E3 2010: Winning E3 - Exactly how Nintendo did it

It is no coincidence that Nintendo are launching – and chose to reveal – the 3DS with a new Kid Icarus game. It’s a very clever, calculated move. Super Smash Bros. Brawl came out two and a half years ago, and immediately resparked huge fan interest in Pit. The 3DS was being developed six months before that. The new Kid Icarus’ development is being led by the same man who directed Super Smash Bros Brawl, at a new dev teamset up just after Brawl was released. Do you see what’s going on here?

There’s a reason Nintendo seemed to ignore fan pleas for a new Icarus for so long. They were saving it for the launch of the new machine, knowing full-well that the wait would just make their fan-pleasing conference that much of a bigger deal, and make their fan-pleasing, hardcore-specced handheld that much more welcome. All things considered, it’s even plausible to theorise that a tactical turn away from the casual at this stage, and in this manner, was always part of a long-term plan.

The glory years resumed

Look at Nintendo’s own Wii and 3DS games. They’re nothing if not a happy acknowledgement of their hardcore fans’ favourite era. DKC, Kid Icarus and the stunningly-presented, brilliantly inventive new Kirby game are all about the old NES and SNES pride (it can be no co-incidence that the latter puts us weirdly in mind of the first time we saw Yoshi’s Island), while Goldeneye, Zelda: The Skyward Sword, Ocarina of Time and Starfox are all about the N64. And Pilotwings is both (another 'ignored' fan plea explained?).

Latest Videos From

It’s a classic, ‘proper’ Nintendo E3 line-up that makes you forget that the casual years ever happened. And in this re-ackowledgement of its hardcore fans’ importance, it’s exactly what Nintendo needed to bring. Also, notice the lack of gormless casualgamerfootage. And notice that the conference’s presenter line-up was stripped back to the classic, fan-pleasing trio of Reggie, Miyamoto and Iwata. No Cammie Dunaway required.

Spectacle (but no glasses)

Forget ice cream vans. If you want a memorable sight to stick in the minds of journos and fans for years after an E3, you send a seemingly infinite parade of booth babes through your audience to provide instant post-announcement hardware demos. You keep the lights dim, so that the glow from the screens creates an ever expanding trail of light through the auditorium.

Above: This. This is how you leave a lasting impression

You enigmatically raise Zelda podiums out of the ground and let people start to play as the conference is ending. You set them up in a row across the stage to make them look striking, but you make sure there are few enough to generate images of huge queues to get on them. In short, you chroreograph an almost religious set of imagery, execute it with a warm, evangelistic tone, and make sure that everyone knows your company has been reborn as its old self again. And then, you win E3.

But what did you think? Were you as blown away by Nintendo as everyone else? Are you an old fan celebrating the comeback? And ifyou've beena staunch Microsoft or Sony supoorter, how has this year's E3 changed things for you? And who's going to pre-order a 3DS at the first opportunity? Let me know in the comments, or via our social hubs onFacebookandTwitter.