Instead of just having a two hour press conference for game journalists, Nintendo decides to take over E3 by creating a SERIES of events on the first day to highlight their upcoming games for both the Wii U and the 3DS. What we got wasn't a short conference but an 11 hour odyssey, focused on the games and explaining DIRECTLY to gamers the best features of their upcoming titles.
What Nintendo lacked in graphical horsepower, they made up in finesse, and they did this in spades. Knowing full well their console can't handle the gigantic textures and polygon counts of their competition, their first party games focus on providing cartoon-like graphics with very speedy animation and bright colors. Hardly a shade of brown, grey or red was to be seen during Nintendo's Digital Event.
Nintendo showed off some spectacular visuals for their upcoming games: specifically, the Legend of Zelda and Super Smash Bros Wii U were just impeccable in quality. Their work looks to be a triumph in art, design and animation, and the best part is, their work just looks unique compared to everything else out there. Like their recently released, ultra-polished game Mario Kart 8, Smash Bros and Zelda look to be getting the same sort of care in terms of design and aesthetics, even without the same graphical power as the games coming from Sony or Microsoft. Nintendo's games hold their own, as GAMES. They aren't trying to be movies; they aren't trying to ape Hollywood in terms of presentation. These are games for gamers and it really shows.
Their most unique title in my honest opinion was Splatoon, a game where you don't just shoot your opposition; you shoot the walls, the floors, everything....to basically out-color the other team. This kind of thinking in game design is what has always put Nintendo on top. While it is true that it doesn't always work out well for them, when it does work for Nintendo, as a gamer you get to appreciate the variety in interactive experiences that this provides.
I spent a good chunk of my morning watching their invitational Smash Brothers tourney, and I thought it was very well organized and well executed. Their final match was really fun to watch thanks to the commentary of some people that Nintendo hired, i think, from the fighting game community. They even had Geoff Keighley to host and Reggie himself was there, too. They basically made E3 a huge party for gamers, and that is just fantastic. E3 is supposed to be a 'trade' show but Nintendo knows that, at the end of the day, E3 is all about winning the hearts and minds of gamers, and they took that to the next level....they took it further than Microsoft or Sony has.
So I'm at a complete loss here. I would have given the award to Microsoft for best show, but damn, Nintendo really went above and beyond. I suspect they're going to stretch this out for the next two days. They mentioned Starfox but didn't show it....why? I suspect they will show more in the coming two days. Same for the other projects they mentioned Miyamoto was working on. Overall, for gamers everywhere, pay attention to Nintendo's upcoming shows....they're really fun, focused on gaming, and they really help demonstrate that there's more to games than just running and gunning.
What Nintendo lacked in graphical horsepower, they made up in finesse, and they did this in spades. Knowing full well their console can't handle the gigantic textures and polygon counts of their competition, their first party games focus on providing cartoon-like graphics with very speedy animation and bright colors. Hardly a shade of brown, grey or red was to be seen during Nintendo's Digital Event.
Nintendo showed off some spectacular visuals for their upcoming games: specifically, the Legend of Zelda and Super Smash Bros Wii U were just impeccable in quality. Their work looks to be a triumph in art, design and animation, and the best part is, their work just looks unique compared to everything else out there. Like their recently released, ultra-polished game Mario Kart 8, Smash Bros and Zelda look to be getting the same sort of care in terms of design and aesthetics, even without the same graphical power as the games coming from Sony or Microsoft. Nintendo's games hold their own, as GAMES. They aren't trying to be movies; they aren't trying to ape Hollywood in terms of presentation. These are games for gamers and it really shows.
Their most unique title in my honest opinion was Splatoon, a game where you don't just shoot your opposition; you shoot the walls, the floors, everything....to basically out-color the other team. This kind of thinking in game design is what has always put Nintendo on top. While it is true that it doesn't always work out well for them, when it does work for Nintendo, as a gamer you get to appreciate the variety in interactive experiences that this provides.
I spent a good chunk of my morning watching their invitational Smash Brothers tourney, and I thought it was very well organized and well executed. Their final match was really fun to watch thanks to the commentary of some people that Nintendo hired, i think, from the fighting game community. They even had Geoff Keighley to host and Reggie himself was there, too. They basically made E3 a huge party for gamers, and that is just fantastic. E3 is supposed to be a 'trade' show but Nintendo knows that, at the end of the day, E3 is all about winning the hearts and minds of gamers, and they took that to the next level....they took it further than Microsoft or Sony has.
So I'm at a complete loss here. I would have given the award to Microsoft for best show, but damn, Nintendo really went above and beyond. I suspect they're going to stretch this out for the next two days. They mentioned Starfox but didn't show it....why? I suspect they will show more in the coming two days. Same for the other projects they mentioned Miyamoto was working on. Overall, for gamers everywhere, pay attention to Nintendo's upcoming shows....they're really fun, focused on gaming, and they really help demonstrate that there's more to games than just running and gunning.