Nintendo Apologize for 'Casual E3'

Still throwing a hissy fit over Nintendo's lackluster E3 press conference last week? Well, would it make you feel any better if they said they're sorry? Speaking to Forbes.com (via Shacknews), Nintendo president Satoru Iwata acknowledged their showing was short on exciting "hardcore" titles, and reassured long-time fans that those games are coming.

"If there is any perception that Nintendo is ignoring the core gamers, it's a misunderstanding and we really want to get rid of that misunderstanding by any means," Iwata said. "We are sorry about [the E3] media briefings, specifically for those who were expecting to see Nintendo show something about Super Mario or Legend of Zelda. However, the fact of the matter is the so-called 'big titles' need a long, long development period. [...] We really didn't think this year's E3 media briefing was the time to do so."

If you missed Nintendo's press conference, well, you didn't miss much -- Animal Crossing: City Folk, Wii Music, and the MotionPlus-assisted Wii Sports Resort were their big Wii reveals, with only vague promises that the Zelda and Mario development teams were hard at work on new games. A new Pikmin game was later revealed to be in development, but the announcement came incidentally during a developer roundtable.

Meanwhile, elsewhere on the Internet, Nintendo's vice president of marketing Cammie Dunaway spoke with Game|Life last week, in which she also assured worried fans that more hardcore games are coming... just not necessarily this year. "You have seen the extent of Nintendo's 2008 holiday lineup. Also items that we didn't talk about [during the press conference], like Wario Land: Shake It," Dunaway said. "And even Mario Super Sluggers, which is certainly an expanded audience title, but what core gamer doesn't love Mario and baseball and finding out which combination of characters are going to do what kind of crazy things in the field?"

I don't want Zelda or Mario, I want SOMETHING NEW.

Alright, maybe Mario if it's really good.

considering 85% of the wii fanbase has probably never heard of E3 they really screwed up this year.

lamo it was awsome and funney.

"lamo it was awsome and funney.
"

Mor mario and zelda? How about something new. Something original?

Did you not see WiiMusic? that game pays for the Wii itself

You really liked Wii Music? It looks like a toy for a two year old.

"considering 85% of the wii fanbase has probably never heard of E3 they really screwed up this year.
"

The dude playing the drums for Wiimusic needed a haircut...just sayin.

Good cause it sucked and is starting to turn me into a Nintendo hater even though I love them and I also don't care about their apology because they're still not going to act.  The same will come next year and it will also suck.  There apology means very little too me until i see action.

You would think they say something to assume people that something is going to be announced soon, whether it be at a press event or on a website, Nintendo needs to throw us a bone.

they really need a new IP they're last big one was pikmen

So that's all for 2008, eh?  No worries for me... there are some 3rd party titles that are worth looking into.

But, if they pull the same stunt next year, something brown and smelly will hit some fast, rotating paddles that circulate air.

"they really need a new IP they're last big one was pikmen
"

It was very disappointing to see Nintendo show no "core" games at E3 really apart from...Wario Land maybe? To see them say sorry does give me some hope that Nintendo do want to continue feeding their core fanbase games.

Maybe it's just me though. I'd love a new crazy IP that had Miyamoto's backing, yet I don't think the sales will be that amazing. Although you can look at Pikmin which supposly both games sold over a million each.

God, companies are so freaking stupid! Give the gamers what they want! We want Kid Icarus and Eartbound!

Wii is out of the gaming equation as far as I'm concerned, when you cater too much to casuals and don't pay attention to your hardcore fans you start to lose credibility. That E3 conference was a joke.

you want to know what I would love? a new Donkey Kong... come on, whos with me?!

And I love how when Reggie got called about all this he's like, "Whaddya mean no hardcore games this fall?!?  You're getting Animal Crossing!"
Seriously....Animal Crossing?

But in all fairness, we all should've seen this coming and will have to start coming to grips with it.  Nintendo doesn't care about "hardcore gamers."  And why should they?  The DS prints money.

Also, I bet Matt Cassamasina feels like utter garbage after hyping up Factor 5's Kid Icarus for months.  He pretty much swore on his soul that we'd see it at E3.

how come most of the games on the wii makes you look like a danm fool

"God, companies are so freaking stupid! Give the gamers what they want! We want Kid Icarus and Eartbound!"

Sure that too, but I was thinking more along the lines of classic Nintendo franchises. It's time for a resurrection!

"you want to know what I would love? a new Donkey Kong... come on, whos with me?!
"

"You really liked Wii Music? It looks like a toy for a two year old.
"

"JoshB said:

"you want to know what I would love? a new Donkey Kong... come on, whos with me?!
"

Yeah, but not a side-scroller this time. I want a fully 3-D open world Donkey Kong!
"

I didn't need an apology, I understand what they're doing and I know they'll never abandon series like Mario, Zelda, Metroid and what have you

Not that it fixes a damn thing, but ok...

Drums with motion plus and two wiimotes would be awesome, i think.

I am really tempted to get a Wii, but only because of SSBB.  If Nintendo starts making games for gamers like me, then I just might buy one.
I'm not against casual games, but they just don't have enough games with meat and potatoes.

What annoyed me the most was that after the backlash of core gamers they tried to calm them down by mentioning pikmin 3. Clearly they weren't planning to show it off.

Does anybody think that they should even show up to E3 next year?  I mean don't get me wrong, they are still a video game company, but they have not been catering to the people who go or watch the show.

What ever happened to Disaster: Day of Crisis and Project H.A.M.M.E.R?

Sorry doesn't do it for me, they need to claim down on this "causal gaming" thing.

Did anyone else think that drum performance on wii music absolutely SUCKED?

At least they apologized. Now it would have been better if they announced some new hardcore game along with this apology.

Well, i wouldn't expect any renewed focus on core gaming titles soon.  The casual market has reinvigorated nintendo as a company after somewhat poor showings from the gamecube and N64, so shifting away from it now would not make any commercial sense.  I don't even really mind it, it is new and refreshing, and brings different demographics in to enjoy the hobby we call gaming.  Microsoft and Sony are doing a fine job in satisfying the market for 'traditional' games, so its all good.  Whether or not nintendo should have tailored their presentation alittle more to the audience of E3, which after all although it contains some mainstream press is heavily geared towards enthusiast outlets, is more questionable.

Now i'm tempted to wait till they release these 'hardcore' games....should I, or should I just enjoy the existing titles(buy it now) and hope for the best

Nintendo seem much more concerned with hardware sales and maximising their user base than developing a decent library of games with depth and substance. It's understandable given that they are still struggling to meet demand with regards to the Wii in particular, but it is pretty disappointing. I'm hoping that once the Wii and DS sales start to slow they'll place more of an emphasis on new games because as it stands, I can't see myself buying many Wii games this year. I pretty much own the 10 or so releases that I'm actually interested in playing, and the deluge of cheap and nasty party games are pretty much redundant if you own Wii Sports and Wario Ware - after all, why play a poor imitation if you have the original?

New releases I would like to see on the Wii:

A new F-Zero
A new Starfox game that stands up to the SNES original and Lylat Wars on the N64
A new Zelda game with voice acting, real orchestral music and Motion Plus controls
Perhaps some RTSs? The Wiimote would be vastly superior to a gamepad when it comes to console RTSs, although admittedly nowhere near as good as a mouse.
Super Mario World mods to be released on Wiiware. The software for creating levels is available online, and I'm sure many people would jump at the chance to have their work released on an official Nintendo system. With all their talk of interactivity and building communities, wouldn't this be a good idea?
New franchises from Nintendo themselves. Mario, Zelda and Metroid are great, but they need to come up with new ideas and new stories. Wii Sports/Play/Music/Fit doesn't really count.
More quality 3rd party releases that aren't Gamecube/PS2 ports!

Well, the reason for that is Nintendo has always constructed their consoles using exsisting technology which is both cheap and readily availbie, i.e: LCD display for the gameboy.  In so doing they make a profit on every hardware unit they sell, unlike their competition who make a loss on hardware on the whole.

That has been their strategy in regards to hardware since the beginning, so don't expect it to change anytime soon!  Back in the NES and SNES era's they even put a limit on the amount of titles third party developers could release in a given year. 

It's silly to say that Nintendo haven't made a new IP this generation. The "Wii Play" games? Hello. Look, it's not along the lines of Mario and Zelda but it's still a new IP. 

Best avatar so far ^^

"It's silly to say that Nintendo haven't made a new IP this generation. The "Wii Play" games? Hello. Look, it's not along the lines of Mario and Zelda but it's still a new IP. "

are the games that are currently out for the wii enough to justify me buying it?

Thats the apology? Wow. I don't know what's worse. Reggie and this chick claiming Animal Crossing and Mario Sluggers are core titles...or this so called apology.

And they admitted that this was all they had planned for 2008. Wow. Just amazing.

"but what core gamer doesn't love Mario and baseball"

Nintendo have some great series but they need some third party developers to step there game up and make something thats gonna stick.

Hm, figures I guess.

"

Thats the apology? Wow. I don't know what's worse. Reggie and this chick claiming Animal Crossing and Mario Sluggers are core titles...or this so called apology.

And they admitted that this was all they had planned for 2008. Wow. Just amazing.

"

"bread_or_decide said:

"

Thats the apology? Wow. I don't know what's worse. Reggie and this chick claiming Animal Crossing and Mario Sluggers are core titles...or this so called apology.

And they admitted that this was all they had planned for 2008. Wow. Just amazing.

"

I know. If they had just said "We're making another Zelda. Shut up and wait." Then I would have waited, but now they have to go and insult their fanbase as well."

Honestly?  I wouldn't care for either of those.  I was thinking more along the lines of better third party support, outside the typical Petz and Horsez variety.  They fund Shenmue 3 and make it Wii exclusive, I'll own one. :)