Ripten Real-Time: Nintendo Press Conference

by Andrew Podolsky on July 15, 2008 at 7:42 am

It’s the second day of E3, and we’re about to head over to the Nintendo Press Conference. We’ll begin liveblogging from 9:00 am PST on, so check back shortly for our immediate, firsthand response to Nintendo’s big announcements.

Shaun White Snowboarding

9:05 am: The press conference begins with a discussion of snowboarding, and the revelation of a new snowboarding game using the Wii Balance Board. To kick off this game is a celeb– Olympian Shaun White. Ubisoft created this game and it will be out by the end of 2008.

9:15 am: Here’s President Iwata. He’s talking about the seismic shift that’s occured in this industry in just five years ago. And he’s right– in America, at leats, Nintendo was in third place, but they’ve leaped to first because of the DS and Wii.

He says games like Brain Age, Nintendogs, and New Super Mario Bros for the DS are “evergreens”. He’s certainly got plenty of green. He says that the team that makes Mario games and Zelda games are both “hard at work” to bring new titles to Wii. Also, new concepts like Wii Sports and Wii Fit have been met with a lot of success (especially in the mainstream).

Iwata says: Instead of games being a holiday gift, it’s more likely to be purchased by people for themselves during any time during the year. People are buying Nintendo like it’s Xmas all the time.

What can we expect next? Great question. What’s next, Nintendo?

Well, Iwata’s not going to tell us right this second. There’s some kind of hint about new, non-game experiences.

Animal Crossing

9:23 am: Video: Katsuya Eguchi. He’s going to talk about Animal Crossing. Coming to the Wii in 2008.

Different aspects of Animal Crossing: The Town. No required goals– just dick around and “do things your own way”. Even when you’re not playing the game, characters get up in the morning and go to bed at night (how would you know if you’re not playing?) 24 hour, year round clock.

The City: New place to explore. This looks cool. Auction house, where you can buy and sell items. There’s an academy where you can find out what other players are doing. There’s a fashion store from Gracie. You can also go to a beauty salon and change your hairstyle, or put on a mask to look like your Mii.

Communication is a big deal in AC, like writing letters, attaching pictures, and send to people’s phones and computers. The biggest news is a MICROPHONE.

In the video, a bunch of Miis are fishing in Animal Crossing. They’re chatting and talking smack. How will this fit will Nintendo’s “safety first” policy of online gaming?

The game is called Animal Crossing: City Folk. The crowd seems pleased.

Reggie Speaks

9:28 am: Here’s Reggie! The Microphone is called “Wii Speak”. Reggie is going to brag for a bit– 5 billion in revenue, but they’re still “not satisfied” (to use a phrase from last year’s E3). Veteran gamers, he says, are hungry for what’s next. Oh, and here comes the marketplace perspective– but he promises to keep it short.

DS is dominating. The PSP is second, and the Wii is the top console. They expect total DS sales to be almost 100 million. Ridiculous!

Pokemon was the key franchise for last fall. 600,000 copies in 6 weeks. Lifetime total sales for all Pokemon is 180 million. Again, ridiculous. They have a license to print money. Games like Mario and Sonic are helping push the Wii as well. He’s happy with the rate of Wii sales, but also with the fact that people are buying the game in volume long after launch, which is turrning things around a bit when it comes to hardware sales history.

9:34 am: He’s showing Mario and Metroid, but also Wii Sports and Wii Fit. These are how they consider both hardcore and casual gamers to be covered. Will they start making real games for casual gamers? They seem to think there is an expanding middle ground as casual gamers get savvier.

Here are three new games that bring different approaches to the Wii Interface. Here we go!

Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Looks like a lot of lightsabre battles. The Team America graphics of the Clone Wars movie seem to be a good fit for the Wii. We see people shaking their Wiis while thye lightsabre duel. These games still look like PS1 though. That’s not a dig, just a fact.

Rayman Raving Rabbids: TV Party. Yet more minigames. We see a young girl using the Wii and nunchuck as a motorcycle handlebar. Also, using the Wii fit board to “butt slide”.

Call of Duty: World at War. This looks a lot nicer. We are seeing some sort of co-op mode, sort of like a light gun game. One person controls the view and movement for both. In the video, the guy’s using the Wii Zapper.

9:39 am: Focus shifts to the DS. 30% of gamers were female in 2005. By 2006 it was 46%, and in 2007 it was 48%. Guitar Hero On Tour, for example, sold 300k copies in America in the first week (although our reviewer didn’t care for it).

DS Games

New Guitar Hero On Tour game– Guitar Hero: Decades. This is coming out this year, and you’ll be able to share your songs (not sure what this means exactly). It’s also going to use the microphone– we see a guy blowing into the mic to put out his flaming guitar. The other DS game they’re talking about is Spore. This isn’t the full PC version of course. It’s much more of a platformer with some slight customization elements.

The next Pokemon, Pokemon Rangers: Shadows of Almia is coming November 10. So, Guitar Hero, Spore, and Pokemon.

And an announcement: Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars comes to DS this winter!! Custom game engine, new characters, and the same hooker-killing gameplay we’ve come to expect.

9:45 am: What if DS and Air travel came together? Why doesn’t it tell you where to pick up your luggage, or what gate your flight is at? What about changing up your experience at a baseball game? Why not watch highlights, check out scores, or order sushi from your seat in Seattle.

One more idea: Could the DS earn a spot in your kitchen? Dang, Nintendo wants to be everywhere. Recipes and cooking tips when the game comes out in America this November. Will it help you cook Thanksgiving dinner?

Wii Sports Resort + Wii MotionPlus

9:47 am: Reggie introduces Wii MotionPlus, an add-on accessory. Makes your wrist or arm movements more sensitive. We’re going to see how this “worthy successor” to the Wii remote will work. New game: Wii Sports Resort, which is “literally a day at the beach”. Here are three of the minigames.
When you buy Wii Sports Resort, you’ll get the chunky butt add-on included, plus an extra large sleeve.

They’re demonstrating a frisbee throwing game, and showing off the fine-tuned motion controls. They’re tossing the disc to an adorable puppy, and the goal is to get the puppy to catch it. Looks fun!

Now Reggie is showing off a jetski game, which he thinks is much manlier than Cammie’s frisbee game. Now it’s time for some “old fashioned sword dueling”. Hold the Wii remote with both hands. In the minigame, you’re chopping wood at different angles. You can block and twist your wrists. Instead of wood, a pencil drops down, and they try to “sharpen the pencil” (unsuccessfully). Reggie and Cammie of Nintendo are dueling. Cammie loses and is knocked into the water.

Wii Sports Resort will have more activities… that they’re not going to tell us about yet. The game comes out next Spring. How about some of those third-party Wii MotionPlus games?

Wii Music

Here’s a game that comes out this year, and doesn’t need the new Wii MotionPlus. Very dramatic lighting and smoke effects. Hey, it’s a virtual drum set. Using the Wii Fit Board as a bass drum, a guy is bapping on the snare and cymbals. Looks noisy! But takes up a lot less space than a real drum set (or even Rock Band/ Guitar Hero World Tour). Extended drum solo!

Shigeru Miyamoto is introduced, and he’s using the Wii Remote as a saxaphone. How does this work? The drum guy is playing a beat behind him. Some kind of music game. We also see a standup bass and xylophone in the background. How can this be anything other than a noise machine? Let’s let Miyamoto explain.

Wii Music is the name of the game– was developed alongside Wii Fit, Wii Sports, and Wii Play. Different from past music games, because you’re not trying to match to an on-screen indicator. You can experience “the joy” of playing music even if you don’t know how. Note to self: Start new Internet meme, “Wii Noise”.

To play the Sax, Shiegeru is just twiddling the buttons, and decides the timing himself. The game will automatically pick the right notes based on the song. He toodles out an unrecognizable version of a song from F-Zero.

You’ll be able to play 50 instruments just by moving around. He demonstrates by playing piano, just by banging downwards on an imaginary keypad. To play violin, you make the motions and can adjust the volume. To play guitar, you hold one arm out and one down, and waggle at waist level. You can also bang on some of those giant Japanese drums.

Miyamoto says you can learn the drums in just a few weeks using Wii Music. He’s bring up the orchestra conducting intro from 2 years ago. So in Wii Music you have a conducting game and a Handel choir. The game won’t evaluate your performance, but instead record your performance. One player can play and record individual parts and then layer them into your own video.

Now they’ll play an ensemble song. You can play with up to four players simultaneously. Robbie is going to play the drums. This is a Nintendo exec supergroup.

They’re playing the Super Mario Bros. theme song. Oh god, it’s horrible. It sounds a bit off, but it looks like they’re having fun. Do these people have any rhythm at all? This game is going to drive parents nuts everywhere. Their Miis are all rocking out on a giant screen behind them. In the corner is a timer counting off the beats.

10:07 am: Recap time… Animal Crossing, Wii Sports Resort, Wii Music. Any more good stuff? Kid Icarus? Punch Out? Come on, throw us real gamers a bone.

Reggie is talking about “creating new advantages”. What’s the next advantage? Seems to be building to some significant announcement. “This week, Nintendo builds the next advantage.” Is that the end? Oh man. I’m slightly disappointed.

Well, now it’s over. The lights are up and the screen is showing some slides of the games they’ve announced. But what can we take from this press conference? Nintendo is dominating and now it seems they’re coasting. Wii Sports Resort and Wii Music will be huge sellers, but that doesn’t mean we have to like them.

For people who like flashy graphics, online multiplayer, and white-knuckle action, looks like you’ll have to buy a console from Sony or Microsoft. Nintendo is ceding the hardcore market, while Microsoft tries to be more like Nintendo. No hardcore games– unless you want to count Grand Theft Auto for the DS, which we didn’t see any screens or videos for.

We’re a bit disappointed. Expectations were high, but the big announcement was a game they showed off 2 years ago when Shigeru conducted the orchestra. Chad’s pissed– he was expecting a new Punch Out game.

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1 Comment »

madpuppy
on July 15, 2008 11:41 pm

damn, the Nintendo line up is totally lame. that is why the Wii is relegated to the 3rd bedroom on the tiny TV meant for the little ones.

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