It is actually kinds funny and sad that this is indirectly caused because ESPN is no longer the money printing machine for Disney that is used to be. Disney is looking really hard now at all aspects of their business because they are a publicly traded company that has to please investors. Disney's stock fell 6% in after hours trading because they missed their projections.
@dixavd: Not being directly attached to a game is definitely helping out Amiibo, but they are also walking on a razor's edge. How many times will consumers purchase a Mario figure? Will Nintendo continue to create new properties, like Splatoon, that they can release to mass market appeal?
The problem with creating a trend is just that, it is a trend. Trends can fall and become obsolete just as fast as they take off. So far, none of the Toys to Life developers came up with a plan that would future proof these properties. You cannot continue to make something that is targets to preteens in 2010 without taking into consideration that those preteens will grow up, and preteens in 2016 are into something else.
It sounded like Infinity was making some baby steps in that regard by bringing developers like Ninja Theory to tighten up aspects of gameplay, but these were still simple games targets at preteens in an age that Minecraft is king among children.
This news also highlights something I have problems with for a long time; the game industry is so damn protective of their business compared to other entertainment mediums that it is becoming a detriment to the industry.
A decade ago we were getting hard numbers of units shipped and sold. Nowadays publishers are using terms like "hours played" and "Twitch views" as if they are an actual metric to judge how a game sold.
The best thing about these games is that they encompass a time when Japanese wrestling was at its peak. All Japan Pro Wrestling in the early to mid 90's might have been the best stretch of wrestling, by any promotion in world, ever.
Wrestling doesn't have to be just what Vince McMahon shows you. There is a world full of quality matches going on that easier to find than ever.
I have been to well over a 100 wrestling shows live in my life. This Kaiju Big Battel show is by far a top five show for me. This video just showed off the opening match, and the whole thing just got crazier from there.
I highly recommend seeing these folks if they ever come to a town near you.
@paulmako: I think it is more Nintendo realizing that E3 is just not that important anymore. That is a trend that has been happening the last couple years, and we are seeing more of that with large AAA publishers skirting the show in favor of their own events.
@doomsder: It didn't come out of nowhere, though. Legitimate rumors of Sony and Microsoft releasing more powerful versions of current generation hardware have been out there since GDC. Austin might have released the first, hard details, but everyone from Colin Moriarty to Digital Foundry heard things as well. It would have came out around the same time frame if Austin didn't come across it first.
The Xbox One reveal is something that should be in every Marketing 101 textbook about how you cannot let the messaging get out of control. You simply cannot let third parties dictate the conversation about your product or service, and silence is the biggest mistake a business can make when information starts to come out.
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