E3 2011: A Quick Summary of Nintendo's Conference

Nintendo’s press conference had me highly curious, thanks to the rumors that have been circulating about their new console (which have long since been proven true). I really couldn’t find anything that could get my hyped up for this, since Nintendo’s pretty much spearheading the console wars for two generations running. It means that all the attention will be focused on them, but they could just as easily miss their mark if they didn’t produce the type of consumer reaction they wanted. I had one issue on my mind throughout that conference, and that was how much support the company would get outside of their first-party studio circle, and if they’re willing to commit to long-term relationships with them. It’s safe to assume that many people were wondering the same thing as well.

 

 

After an eventful opening that celebrated the Legend of Zelda’s 25-year anniversary, Nintendo President of America, Reggie Fils-Aime immediately made an appearance to show off a few games for their latest handheld, the Nintendo 3DS. Note that none of the game footage shown weren’t showcased in 3D, since they addressed that you can only experience it on the 3DS itself. The first of the bunch was Mario Kart, in which a gameplay trailer was shown and given a Holiday 2011 release window. It was immediately followed by the 3DS version of Starfox 64, featuring tilt controls (much like Sixaxis on the Vita) that enhance the flight action sequences. Another feature they’re adding to it involves the handheld’s cameras, which captures every player’s reaction whether your friends or you have been killed during play (yup, this game has co-op, called Group Play). The game will be in US stores in September.

 

A new Super Mario game was shown, and Reggie explained that this is the first ever Mario game to be re-made from the ground up for a specific handheld. It was followed by a trailer that uses interesting features in regards to the 3DS’s 3D effect (the return of the raccoon flight suit). Afterwards, a Kid Icarus: Uprising (complete with voice acting) played and shows off more gameplay footage, including third-person melee combat against other human players. The last bit implied that there will be a card-based Kid Icarus game as well.

 

 

The sequel to the well-received Luigi’s Mansion, Luigi’s Mansion 2, was shown afterwards, followed by a montage of upcoming 3DS games that includes Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D, Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games (oh no), Ace Combat 3D, Tetris, Cave Story 3D, Resident Evil: Revelations, Driver Renegade, Pac-Man & Galaga Dimensions, Tekken 3D, and Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D. It seems like the 3DS’s post-launch gaming lineup is shaping up to be the type that gamers truly want, which is a plus.

 

 

Are you a big fan of old-school Nintendo games? They’ve got your back. Fils-Aime introduced the Virtual Console app to the 3DS, in which you can play games that date back “even before the NES days.” They’re also offering a free version of 3D Classics Excitebike to 3DS owners for a limited time. Those who own Pokemon Black or White will get Pokedex 3D, in which you can use SD cards or a feature called SpotPass to share your monster collection from your handheld to your PC. Pokedex 3D will be available on the Nintendo e-shop exclusively, but not before doing a mandatory system update for, uh, you know…security reasons.

 

Finally, Fils-Aime got to Project Café, in which the console’s official name is Wii U. The console itself was not shown during the conference from what I understand (it was shown afterwards), but the controller, complete with 6.2 inch touchscreen, d-pad, face buttons, two analog sticks, L and R buttons, as well as a stylus. A trailer was shown on what Wii U can do. For those who live in a household with only one television, both sides don’t have to be interrupted. For example, if someone wants to watch a baseball game (as shown in trailer), the one playing can just transfer his/her game on the controller itself and resume the game on the fly. It’s a convenient way for uninterrupted gaming, and it was impressive to say the least. Moreover, Wii U is also backward compatible with the older controllers such as the Wii Fit Balance Board, Wii remote, and others. You can also make video calls, and share photos from the controller to the TV (and vice versa). The end of the video showed a release window for the console sometime in 2012. Iwata then came out and gave a more thorough explanation on how the Wii U works. A brief Miyamoto interview was also shown, in which he remarked that there “would be no shortage of ideas” for the Wii U.

 

Utopia.

 

So now that they’ve gotten the controls out of the way, Fils-Aime came back on stage to demonstrate the Wii U’s technological capabilities by showing a tech demo of a bird flying through a Japanese temple surrounded by a lake and cherry blossom trees (I got an Okami vibe out of the video). Afterwards, a Wii U version of New Super Mario Bros will allow you to add Miis to play alongside Mario and other characters. Since the Wii U controller is compatible with the older, Wii controls, Fils-Aime introduced new games that utilized both features into one experience, such as Shield Pose and Chase Mii (one of the players has a Wii U controller, the other 4 have standard Wii remotes. A new Lego IP is set to debut exclusively on Wii U, called Lego City Stories.

 

Aside from Nintendo’s own upcoming games, they’re also aiming to capitalize on third-party support. A video was shown that interviewed well-known gaming figures such as EA Sports’ Peter Moor, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemont, 5th Cell’s Jeremy Slaczka, and Irrational Games’ Ken Levine (Bioshock Infinite on the Wii U?), in which some of them claimed the console’s tech features to be “revolutionary.” On top of that, games such as Darksiders II, Batman Arkham City, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Online, and Metro: Last Light will also be released on the Wii U, complete with amazed gasps from the audience. EA John Ricitello then appeared to announce that Electronic Arts will heavily support Nintendo’s new console, and looked forward to seeing a lot of EA products released on the Wii 2.

 

Doth mine eyes deceive me or is Nintendo straight up dissing Sega?

 

It would have been a better conference if Nintendo actually did some live demos of the games they were showing for either systems or at least the Wii U. After watching it, I couldn’t help but feel that they cut a lot of content that was set to make appearances in the show. Either Nintendo thought the tech was not ready for public viewing, or they just wanted to rush those announcements out the door and get it over with, since people will talk about your new console for quite a while, and they thought that was enough for them to build the hype on the Wii U they’ve wanted to achieve. Who knows? I could be totally wrong. Still, the Wii U has some intriguing prospects and others they’ve yet to show (like that new Smash Bros. game they announced), and I was thoroughly impressed with the amount of third-party support they got. Could this Nintendo console finally convince me to use it in a regular basis? Maybe. But I can’t say that yet once I’ve tried it myself.

 

 

Our scores:

 

Syed Rubayyat Akbar: A

Cian Crowdy: B-

David Gabriel: B

Josh McCaul: B+

 

David Gabriel, NoobFeed.