Ask anyone what they were most excited for in the days coming up to E3, and the answer you're likely to get is 'Nintendo.' All eyes were turned towards them, to see how far the Wii U had gone since it was revealed last year. Instead, Nintendo blew it; even the most ardent Nintendo supporters are wary of the company's future, and stock holders are reacting similarly.
However, when it comes to analyzing
what went wrong, I've come up with three crucial things Nintendo screwed up, and what they can do to fix it in the future.
Focus
What Nintendo Did:
First off, focus. Here Nintendo was, with peoples' full attention, and instead of directing viewers' towards the "core" titles they promised, they focused on games that have already given the Wii U the "casual" stigma. They had the support of freaking Mass Effect3 (probably with the different ending(s) bundled), and they focused instead on SiNG (which casuals will probably forget about in 2 months whenever advertising for Dance Central starts). They obviously have a more powerful system than their current competitors, yet they didn't even mention the Wii U's ability to render/play games at 1080p. Their news real showed off a lot of third-party games, but almost all those games were shown off last year. Don't forget how they completely missed games that really showed off the controller, like P-100 and
Game and Wario (does anyone even know these games exist?).
Nintendo thought this was more important than Mass Effect
What Nintendo Needs To Do:
Nintendo screwed this up, and if they want to fix this, they have to act fast. Get their third-party supporters to set up trailers running on the Wii (like the Batman trailer), and highlight its superiority over current consoles. If it isn't superior, push them to make it so (with Nintendo's publishing support, if they have to). Nintendo has to change gears fast, or else everyone else will.
Innovation
What Nintendo Did:
Second, innovation. Nintendo's supposed to show off the best of the best, the greatest of the greatest, games that really shows off how the Wii U controller can improve the experience. Instead, we saw a bunch of games that looked like they were pulled from the DS in 2006. The games announced looked like Wii titles; nothing that screams, "THIS IS A NEW CONSOLE! THESE TITLES WOULDN'T HAVE WORKED ON THE WII!", like the 3DS did.
I still remember this a year later, while I can only vaguely remember the uses for the controller shown off this year
What Nintendo Needs To Do:
Nintendo needs to pull their crap together. What I saw at the E3 conference was nothing compared to the golf-swinging, shuriken throwing, fully-interactive experiences I saw at E3 last year. When viewers see someone move around their Wii U Gamepad to aim at someone, they think instead about how much quicker it'd be to just flick a joystick that way. Nintendo needs to validate the Gamepad's existence through experiences that just wouldn't work anywhere else (like the aforementioned demos found at last year's E3); take a gander over at the (3)DS and move on from there. Help 3rd parties out; many of the developers supporting the Wii U don't have experience on the DS/3DS, and you don't want them to repeat the same mistakes developers did in 2005.
Support
What Nintendo Did:
Finally, support. Nintendo had a bunch of games competitors already have, but most games are still absent from their arsenal;
especially the absolutely crucial games announced at E3 this year. Even then, Nintendo didn't show off current games that WOULD benefit from the Wii U. Skyrim (and Fallout 3, Oblivion, etc.), Battlefield, Ghost Recon, etc.; games that would work incredibly well on the Wii U, and would offer superior gameplay to current consoles that actually makes sense. I'm sort of seeping into the next section here, but there's really not much they DID do, besides point out how little support they have.
Imagine if this was running on the Wii U
What Nintendo Needs To Do:
Nintendo needs not only games that have already come out for current systems, but future games as well. If Nintendo had secured support of Splinter Cell Blacklist, of Tomb Raider, of Crysis 3, etc., they would have owned the conference. Imagine if, after the reveal of Watch Dogs, the controller the dude was using was the Wii U Pro controller, and the game was running on next gen tech; the Wii U (instead, it was on a platform no specific company benefits from, PC). No one would care about the specs anymore, they just want games that run like
that. I know I'd say, "Screw competitors' consoles, if the Wii U can run those graphics, anything more doesn't matter."
That's the reaction Nintendo needed; instead, they got one filled with indecision and hope that they're saving their cards for later. Nintendo said their focus at E3 would be the games; however, they did it on all the wrong ones, and that may cost Nintendo the game.