My thoughts: E3 2011

Leading into this years E3, there was a lot of excitement. Nintendo had issued a press release following weeks of rampant rumour mongering confirming the debut of their Next Generation home console.

There were tons of rumours coming thick and fast from all areas of the gaming community. The most notorious were by a poster we shall call “liar”. Liar stated time and time again that they were in a relationship with a Nintendo employee and that if anything they posted was incorrect they would not post again. They have kept their word at time of writing this article, under that alias at least. One of their most outrageous claims was that Grand Theft Auto 5 would be unveiled for the new Nintendo console.

The most wild, and common rumour was that the console would come with a new controller, featuring a 6.2” screen, capable of streaming games directly from the console. Would Nintendo really go down this route? Would the controller not cost £100s?

If there’s anything which remains as the stand out moment of E3 2010 was the amazing list of third party support for the 3DS. One year later, this support appears to have dried up. Several games announced have been quietly shelved, My Garden, DJ Hero 3D, Saints Row: Drive By and most notably Assassin’s Creed: Lost Legacy.

The beginning of the show seemed to go on forever, where is the new console I thought! Hearing all about the Zelda 25^th Anniversary and soundtrack CDs was all well and good, but there’s more important business afoot. They showed off a new area of Skyward Sword, Skyloft which is both Link and Zelda's home in this new adventure. The clips showed flying on colourful birds, which looked great, but at the same time I am still struggling to get excited for this new instalment. Possibly a subconscious negative hangover lingering on from E3 2010's awkward demo mishap.

On the first party front, there wasn't anything shown we didn't already know about, except the biggest surprise of the show for me, Luigi's Mansion 2. Luigi's Mansion on the Gamecube was originally meant to be viewed through a stereoscopic 3D screen attachment for your TV which was never released. So releasing Luigi's Mansion on the 3DS was surely too obvious for Nintendo who appear to shy away from such feats. Where was NPC: Wind Waker and NPC: Mario Sunshine?

The only other title which could be considered as a new unveiling would be Super Mario 3DS, announced back at GDC 2011, with a handful of screens. Now seeing it fully fleshed out and in motion its clear that this new entry in the Mario universe blends the traditionalism of 2D Mario with the geometric platforming intricacies of 3D Mario games such as Galaxy.

Ok, here we go. Urm. What. Its an accessory? WTF? How the hell are they going to get consumers and third parties on board. Wii Sports 2? Noooo. They've gone bonkers!

Those were my intial thoughts as the Wii U video played. I have never been so bewildered in my life. Towards the end of the video when clips of ACTUAL GAMES appeared and I noticed a little chubby looking Wii in the background my feelings of despair subsided. They showed New Super Mario Bros Mii -Why? They showed Zelda: HD Experience - Beautiful! Don't get me wrong, the actual things you can do with the controller is impressive, but so was the Wii Remote which was never used to its full potential.

Then the developer sizzle reel played, I bathed in the warm comfort of optimism, WTF Gabe Newell? Ken Levine? John Riccitiello FUCK YEAH! (I'm still angry at Ken Levine with his post E3 comments LINK).

Over all the entire Wii U portion sent me on an emotional roller-coaster. What was Nintendo's strategy? Did they have a clear message? Did they even bother to rehearse? How in the modern world can a conference get so horribly confusing. I'm quite fortunate to be bright enough to realise there was a new console but for hours there was chaos around the world on the chat rooms and message boards, where people believed this was just an accessory.

Nintendo made a statement getting such mature third party support in their E3 unveiling. Yes it may not have been Wii U footage, Yes, there was no Grand Theft Auto 5, Yes Ken Levine may be a hypocrite douche bag. However this was something they got right. There wasn't a huge montage of logos like with the 3DS, which I consider a good thing as that appears to have been of empty promises. The Wii U is still a year away from launch so this was a great first step.

It wasn't just Nintendo being a little bit vague with the details, when EA took the stage they confirmed great support with a montage of titles behind John Riccitiello like Battlefield 3, but there was no actual 100% confirmation these titles are heading our way.

I'm most looking forward to Metro: Last Light, Battlefield 3 and Aliens: Colonial Marines.

This was the first ever year Nintendo held two round tables, one of which was solely dedicated to Ubisoft. They make some shockingly poor games but still this is progress. Killer Freaks from outer space was announced as an exclusive FPS and it actually looks fun!

Onto the first party games....Nintendo dropped the ball, not for the first time that day. Where were the games? Im hoping that as there were next to no first party games for either console it means they are busy beavering away. They confirmed that they had entered a partnership with Travellers Tales and Warner Bros to publish Lego City Stories, they showed a few screens and it look like a yellow-faced Grand Theft Auto 4 (if only Liar had been a bit vaguer). I'm guessing that as there was such a lacklustre response, Iwata (on the fly) dropped the bomb of Smash Bros for both Wii U and 3DS featuring connectivity. Sakurai seemed shocked by their announcement so we probably won't see them for two to three years.

Later on in the first of the round tables Miyamoto confirmed (against orders) that Pikmin 3 had indeed been moved to Wii U. (Hallelujah! Hallelujah!) 

What a roller-coaster!I don't ever remember an E3 like that before. I have watched them every year for the last 12 years. I remember the high of the Twilight Princess and Wii unveilings. I remember the lows of Pacman Vs and the Vitality Sensor. This had both highs and lows. 

The biggest mistake Nintendo made is they forgot “first impressions count”. For the rest of the Wii Us lifetime there will always be a little thought in the back of peoples heads thinking its just a reconditioned Wii with a fancy controller.