Slightly unsettling! I guess Jon's plan is to drive people away from the site ;).

I figured it was penance for my Nintendo comments.

Jon's obviously a Star Wars fan. Travis, cool shirt! I see a whole stack of MtG cards next to you.

I'm not sure how I feel about this E3 compared to previous ones. I think (since I've been paying attention to them, which has been over 10 years now) it was definitely one of the best. I think Fallout 4 and FFVII Remake stole the show. That's about all I got out of E3 this year, which is still good enough for me.

Hahahahaha!!!!! I'm laughing my ass off, thanks Jon! You just mentioned my PC. As for Fallout 4, I think I'm going to get it for the PC. I don't recall if we've seen the system requirements yet, but my PC should be fine. Thanks for the mentions!

I think Jon's right about Nintendo, they're working on things they're not ready to talk about. Like the new Zelda game and the next console dubbed "NX."

I don't know what Nintendo's infrastructure looks like, but I wouldn't think that the hardware and software divisions are subject to much overlap. Meaning, if the hardware engineers are working on the NX, what are the software devs working on? From what they showed at E3, primarily Star Fox and Yoshi's Wooly World. Most of the 3DS games shown, I believe, were 3rd party. They are probably working on Zelda, but I'll make a crazy prediction and say that it will probably release simultaneously on the Wii U and as a launch title for NX (the same way Twilight Princess did for GC and Wii). I'm betting that Zelda will be the last game they make for the Wii U.

My frustration with Nintendo stems from a desire for them to step away from peripheral gimmicks as a primary system interface, and get back to innovating on a software level. Not that there is anything wrong with them experimenting with control schemes or multiple screens, or whatever, but why build the whole system experience around it? What if they made the Wii U Game Pad a device with a cartridge slot that could play 3DS games through the console on your TV? Everyone that owns a 3DS would have had a reason to buy that controller, and everyone with a Wii U would have had a reason to check out DS games. The Pro Controller could have been the primary controller. Yada, yada, yada...

Scrypt, I don't really like some of the things you've said about Nintendo (don't take that personally by the way), but I think it's because I don't want to believe it. I don't want to see the death of perhaps the most awesome gaming company of the 80's and 90's. You've said a lot about Nintendo which shows me that you're not just casually coming up with Nintendo negativity. You seem to be aware of what's going on with them and while I hesitate to share your perspective, I think you have some good points.

As I said, I've been checking out E3 for over 10 years now. Usually, it's Nintendo that I focus on as none of the other presenters usually has what I'm interested in. This year was clearly different. I did follow (read) some of the news from Nintendo's E3 presence this year, but I didn't watch their presentation nor did I read very much. I admit, they didn't really have much of anything I'm interested in this year.

They did announce some new players in Smash Bros, which is pretty cool. Also, Hyrule Warriors is coming to the 3DS with new characters. That, I think, is interesting except that I spent a hell of a lot of hours playing the Wii U game, I doubt I get it for the 3DS. (Note: I have all of the Hyrule Warriors DLC except the last, which by the time of it's release, I was a bit tired of playing the game)

That would be an awesome feature, if the Wii U gamepad had a 3DS cartridge slot. For me, they're recent technological differences from the other two console manufacturers aren't "gimmicks." But, that's just my perspective and out of the big 3, Nintendo is definitely by far my #1.

Oh no! They used those puppets? They look like the ones in the Genesis video for "Land of Confusion," which I found extremely creepy when I saw it as a kid.

Oh and it's also interesting to note that after showing off a new Metroid game for the 3DS, Nintendo was faced with fan petitions to stop its production. Maybe a new Metroid game is in the works or on the planning table. Check out this story: http://www.gamespot.com/articles/nintendo-responds-to-metroid-prime-federation-forc/1100-6428414/

While it's true that I've spent a lot of time watching the industry, I'm really only putting a puzzle together with pieces that I see that fit, nothing more. My perspective is likely different than yours, and that's cool. I don't have insider information, or anything like that, but for me, and I'd assume others, it's hard not to see the signs.

I guess I could make this clear, too: I don't think Nintendo is dying. Failing in the console space with the Wii U, definitely, but not dying. Nintendo will never die. They'll evolve into whatever crazy ideas that are coming out of the Big N shed, but they won't die. There was a post here on the site that asked the question of whether Nintendo was exploiting nostalgia with each release of a Zelda game. Exploit, or no, Nintendo has nostalgia in spades. They're like Disney at this point (and their E3 video all but directly says it), where they have successfully built their entire company around a core of instantly recognizable characters that can immediately transport us back to our childhood. It would take a lot for them to go under (or maybe just throwing a ton of money at another bum system, I don't know).

Ultimately, I feel like The Big 3 have been very dismissive of the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mantra. If I was on Cheerful Ghost back when the PS3 was launching, you would have heard me join with others that criticized Sony for betraying the gamers that made the PS2 the best selling console of all time; for treating games as a subset of the Playstation experience, rather than it's bread and butter. While they did win with Blu-ray, they suffered because of those choices, and had to come around 180 degrees in their approach to games to compensate for the setback (some other bad things happened, too... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_PlayStation_Network_outage ). In the same way, Microsoft has had to come around (although they still have quite a ways to come) from where they've been the last few years, largely because of poor Xbox One sales (abysmal, outside of the US; selling barely more than the Wii U, globally). I hope Nintendo does the same with NX, and does it soon.

You clearly know what you're talking about. I think you've analyzed things quite deeper than I have. I think you definitely have an educated perspective, which I obviously respect. That's actually something that I've been enjoying here recently, differing perspectives which penetrate the single minded fog. I'm sure when we were all young we loved Nintendo, perhaps above all else. While they're definitely no strangers to competition, they're still in the game and doing what they do. Whether or not that's been very successful could be debatable, but I think we all still have a childhood fondness for Nintendo. I think we'd all like to see them succeed, but it seems in more recent years we're a bit more divided regarding their success and perhaps that fan base of theirs has waned a bit.

I agree, as for Nintendo and E3 this year, they disappointed and left much to be desired. However, (for me at least) Fallout 4 and FFVII Remake stole the show. Even if that's all I get out of this year's E3, I'm still pretty happy about it.

Well, I don't know if I know what I'm talking about, but I'm glad to add a little spice to the conversation ;).

I'm with you on Fallout 4. All this Fallout Shelter playing is just a giant tease. I was in a Game$top earlier today, and I found myself looking wistfully at the Fallout 3 cases, wishing I could at least go there.

Sadly, I'm one of the "Android" people since my Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 is Android based. So, I can't play Fallout Shelter yet. I've seen a few of my friends playing Fallout 3 and NV lately. I decided to get NV for the PC during the Steam Summer Sale. I have it on PS3 and went through it once. It had some slight issues, but nothing as bad as F3 did for the PS3.

Scrypt, you said you were a console guy, had all the consoles or were buying them. Does that mean all three? I remember when I had a GameCube, PS2, and an XBox. That was a pretty exciting time for gaming. That was the only generation of the XBox I've ever owned (I still have one), but I have since upgraded to the Wii and Wii U and PS3. I don't have a PS4, but I imagine that's the next system I buy, I just don't know when I might do that. I've noticed that at least one of the games I'd want for it (FF Type-0) is coming to PC. So, that makes me want to wait a bit. If FFVII Remake isn't a PC game (or at least at first) I'll most likely get a PS4 then.

@GregoPeck, in the recent past, I've had all the major systems of each generation, starting with the PS1 Generation. Prior to that, it was all Nintendo (NES, SNES). Before E3, I was mildly excited about getting an Xbox One this Fall. Now, I'm indifferent. I'll get one, but I'm no longer mildly excited :). The Wii U, while I've played a few games on it, I'm just not that keen on getting one, as I'm willing to bet that the NX will support backwards compatibility for the Wii U. I'll get the good games I missed out on at that time. Unless of course the Wii U drops to $199, then I might be tempted to pick one up. Otherwise, I just don't feel compelled to invest in that environment.

"For me, the PS3 was a great games machine but it evolved in the ways it needed to and that did come at the expense of gaming but for my use case, it was a good thing."

What happened during the development and promotion of the PS3 wasn't evolution as much as a direct marketing choice to push Blu-ray and an "entertainment console." Why? The PS2 barely played DVDs and it was the number one selling console of all time! The games didn't have to suffer, but Sony wanted it made very clear that the PS3 was not a game console, that it was rather an entertainment computer that could play games. It's like they took their prize, triple-crown winning horse and tried to mutate it into a cow because "people like steak!" It makes that much sense. Early adopters invested either because it was the cheapest Blu-ray player at the time, or because they were dedicated to the Sony brand and didn't mind blowing $600 just to play their PS2 and PS1 games again (sadly, I was in the latter camp, and I remember selling that system a year later because there were no games to play, and the future looked bleak).

"I am going to go out a bit and wager most people used it more for (Netflix streaming and video playback)."

Since there weren't any games to speak of in the first year, I'm sure you're right, that the systems were used (by the small amount of people that actually bought one) primarily for non-gaming entertainment purposes, in anticipation of the games. It took awhile, but Sony eventually came around, making the PS3 easier to develop for, offering free games with Playstation Plus, taking a knee and saying "Hey, we fucked up!" It helped, too, that Microsoft was slowly killing the XBox 360 with RROD, clumsy UI updates, advertisements on the dashboard, and general pig-headedness about "what gamers want." I blame it on J Allard's exodus. He was Steve Jobs for the Xbox. In the end, despite a few disasters, PS3 outsold XBox 360 globally, with almost the same sized games library (over 1000 games).

Wow that's pretty cool, Scrypt! I like my Wii U. I spent a LOT of time playing Hyrule Warriors, which was pretty much excellent in my opinion. I also played some Mario games and Smash Bros. My son uses it to play those and other games, too. He also uses it to watch YouTube sometimes when not using the Kindle for that. It wouldn't surprise me if the NX is backwards compatible at least with the Wii U or perhaps the Wii, too. I think their library is pretty big when you look at it in the store, at least. As someone who's talked about FPS games, I thought Splatoon would interest you. My son has played the demo. I think when it comes down to it all, it's about what games a system has that we want to play and what we're into.

I thought the PS2 was outstanding! I still have one. There were times I wanted to buy a hard drive for it so I could play FFXI and other games. I used it a lot for CDs, DVDs, and games. I was disappointed that the PS3 went from being backwards compatible (and crappy at that) to not so. I'm glad that I can still play my PS1 games on it, though. My issue with it is my system, which is a bit old and shuts off on its own at times. I've enjoyed some Blu-Ray movies on it, although I haven't bought very many of them. I've enjoyed a good bit of games on it. I've also enjoyed being able to stream media to it from my PC. I've been using that feature a lot more lately than anything else.