Hello, and welcome to GameCola’s continuing coverage of E3 2011. We’ve covered Microsoft’s Press Conference and Sony’s Press Conference so far. Today, Nintendo held their big press conference, and it covered three main topics: Zelda, the 3DS and the Wii U. Here are all the details.
- First, Nintendo is celebrating the 25th anniversary of Zelda this year. The first fifteen minutes of the presentation were all about Zelda. There was a live orchestra that played Zelda music, and they’re offering Zelda music CDs as well as concerts, in all regions.
- Of course, we’re going to see a lot of Zelda game releases. Zelda: Ocarina of Time is coming to the 3DS, Zelda: Skyward Sword is coming to the Wii, Zelda: Link’s Awakening is coming to the 3DS Virtual Console, and Zelda: Four Swords is coming to the DSi.
- A ballpark release date of this holiday season is given for Skyward Sword.
…No comment.
- They’re also releasing a gold-colored Wiimote to coincide with the game’s release. I might actually purchase this one, mainly because you’ll need the Wii Motion Plus to play the game.
- Mr. Japanese President of Nintendo appears to talk about the Wii 2. He says that people have complained the Wii focuses only on casual games, so in the Wii 2, they plan to have “deeper, wider experiences.” The full details are coming later, but for now, he emphasizes that they want to serve every player, keeping in mind that each person has a distinct gaming history.
- They move on to the 3DS portion of the event. A promo video plays, showing off their five keynote titles: Mario Kart 3DS, Star Fox 3D, Super Mario 3DS, Kid Icarus: Uprising and Luigi’s Mansion 2. Three of those are Mario games, in case you didn’t notice.
- Mr. American President of Nintendo appears to talk about the 3DS. He says, “You want what you’ve always wanted, but you always want something new.” That is, people want something they’re used to, while having that which is fancy and new. Nintendo is hoping to have something for everyone.
- He goes into detail about the above-mentioned 3DS titles, complete with video footage. First, they emphasize that Mario Kart 3DS is totally new, even though it looks like every other Mario Kart game. It comes with hang gliders and underwater levels. This game comes out this holiday season.
- Next is Star Fox 3DS. It has two control schemes. One is the traditional button scheme. The other lets you turn and tilt the system to control it. For example, tilt the system forward to have Star Fox go forward. I’m still hesitant about this control system, because I’m pretty sure that I’ll get too intense like I usually do, and I’ll tilt the system so far to the side that I can’t see anything, and then I’ll lose.
- Star Fox 3DS also uses the built-in cameras on the system, for online multiplayer. That way, you’ll see the faces of your opponents while playing. The game will be released in September.
- Super Mario 3DS is a wholly original Mario experience, unlike Super Mario 64 DS. This game was created from scratch. As the above picture shows, it will feature the Koopalings and the Raccoon Suit. Other than that, it appears to be a generic Mario game. The game is slated to come out this year.
- Kid Icarus: Uprising. Last year, they showed off a lot of flying challenges. This year, they’re showing off a lot of action and battle sequences. There is an online battle mode, with 3 on 3 battles. The villain of the game is Medusa, which doesn’t fit in with Greek mythology, but then again, Icarus not being dead doesn’t fit in with Greek mythology either. The game will come with a lot of AR cards, and it will appear this year.
- Luigi’s Mansion 2 is…um, Luigi’s Mansion 2. I’m not sure how to describe it. Luigi sucks up ghosts with his vacuum, and the whole thing has a comical, lighthearted feel to it. They emphasize that this game is not just a remake of the GameCube game. It contains several mansions, not just one. No release date is mentioned.
- Nintendo emphasized the support that the 3DS has from third-party developers. A bunch of games get shown, including: Resident Evil Revelations, Mario and Sonic at the 2012 London Olympic Games, Ace Combat 3D, Tetris Online, Cave Story 3D, Metal Gear Solid 3D, Pac-Man and Galactica Dimensions, Driver Renegade, and Metal Gear Solid.
- Nintendo then offers a personal apology to GameCola writer Matt Jonas. They say that the brand new 3DS System Update comes with the promised Internet Browser and E-Shop. The update will let you see ten different game trailers, and later this year, the 3DS will offer game demos.
- Added to this, we have the 3DS Virtual Console. This has Game Boy games and console titles. These are “games given new life, with a 3D makeover.” To help you understand this, they are releasing Excitebike in 3D, for free.
- Also for free in the E-shop, we have the Pokedex 3D. The Pokedex was featured in Pokemon Black and White. The 3DS version comes with 16 Pokemons. (Pokemen?) Your challenge will be to get all the other Pokemon in existence, from Nintendo’s AR cards and from the Street Pass ability. You can copy/paste the Pokemon into pictures on the 3DS.
- The last thing they talk about is the Wii 2, which is being called the Wii U. See, “Wii” sounds like “we,” and “u” sounds like “You.” As the presenter says, it is U-nique, U-nifying and U-topian. U-have…got to be kidding me. It comes out in 2012.
- Nintendo says absolutely nothing about the system itself. I don’t even know if it plays CDs, DVDs or what. Instead, all they talk about is the new controller, featured above. A long video of the controller in action gets played. You can switch back and forth between playing the game on a TV, and playing the game on a controller. It has a 6.2 touchscreen, and it can be used as a motion controller. You can use it to make video calls, and you can use it to browse the Internet. It’s backward compatible with the Wii and all Wii accessories, such as the Balance Board.
- There are more features which are shown, but not mentioned, such as the built-in microphone. The picture shows that it has an accelerometer, which I guess measures how fast you are moving. That’ll be good if you play videogames while jogging, I suppose. There are GameCube/GBA-style R and L buttons on the controller, which you can’t see in the picture. Also, there are two circle pads, which look like large buttons.
- The Wii U controller is not supposed to be a portable system. It is just a controller. It wirelessly transmits and connects to HD TVs. Some games can be played on the controller alone, while some use both the controller screen and the TV screen.
- They announce that the producer of Kid Icarus: Uprising liked the Wii U so much that he’s decided to make Super Smash Bros. for both the Wii U and the 3DS.
- At the show itself, they have eight different demos, which show off the controller. First is New Super Mario Bros. Mii , which lets you play New Super Mario Bros. as a Mii character. This demo shows off the fact that you can switch back and forth between a TV and the controller. Second is Shield Pose, which forces you to move the controller around to defend from pirate arrows, which shows off the gyroscope. Third is Chase Mii, which shows off how the new controller works with the Wii-mote. The new controller gives a bird’s eye view of the game, while the Wii-mote gives a first-person view.
- Nintendo emphasizes that the controller exhibits are prototypes, and not real games that they have in production. In fact, the only Wii U game that gets announced is…Lego City Stories. That’s a new installment in the Lego series. This is an open-world game with Lego cars and characters. It’s basically GTA: Lego Edition. It comes to the Wii U and the 3DS sometime next year.
- A video of a lot of third-party companies plays. These include Ubisoft, EA, WB Interactive, Namco Bandai, Disney Interactve, THQ, Sega, Capcom, Square Enix and Konami. The games that get mentioned are Tekken, Darksiders II, Batman: Arkam City, Tom Clancy: Ghost Recon Online, Dirt, Aliens, and Tecmo Something.
- Nintendo wraps up the conference by re-emphasizing the fact that Wii U is “deeper and wider.” It has strong interconnectivity, and a controller which appears to be better than the system itself. No specific release date or price was announced.
OK, so that’s it for the Nintendo E3 conference! Stay tuned to GameCola for more E3 updates!
