E3 True or Not ? Part 2 (Nintendo E3 Press Conference analysis 06-08)

In our Second segment of this E3 edition, we take a look at the Nintendo E3 montages/recap over the past 3 years. Although Nintendo took a different approach with this next gen console war by not focusing on graphical power, we will see if they delivered on their promises.

Nintendo E3 2006

Nintendo’s first true E3 involving the Wii was in 2006. It was here the public got to see many of the now classic games in the Wii library, including Mario Galaxy, Metriod Prime 3, and Wario Ware: Smooth Moves. The montage in 2006 heavily emphasized not only the games themselves but the people actually playing them. In the montage we see older people, teenagers, and kids enjoying the games. More so then perhaps other groups; women, of all ages. The Wii’s new target was clear: everyone, from the gamer, to the mom’s, to the grandparents, the Wii was meant for everyone.




Nintendo E3 2007

Nintendo in 2007 was all about their new peripheral based game: Wii fit. Miyamoto reveals the balance board and game for the first time to the public and the audience overall seemed to like it at the time, many didn’t think however it would reach the powerhouse levels it did when released that summer. The big N also showed off another peripheral, the much less successful Wii zapper, basically a shell for the wii-mote so you can feel like your holding a gun, not a bad idea but it didn’t sell. The other major showing was of course Super Smash Brothers Brawl, the game Nintendo fans had been clamoring for, the game was pushed back from its original release date. 2007 was a pretty strong year for Nintendo, many of the games showed that year are still driving sales 2 years later.




Nintendo E3 2008

Here we are at one of the more controversial E3s for Nintendo. E3 2008 was a fairly uneventful showing for Nintendo, most of the “core” games being Animal Crossing, and Wii sports resort. This was also the infamous showing of Wii Music where the Nintendo big wigs all have a musical number using the game’s mechanics. Overall fans didn’t take kindly to all the casual games being shown that year and shunned Nintendo for it. Since then Nintendo has had a fairly dry year with only a handful of interesting games being released that year.