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This year鈥檚 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) hasn鈥檛 yielded any major surprises. Ubisoft鈥檚 鈥淎ssassin鈥檚 Creed 3鈥� presentation earned a few 鈥淏est of Show鈥� ribbons after showing the upcoming game's main assassin, Connor, battling English soldiers on land and the open sea. Sony studio Naughty Dog, which created the popular 鈥淯ncharted鈥� series, further unveiled the post-apocalyptic, third-person shooter, "The Last of Us," earning nearly universal critical acclaim.聽

Perhaps the most unsurprising outcome of E3 is that Nintendo, which finally showed off more of the Wii U, didn鈥檛 get much love from the critics 鈥� despite revealing next-generation hardware well before Sony and Microsoft. Can Nintendo, once the most powerful name in the video game industry, still compete? Even with a flashy new system?

It has before. Nintendo broke records in December 2009, selling a whopping 3.81 million units that month. PlayStation 3 sold less than half that, at 1.36 million units. It looked like the video game company, fondly remembered for the 1985 Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), was king again.

But Wii sales dropped 31.5 percent from January 2010 to February 2011, according to PC Mag. Nintendo announced the Wii U four months later, at last year鈥檚 E3. At this year鈥檚 event, Nintendo design chief Shigeru Miyamoto kicked off a show full of demos, such as 鈥淣ew Super Mario Bros. U鈥� and 鈥淏atman: Arkham City Armored Edition." Despite the 鈥渂eautiful rich graphics鈥� of the former and 鈥渦nique Batman experience鈥� of the latter, some are skeptical that the Wii U can one-up the original Wii. Or any other consoles.

鈥淭he Wii was so definitely something 鈥� but the Wii U just isn鈥檛 branded in the same way,鈥� Forbes says. 鈥淣intendo should be stealing the show as the only company with anything truly new to show off. And yet they鈥檙e almost more boring for the presence of that new hardware鈥�it doesn鈥檛 bode well for its chances with the world at large.鈥�

Nintendo isn鈥檛 doing its job of 鈥渒eep[ing] our industry young,鈥� especially since Sony and Microsoft have been mute on whether they鈥檒l be releasing new consoles anytime soon, according to another Forbes article.

鈥淚nstead of fighting like a champion against the toughest of competitors, and instead of reminding consumers why console gaming is and should always be a cherished form of entertainment, Nintendo has done nothing to ensure the success of its next game machine,鈥� Louis Bedigian writes in Forbes.聽

Mr. Bedigian argues that none of the games that will be released for Wii U 鈥� which features a controller with a touchscreen, allowing users to play games on a television, on the controller itself, or both 鈥� are 鈥渟ystem-sellers.鈥� This may be the key to the continued success of consoles like the PlayStation 3, which boasts the 鈥淯ncharted鈥� games, and Xbox 360, which has the 鈥淗alo鈥� series.

Nintendo鈥檚 focus on releasing third-party games like 鈥淏atman: Arkham City Armored Edition鈥� could also prove problematic. 鈥淎rkham City鈥� was released in October 2011 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Likewise, 鈥淎rkham City鈥� and Ubisoft鈥檚 鈥淶ombiU鈥� were the only gritty titles demoed in the presentation, as opposed to the other eight that had a distinctly G-rated feel (鈥淟ego City: Undercover,鈥� 鈥淣intendoland鈥�).

But this is part of the problem. The Wii beat Sony and Microsoft by letting them fight each other over gritty games. Wii was something else altogether 鈥� charming, welcoming,聽and equally enticing to kids and grandma. At this point, Wii U is trying to be everything, but isn't yet聽succeeding聽at anything.

Still, others are optimistic about Nintendo鈥檚 ability to impress, despite potential problems including the timing of the Wii U鈥檚 release.

鈥淭here still is a lot to like about the Wii U,鈥� Entertainment Weekly says. 鈥淏ut in this economy, Nintendo鈥檚 got some serious work to do if they hope to maintain their place atop the videogame market-share mountain.鈥�

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