Nintendo Wii Announcements
- Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword – Cell Shaded in the style of Wind Waker featuring and Adult Link. Utilizes Wii-Motion Plus, although the demo on stage seemed to sufer from control issues. Coming 2011
- Mario Sports Mix – Volleyball, Hockey, Basketball – 2011
- Wii Party – Mario Party – Mario + Miis
- Just Dance 2 – 40+ Tracks, up to 8 players
- Golden Sun: Dark Dawn – Holiday 2010
- New Goldeneye – Wii Exclusive, Online and Split Screen Multiplayer, Holiday 2010
- Epic Mickey – Mixture of Adventure, RPG, and exploration mechanics with the erasing and restoring game environments forming the basis of gameplay.
- Kirby: Epic Yarn – Yarn aesthetic and what seems to be Co-Op play, Fall 2010
- Dragon Quest IX – July 11th
- Metriod: Other M – August 31st
- Donkey Kong Country: Returns – New side scrolling Donkey Kong title from Retro Studios (Metroid Prime Developers), Holiday 2010
Nintendo 3DS
- 3.5 Inch 3D Widescreen on the Top
- No Glasses
- Slider to adjust strength of the 3D effects
- Slide Pad (Analog Stick) placed above D Pad on the left side of the 3DS
- On board gyro and motion sensors
- Camera on Inside like DSi, 2 Cameras on the outside add the ability to take 3D pictures
- ‘Successor to the Nintendo DS’ – Iwata
- Partnering with Disney, Warner Brothers and Dreamworks to bring glasses free 3D movies to the handheld
- Kid Icarus: Uprising – Formerly Project Sora, Shows 3DS graphics similar in fidelity to the PS2 and Gamecube
- Automatic 3DS communication no matter the game that is being played, Communication can be local or through WiFi
- Miyamoto working on a new 3DS Nintendogs with Cats added as well
- Developers shown to be working on 3DS Titles: Activision, Atlus, AQ Entertainment, Bandai Namco, Capcom, EA, Harmonix, Hudson, Konami, Tecmo Koei, Level 5, Majesco, Marvelous, Square Enix, Sega, Takara Tomy, Take Two, THQ, Ubisoft, Warner Brothers
- DJ Hero – Activison
- Professor Layton – Level 5
- Kingdom Hearts – Square-Enix
- Saints Row – THQ
- Madden and FIFA – EA
- Resident Evil (New adventure confirmed by Inafune) – Capcom
- Street Fighter 4
- Batman – Warner Brothers
- Assassins Creed – Ubisoft
- Ridge Racer – Namco Bandai
- Metal Gear Solid – Konami
- DOA 3D – Tecmo Koei
- Ninja Gaiden – Tecmo Koei
- Trailer featuring Iwata, Miyamoto, and Reggie being sucked into the 3DS tease with elements from The Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong, Starfox and Kirby
- Nintendo trots out every sexy lady in LA to demo the 3DS to the audience as well as providing demo kiosks for Zelda: Skyward Sword to press conference attendees.
Eric: Although it can be more accurately judged after Sony’s press conference later this afternoon, I can’t imagine them topping the press conference Nintendo just gave. The new Zelda title started off the show and yes, the demo was a bit janky, but impressed me nonetheless (mainly because I love the cell shaded style of Wind Waker). New titles such as Mario Sports Mix, and Wii Party seem interesting, but I was genuinely impressed with both Epic Mickey and Kirby: Epic Yarn, both of which seem to squeeze the underpowered Wii to it’s limits with graphical styles that are usually born out of necessity.
The 3DS is really impressive and all I can say is it is going to be a long year waiting for next years E3 and it’s true coming out party when we start to see all of the titles that were teased from third parties. I think it is going to be a seeing is believing type system and I await the day when I can get my hands on it. So overall, Nintendo wins, they just win.
Ross: Nintendo really knows how to put on a show. The Zelda announcement was pretty exciting, although the actual demo experienced some kinks. Rest assured, they let us play the game immediately after the press conference and while it will take some getting used to, the controls aren’t as broken as they appeared.
The show’s biggest announcements revolved more around the Nintendo 3DS. Not only is Kid Icarus coming, but the press in the building got the opportunity to view a tech demo of the hardware. The demo consisted of several Nintendo characters featured in a world were we could only use the analog stick to manipulate the camera. Think of Super Smash Brothers while paused.
Having viewed this, I can only say that the 3DS looks better then any glasses based 3D film I have seen. Using the 3D slider you can adjust just how 3D the screen is. You can definitely tell the difference as 3D gives the impression of you looking into the world. The field of view is slightly limited, so viewing over the shoulder won’t be the best, but it is otherwise a perfect 3D solution on a hand held system.
Dave Horvath: At the beginning of the show, I was rather underwhelmed by what Nintendo had brought to the table. They chose to open their show with a regurgitation of Zelda. Although polished, it didn’t look like much of an improvement over Twilight Princess; a game I personally hold little love towards. It also seemed that Miyamoto was rushed through certain stages of the demo because it was obvious the controls weren’t responding as well as the tech demo project manager would have hoped. Whether it be wireless interference or a bad sensor still remains to be seen.
When Reggie took the stage, he presented again what seemed like an endless stream of regurgitation. Sure, I loved most of the Metroid games of the past, I had a blast with Donkey Kong Country back in the day, and Kirby can be fun in just about any setting, but where are the new IPs? I know there was Epic Mickey shown, but you have to platform and rub out baddies with a fluid projecting device. I fail to see how this concept is any different than Super Mario Sunshine from way back when. I don’t even want to get into Wii Party as that whole genre of casual games makes me fear the future of gaming.
When they got to the 3DS, I immediately thought of the poor souls who just purchased the DSXL and already have to upgrade… but then I saw it. Playing 3D movies without glasses and then Kid Icarus showed up. Sure, its another regurgitation, but its one from my childhood that is long overdue. And it looked fantastic on the little portable. 3DS seemed to have a lot more going for it than I initially thought and quickly impressed me with thoughts of it being more than a simple upgrade over the previous. It truly seems like Nintendo’s next big thing.
This brings me to the conclusion that I believe Nintendo should focus more on the parts of their industry where they are still kings. The portable market. They have yet to meet a worthy opponent and their innovation in that market is astonishing.
Scott: While i was totally underwhelmed by the first part of the press event with Zelda, Mario Sports, and Mii Party, the rest of the event was AMAZING. Bringing out the big guns with Metorid Other M, Golden Sun, and Donkey Kong Country. I am still awe struck that Nintendo was the one that brought the “hardcore gamers” the actual games. They have set the bar super high for sony. This may have not been the best E3 so far but this was easily the best press conference so far.
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