Nintendo's Showing at E3 - Disappointing is an Understatement

I wasn't expecting much at all this E3 from Nintendo. They've let me down many times in the past, and they didn't fail to do so this year. However, this year was just... not good at all.
Now I'm not going to give an idiotic knee-jerk reaction such as "OMG NIN10DO ABONDENED US!" or "I'm selling meh Wii nao!" or anything of that sort. I do understand that Nintendo no longer feels obligated to go after the hardcore market. After all, that was the market that basically abandoned them during the Gamecube generation save for Nintendo loyalists.

For the casual gamer, I imagine that Nintendo's E3 press conference was the best of the bunch. It offered a bunch of casual-friendly games that anyone can get into. As for the "core" gamer, there really wasn't much to offer. The only interesting pieces of information were Call of Duty 5 for the Wii and a GTA for the DS. Not exactly anything to light the world on fire.

Then you have the announcement of Animal Crossing: City Folk which looks embarrassing graphically, and it couldn't come off as anything but for casuals after the sales of Wild World. Yet Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Amie stated that this was a core game to look forward to. Yeah... I think I liked it when Nintendo was losing better...

Additionally, a voice chat solution was mentioned albeit archaic.

Wii Speak. It's confusing because the mic is at the top of the television. Does this mean that it will pick up the noise of the television as well as noise around the room? Does this mean everyone in the room will be able to hear your conversations as if you were on speaker phone? To top it all off, this unit will retail for $29.99.

I thought this demo was interesting. It was the presentation of Wii Music. Looks like it could be enjoyable actually.



Now look at what they have to offer in the line of playable demos this week:

Wii:
Wii Music
Wii Sports Resort
Animal Crossing: City Folk

DS:
Pokemon Ranger 2
Rhythm Heaven
Mystery Case Files

Yep. That's it. Makes it seem like Nintendo doesn't even take E3 seriously anymore.

Finally, here's a look at some Wii footage of various games at this E3. Enjoy.

Animal Crossing: City Folk


Call of Duty: World at War


Mad World

SimCity Creator


Wii Sports Resort


Well, there's always tomorrow to look forward to, right? ...Right? ...RIGHT?