E3 2010: Nintendo Press Conference Summary

After watching this year's Nintendo press conference, it's almost easy to forget last year's disappointment. Despite some minor setbacks, it was fairly impressive. Nintendo definitely brought their big guns to E3, proving they're still on top of the gaming market.

 

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Nintendo great Shigeru Miyamoto led off the conference with a bang. As a highly anticipated game, the latest installment of one of Nintendo's beloved franchises is finally in action. Miyamoto demonstrated Skyward Sword's controls, which takes full advantage of the power of the WiiMotionPlus. You use the Wii remote to swing your sword around, and use the nunchuck in the other hand as a shield. The demo looked good (despite some minor technical difficulties), but no significant changes in the art style, which is usually evident in many Zelda titles from years past.

 

Epic Mickey
Warren Spector and his development team, Junction Point, are aiming to create a new vision of one of Disney's most iconic characters of all time. From the looks of the demo Spector showed off, Epic Mickey is shaping up to be a solid action/platformer. A unique gameplay mechanic showed Mickey Mouse using his paintbrush, in which he can change the world around him. Whether it's bringing life to the world or chaos to it, The world of Epic Mickey is your oyster.

 

[Trailer mania!] Golden Sun, Kirby's Epic Yarn, Donkey Kong Country Returns
There wasn't much gameplay demonstration in the Nintendo conference, but there were some pretty surprising announcements that piqued my interest. Golden Sun: Dark Dawn was shown, as well as a new iteration of Donkey Kong (which will play as a side-scrolling platformer), and Kirby's Epic Yarn. The new Kirby game was the most impressive; the main reason being the art style. I can't wait to see more footage of that in the near future.

 

Goldeneye 007 Remake
One of my personal highlights was seeing a trailer of a Goldeneye 007 remake. At last, it's back to endless nights doing split screen multiplayer again. A trailer was shown featuring all the mayhem you can expect from a James Bond video game, and stars Daniel Craig (Casino Royale) instead of the Goldeneye original, Pierce Brosnan.

Metroid: Other M
As for most of the games introduced, Metroid was only shown in a gameplay montage showing Samus Aran traversing through 2D levels and switching from first to third person shooter from left to right. The footage was impressive, and the only thing left now is to get my hands on a demo copy at least.

 

Dragon Quest IX
One of Japan's most successful games of recent times is finally coming to North America. The fact that it sold so well - or according to Nintendo - is because of a whopping 900+ customizable items, randomized, infinite treasure maps to explore, online multiplayer questing, and tag mode. All of those features are more than enough to convince me to buy this game. For the Nintendo DS, Dragon Quest IX will hit store shelves on July 11.

 

Nintendo 3DS
Finally, Nintendo showed off their crown jewel: the 3DS. Reggie explained that with the 3DS handheld, you don't need those fancy glasses to play. As usual, the 3DS contains 2 screens, a 3D pad adjuster to modify how much 3D content you want, a slide pad, 3D cameras, and a seamless online connectivity. Nintendo's new handheld is showing lots of promise, and I'm sure many fans are looking forward to its launch date.

 

Personal thoughts
I thought the Nintendo Press Conference was actually impressive. I was surprised that they picked themselves up after last year's E3. The lineup of games they showed was definitely key to their success, and kept their promises on some of the publisher's most anticipated titles.

 

However, the announcement of the Nintendo 3DS was kind of a disappointment, mainly because they never really showed the 3DS in action. I'm no fan of 3D, but the idea of having a portable 3D device (without the use of gimmicky glasses) is something I would certainly purchase. I would have at least loved to have seen a technical demo on the floor, but it was just Iwata explaining the 3DS's features; nothing special.

Overall, though, it was a fairly enjoyable conference. It was an improvement from yesterday's festivities.

 

The Sony Press Conference Summary Blog is coming soon. Stay tuned!