Gamers need to wake up: E3 is no longer about them.  Its fundamental purpose has changed: no longer designed to rally the faithful, its optimal use instead lies in preaching to the unconverted.  There are plenty of events where the major companies have the ear of the gaming world; at the Tokyo Game Show, Leipzig Games Convention, and many smaller gamers� days peppered throughout the year.  There is, however, one time in which the major game companies (or really, just Nintendo) have the ears of the mainstream press, and that's at E3.  Would it not behoove them to cater to the one audience they cannot reach at any other time of the year during E3?  Isn't it simply efficient to cater to the most critical audience at the one moment in which you have their attention?

The effectiveness of the strategy cannot be denied.  Nintendo is considered the loser of E3 only among the hardcore.  Like Wii Sports before it, Wii Fit is the darling of the mainstream press.  Try these articles on for size:

"Nintendo Is Star of E3 Show as Rivals Scramble to Catch Up"

"the company that brought the world Mario and Zelda is now the company that others are trying to catch." -- Washington Post

http://www.../11/AR2007071102149.html

"Nintendo and its Wii are riding the biggest wave of success at the E3 game summit, overshadowing tech giants Microsoft and Sony and their more powerful entries." -- USA Today

http://www...-wii-balance-board_N.htm

"Sony will soon be in big trouble in a market that is rapidly changing. Microsoft is caught in a trap of compromises and Nintendo will define our future of video gaming."

http://www.../content/view/32865/128/

To my knowledge, not a single mainstream media outlet has reported negatively on Nintendo's E3 presentation.  Their strategy worked.

Gamers worried that Nintendo is leaving them behind need some perspective.  Cancellations (or rumored cancellations anyway) of Project H.A.M.M.E.R.  and Disaster: Day of Crisis, which probably would have occurred regardless of Nintendo's new course, is the only evidence of Nintendo ignoring the core demographic.  Though Nintendo did not focus on them during their press conference, Super Mario Galaxy, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and Metroid Prime 3 are still coming, all within a year of each other.  That's not even mentioning Nintendo's slowly growing third party support, with experimental titles like Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, Dragon Quest Swords, and Nights: Journey of Dreams.  Nintendo's core gaming support for their newest home console is at least as good as that of the GameCube.  Rest assured, Nintendo can continue to deliver both what their core demographic wants and what the non-gaming demographic wants.  The success of Nintendogs and Brain Age did not make New Super Mario Bros., The Lengend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, and Advance Wars: Dual Strike vanish into thin air.  If Nintendo can reliably cater to both old and new segments of the market on their handheld, why are forum-goers so pessimistic about the home consoles?  

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