Nintendo’s 2008 E3 briefing kicks off one week from today. Today we’re looking back at their E3 event from last year to see what they promised and what came true.
Almost no one could have predicted “Wii Fit.”
It’s been almost a year since Nintendo stepped onto the stage of their E3 2007 press conference and threw the industry a curveball with their new take on gaming.
Let’s run down some of the major announcements at last year’s conference:
* “Wii Fit” revealed and demoed
* “Super Smash Bros. Brawl,” “Super Mario Galaxy” release dates
* Wii Zapper announced
* “Mario Kart Wii” and wheel peripheral shown
More importantly, Nintendo did the opposite of their wildly popular E3 2006 presentation and mostly ignored hardcore gamers. With “Wii Fit” being Nintendo’s big reveal, it was clear their sights were set somewhere new.
So, what’s happened in the year since then?
Wii has continued to sell at a steady pace month-to-month, defying nearly all expectations and distancing itself from the term “fad.”Sales of “Wii Play,” “Carnival Games,” and other games targeted to casual gamers have sold significantly better than mature audience content like Rockstar Games‘ “Manhunt 2.”
It’s still unclear how this will reflect Nintendo’s long-term strategy with Wii. The hardcore aren’t the ones purchasing more than 500,000 hardware units in the U.S. per month.
Release dates are hardly ever solid in the games industry, Nintendo included. The company is famous for delaying games for years. But at E3 last year, Nintendo was more conservative than ever and managed to be mostly accurate.
Of course, we all know that “Super Smash Bros. Brawl” didn’t make its December 3 date. The mash-up fighter didn’t arrive until March 9. Nintendo was, however, on target with “Super Mario Galaxy,” announcing a November 12 launch and following that up by shipping on November 12.
“Mario Kart Wii” wasn’t assigned a specific date, but Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime cited the racer as one of Nintendo’s premiere online offerings. While “Mario Kart Wii” still left something to be desired, critical consensus has labeled it Nintendo’s best online effort yet.
Where does that leave us at E3 2008? More confused than ever. Outside of “Mario Super Sluggers” in August and “Wario Land: Shake It!” in September, we don’t know of a single Nintendo game coming to Wii before the end of 2008. Even the DS is a mystery, outside of the just announced “Kirby Super Star Ultra.”
Nintendo’s continued success throughout 2007 and into the first half of 2008 means their strategy — however frustrating to the hardcore and contrary to industry patterns thus far — is working. With “Wii Fit” having just launched, however, will Nintendo take a breather from courting the casuals and throw the hardcore a bone? We’ll have to wait and see.
If you’d like to relive the conference for yourself, there are streaming videos still available.