Nintendo Conference Round-Up

At last year’s E3 Nintendo was fairly heavily criticised for more or less completely losing its focus on games for gamers and instead choosing to concentrate on casual titles and gimmicks.  Vitality sensor anyone?  Only Ubisoft seem to have thought that was a good idea coming out with their own accessory and the game Innergy.

Nintendo seem to have taken that criticism to heart and from the moment Reggie Fils-Aime stepped onto the stage the first hour was all about games.  “For gamers this is the best week of the year”, was his opening line and certainly for anyone who’s a Nintendo gamer, no matter how jaded, there was surely something of interest in what followed.

Taking the first of a number of swipes at Sony and Microsoft he commented on how all the headlines seem to be revolving around technology, perhaps highlighting that he did not watch EA’s conference.  “Let me adjust that perspective just a little bit,” he continued, “because technology is only a tool.  The thing that does matter is the experience.  Nintendo is raising the bar in terms of game experience.”  With that it was straight into…

The Legend of Zelda – Skyward Sword

Link appears on the big screen galloping into the fog, sailing a boat and running as his Twilight Pricess wolf form.  Cue whooping from the crowd which was probably equal to all the cheering from the Microsoft press conference up to the point they gave everyone a new 360.  Then after a short gameplay trailer showing Link waving his sword about, firing his bow and slingshot before rolling a bomb into a hole in a tree stump the living legend that is Shigeru Miyamoto appeared on-screen to talk about his latest Zelda game.

He believes this game will be remembered as a key turning point in Zelda’s long history seemingly because of the control system changes.  Where Twilight Princess had you waving your Wiimote and Nunchuck about drawing gestures in the air that resulted in Link performing set moves, Skyward Sword uses the added sensors in Motion Plus to give you more freedom in your swinging.

Following a brief, deliberately, stilted on-stage demo Miyamoto-san beamed down onto the stage, accomplished by stepping out from behind the curtain, to take over the demo.  He proceeded to attempt to demonstrate and explain the control system and the in-game weapons which includes a fire-and-forget beetle that you can use to pick up items as well as carry and drop bombs and a whip in addition to those already mentioned.

Unfortunately, he discovered that Nintendo have something in common with a certain other consumer electronics company well known for producing little white boxes, and his Wiimote seemed to be having communication difficulties with the Wii due to the shear amount of wireless kit in the conference room.  Development will continue through the end of the year so Skyward Sword will be out in 2011.

Mario Sports Mix

Reggie’s back to tell us that sports titles including Madden, PES, MLB and NBA Jam span the whole range from realistic to casual and that a new NBA Jam for the Wii is playable at the show.  Then begins the build-up to the next announcement where he tells us that one character in particular has helped us to enjoy many different sports, Mario.

The first sport we see in Mario Sports Mix is volleyball with Princess Peach looking worryingly cute in her volleyball kit.  Swiftly moving on, the next sport is ice hockey which is shown to have a beach(!) rink as well as the more typical icy setting.  That is followed by dodgeball and basketball which along with the others and in common with other Mario sports games are enlivened by special moves and power-ups.  Try dodging an exploding ball.

Wii’re Not Weakening

Last year pundits told us that the Wii was losing sales momentum says Reggie, but in December 2009 set the all-time sales record for any games system in a single month in the U.S.  He says we are also wrong to believe the claims that all the casual Wii owners do not buy games as more games have sold for the Wii than any other platform over the same launch period.  A cynic might question whether they are counting the games that come in the box with the Wii and point out that all those game and accessory bundles add up.

Then he cites a recent NPD Group study that says that Wii owners play more often than other console owners.  Really Reggie?  Is that only five minutes at a time though to get their daily Wii Fit weight recorded?  Another survey from Ipsos says almost as many people intend to buy a Wii over the next six months as intend to buy the PS3 and 360 combined.  Trouble with all these surveys though is that you get a different answer when you ask people what they do or plan to do than what they actually end up doing.

Wii owners are not just playing Wii Sports and Wii Fit, there are intermediate bridging titles that are introducing them to gaming as we think of it.  Mario Kart Wii, with over 22 million sales, and New Super Mario Bros. Wii, with over 14 million sales are two of those games, he tells us.  Here is the next bridge title…

Wii Party

Over 177m Miis have been created and they are all invited.  Looks like a fairly casual game to me.  Includes 13 party games like Board Game Island (Why not just play a board game on a board?) Balance Boat and house party games.  Also includes over 70 minigames and does not look to do much to differentiate itself from the dozens of other party games out there.

Just Dance 2

Just Dance sold millions of copies over the last year, so we are lucky enough to get a sequel this year.  Coming in Fall 2010 Just Dance 2 includes 40+ tracks, dance duets, a rather distasteful sounding Just Sweat mode, Dance Crew Faceoffs and support for up to eight players.

Golden Sun – Dark Dawn

Originally announced at last year’s E3 we have heard little of this third title in the Golden Sun series until now.  Now complete with its subtitle we see what looks to be a standard DS-based JRPG featuring a world in peril, giant (as in two-screen-sized) dragons, what looks to a giant steam-powered robot and the young golden-haired saviour.

GoldenEye

Opening with footage of “actual gamer focus groups” we get to something I am cautiously interested in, Activision’s new GoldenEye exclusively for the Wii.  Cut to trailer with Bond looking much more Daniel Craig than Pierce Brosnan, but I guess that must be down to the modern Bond licence.  Looking good though, there is the snowy dam, blowing up Russian trucks, the tank section, 4-player split screen, a collection of classic Bond villains to kill, the return of the You Only Live Twice multi-player mode and the essential toilet-kill opportunities.

In short everything you could want from a GoldenEye game.  The danger is that it has got one Hell of a myth/legend (depending on your view of how rose-tinted gamer’s memories are) to live up to.  When do we find out if it lives up to the fond recollections of the original N64 title, this holiday.  If it is as good as the original and all the multi-player characters return, I will be spending a lot of time over Christmas running around in a pale blue cardigan.

Disney Epic Mickey

This looks surprisingly good.  Set in a world full of Disney characters and locations from the company’s eighty year history you control Mickey Mouse as he adventures through various zones combining adventure, platforming and RPG game styles.  The first zone we see in the on-stage gameplay is a “quest zone” where you can talk to other characters, learn about quests and buy tools and supplies.

The key game mechanic here is Mickey’s ability to draw and erase parts of the game world using “paint” and “paint thinner”, dynamically changing it.  We are told that in a Fable-like way the way the player uses those abilities to solve the problems you are faced with in-game will determine how the world’s inhabitants will react to you.  In essence it seems that drawing is good while simply running around erasing (destroying) stuff is bad.

A very pretty game graphically my favourite part of the demonstration was when Mickey entered a “travel zone”.  These are side-scrolling, though 3D-rendered, interludes inspired by classic Disney cartoons.  The one we saw was based on the classic Steamboat Willie cartoon that first introduced Mickey Mouse to the world.  Switching to predominantly black and white with objects and characters drawn in the style of that old cartoon I loved the way this section looked.

There is a third type of zone, the “action zone”, that we did not see which is where you will engage in missions that affect the way the overall story unfolds as you play and changes the lives of the world’s other characters.  An impressive looking Wii game that I will be keeping an eye on though unfortunately we were not told when we could expect to be able to buy this.

Kirby Epic Yarn

Another old Nintendo favourite returns in this title.  Kirby’s back and this time he’s made of wool.  Well, made of an outline of wool to be precise.  Platfroming his way through a 2D world made of felt and adorned with buttons and yarn, this is a charming looking game.  The graphical style has a material affect on the gameplay too.  Kirby can unzip sections to reveal hidden areas, loop yarn around a button to use it like a grappling hook or pull a button attached to a thread that is stitched into the background to pull something within jumping distance.  The cord dragon and burning woollen phoenix bosses look great too.  This Fall we will get a chance to play it for ourselves.

Dragon Quest 9

All about the numbers here.  4.2m sales in Japan, 120 mini quests with additional WiFi mini quests, 300 monsters and 900 items.  Play with up to 3 other players over the DS’ WiFi connection.  At least 140 hours of gameplay.  Releasing in the U.S. on July 11th.

Metroid Other M

Another gameplay trailer of Samus running, jumping, rolling and shooting her way through various, though mainly spaceship corridor, environments.  The news is that it release on August 31st in the U.S.

Donkey Kong Country Returns

Yes it is Donkey Kong, but it is yet another platformer from Nintendo.  The trailer seemed to go down well with the crowd though.  This is another title releasing this holiday.

Nintendo 3DS

Now Nintendo get to their own technology announcement.  This is the future of gaming Reggie tells us, not the expensive big-screen, glasses-required kind of 3D that the other companies are peddling.   None other than Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata appears on-stage to give us the low down on Nintendo’s view of the 3D future.

The 3DS is pretty much what we have been expecting.  When closed the console itself looks pretty much like a regular DS Lite/DSi, except for the twin cameras on the lid.  Open it up and the top screen is a 3.5″ widescreen, while the lower screen retains its familiar aspect ratio.  The top screen is the 3D display.  Nintendo have chosen to keep the lower touch-sensitive screen 2D partly due to the fact that the dirt it picks up from all that touching has a negative impact on clarity.

Extra controls you can see inside the clamshell are a 3D “depth slider” on the right hand side of the lid so you can adjust the amount of depth being presented all the way down to 2D.  There is also what Nintendo calls the “Slide Pad” which looks like a concave-topped analogue ‘nub’.  The 3DS also incorporates motion sensors and gyros to make it fully waggle-able.  As it has been six years since they launched the DS they have also improved its graphics capability whilst retaining DSi compatibility.

The two cameras on the outside of the lid enable you to take 3D pictures that you can then view on the console.  Those pictures and the games are not the only 3D content you will be able to view on it though.  It will also be capable of playing 3D Hollywood movies.  While Nintendo are not making any specific announcements about movies at E3 trailers from Disney, Warner Bros. and Dreamworks will be viewable on the 3DS at the Nintendo booth.

In January last year Nintendo established Project Sora.  This was specifically to create a title for the 3ds.  And that title is Kid Icarus: Uprising, marking the return of yet another fondly remembered character.  Originally appearing on the NES, Kid Icarus had a sequel on the gameboy, but recent console owners have only been able to experience him via the Wii’s Virtual Console.

Originally a, you guessed it, 2D platformer, the titular character Pit has taken a Mario 64-like leap into three dimensions.  Combining elements of 3D platforming with what looks to be some Space Harrier-esque stages as well as some more free-flying areas this is another good looking game.  If it was not for the obviously lower resolution it could probably pass for a Wii title.  Graphically it certainly does look a step up from what we are used to seeing on the DS family.  Of course, it comes with an appropriate compliment of giant dragons.

At launch the DS and Wii had predominantly 1st party software software because the industry in general did not believe the new ideas those consoles embodied would succeed.  They are hard at work on 3DS titles including Nintendogs + Cats but they also many 3rd party publishers on-board.  A slide was displayed showing a “partial list” of twenty one companies intending to publish software for the 3DS.

Some specific titles from some of those companies were highlighted; Activision’s DJ Hero 2, Professor Layton and the Mask of Miracle from Level 5, Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy titles from Squeenix, a Saints Row game from THQ, both Madden and FIFA from EA Sports, Resident Evil Revelations and a Street Fighter title from Capcom, a Batman game from Warner Bros., Assassin’s Creed Lost Legacy from Ubisoft, Namco Bandai’s Ridge Racer and a Metal Gear Solid game from Konami.

The audience did not get free consoles, but a large number of models appeared at the end of the conference, each chained to a 3DS who were there to give a time-limited hands-on to the crowd before they all got aboard the bus to head off for Sony’s event.

Conclusions?  Much better than Nintendo’s showing last year.  By focusing on the games like EA had done, like Sony would do and like Microsoft did not they put together a really strong E3 press conference that had something for any gamer with an interest in Nintendo gaming.  Good show Nintendo.

Sorry the post is a bit long and a bit late.  Blame Nintendo for having so much good content.  :)