[reprinted from ...]

Frankly, I am burned out the XBox experience (which mostly consist of advertisements and not playing games) and the WiiU had my attention at a moment of weakness, but it's fading now.  I had every expectation to start saving for a WiiU this holiday, but that fire was put out when I saw the same old hat on stage; singing, dancing, and weight-loss.  Three things I don't do.

The Nintendo Press Briefing at E3 was underwhelming to say the least...  The strangest part of it all was that Nintendo had everything to gain.

Microsoft made it clear that they only cared about the casual now, and have banished Rare to making hats for my avatar, and threw a Halo bone to insist that they still love the core gamers.  They still haven't told me exactly why I see more commercials on my XBox than on TV now, or why I need a Gold membership to access Netflix.  They did however show me about 40 minutes of "features" I'll probably not use ever.

Sony did a respectable job, a big step up from last year's fumbles I feel, but they continued to give a mixed message about their support for VITA and they spent ​way​ too much time on a sketchy demo of some Harry Potter game.  I would have rather seen some gameplay footage of Guacamelee! than sat through a grown woman playing a children's novel.

Nintendo being the only one on stage with a console to flaunt, and the other major players having tossed up a soft pitch, it seems that Nintendo tripped and stumbled through one of the most awkward briefings I've seen since... Mr. Caffeine.  So what's the problem; where did Nintendo go wrong?  They were unfortunately a victim of their own rise and fall.

When you are at the top you don't question success, you ride that wave until there's nothing left, then you ride it some more until you find yourself in some celebrity reality TV show.  Like some kind of child actor; only then can you look back and realize what you should have done and how long ago you should have done it.

When you are at the bottom you get conservative.  You've been knocked off your high horse by something that everyone predicted but you refused to listen.  The yes-men in suits who told you that you were the greatest and no one could put you down are suddenly not answering their phones.  So what do you do?  You play it safe and go back to what worked last time, Mii's and balance boards.  But are your casual fans who put you in the light still there?  Are they really chomping at the bit for your next performance or have they moved on to the next rising star?  I guess we'll find out in a few months...

Instead of showing the world what their 10 year plan for the WiiU was, we got some demos of games that ​might​ be coming out in the "launch window" (translation: sometime in 2013).  Nintendo should have come out swinging instead of trying to get back the Wii Sports crowd.  They should have said, "Here is a sneak peak of the future for the WiiU"; cue sizzle reel of a new Smash Bros and rehashed shots of the Zelda demo from last year.  Splash some concept drawings of a 2D Samus or promise a Mario Galaxy HD and the crowd would have shed tears and tossed their bras on stage.  Instead, they played it safe.  Nintendo did the one thing you don't do when you are backed into a corner; they put their arms down.

So why do I say, "Bring back Nintendo 2001"?  Some of you might remember the strangely named conferences that Nintendo would hold around E3 like Planet Gamecube.  Those press events were in dark rooms and lacked the pizazz of today's E3 events but they were filled with genuine surprises.  Nintendo was not afraid to feature some B-roll footage that had rough animations and incomplete gameplay but that was part of the charm.  Back then, the major players were not afraid to talk specs and show technical demos of 200 marios jumping on a platform or a tub filled with rubber ducks.  Last year's Zelda demo seemed like a stronger argument for the future of WiiU than anything I saw this year, the year of it's release.

As dry as those 2001 briefings were to some members of the press, I'm willing to bet that many of them wouldn't mind getting back to that.  Call me crazy, but I didn't mind the longer briefings that were split 50:50 with flashy trailers and dry hardware discussions.  At least there were no questions left at the end of that event; questions like, "Is this new game pad a peripheral for my existing Wii?".  At least there were stories to cover, something to elevate the blood pressure a bit.

Looking back at videos of some old 2001 briefings I could hear some genuine gasping and cheers in the crowd.  These days, we watch a highly polished million dollar spectacle and spend most of the time yawning and snickering at news that anyone with an internet connection could have predicted.  It was all too safe.

All of the conservative briefings need to go away.  The fear that you walk away with egg on your face needs to be checked at the door.  Even if it does happen, it will only be remembered in YouTube meme's, but all is forgiven you if you just prove that you have a plan to deliver some fun experiences.  Yes "my body is ready" and "it prints money" may live on in history, but so will the memories of seeing a franchise (re)born on the big stage.  It's time to open the Kimono, or whatever it is that business people say, and give me a reason to believe you still have the fire to be in this business Nintendo.  Show me that you understand that the average gamer is not 3 or 8 or 83 years old, but 38 years old.  I want to believe that you can do this and I am ready to give up my Gold membership to make the switch, but I need a reason.

I want to believe in Nintendo and Pikman is a step in the right direction; keep going that way.  Make bold moves and stop thinking that Soccer Mom is coming back to buy WiiU.  She's gone Reggie... She's gone...