Games Market Europe: Nintendo presence at show severely lacking…

The UK press recently announced the presence of Nintendogs at the game show, with quite some fanfare. I had a go with the game and it’s seriously entertaining. When a game makes you laugh within the first 30 seconds of picking it up, you know you’re onto a winner. So Nintendo’s done nothing wrong in terms of creating an awesome game, but the way they launched the UK version of the title, is extremely disappointing. Across the show floor there are some DS booths running Nintendogs, which unfortunately are in a completely appauling state. They have illegible screens and they’re dirty, so basically they’ve been reallocated from game stores. Not exactly the way to make a good impression. Add to this the fact that either there aren’t any Nintendo representatives here, or they’re hiding somewhere. With the launch of the PSP in Europe tomorrow, Nintendo can’t afford to be this lax about their console. They’ve missed a good oppurtunity to divert some of the publicity away from the PSP and focus the press on their latest game. On the other hand, Sony didn’t even bother turning up to the show today. Too busy marketing the PSP elsewhere I assume.