 All right everyone well today is the day of the Nintendo Direct and I think we're all Supremely excited to see what happens There's actually other things going on in the industry and I I was gonna do like a kind of a recap summary a little prime news Mini this morning recapping some of that, but I actually decided to focus on a single story because I'm sorry I Apologize I can't get myself off of that direct hype train so former president and You know he actually had a role in Nintendo Japan as well before we're president of Nintendo of America Reggie Fizeme I did a massive interview talking about a lot of things and well obviously there's a lot of Nintendo stuff talked about There really isn't anything in particular. I find interesting from that But I do think he brings up something interesting when it comes to e3 Specifically e3 this year now he has obviously a ton of experience with e3 He ran Nintendo's campaign there for over a decade So he knows all about the industry and all about e3 and what he thinks is best for both Game publishers and also for the fans and he does think a digital event is the way to go But he doesn't really like what e3's current plan is and he has some ideas to make it better That they probably should listen to Since there always seems to be negative reaction to anything the ESA does that being said before we get into it We are giving away a $99 Nintendo switch e-shop gift card head down to the description of the pinned comment to enter All right, let's get into this story So I got this over at video game Chronicle. It's been reported at many different outlets So former Nintendo of America bosses e3 2021 plans don't sound that compelling So with several major publishers including EA, Sony and Activision having abandoned the e3 show floor in recent years The ESA was already facing significant pressure to reinvent the annual trade show prior to the cancellation of e3 2020 Due to the coronavirus pandemic and when last year's convention fell through other leading publishers including Ubisoft Successfully kind of sort of launched their own digital events. The Ubisoft forward was not good Their e3 presentations were way better than the two Ubisoft forward Anyways to showcase products that would previously have been revealed at e3 in early February Video game Chronicle revealed the ESA is pushing forward with plans for a digital e3 this summer But that still requires the backing of major game companies Of course, you could say you're planning something, but if Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, EA, Ubisoft Activision if everyone pulls out then you don't really have a show to put on According to e3 2021 pitch documents sent to game publishers The ESA's proposed event would include three days of live stream coverage from June 15th to the 17th We've covered this before the ESA's intention is to hold multiple two-hour keynote sessions an award show a June 14th Preview night and other smaller streams from game publishers influencers and media partners The broadcast event would be supplemented by media previews the week before as well as demos released on consumer platforms In this final proposal getting new games into players hands that the ESA must figure out how to do if e3 is going to remain relevant Reggie Fissame told gamer tag radio if it fails to do so the industry veteran believes someone else will do it And e3 could fall by the wayside This is something that eSA doesn't need to worry about he says I think e3 is an event and a Moment in time where new content is shared and celebrated I think that is truly magical for the global games business Films aim said however films They've said he saw reports of what e3 returning digitally in 2021 and wasn't enthused I had to say that what I read doesn't sound all that compelling Well, he feels embracing a digital format is the right way forward for e3 films They believe finding a way to offer consumers hands-on Opportunities with the biggest upcoming games of the key to success and Nintendo was actually doing this at some of the prior e3s Guys remember you could go to local best buys in some areas and play a large chunk of Nintendo's e3 offerings If I were king for a day, I'll tell you how I would do it I do think doing this digitally is absolutely right and the reason for that is there are more than 60,000 people who would typically attend any three there are millions more Interested in finding out what's going on and executing an event digitally is the way to bring that to life So that's the right track having said that I think that the platform holders need to find a way Digitally to enable their fans their players to experience the content because that's the key for e3 Right the ability to be playing the last of us part three for the first time or to play that next breath of the Wild game for the first time or to play the next great game coming from the new Amalgamation of Xbox Studios to play for the first time is what's magical and the platform holders need to figure out How to deliver that experience to their fans during the e3 digital experience? I think that would be huge well films aim is no longer part of the e3 planning discussions What he's read about the proposals for this year event doesn't go far enough in his opinion What I've read as I said doesn't go down that path And if you don't have all of these different elements working together So the big announcements the hands-on the opportunities and well-defined time frame to have all of these announcements I think that's what's key to a successful e3 in the future and candidly if eSA doesn't do it than other people will You've mentioned my good friend Jeff Keely Jeff did something very Provocative last year with his summer games event. He's going to do something similar again this year So if the eSA doesn't figure out how to do this someone else will now he doesn't really go on to talk about How much Jeff Keely could impact things he's obviously been a big part of e3 until last year Then e3 didn't even happen But what's interesting I think about this whole ordeal and I'll put a link down in the article down below is that E3 is in a very interesting place one what we discovered last year without e3 is that we really do miss e3 All of the events that it came instead of e3 were just not good enough and I'm not just talking because Nintendo didn't do a major direct It's not just about Nintendo Nobody really came together in a way that created anything that could Replicate or replace e3 that doesn't mean it won't happen Reggie talks about how hey look if they don't figure out how to do it Somebody else is eventually going to and then we're not going to need e3 anymore And he does put an emphasis on the demos and I think what's interesting is I have talked for years as someone who was attending e3 that one of the biggest things that people Misconstrued about e3 from the outside looking in is that hey, it's all about the press conferences It's all about the press conferences It's all but well for you folks at home Emulsely is just about the press conferences because you are there in person to play the demos I always argued e3 is a convention The press conferences are part of it But they're kind of on the outside looking in the convention is what e3 actually is and that's the way Reggie feels To he feels like the convention the act of people going hands-on with the games is what's most important and The problem obviously is a little two-fold here The reason that you know for years fans have been clamoring for e3 demos to just get released at home The reason that hasn't happened is most e3 demos are Kind of a hot mess One they're usually not running on the hardware So not running on Wii U not running on a PlayStation not running on Xbox or running on some PC behind the scenes So there's that to their riddled with bugs Absolutely riddled with bugs. They are not something that is ready for a public Consumption means where people download a game to their system. So not only are the games usually not running on the platforms They're not really in a fully Releasable state and if we're gonna worry that companies need to make games for e3 with demos that are in that way Well, some will be able to deliver It's also gonna really limit how many demos you really get for e3 and why is that well because Studios don't want to base their development cycle around making a playable demo for e3 actually can slow up development The reason so many demos at e3 are kind of rough cuts of the game are because they're not spending a much of time making an e3 Demo while they're making the game they basically just take a vertical slice of the game That's already made an in development and say here try it out and play it in this controlled setting. They don't actually Go out of their way to waste development resources to make e3 specific demos most of the time now Sometimes there are and we have gotten some digital demos over the last couple of years It's a tough situation where Reggie is basically saying look all the games that are playable at e3 They need to make playable through downloadable demos for fans But at the same point that also means development resources have to go away So I understand what Reggie is saying he's saying look if you don't find a way to bring the convention to people's homes You kind of don't have any three You know you can have the massive press conferences and people can get hyped about that if enough of the big people participate You know if Nintendo does a 50-minute e3 presentation, you know if Sony decides hey You know what? We'll come back for just a digital only presentation. You're like that's great That's huge, but also if you don't have the convention apart then how does e3 ever come back and I don't know. I don't really have an answer to this I Agree somewhat with Reggie in that in an ideal world That's how you do it you organize with companies to release actual playable demos the day That you know right after the games are announced or whenever they do it Instead of just doing a media preview week, but at the same point I also understand why they're doing a media preview week because most of these demos aren't really fit to be downloaded to people's systems So it's kind of a rock in a hard place the ESA finds themselves in because what makes e3 so great those exact demos and all the game announcements is Really hard to do in the way that Reggie fees and may things it should be done I'm not saying that it can't happen and Reggie is correct if ESA and e3 keeps dropping the ball Especially during this pandemic they dropped the ball last year if they drop the ball again this year in the even get any Sort of event out and it's just really underwhelming there will be somebody I know he mentions Jeff Kealy But I don't think it's gonna be him But there will be somebody some organization whether it's PACs or or something That's going to make a digital event that works and as soon as that happens That's when e3 is in threat of going away even if next year it returns to an in-person event Which I mean we I think we're all hopeful by then we're not even worried about this pandemic anymore But who really knows could be another pandemic may I get back to back pandemics who the hell knows so I Just know that I am hopeful that e3 can get it right I do like some of the plans e3 has but their plans are very Contingent on Nintendo Microsoft and Sony all choosing to partake Sony was already backed out of e3 for in the past couple of years Nintendo I don't think would back out yet Microsoft has openly supported e3 so I think Nintendo Microsoft would be there But they got to get Sony involved without Sony. It's always gonna feel like it's not as great as it could be But again, maybe Sony will participate as a digital only and they don't have to worry about the Differences in opinion of how the show floor should be handled and because guess what there is no show floor So they don't worry about that Sony can pretty much do whatever they want So it's kind of a perfect storm for Sony to show up But we'll see it's very contingent on having all the big publishers show up as far as we're aware Nobody has committed to e3. We've just seen proposals. So we'll see what happens Until then I think Reggie's on to something I think it's a little more complicated to do what he's hoping for then he might realize just because Nintendo's demos seem to be more polished Nintendo seem to always tailor Demos that were specific to e3 that were extremely polished although it's notable He mentioned, you know some of the magics playing Breath of the Wild for the first time that Breath of the Wild 2016 demo Was a vertical slice of just that starting area, but technically the whole game was there And if that you know someone tried actually grabbing that demo and leaking it If that demo were to leaked we would have discovered the entire game So that's just an example where yeah that Breath of the Wild demo was amazing, but also Technically it was just a vertical slice and the whole game was there And we could have had a lot of things get spoiled if that demo would have been public so You know but then did not say Nintendo couldn't have polished that up for release Nintendo as someone who's played got Hundreds of demos at e3 over the four times. I've been there three or four times I'll just say this the Nintendo game demos always seemed the most polished as if they actually Created demos that could have been released at all that Luigi's Mansion 3 demo well back in 2019 There is no reason that demo could not have easily been downloaded and playable on your switches like Maybe that's what Reggie means from his experience. Nintendo's demos are usually polished enough to release in that way But anyways under that over just from the center prime be sure to catch me later today We will be doing a one-hour pre-show live stream before heading straight into our live reactions to that 50 Minute Nintendo Direct and if you haven't had an opportunity yet today go watch our predictions kind of Podcast conversation. We are going to have a follow-up podcast later this week Currently has some special guests lined up for that It's going to be recorded soon And then we'll be releasing it later. I think either Thursday or Friday. We'll see how things line up for that But thank you guys so much for tuning in I hope you look forward to the return of at least one episode of the podcast and the additional conversation piece We had and I will catch you guys in the next video