Nintendo won E3 with Memes

The Electronics Gaming Expo is the big nationalistic promotion of the chiefs. This is the chance for the big companies to declare what they think videogames will do for the next year or so, and why. We judge things on how the message gets across, and who does what. Smaller games get mentioned, but the majority of time is spent looking at what the super expensive games will look like. This year was no different.

I wanted to give a rundown of what all of the companies said in their big shows, but in all honesty it was a lot of the same. Ubisoft has giant open world games, along with shooters. EA has sports, and giant open world games with a lot of shooters. Sony has dark games, with a lot of shooters. Microsoft has a lot of the same games, many of which are shooters. Nintendo has giant colorful games that spark the imagination, one of which is a shooter. Heck, here is a rundown of what to say if you missed the presentations.

For most of this week, I have been trying to explain what happened in my head, but it seems there are easier ways to do this. Nintendo won by Memes. In fact, they used an entirely new way to present to the internet, and ignore the media.

Don’t get me wrong, there was some really cool news from the other teams. They used the media in their traditional ways, and got out some good stuff. Nintendo also did interviews, and then proceeded to do live broadcasts from E3 all day. More games, and ideas were announced, and thus dominated the Expo.

E3 has been around for nearly two decades. The big shows, and surprises have been covered so often that journalists have gotten it down to a system. In fact, the major game websites have videos to show off, and post all sorts of pictures. If you look at the E3 map, IGN, and Gamespot -major media websites- have nice sized sections dedicated to themselves. This is to send out live broadcasts, and interviews from the show.

In fact, the big stage shows done by companies like Microsoft, and Sony are for those journalists. They are trying to catch enough attention that the journalists will cover them. The shows are also to display the ideas of what will be the plans for the rest of the year.

To give you an example, Microsoft did not mention the Kinect in their presentation. This likely means that the device is being discontinued. It is not really a surprise since Microsoft announced the new Xbox One will be sold without the device.

Another example is the release of Grand Theft Auto 5 to PC, and other consoles. It was shown off at the Sony show. Sony only announced the game coming out to PS4. The problem is that the game going to these systems was an open secret. Heck, I was holding back for the PC -and a sale.

As one person has charted it out, most of the games shown off in the big stage productions were not exclusive. In fact, most of them were shooters.

So, if you haven’t noticed, the big companies are showing off to journalists. They have big stage productions for the journalists. The big game websites have dedicated areas for live interviews, and set ups. The aim is to get the attention of the journalists, and for the journalists to get your attention. This has been going on for years, and Nintendo has been part of it since the very beginning.

The way of doing this has become so defined, that even the media sites are sounding the same. If I showed you a video of the top games presented at E3 from either IGN or Gamspot, the same games will be mentioned.

This year though, Nintendo did not aim for journalists. This does not mean they didn’t do interviews, or have a big show. The big show was aimed entirely at the internet crowd. In fact, some of the best videos came from live broadcasts done by Nintendo at their booth.

The premise was to grab the attention of the internet viewer, and not the journalist. So the big show presentation, was actually a video sent out on youtube. The beginning has the two corporate leaders of Nintendo fighting it out.

This video alone has already become an internet meme. Major websites have covered it in animated GIF form to show off.

Also within this show was videos made by the Robot Chicken folks.

The entire goal was to control the information, and make it memorable. The aim at the internet viewer directly has meant that game sites are in a lost state. They like the shows too, but don’t know what it means about their jobs.

Nintendo did not stop there. They continued to have live shows every day of the Electronic Entertainment Expo, to show off new games. In fact, my favorite video comes from one of these live shows.

This is for a build your own level program. To make sure people saw it in the right light, Nintendo had the big game maker of the company, Shigeru Miyamoto present it to children.

To make it even more obvious about what is going on, Nintendo had tournaments, and game shows that no one at the Expo itself saw. This included the Super Smash Bros tournament, as people screamed in awe of new attacks.

The idea was to create an image, or meme of the idea, and then have a longer presentation. This way, people would remember the small image, and the information that went with it.

In an interview with Forbes magazine, COO of Nintendo of America Reggie Fils-Aime said this:

“My first E3 was ten years ago,” he tells me, “and ten years ago YouTube and Twitch didn’t exist. Ten years ago you could actually get media to pay attention.”

…

“We’re reflecting the current realities,”

And it worked.

All of the meme websites I could find have had more information, and gifs from Nintendo than all of the other companies. If you look for Nintendo News, or E3 News, you are more likely to find stuff by Nintendo.

Part of this is because the live shows every day of E3 had a new game announcement, or presentation. This meant that Sony and Microsoft had made their statement, and were done, while Nintendo continued to bang its drum.

Finding out that Pac Man was in Super Smash Bros was on the second day of the event. In fact, the second day also brought the announcement of an entirely new game from Nintendo. STEAM.

With the constant work to find memes, and aim for the internet the E3 became Nintendo’s show. It was surprising to watch.

Don’t get me wrong, Sony, Microsoft, Ubisoft, and EA had great shows. They presented several games that should catch gamers interest. They simply followed the traditional method of presenting. The shows were for the journalists, and websites at the Expo. Nintendo aimed for memes and internet viewers. Because of this, the company that made Mario dominated.

With E3 and the arcade show happening around the same time, I have been caught up in trying to explain them both. Expect to see the arcade show essay soon. For now though, enjoy the videos.