Cognition Dissemination: Why Wasn’t NX at E3?
A few months before E3, I would have bet someone money that Nintendo would finally pull back the curtain on NX at the show. It initially seemed like a solid guarantee, given the number of new consoles and handhelds Nintendo has previously revealed at the show, despite the company scaling down their appearances and showcases in the last few years. The Wii U, 3DS, Wii, and DS were all first shown at their conferences, so why wouldn’t they want to show off their system for the first time during a show where a fair portion of the gaming audience was already paying attention?
Clearly they had reasons not to, since it was announced a couple of months before the show’s commencement that it wouldn’t be there. (Situations like this are also why you shouldn’t take every bet you think you’ll win, which I’m glad didn’t happen here.) Alongside that, they confirmed how minimal their showing would be, to the befuddlement of many; though the plan of focusing their showing on Wii U and NX title The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild ended up working out better than many skeptics expected. They did an amicable job showing and explaining how much of a leap it was over previous Zelda installments, and showing what their development teams have learned over the years. It was also one of the most discussed games on social media at E3, and won numerous “Game of the Show” awards, the most recent of which came from the Game Critics Awards.
You could say BotW was a subtle way of showing an early piece of NX software, as it could lure in many who don’t own or never purchased a Wii U into adopting the system early. But it’s no substitute to showing an entire system and much more software. So why didn’t that happen?
According to Shigeru Miyamoto, it wasn’t shown because Nintendo didn’t want copycats making their own equivalent from their new idea — at least, not yet. This reasoning has some basis in reality, as shown through how Sony ripped off “took inspiration” from the Wii Remote with PlayStation Move. Perhaps Nintendo has another potentially ingenious idea up their sleeve, though it wasn’t the pretty damn convincing controller initially thought to have leaked earlier this year. But of course, no one will be desperate to mimic the idea if it’s as big a bust as the Wii U Gamepad, despite the enjoyment some derived from it. No, playing PlayStation 4 games on Vita through Remote Play isn’t quite the same thing.
But I’m not convinced that’s the only reason why they held back its reveal, as a desire to get the timing just right is likely a significant part of it. The 3DS, for instance, had an excellent reveal when it was shown for the first time at E3 2010. But in months following, excitement dissipated considerably, as people realized all the intriguing titles shown at E3 wouldn’t be released anywhere near the system’s launch in early 2011 — especially games like Kid Icarus: Uprising. But other realities settling in tanked that even further, like the higher-than-expected price, weak battery life, and the lack of any region-free capabilities.
That Nintendo wants to shorten the period between NX’s reveal and launch is understandable, though that won’t guarantee its success. Both E3 showings for Wii U before its release were underwhelming, for instance, and no period shortening could have saved it. I can only hope they’re taking steps to prevent such a situation from occurring again, especially if it’s utilizing an idea that could potentially catch on with a large audience.
This could also be a case of not enough software being ready to show at E3. If the system was shown, people would have wanted to see a plethora of Nintendo-developed software and third-party efforts, so they could be sold on the system immediately. Expectations are running high, so they’ll need to put on a showing of hardware and software that makes a number of people say, well, “Wow.” In other words, this will be yet another “rise to heaven or sink to hell” moment for Nintendo, given those understandably skeptical as to whether they can remain competitive in the console and handheld space.
No one should reasonably expect to see software that will blow them away at the system’s launch, but they’ll need convince early buyers that the system will be worthwhile down the line. For instance, no one should expect to see the new Mario experiment Miyamoto mentioned in passing at E3, especially given how noncommittal he was about having something ready for next year’s E3. But they’ll need something to show that Nintendo still means business with the demographics they’re targeting, beyond Breath of the Wild.
NX will be revealed by the end of this year, perhaps around Tokyo Game Show time. Nintendo used to hold showcases in Japan around that time, and it’s also a period where they previously held a worldwide Wii U event before its launch. That sounds like a good time to show it, though they might have other plans that, for their sake, are similarly aggressive. Whatever NX turns out to be, let’s hope it turns out well, because the entire dedicated gaming audience needs for Nintendo to remain healthy as they are — whether they realize it or not.
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Geoff
News Editor | Geoff is some nerd who writes for a blog and thinks he's knowledgeable. He write a lot about video games, but is capable of writing about other subjects, too. Twitter
