Nintendo has been digging in and shrinking their footprint on the home console front. They first announced earlier this year that their E3 live-stream would focus on the upcoming Zelda game for the Wii U. A disappointment to those of us who have been spending a lot of time on our Wii U recently; games like Splatoon, Super Mario Maker, and a solid amount of indie games to keep us satiated until Zelda descends upon us. Like an abused dog, we sunk our heads and understood that something is better than nothing.
Nintendo is focusing on their plans for mobile phone games, as well as the impending launch of the NX so I can understand their desire to stay quiet this year. It was announced today that they will show off a few other games during their E3 “presence” which can only help their image as a game publisher but, as a fan, I can’t help but want more.
Last year Nintendo had a great showing at E3. It seemed like nearly every company should have followed suit; pack-up, quit paying the ESA’s exorbitant fees, and just do a live-stream. (It looks like this year many companies have done just that – once again proving Nintendo’s position as the leader in the industry.)
I am quiveringly excited for the new Zelda game and I respect Nintendo’s move to mobile; it shows that they aren’t the doddering old company that they once were. Nintendo is moving with the trends of the industry while keeping with their roots, which can’t be an easy thing to do in this industry. Nintendo is sitting on a knife’s edge looking into the abyss. On one side, they are trying to stay with their old markets hand-held console games, console games, with a smattering of handfuda cards and playing cards to pay for the toilet paper in the offices. On the other side, they are moving more towards mobile, which is where the rest of the world has already moved; there is a reason why Puzzle & Dragon was ported to Nintendo 3DS. I believe that Nintendo knows what they are doing but as an old-school gamer I am a bit saddened by the lack of console games.
Zelda could be a powerhouse hit for Nintendo this year but I hope that they have some cards hiding in their back-pocket for the Wii U. I don’t think that I am ready to say goodbye to that console, it’s such a great machine.