Nintendo is handling E3 very differently this year.

First, it revealed it would not be holding it's traditional pre-show press conference. Then it promised more activity and new games at its show floor booth. And now it has promised to take its E3 demos directly to the public.

Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime has announced several of the games that will be playable on the show floor at the Los Angeles Convention Center will also be playable at more than 100 Best Buy stores during E3 week.

Kotaku reports that these demos will be made available to everyone, not just press and industry members. Details of which games will be made available have yet to be announced, but it will almost certainly include the new 3D Mario game and Mario Kart that have been promised by the end of the year.

Nintendo is also due to broadcast another Nintendo Direct during E3 in place of its usual conference. This will include more new announcements of Wii U and 3DS games for autumn and beyond.

Today's Nintendo Direct revealed three exclusive Sonic games, a retail release for the New Super Luigi DLC and dates for Pikmin 3 and The Wonderful 101.

In MCV's weekly roundup of the latest personnel news and hottest job opportunities, Turtle Beach hires a new account manager and we look at the best vacancies.

Turtle Beach hires Game's Cooper
Mark Cooper has joined Turtle Beach Europe as the firm’s new senior UK account manager. Cooper has prior experience in the industry having worked as a senior category manager for accessories at GAME UK Group.

“Mark’s knowledge of the retail market and experience within the gaming industry will prove invaluable as we continue to grow the Turtle Beach brand in the UK,” said Turtle Beach European sales director Emma Bignell.

Cooper joins Turtle Beach from the GBB Group where he enhanced and expanded the UK distribution of Gioteck Accessories.

TOP VACANCIES – week beginning April 8th, 2013

Disney – Assistant Marketing Manager

via OPM Recruitment – Brand Manager, London & South East, Games

via OPM Recruitment – Brand Manager, Games, South East

via Aardvark Swift Recruitment – Marketing and PR Assistant

via Aardvark Swift Recruitment – Licensing Manager

For more vacancies, head to MCVUK.jobs

PERSONNEL NEWS

Climax recruits Eden

Portsmouth-based development studio Climax Studios has appointed Chris Eden as its new business development manager.

Eden has more than 20 years experience in the industry having previously worked at SCEA and Sumo Digital.

“I’m delighted to be returning to Climax, the studio has always been close to my heart and when the opportunity came to re-join the company I jumped at the chance,” said Eden.

“Simon Gardner [Climax CEO] and the team have an exceptionally talented, world-leading studio and I hope I can contribute to their continued success, in an era when we seem to be beset by stories of doom and gloom for UK developers. Climax continues to act as a showcase for the best of British development.”

Eden started on May 1st and joined directly from a three-year stint at Sheffield-based indie-development firm Sumo Digital.

“Chris has over 20 years experience within his field. He has previously worked at SCEA in Developer Relations and devised and launched the “Sony Pub Fund”,” adds Gardner.

“Way back in the distant past Chris worked for a young company called Climax and we are pleased welcome him back to the fold.”

Orr opens Outside Eye 

Since leaving PopCap, Cathy Orr has set up her own PR shop Outside Eye.

The firm offers businesses of any size help in establishing a PR function, either agency or in-house. Outside Eye also offers a micro transaction model of PR for very small companies.

Orr has 15 years of experience in communications across Europe, North America and Asia Pacific and has worked at the likes of Coca-Cola, eBay and Walt Disney.

She also directed international communications for mobile and social games company PopCap Games up to the acquisition of the firm by Electronic Arts.

One of the first clients for Outside Eye is Digit Games Studios, a Dublin-based games developer.

EA’s decision to hold fire on Wii U development is the biggest indication yet to how poor the console’s launch has been.

Performing well below expectations, with no momentum whatsoever, there’s no reason why any third party company should produce titles for this machine (unless of course Nintendo happens to pay them a significant sum of money to do so).

It’s therefore no surprise that former Wii U exclusives, like Rayman Legends, are now finding themselves on the release schedule for Xbox 360 and PS3.
 
Yet, although third party support is crucial for long-term success of any platform, the biggest games maker on Nintendo platforms is Nintendo itself. Whether it’s Super Mario Bros, Super Mario Kart, Goldeneye, Smash Brothers or Wii Sports, Nintendo’s titles dominate on Nintendo’s platforms.
 
In many ways, this was the biggest failure of Wii. The console sold millions upon millions of units, but third parties struggled to crack it. EA, for one, developed a number of Wii exclusives (Boom Blox/My Sims etc) but only had limited success.
 
In fact, the highest charting third party Wii game of all time is Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games from Sega, and that game still featured Nintendo’s mascot. You have to go to 15th for the next best selling third party game, Ubisoft’s Just Dance 2.

You have to go all the way back to the Super Nintendo and Street Fighter II to find a game that was mixing it with Nintendo's big brands.
 
EA’s range of sports titles – FIFA and Madden included – all sold well below 1m units worldwide on Wii. In reality, the news that Nintendo is publishing three exclusive Sonic games on Wii U is far more significant for the platform, because Sonic games have historically been decent sellers on Nintendo's consoles.
 
That’s not to say that EA’s decision to slow its support for Wii U is welcome news at Nintendo HQ. Not having any of EA’s big brands on show will make that sparse release schedule look even weaker. And the fact that one of the biggest games company in the world is turning its back on the platform holder (albeit temporarily) is a damning indictment of the console’s first six months on the market.
 
But Wii U’s fate is still in Nintendo’s hands. Its system sellers – Mario Kart, Mario, Zelda and Smash Brothers – are in development, and some are even due later this year. Those games have sold tens of millions on every Nintendo console released so far.
 
The news that EA is not supporting Wii U is another disappointing blow in that console’s story. It’s now up to Nintendo to change EA’s mind.
 

Our Indie Retail Month in association with Gem continues with the final entry into our look at the UK's fastest growing indies, Loading Cafe.

Loading Cafe founder James Dance tells MCV about how his unique idea for an indie has spawned a second store.

Loading Cafe is a indie game store of a different kind. It may not sell games per say but it has helped sell the gaming lifestyle.

Players can come in and play the latest titles for free and the Loading Cafe also provides themed cocktails at industry events and game launches. It also sells a range of its own creations in-store.

“It’s changed a lot from what it started as,” says Loading Cafe founder James Dance.

“Branded coffee and cocktails were never in the business plan.”

Dance has since opened a venue in London, helping him get contacts to push the brand on even further.
“We do coffee and branded drinks and host events in our space, but wewant to set up events elsewhere,” Dance tells MCV.

“We have the contacts and background to set up a PR company for smaller developers and indies. We do campaigns and bringing our service outside of our store locations is key and being in London has really helped.”
Being different can be a blessing and a curse. It was social media and press attention that helped Loading Cafe build itself a customer base.

“Because we’re different, the big companies didn’t respond to it. We didn’t fall into a category. People are reserved about going with something that hasn’t been done before. So we’ve had to build up that legitimacy,” Dance adds.

“It took years before the first company understood us and what we wanted to do. And then the press side helped us talk to more and more companies and we’ve just tried to spread the word. Twitter, social media and PR helped grown us. 50 per cent of my jobs have come from social.”

More details have emerged about the exclusive partnership between Nintendo and Sega, including confirmation of a third new Sonic game. 

Today's Nintendo Direct broadcast revealed that an exclusive Sonic The Hedgehog game, entitled Sonic: Lost World, is in development for Wii U and 3DS, as well as a Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games.

Both games will be published and distributed this year by Nintendo in the UK, Europe and Australia as part of its new partnership with Sega.

And a statement from Sega reveals that a third, as-yet-announced Sonic game will also be exclusive to Nintendo formats. This will also be published and distributed by the platform holder.

"Sonic the Hedgehog has performed incredibly well on Nintendo platforms and this exclusive partnership is a natural fit for the next evolution of Sonic games," said Sega Europe COO Jurgen Post.

"The Wii U and Nintendo 3DS are ideal platforms to showcase Sonic and we are looking forward to wokring with Nintendo on these three exciting adventures."

Sega has stressed that his will not affect existing distribution partnerships for other titles such as Total War: Rome II and Company of Heroes 2.

Nintendo has finally confirmed when two of its most anticipated Wii U titles will arrive on shelves.

Pikmin 3, the long-in-development return of the GameCube strategy series will be released on July 26th. The game was originally meant to be a launch window title, but was delayed until later in the year.

As with previous Pikmin titles, the game challenges players to direct an army of small plant-like creatures as they gather resources and battle beasts in overgrown environments. 

This third outing will add new Pikmin types and options, and can be played with any controller set up, including GamePad only, Pro Controller and Wii Remote and Nunchuk (using the GamePad as a second monitor).

The Wonderful 101, a similar but more action-focused title from acclaimed developer Platinum Games, will be released on August 23rd. Nintendo has promised more details will be revealed about the game gradually between now and launch.

Both games were dated during today's Nintendo Direct broadcast.

Nintendo's first major console downloadable content pack is getting a boxed release.

New Super Luigi U, the updated levels and additional content for Wii U launch title New Super Mario Bros U, will be released as a limited edition standalone game on July 26th.

The surprise SKU was announced by Nintendo president Satoru Iwata during today's Nintendo Direct, with the Japanese exec citing high demand from consumers who don't have the Mario title or an internet connection as the reason for its release.

The DLC will be released a little earlier on June 20th. It includes 82 updated courses and an additional multiplayer character, Nabbit.

Sonic The Hedgehog will continue to find a home on Nintendo formats as the platform holder announced an exclusive new partnership with Sega.

As part of this deal the hedgehog's next outing, Sonic: Lost World, will be released only for Wii U and 3DS. More details of the game will be revealed around E3.

The partnership was announced by Nintendo president Satoru Iwata during today's Nintendo Direct broadcast.

Iwata also gave the world the first glimpse of a new Mario & Sonic Olympics title, this time set during the upcoming winter olympics that will take place in Sochi, Southern Russia.

The new Olympics game will add new events, some of which will involve players switching between the GamePad and Wii Remote. It is due for release this year.

Finally, Nintendo announced it will expand the collection of Sega Game Gear titles available from the 3DS eShop's Virtual Console section. Games such as Tails Adventure, Shining Force II and Sonic Drift will be released by the end of the year.

Two big titles from the Japanese games development scene are being converted for PC.

In separate announcements Square Enix revealed that 1998 release Final Fantasy VIII is to get an HD rework and re-release on PC. The same happened with its popular predecessor Final Fantasy VII last year.

Perhaps more excitingly Platinum Games has announced plans to bring Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance to PC.

This is great for two reasons. Firstly, too many of the Metal Gear games aren’t available on PC, so more releases are always welcomed. More importantly though the release will mark the debut of Platinum on the PC platform.

Could this mean there’s a chance of titles such as Bayonetta and Vanquish making the jump to Windows?

All of this points to a change of attitude for many Japanese developers who have typically either shunned the idea of PC releases or else not impressed with the quality of their ports. Dark Souls immediately springs to mind.

Customers will from today be able to buy Telltale developed games from digital retailer Green Man Gaming.

Telltale’s titles include the hugely successful episodic series The Walking Dead as well as Jurassic Park: The Game, Back to the Future: The Game, Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse.

“We are delighted to partner with Telltale Games to offer their current catalogue and future titles to our hungry GMG audience”, Green Man Gaming’s EVP of trading Martin Baxter stated.

“We listened intently to our customers, who voted The Walking Dead one of the top games of 2012 and really wanted us to bring Telltale Games titles to our Store. We are delighted to have delivered on this with Telltale”.

Telltale’s SVP of publishing Steve Allison added: “We are pleased to partner with Green Man Gaming and be part of their fantastic growth story.”