Reilly's Nintendo Experience

4 games + 1 TV + 200 people = Annoyance

The Nintendo Event, for those that don't know, is an event set up by Nintendo to show off four games not yet released but were demoed at E3.  This is to give the public a small taste of an E3 they may not be able to attend.  The games they had out were Mario Cart 8, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD and Super Mario 3D World and I was interested in seeing Wind Waker HD.  But when I got there, the whole situation soured like old milk.

Here is a quick summery of my 2 hours spent there:

I stood in a line, watched some kids enjoy playing with a Kinect, chatted with people, stared at other games and had an employee tell me I was not going to get to play the game because everyone's turn was taking so long and that I should come on another day.

Wait, what?

Despite me needing to actually work this whole event into a my schedule a few weeks in advance, I was mad that there was not more thought put into the idea that maybe people would be psyched to play unreleased Nintendo games.  How hard is it for a company like Nintendo to have enough pull to get four monitors to play four different games?  I mean, they most likely could have just asked and gotten at least one other TV in the game section.

I know Nintendo owes me nothing and they are doing this to be nice but it just felt really unorganized and as though they had no idea how to respond to a large influx of people showing up.

There was a glimmer of fun through the black void of this never moving line.  I got to talk to two rather rad guys in line about E3!  Yup, my enjoyment came from ranting with two other guys about Xbox One verses the PS4, what games got them hyped, Nintendo and more.  Smart guys with great opinions and I really enjoyed that time.

Like I said, after a while I just called quits and left to get some frozen yogurt with everyone.  I had moved maybe 20 feet in my two hours in line.  I was not getting to play anything that day, I accepted that fact, and I stopped caring.

It is sad I could not play anything that day and even worst is that it was a waste of time.  I could have been watching E3 and writing articles but I wanted to get something special by going to this event!

Hopefully this is not the same for everyone else attending the event.  Let me know if you had fun or what you might have played.

Bonus Picture: My wife and friend having fun in line.

 

Columnist

I like video games so I talk about them! Works for me!

Published Jun. 14th 2013
  • Yushen
    The biggest problem was absolutely no one had any idea what was going on, employees and guests alike. Everyone in the line kept saying things like "What actually is this?" and "Why can't I just watch the people playing?". Generally just a really poorly executed idea. I do hope they try again though, as I feel the number one thing people think when they see things from E3 is, "Can I play it?".
  • mycatlookedatme
    I felt that the staff pretty much ruined it for me. Now, I get that they didn't expect the crowd, but being told "We may not have time for you to play, let me check" then not hearing back from them in...an hour I think, was pretty upsetting. And, "Come back Saturday"....

    Yeah, no. I have this thing called a job. I work entertainment so getting a Saturday off is not going to happen easily. Especially to go to a Best Buy.

    I think a lot of the frustration could have been avoided had the staff just been a little more prompt, and at least seemed somewhat apologetic.

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