conference. So while there might be websites like Gamespot who will stream live demos of a wide variety of games from every booth, Nintendo will have their own streaming channel demoing all the games they have at their booth.

Plus, Nintendo is serious pushing Super Smash Bros big time during E3. One, they will be having the Smash Bros Invitational at E3 where top Smash Bros players will gather at the Nokia L.A. Theatre to compete in a tournament that involves the Wii U version of Super Smash Bros and will be streamed live. Two, there will be the Super Smash Bros Smash-Fest, where Nintendo will let the game be playable at your local Best Buy during E3.

Here is a video that Nintendo and Mega64 did in cooperation to promote the event:

What do you all think of this approach? What games and news would you like to hear from Nintendo at E3?

I'd kind of wish Nintendo was doing a Press Conference again because I miss those old-school Nintendo Press Conference moments where one large game announcement would light the crowd on fire, like when they first announced Twilight Princesss. Its not to say that I'm totally against this approach. I think this Digital Event can be special if Nintendo can get people excited to buy a Wii U by making game announcements that gamers would want from Nintendo. I'm not sure what they will announce, but I'll watch and see what they got. I want to see how the Nintendo Treehouse stream will go and what games will be demoed. I know this site does not have a large Smash Bros following, but as a Smash Bros fan, I'm loving this giant push this game will get at E3. The notion of having a tourney of top Smash Bros players may sound silly since Smash Bros is not seen as a serious competitive game, or E-Sport, compared to how games like Street Fighter 4 and Starcraft are. However, this shows that Nintendo is starting to pay attention and care for a competitive fan base for one of their franchises. And I'll be one of those people trying to play Smash at Best Buy. I guess no other game will be demoed at Best Buy because the other games at E3 may not be ready to be demoed in front of those who are not game journalists.

Whoops, Patrick has the video up already! Lock this thread up.

Why would we lock this? There's no discussion thread for this topic in the forums yet, so I suppose this is it. I was going to create one, matter of fact.

Anyway, in my opinion, the worst consequence of Nintendo going off-stage at E3 two years in a row is that their next time on-stage, whenever that is, will now be considered a comeback - and expectations will be accordingly high (as if they weren't having a hard time meeting expectations as it was).

The longer they do this off-stage business the more they risk overhyping up their return to the stage, along with giving the appearance of a trend that tabloids all over the internet will rush to dub as a "fading to irrelevancy" or some sensationalist bullshit like that. I trust Nintendo is a company that knows what it's doing, though.

Wishful thinking: maybe their return to the stage is the most mind-blowing thing they've ever done and they're already preparing it.

@snail: I just thought that with Patrick having the video up on the site, there was no need for this thread since this topic is already on the front page of the site. I guess it shouldn't be locked.

Interesting about the all hours stream of their booth, I would be somewhat interested in that to generally see how the game demos live and generally what a booth is like through the hours of the day during E3.

My guess is the next time they do an actual press conference will be the big one, new hardware, cross compatability with other hardware (the discussed mobile tie ins and whatnot) or some other revolutionary nintendo thing.
As for the nintendo direct like thing theyre doing, all I care about is more information on the Zelda X dynasty warriors game, that is the GOTY that no one knows about.

I usually don't bother with any of the E3 streams after the press conferences but I will definitely check out that Smash tournament. As for there not being a press conference it doesn't really matter to me personally. At the end of the day I am getting this information from a computer.

Do you think NOA's announcements will continue to be crazy? Is this a phase? Will they get crazier? Is this and the Tomodachi Life announcement NOA's "2human"?

It doesn't really matter how the information is presented, I get just as much out of a press conference as I get out of a Nintendo Direct. The problem with last year is they hardly even had any announcements. I worry that the reason they're doing it this way again is because they don't have anything big to announce. Let's hope I'm wrong.

I don't think this is a bad move. It's pretty concentrated sure, but if they aren't comfortable being on stage with the other 2 big guys, this might actually pay off for them.

(Plus I might buy a WiiU for Smash Bros)

The problem I have with Nintendo skipping the traditional conference stuff is that it just seems like yet another stupid mistake in a years-long history now of weird, baffling mistakes that do nothing but hurt them. They gain nothing substantial from this. They're only reducing the amount of press and word of mouth they get out of E3 by doing this. It's dumb; made dumber by the fact that last year's E3 proved that the conferences haven't been somehow losing their importance and interest. Millions of people watched at least portions of those conferences. This accomplishes nothing but further removing them from the conversation.

digimon?

hats off to Mega64, those guys are amazing...... Well, on the bright side, Nintendo E3 press confrences always had a Wii Music moments that were always awkward. There was the Electroplankton dj remix event in 2004.

I'm not sure how this reduces the amount of press they'll have at E3. They'll still have presentations and things will be streamed online. They're just not putting on the traditional dog and pony show that tends to fluctuate between being judged as either incredibly awesome or a total bomb. (And that doesn't just go for Nintendo conferences, Microsoft and Sony have had their share of winners and losers. Microsoft's last year was the definition of loser.) The press will still be in attendance, articles will be written and videos will be posted. That they're taking a different tactic from the other two console makers isn't indicative of anything negative in and of itself. It's how well or how poorly they perform and engage in their chosen tactic that matters.

#jointheconversation #overusedclichephrases

Glad Nintendo (at least of America) is actually self-conscious and knows how the internet likes weird stuff.

Loved the video. I'm excited for what Nintendo brings up at E3, they need to do something about Wii U, either save it or replace it for something with a little more mass appeal.