Nintendo bails on E3 press conference yet again

Last year, it was a one-off. This year, it's a trend.

For the second year in a row, Nintendo will elect to bypass a conventional E3 press conference usually held the morning of the first official day of E3.

Instead, the company aims to continue to "reinvent a proven tactic" by hosting a series of events designed to provide a more direct line of access to the spotlight announcements of the show.

Calling it "a proven tactic" might be a bit of an overstatement. Last year's "meet-up" at the Nintendo booth felt anything but organized and ultimately underwhelmed the attending crowd. Only a small handful of games surfaced at the briefing, and were accompanied by short gameplay videos and developer commentary.

This year should be different though, as it appears Nintendo will have entries from more highly anticipated franchises to show off.

One of these titles, also announced a few weeks ago, is Super Smash Bros., for which Nintendo will hold a tournament at the Nokia Theatre right outside E3 2014.

Also on the agenda will be a Nintendo Digital Event, which will broadcast during the traditional Nintendo press conference time slot, Tuesday June 10 at 9am PT. Here's where the company will lay out future plans and disclose details about new games and experiences on various platforms.

Nintendo also plans on providing access to their E3 booth through a series of branded streaming content called Nintendo Treehouse: Live @ E3.

Stepping out of what's become nothing more than an over-the-top spectacle for bragging rights is likely the smarter move for Nintendo, especially since there seems to be less of a need to directly compete with Microsoft and Sony.

If Nintendo is going to find further success in this landscape, they'll do it by distancing themselves from the pack and focusing on their software strengths and the momentum of the 3DS.