Event - E3 Invitational 2014 What are your picks for the tournament?

[SorrowOfAcheron]

I just hope they like the game.
I want to be able to watch high level tourneys of this.

 

[ChunkyBeef]

Honestly, I'll be surprised if they invite ANY well-known tournament Smashers. They don't want to advertise the game and market it at the people who are going to buy it regardless. They want to sell Wii U's and Smash 4 copies. They'll be inviting primarily well-known internet personalities, people with millions upon millions of internet followers and who have tons of pull. They're going to want to get as much good word of mouth as possible, and if you convince the personalities to give favorable reviews and accounts of the invitational tournament 'cause it was 'fun and awesome, and they even revealed a newcomer at the end!', you're going to pretty much sell a ton of people on the fence about the Wii U who weren't just simply waiting for MK8 or Smash to begin with.

 

[Alfonzo Bagpipez]

Honestly, I'll be surprised if they invite ANY well-known tournament Smashers. They don't want to advertise the game and market it at the people who are going to buy it regardless. They want to sell Wii U's and Smash 4 copies. They'll be inviting primarily well-known internet personalities, people with millions upon millions of internet followers and who have tons of pull. They're going to want to get as much good word of mouth as possible, and if you convince the personalities to give favorable reviews and accounts of the invitational tournament 'cause it was 'fun and awesome, and they even revealed a newcomer at the end!', you're going to pretty much sell a ton of people on the fence about the Wii U who weren't just simply waiting for MK8 or Smash to begin with.

Pewdiepie vs Smosh Grand Finals?
Do not want.
I'd rather see top players so we can really get a feel of how the game will play.

 

[ChunkyBeef]

Pewdiepie vs Smosh Grand Finals?
Do not want.
I'd rather see top players so we can really get a feel of how the game will play.

I'll be honest, I care for very few internet personalities, myself, but that's the smart way to approach it. Bringing in people with technical expertise are going to give the game bad word of mouth and suck all the fun out of it because if it's not essentially 1:1 Melee-like, they're going to come back and say, 'Well, the free food and recognition was nice, but Smash 4 ****ing sucked.'. You'll get that as opposed to, 'I went out for the invitational. I didn't win, but I had tons of fun, met a lot of fans, and Smash 4 was a genuinely cool game!'.

Take your pick. Which one do you (and Nintendo) think is going to move the most units?

Hint: It's not the first one.

 

[Alfonzo Bagpipez]

I'll be honest, I care for very few internet personalities, myself, but that's the smart way to approach it. Bringing in people with technical expertise are going to give the game bad word of mouth and suck all the fun out of it because if it's not essentially 1:1 Melee-like, they're going to come back and say, 'Well, the free food and recognition was nice, but Smash 4 ****ing sucked.'. You'll get that as opposed to, 'I went out for the invitational. I didn't win, but I had tons of fun, met a lot of fans, and Smash 4 was a genuinely cool game!'.

Take your pick. Which one do you (and Nintendo) think is going to move the most units?

Hint: It's not the first one.

Yeah. It's kind of a lose-lose.
With internet people, you get more people to buy it, but we see less than mediocre play. With top smashers, we'll get a lot more information, but they'll more than likely bash the game, too.

I'd still rather see M2K and co. do their thing.

 

[Flamemaster96]

M2K's a great player... I just don't know if he'd be the best person to represent the competitive Smash community.... He's a little... sporadic...

Dude I just would like to say I really like your sig's picture.

 

[CloneHat]

People are so pessimistic. Many are assuming that if top-level players are invited they'll say negative things about the game. There's an easy solution to this: make a good game.

 

[Yams]

angry video game nerd

 

[Empyrean]

I'd say Mango's chances just increased a few notches, with that Cloud 9 sponsorship and all.

Also, M2K is definitely the best choice to represent the Smash community as a whole. He is prominent in all 4 current Smash games and has shown interest and hype for the next one too.

 

[RascalTheCharizard]

People are so pessimistic. Many are assuming that if top-level players are invited they'll say negative things about the game. There's an easy solution to this: make a good game.

The solution is obvious but not "easy", since everyone has a different idea of what makes a game good.

 

[BADGRAPHICS]

Hopefully they won't go with last year's E3 announcer. That was so awkward.

Chances are the invites have already happened, and the players are currently holed-up in their rooms with promo copies and NDAs.
Are their any top-level players who frequent these boards that have recently seen a drop in activity? Might be worth investigating.

 

[Norm]

Hopefully they won't go with last year's E3 announcer. That was so awkward.

Chances are the invites have already happened, and the players are currently holed-up in their rooms with promo copies and NDAs.
Are their any top-level players who frequent these boards that have recently seen a drop in activity? Might be worth investigating.

Hahaha yeah that was pretty bad.

They really should pull in one of the melee or brawl tournament commentators. That way you'll at least have someone who knows how to commentate for smash properly.

 

[Rich Homie Quan]

I highly doubt any famous players will be invited, just because this is Ninty we're dealing with.

If one does get in, I think Ken has the best chance. I believe that he has the most amount of notoriety outside of the competitive scene.

 

[link2702]

I'm still not even sure we'll get any true known high level smash players.


I wouldn't get y'alls hopes up tbh, for all we know, it might just be a bunch of mediocre casual players that nintendo are "claiming" are highly skilled smash players.

You also gotta remember that what we see as highly skilled and what nintendo probably see's are two different things. What Nintendo Probably considers highly skilled players, we might see just as mediocre.

 

[ToothiestAura]

I'm still not even sure we'll get any true known high level smash players.


I wouldn't get y'alls hopes up tbh, for all we know, it might just be a bunch of mediocre casual players that nintendo are "claiming" are highly skilled smash players.

You also gotta remember that what we see as highly skilled and what nintendo probably see's are two different things. What Nintendo Probably considers highly skilled players, we might see just as mediocre.

Well, in that case, as a mediocre player I'm throwing my hat to the ring. Pick me, Nintendo! I'm so very mediocre.

 

[Mabataki]

Well... ive got some interesting choices.
1. Mabataki
2. Mabataki's bro who is also really good at Smash but not quite as good as Mabataki
and some other people no one really knows much about

 

[XalchemistX]

Imagen if nintendo hires actors for the tournament to record there happy expressions for a youtube video

 

[Eternal phoenix Fire]

I'll be honest, I care for very few internet personalities, myself, but that's the smart way to approach it. Bringing in people with technical expertise are going to give the game bad word of mouth and suck all the fun out of it because if it's not essentially 1:1 Melee-like, they're going to come back and say, 'Well, the free food and recognition was nice, but Smash 4 ****ing sucked.'. You'll get that as opposed to, 'I went out for the invitational. I didn't win, but I had tons of fun, met a lot of fans, and Smash 4 was a genuinely cool game!'.

Take your pick. Which one do you (and Nintendo) think is going to move the most units?

Hint: It's not the first one.

Ok, as someone who plays Melee competitively and genuinely loves smash, I want to ask you--what in the f*ck makes you think that anyone would say something like that? You're acting as if Melee players are synonymous with rude ass people. It could easily be anyone else, so please check yourself before you try labeling people.

Nintendo would move more units if they didn't release a system with 5 year old hardware that is suffering from an identity crisis. They could also sell more if they advertised it better.

Smash Bros. Is a game so broad that anyone will buy it, however, there are some players who won't. This tournament is here to attract people who are in other facets of the competitive game market, and filling the tournament full of clearly unskilled unfunny internet celebrities would be a slap in the face, as none of them have ever made the proclamation of being solid smash bros players; they would be seen as a bunch of posers who are apparently good at everything.

This is an invitational tournament for 16 of the best players, not watching substandard players plug themselves in.

 

[ChunkyBeef]

Smash Bros. Is a game so broad that anyone will buy it, however, there are some players who won't. This tournament is here to attract people who are in other facets of the competitive game market, and filling the tournament full of clearly unskilled unfunny internet celebrities would be a slap in the face, as none of them have ever made the proclamation of being solid smash bros players; they would be seen as a bunch of posers who are apparently good at everything.

This is an invitational tournament for 16 of the best players, not watching substandard players plug themselves in.

Took all the irrelevant silly stuff out of your post and left the actually useful stuff.

Anyway, someone mentioned earlier, I believe, that anyone participating in the tournament would have received a demo copy so that they could play and get used to their chosen character, to prepare for the tournament to make it interesting. I figure this is synonymous with the fact that no-one has any idea who's received the invitations, because they'd likely have been told to not say a thing to anyone about it.

I find it kinda funny, and somewhat hypocritical, that you go on a hilarious tirade earlier in your post about how I clearly exaggerated a typical tournament player's reaction to it, and then go and say nasty stuff about internet celebrities. If anyone here needs checking, my friend, it's you. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, though, since things like sarcasm and exaggeration don't translate well over text.

What I was trying to say in my post, that I unfortunately have to outline 'cause it seems some people didn't really seem to grasp the point of it, is that while everyone (including you) thinks that having tournament players is the smart idea 'cause it'll make the game fast paced and interesting, you can get the same result with some of the stronger internet celebrities if you give them time to get used to how the game and chosen characters are played. The difference is that while you're convincing, maybe, a hundred competitive people to purchase the game that were on the fence, internet/gaming celebrities make the most business sense for Nintendo because they're going to convince a far, FAR larger audience on the fence about the game to go out and purchase Wii U's and 3DS's (if they haven't already) and grab the game.

Whoever they pick, chances are, it's still going to be fun and interesting. It's just that they want to reach a broader audience, and they can't do that as effectively with people that only Smash Board and Smash Brothers Reddit users are going to recognize, and chances are, they were going to buy the games anyway.

To be the bigger man, I will admit that I exaggerated what a tournament player's reaction would be to the tournament. I'd imagine even the most die hard and grumpiest Melee/PM tournament players would still enjoy themselves, 'cause at the end of the day, it's still Smash. I just wanted to exaggerate for effect, not to earn the ire of some anonymous guy on the internet.

As a final word, I'd like to note that the word 'tournament' in relation to Smash is not synonymous with actual tournament players in every single instance. All it states is that it's a competition; it doesn't say who's taking part.

tl;dr: It makes stronger business sense, and will reach a wider audience, to invite internet/gaming celebrities.

 

[Eternal phoenix Fire]

Took all the irrelevant silly stuff out of your post and left the actually useful stuff.

Anyway, someone mentioned earlier, I believe, that anyone participating in the tournament would have received a demo copy so that they could play and get used to their chosen character, to prepare for the tournament to make it interesting. I figure this is synonymous with the fact that no-one has any idea who's received the invitations, because they'd likely have been told to not say a thing to anyone about it.

I find it kinda funny, and somewhat hypocritical, that you go on a hilarious tirade earlier in your post about how I clearly exaggerated a typical tournament player's reaction to it, and then go and say nasty stuff about internet celebrities. If anyone here needs checking, my friend, it's you. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, though, since things like sarcasm and exaggeration don't translate well over text.

What I was trying to say in my post, that I unfortunately have to outline 'cause it seems some people didn't really seem to grasp the point of it, is that while everyone (including you) thinks that having tournament players is the smart idea 'cause it'll make the game fast paced and interesting, you can get the same result with some of the stronger internet celebrities if you give them time to get used to how the game and chosen characters are played. The difference is that while you're convincing, maybe, a hundred competitive people to purchase the game that were on the fence, internet/gaming celebrities make the most business sense for Nintendo because they're going to convince a far, FAR larger audience on the fence about the game to go out and purchase Wii U's and 3DS's (if they haven't already) and grab the game.

Whoever they pick, chances are, it's still going to be fun and interesting. It's just that they want to reach a broader audience, and they can't do that as effectively with people that only Smash Board and Smash Brothers Reddit users are going to recognize, and chances are, they were going to buy the games anyway.

To be the bigger man, I will admit that I exaggerated what a tournament player's reaction would be to the tournament. I'd imagine even the most die hard and grumpiest Melee/PM tournament players would still enjoy themselves, 'cause at the end of the day, it's still Smash. I just wanted to exaggerate for effect, not to earn the ire of some anonymous guy on the internet.

As a final word, I'd like to note that the word 'tournament' in relation to Smash is not synonymous with actual tournament players in every single instance. All it states is that it's a competition; it doesn't say who's taking part.

tl;dr: It makes stronger business sense, and will reach a wider audience, to invite internet/gaming celebrities.

First of all, I would appreciate it if you addressed my argument as a whole before you respond. Dissecting my response is a poor method of arguing.

Second, you're doing the same ****; assuming that these grumpy players are exclusive to the Melee/P:M community when assholes exist in other communities. They exist in smash 64. They exist in Melee. They exist in Brawl. And they will undoubtably exist in smash 4.

And no, you cannot achieve the same result by using random ass players, and the fact that you believe that leads me to believe that you know nothing of the intricacies of competitive play or the players that represent the various communities. You cannot replicate intelligent gameplay by introducing a player who can barely do anything but jump 5 times with Kirby and use his Down B. There are players who have been playing for years and can't even recover, so what makes you think that this would even work?

As for your marketing strategy, it is both too little too late and redundant, as the goal is to try to appeal to competitive players and gain more revenue who play other competitive games. Public broadcasting of the game via best buy and online articles is enough to reach out for regular gamers.

After all the bs that Nintendo has pulled, with blocking the Melee stream at evo and receiving publicity from such event, M2K announcing that he would be playing the game early, Melee returning to evo, the current balances and character changes to the game, having a development team with fighting game design expertise, having For Glory mode in smash, having an international smash bros tournament at the Nokia theater and the fact that it's even called a "smashfest" a term coined by the smash community, definitely means they know what they are doing who they are targeting.

And we know who they are inviting, they are inviting the best smash bros players from around the world, and no--you can't just say they are the best. Anyone who can google will easily find out if these players are reputable and fraudulent.

A good marketing move for Nintendo would be just to actually let people know the system exist, that and it is more than just a different model for the Wii, which is a very common misconception.

 

[ChunkyBeef]

First of all, I would appreciate it if you addressed my argument as a whole before you respond. Dissecting my response is a poor method of arguing.

I'mma do it anyway. <3

Second, you're doing the same ****; assuming that these grumpy players are exclusive to the Melee/P:M community when *******s exist in other communities. They exist in smash 64. They exist in Melee. They exist in Brawl. And they will undoubtably exist in smash 4.

Two wrongs don't make a right. Stop being so defensive. I'm aware you love and cherish your tournament stuff, 'cause you're inherently defensive as hell about it. You've made your point, 'yet..

And no, you cannot achieve the same result by using random *** players, and the fact that you believe that leads me to believe that you know nothing of the intricacies of competitive play or the players that represent the various communities. You cannot replicate intelligent gameplay by introducing a player who can barely do anything but jump 5 times with Kirby and use his Down B. There are players who have been playing for years and can't even recover, so what makes you think that this would even work?

.. you go on and on and on about it. Though the fact that you blindly defend the idea of legitimate competitive players in a tournament for a game the developer markets as a party game leads me to believe you know nothing of the intricacies of business, and how important it is for Nintendo to convince people the Wii U is worth taking a risk on. Weren't you the one that said it was an underpowered console with an identity crisis? This tournament's a great way to reach out to people they want to reach out to. The competitive audience isn't necessarily the best target for them to acquire at the moment, though admirable. They need to reacquire that market, and they've clearly been working on it.

As for your marketing strategy, it is both too little too late and redundant, as the goal is to try to appeal to competitive players and gain more revenue who play other competitive games. Public broadcasting of the game via best buy and online articles is enough to reach out for regular gamers.

It's never too late. I found this quote, ironically made very recently, from Iwata himself that fits this situation perfectly:

"In order to recreate momentum and sell 5 million or 10 million units of hardware annually, there are indeed challenges that we must overcome," he said. "The fate of a video game system is often influenced greatly by the introduction of a single title."

I wouldn't be surprised if Smash Brothers, like Mario Kart 8 and the new Zelda, was marketed heavily to make it that turnaround console title. In that case, they want to reach as many people as they can and, between the online articles and Best Buy stuff, that's not enough. There's a whole great Youtube video you might want to watch about the success of Flappy Bird and how PewDiePie influenced its popularity. Go ahead and give it a watch, I'll wait.

...

Yeah, exactly, y'see where I'm coming from now? Internet/gaming celebrities are the best course of action for this game to have any chance of turning around the Wii U, or any game for that matter. I understand your bias since you're CLEARLY heavily invested in the tournament community and sub-culture, so it seems to you like the best idea to invite tournament players. Still, who's to say they won't invite all those people and it winds up being four player matches the whole way through, free-for-all? No matter who gets invited, four player free-for-alls (and, let's be honest, we can all see Nintendo pulling this stunt) look the same no matter if competitive players or internet celebrities are playing it.

After all the bs that Nintendo has pulled, with blocking the Melee stream at evo and receiving publicity from such event, M2K announcing that he would be playing the game early, Melee returning to evo, the current balances and character changes to the game, having a development team with fighting game design expertise, having For Glory mode in smash, having an international smash bros tournament at the Nokia theater and the fact that it's even called a "smashfest" a term coined by the smash community, definitely means they know what they are doing who they are targeting.

They're targeting a difficult-to-please demographic going your way of doing things. That's fighting the current; the path of most resistance. I mean, go look at the For Glory topic on this board. It's mostly people complaining about the fact that there aren't stages in For Glory mode that have platforms. Still, the fact that you guys are being targeted and given gifts in Smash 4 is a hell of a blessing, and I'm excited 'cause I'm going to partake, as well. I love competitive Smash. I used to watch it all the time to get tips on how to play some of my mains on a higher level, just so I could beat friends. I remember those days pretty fondly.

I don't follow the tournament scene as closely anymore, and I'm not connected with the tournament sub-culture. I'll admit it, and I'm not afraid to admit it. If you ask me, I'd much RATHER see competitive players in a traditional tournament setup fight it out during the invitational, but I'm not so deeply entwined with and blinded by the tournament scene to see that that's not the best approach to it for NINTENDO to take. I want Nintendo to succeed, so we can see Smash 5, 6 and 7, so our kids can play it and learn to love those characters just like we did growing up. That's why I want Smash 4 to succeed; that's why I want the Wii U to get out of its rut.

And we know who they are inviting, they are inviting the best smash bros players from around the world, and no--you can't just say they are the best. Anyone who can google will easily find out if these players are reputable and fraudulent.

I did a Google check just now to see if there's any indication about who's being invited. Where did you get that they were inviting the best Smash Brothers players from around the world? It doesn't say anything about the world. Yeah, they say 'highly skilled', but your idea of 'highly skilled' doesn't necessarily translate to Nintendo's idea of 'highly skilled', not especially if they clearly barely understand the scene, especially not enough that they'd try to keep EVO from playing a Melee tournament. It feels to me like you're overestimating Nintendo's understanding of the tournament scene.

A good marketing move for Nintendo would be just to actually let people know the system exist, that and it is more than just a different model for the Wii, which is a very common misconception.

Gotta agree with you there 100%, but they're going to let people know the system exists regardless of who plays in the invitational. It's about getting the word out to as many people as possible.

Anyway, to sum it up:

1.) I don't care who's playing in the invitational.
2.) I like the tournament scene; I don't understand it fully, but I've been watching since Melee.
3.) We clearly disagree what's the best course of action to take with the tournament to achieve the best possible end result.

I'm not trying to sway anyone's opinions or anything, 'cause at the end of the day the invitational is going to come and go, we're all going to enjoy it no matter who's playing and Nintendo's going to get good word of mouth for their newest Smash and sell units, which is the whole point of the thing anyway, besides showing off their newest game.

 

[Modesty]

All of the arguing a side I wanna see hbox reveal Jigglypuff <3

 

[infomon]

M2K's a great player... I just don't know if he'd be the best person to represent the competitive Smash community.... He's a little... sporadic...

Sounds perfect :D