Following the Scent of Microsoft at E3 2012

Considering that the Wii already dominates the majority of market share value in the traditional areas that Nintendo targets, its primary goal will be to make inroads into the segments that both Sony and Microsoft presently control, and at least with respect to Sony, the field is clear. Microsoft on the other hand is something of an open question...

Clearly Nintendo is hoping that they will be the only company touting a Next Gen console at E3 -- and if they are, that will pretty much lock-in the 2012 holiday sales pie for Nintendo -- though if you scratch the surface not all is perfect in the world of Wii U...

While the mainline studios have signed on to support Nintendo's Next Gen Console, the avalanche of third-party developers and studios that Nintendo was hoping to see publicly confirming their support for the new Wii has not materialized, and their reluctance may have something to do with whispered concerns about the price point for the new console, and the failure of Nintendo to confirm that it has solved the outstanding multiple WiiPad support issues that cropped up at E3 last year.

Given the mostly confirmed hardware specifications for the Wii U, the primary price point for the new console will likely run at or around $299.99 US at launch -- certainly not more than that, as a higher price would be its undoing, especially considering that the added cost of the additional WiiPad controllers consumers are going to feel are required additions to their purchase plans -- the cost of which is likely to add half-again as much to the overall cost, making it unlikely that Nintendo will seek to move the price point north any time soon.

When you sweep away all of the other concerns this year, as E3 approaches the monster under the bed for Nintendo is clearly the open question that remains over at Microsoft... While Sony is out of the game this year, that may not be the case with Microsoft, and you know that has to be costing Satoru Iwata and his crew some sleep.

While it may very well be overly dramatic, the lyrics from the first section of Simon & Garfunkel's oddly appropriate song Sounds Of Silence are playing over-and-over in our heads as we review the situation with Microsoft.

If you do not believe that games journalists all over the world are pumping their contacts at PR firms like Edelman, and fishing for some sort of sign in the tea leaves in the Microsoft canteen after the officers and engineers finish their lunch, well, you do not understand the industry in which we toil.

The problem is that the sound of that silence is deafening -- and it is not helped by the odd comment that can be heard from certain quarters... For example in the midst of a conversation about a game that has nothing to do with Microsoft or E3 per se, a piece of unsolicited advice from a PR not only demanded our full attention like the sound of an AK-47 going off on full-auto in an airport lounge, but it also curled our toes: "If you have to choose between E3 and the Tokyo Game Show this year, I would seriously choose E3 if I were you," they announced out of the blue. And as if it were an afterthought they added: "I would make sure to request a seat at Microsoft's presser too."

That sort of hinting around without saying anything is infuriating, more so because any good games journalist is going to instantly read between the lines, and yet what did they really say? Nothing more -- or less -- than that in their opinion E3 is the place to be this year, and getting a seat at Microsoft's press conference -- only THE event that opens the E3 season each year -- would be a good idea. Well of course it would!

What complicates the matter is that their Next Gen Console is not the only fish that Microsoft is preparing to fry -- there is also their Windows Phone, their new OS that is expected to announce soon -- including a new Windows Server version -- all that motion on the Cloud side of the industry and the serious and mondo emotional hugs that the Big M has been sending its way... The potentials in ROI for the shift to a cloud infrastructure -- if it is a uniform switch that is supported by both the client AND the server OS versions -- is no small issue, we are just saying...

The focus though is on the console -- what the industry is already calling the Xbox 720, though that is not a confirmed name contrary to what half of the websites that cover gaming would have you believe -- and right now, today, if you look, you have half the sites declaring that this year's E3 is where this new console will be announced, and half claiming that Microsoft has categorically stated that it will NOT make that announcement at E3, or even this year.

The confidence that is behind the second half of the sites and publications declaring that there will be no joy for gamers on behalf of Microsoft this E3 is based upon some comments that were made by Microsoft's senior marketing director, Jose Pinero, last week, stating that "At the moment, we have nothing to announce." Of course many of these same sites and publications are making hay about what they are declaring as Nintendo's planned unveiling of the Wii U which they expect to occur at E3 2012 but -- and I hate to tell them this because it makes them look silly -- Nintendo already made that announcement at E3 2011; we know that because we were there, we saw it. We talked about it. We were given handouts on it. We're just saying...