Missing out on E3 2014 due to illness, it looks like Nintendo President and CEO Satoru Iwata won't be making it to the big show again this year. This time around, it sounds like Iwata is too busy, you know, being the president of a massive company to attend.
IGN broke the news Monday, following a statement the outlet had received directly from Nintendo. As noted in the original story, this is the second year in a row Iwata will be absent from E3, though for completely different reasons.
In Nintendo's statement, the developer/publisher promises that Shigeru Miyamoto and other Nintendo executives will be on hand at E3 to discuss their games and show them off to the masses. Iwata, however, will remain in Japan taking care of his Jay-Oh-Bee. That seems reasonable enough to me. Not everyone can spend a week at a convention halfway around the world, after all, and it makes sense that Iwata would remain at HQ, taking care of business. Miyamoto and folks like Reggie Fils-Aime, as well as the gang of the Nintendo Treehouse have become the more recognizable faces of the company to casual and core fans alike, so it seems like a good idea that they be the ones on hand, schmoozing with the audience, other developers and journalists.
Otherwise, it sounds like Nintendo's E3 presence will be basicall identical to recent years. The Big N has announced that the Nindendo NX (its mysterious new platform) won't be the topic of discussion of the show, so folks can expect announcements solely revolving around the 3DS, Wii U and, I'm guessing, all kinds of new Amiibos.
As far as big reveals go, Nintendo will once again be holding a virtual event, making all of its announcements via a live stream rather than putting on a big, expensive press conference. The Treehouse will bring coverage from the show floor throughout the week and, leading up to the event, Nintendo will actually be reintroducing the Nintendo World Championships for the first time in about 20 years. Fans will remembers that's the event where gamers were put through all sorts of game trials on Nintendo consoles, competing for prestige as one of the top gamers in the world. If you're looking to participate or just keep up to date on the show, you'll want to visit the NWC official website.
As for Nintendo's show floor presence, we're not too sure what to expect. Splatoon is the big title right now, so we imagine that will get some play on display units. Smash Bros. might get a DLC announcement at the event, too, so consoles running that brawler wouldn't be a huge surprise. Otherwise, we're not too sure what we're going to get out of Nintendo at E3. You're ideas are welcome in the comments below.
