Nintendo Skipping E3 2013 Press Conference

To no one's real surprise, Nintendo has confirmed that they won't be holding a press conference during E3 2013 coming up in June, and they won't be announcing any new hardware. Instead, the company plans to "announce and have people experience" their software, which could at least mean we'll see more Wii U features make their debut at the annual gaming expo.

The company addressed the news in its latest quarterly earnings briefing today, and while they don't plan to release any new hardware, they did mention that they'll be announcing new Wii U games, although they weren't clear if that would be at E3 or just in the general future. Nonetheless, we can expect some new titles from the company very soon.

Furthermore, Nintendo is at least planning to host a few smaller private events during E3, one of which will be for American distributors and another will be a private hands-on event for media. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata isn't planning on speaking at these events, which isn't too surprising, as he didn't present at E3 last year either.

It's particularly sad that one of the big three gaming console makers won't be appearing in a big way during the year's largest gaming expo, but it's really no surprise, since many companies are beginning to drop out of conventions in favor of their own events to announce new products. Microsoft backed out of CES a couple years ago, with Chinese consumer electronics maker Hisense taking their place.