Topic: Nintendo E3 Press Conference

[Stogi]

I don't know how you guys can fathom calling yourselves gamers and not drool over WiiSports 2 (when WiiSports is still played by some of you) and at the obvious genius of WiiMusic.

Did you see what Miyamoto did right there? I've been wrapping my brains around how WiiMusic would work; most importantly, how the Wiimote would become so many different instruments. Then Miyamoto was the deaf man that watched a concert. Body language plays a huge part in speech, and it's even more true in music.

****ing GENIUS!

Not only that, but I would concede that WiiMotionPlus was a DEFINITE hardcore focused announcement, even if they demoed WiiSports 2.

i was on the fence about your sarcasm before... but now i can see how thick your laying it on.  good show old man you had me believing that you loved this e3... sorry i didnt pick up on it sooner

I guess sarcasm works both ways.........

And just so you know, I truly did like this E3 showing. WiiMusic and WiiResort made my day.

[Luigi Dude]

Like I just said in the other topic, Nintendo's new strategy for traditional games is to announce them 2-3 months before they're released.  This is what they did back in May for Japan with Wario Land Shake, Fatal Frame, Rhythm Tengoku, and Band Bros 2 all announced for a July release.

So just because Nintendo didn't announce much, doesn't mean more traditional games aren't coming.  Because of Nintendo's new policy we just won't find out about them until September and October.

[Ian Sane]

You play an instrument and like Guitar Hero? Your the very first and I surround myself with musicians, being a musician myself.

It did take a few years for me to give it a solid try.  I was initially biased because you had all these jerks acting like because they were good at Guitar Hero they were some sort of real musician.  I remember being at a music store where they were having a Rock Band contest and the host was going on about this is a good introduction to playing a real instrument and I was just rolling my eyes.  Ignore all that and the game is actually fun to play.

Though I find I needed to try it at a higher difficulty to enjoy it.  On the easiest setting it eliminates notes.  The guitar track plays four notes in a riff but the game requires you to hit only every second one which would throw me off.  If I instinctively hit all four beats it was be considered a goof up.  Try the hardest songs on easy or start with medium and then you'll get into it.

[Stogi]

Oh, I've played it, and there's a reason why it's fun, but (you can agree with me on this) it's not the music. It's the addictive, rhythm based, memorization gameplay; music just makes it more accessible and appealing.
You can't write your own music. You can't Freeform.

There's a rigid structure to the game, but that's not what music is about. I think Miyamoto captured it perfectly. Music is a form of expression, end of story.

[Bartman3010]

Well...the conference was unpredictable, thats the only credit I can give it. Otherwise, I think Microsoft really trumped the opposition here. Microsoft has all the big names, Nintendo has itself, Sony has home. Its coming, they assure us. Oh damn. its coming. I'm starting to care less about the Wii and, well, video games in general.

[Morari]

Microsoft didn't really seem to pull out anything too awe-inspiring aside from Final Fantasy, and that's only if you're a fan of JRPGs. I'll be much more interested in Fable 2 once a PC port is announced.

[Enner]

I was hoping for some big violent exclusive to have some fair light, but I guess there was no time for that. No matter, the press conference is only one chunk of E3.

Still, there are a lack of surprises so far (besides FF13). WiiSpeak was from left field and WiiSports Resort is nice, but... I guess I was hoping for more. I guess I shouldn't since it is a press conference and not a press show.

[Tanookisuit]

I think it just became incredibly clear that E3 just isn't important to Nintendo (or anyone else) anymore.  At least not like it used to be.  Nintendo used it to maybe get some coverage on the Today Show.  Fine.  They've got other games, but my mom wouldn't care about them, so Nintendo didn't show them.  I'm not worried.

It did feel like I was watching my parents play games on stage, though.

[GoldenPhoenix]

Well it looks like E3 is for the taking from Sony if they try. Should be interesting.

[Ian Sane]

that's not what music is about. I think Miyamoto captured it perfectly. Music is a form of expression, end of story.

Well that's actually my attitude towards music as well.  In fact I typically associate myself as a songwriter and playing an instrument is more the skill I need to write songs and play them back.

But Wii Music has not made a good first impression on me.  I'm going to need to see some positive hands-on impressions from the floor.

[GoldenPhoenix]

that's not what music is about. I think Miyamoto captured it perfectly. Music is a form of expression, end of story.

Well that's actually my attitude towards music as well.  In fact I typically associate myself as a songwriter and playing an instrument is more the skill I need to write songs and play them back.

But Wii Music has not made a good first impression on me.  I'm going to need to see some positive hands-on impressions from the floor.

Something not making a good first impression on Ian? Amazing!

[Caliban]

Well I'm not happy.

Animal Crossing: Bleh. I'm not impressed. Seriously, that's all they could do was port the DS version for the Wii... we get to go to the city now "like holy crap wow, not really". Wii Speak sold seperately for $29.99 will be my purchase, but there's nothing else anounced that takes advantage of it, so it's a delayed purchase.

Wii Sports Resort: It's ok. Nothing special, but there's still a long time to go until spring 2009.

Wii Music: I'm interested in this title, and maybe it's because I don't have to "play" music by synchronizing my fingers to colours flushing down the screen. I'm not good with rythem based music games.

Shaun snowWhite Snowboarding: Errr, where's my 1080 snowboarding game? I couldn't care less aboot this Shaun and his snowboarding.

GTA Chinatown Wars: Not even one glimpse of video footage, not even one in-game photo. *sigh* GTA4 covers it for me.

Oh wait, so where are the hardcore games? They're being worked on. Oh thanks for telling us the obvious, but no names, nor a hint.

And to top it off, if I didn't forget anything else covered in this boring moms only conference, why didn't they talk a little about the new Wario game or the DS kirby remake? What about the DS mic and putting it to use for the Wii?

End of Major Whine

[Halbred]

I don't think I could be less interested in this lineup. I like Guitar Hero, not "anybody can play Wii Music!" I don't play Wii Sports enough to care about Wii Sports Resort. I hate GTA. I played Kirby: Super Star ten years ago. Ooh, they're adding cutscenes now. Yipee. Animal Crossing? I don't care. Where's Mario, Zelda, and Metroid? Way to screw the people who made you successful in the first place, Nintendo.

The only title that sort of piques my interest is Call of Duty: World at War, but only because I love CoD4 and I was sad that it didn't get a Wii port.

To be fair, the Sony and Microsoft presentations were equally boring this year. The most exciting thing that was announced? A sequel to Patapon.

[mantidor]

It's actually good they didn't show any other games IF these games are coming a year from now. Personally makes the wait less painful. But if this is true then the late half of this year is going to suck.

[Ian Sane]

This conference has truly revealed how Animal Crossing is a very polarizing game.  I liked it at first but then on Halloween I realized I was playing the game instead of, you know, celebrating the holiday in real life and quit.  I realized the game had become a chore in my life.

But on the Cube and on the DS AC was a supporting game so if you didn't like it you just ignored it.  Now we have an E3 press conference where it is the main core game and Nintendo seems to be pushing it as a core gamer title.  In other words it looks like for the rest of the year Animal Crossing is it for core gamers.  So now the venom is starting to spew as anyone who doesn't like Animal Crossing realizes they have absolutely nothing to look forward to right now.  Every Christmas Nintendo usually has that one game that they're kind of banking on everyone to get and it's usually something pretty big.  Third party support has been weak for over ten years and that big game is usually what keeps the Nintendo fans sane.  This year it's a franchise people either absolutely love or absolutely hate.  A game that anyone who doesn't like will not give a chance to at all.  Ooops.

If Nintendo has something else due in 2008 isn't now probably the time to reveal it?  Sure there could be surprises but is it realistic to expect a big AAA holiday title to still be up their sleeve.  It's July and any game like that would likely be released in November.  So within the next four months this huge game is going to be revealed and released?  Has that ever happened?

Last year I was disappointed that Nintendo didn't really show anything new except Wii Fit.  But we still had Mario and Metroid on the way for later in the year.  We knew about those already so it made E3 dull but they were big games set to be released later in the year.  What the hell does Nintendo has due for the rest of 2008?

[NWR_Lindy]

What really bothers me is how Reggie said, "We'll have some stuff that appeals to hardcore gamers."  What?  Call of Duty and GTA DS?  That's it?  Oh, but your Mario and Zelda teams are "working on stuff".  Well that's great Reggie, thanks for the news flash.

***BREAKING NEWS ALERT*** Nintendo's game-making teams are currently making games.  More at...well...whenever.

Animal Crossing sounds good to me in theory, like I should think it's cool, but I could really care less.  That's because aside from the WiiSpeak stuff, it doesn't seem like they're doing anything different with it.  You can send people messages on their Wii Message Board and also email people.  So what?  You can do that right now.  The auction stuff seemed neat, but it isn't anything that hasn't been done before (Pokemon Diamond and Pearl).

Wii Sports Resort is the kind of game I'd buy if I had kids or lived in a college dorm, neither of which apply to me.  I may buy it if WiiMotion Plus is used by a game I care about, but otherwise I'm not interested.

WiiMusic looks kind of cool, especially if it can teach you how to play the drums.  But it falls into the same category as Wii Fit for me...I think it's a great idea, and I'm glad people enjoy it, but that doesn't mean I'm going to walk out and buy it.  It's a "wait for the review" game, not a "pre-order it right now" game.

Did they even announce anything else?  That Shaun White game was ass...Call of Duty looked great...a Pokemon Rangers game?  Come on...

What depressed me about this press conference is that I walked away from it and literally had NOTHING to add to my "Must Buy" list.  Actually, scratch that - I don't want anything they showed, period.

That said, I firmly believe that they will hold a press event in September at which they will announce their holiday line-up.  That's the only thing that can keep me interested in the Wii at this point.

I guess I'll be playing through my Wii backlog this summer, and Bangai-O Spirits on DS.

[D_Average]

Basically we're screwed and there's nothing we can do.

Guess I'll just look forward to....uh.....um.......finally buying Mario Sunshine

[Ian Sane]

GTA DS is one of those games that in a vacuum seems like a big deal.  But what Nintendo fans would really want to see would be GTA for the Wii.  GTA was on the GBA.  Nintendo getting portable versions of big third party console series is nothing new.  GTA on the Wii would be significant deal.  Nintendo never had any of the GTA games on a console.  Getting an enhanced port of GTA IV and confirmation that the next GTA will be released on the Wii at the same time as the other consoles?  Now we're talking.  I think Reggie misses that.  He just sees "GTA" on a list and thinks "hardcore gamers will like that so I'll say we'll have stuff that appeals to them".

[SkiDragon]

The most interesting thing I noticed is that there seemed to be five remotes working on the same system at once during the Wii Music demo.

[Djunknown]

Getting an enhanced port of GTA IV and confirmation that the next GTA will be released on the Wii at the same time as the other consoles?  Now we're talking.

My guess is that after the Manhunt II 'contreversy', NOA/NOE doesn't want to touch a console GTA with 10 ft/10 meter pole?

Good things:

Moar AC. Yay for Captain Obvious, but its Animal Crossing more or less the way it should be (more about that in a minute).

Improved Online: From Brawl's online play (Nearly Skeletal) to Mario Kart (Better) to Animal Crossing (Best), Nintendo is definitely making improvements to the online structure.

Wii Sports, Wii Play, and Wii Fit, now Wii Music. Can lightning strike a 4th time? This could be a an alternative to GH and RB for those not wanting to make that initial splurge on gear. At most, a $90 USD balance board if you don't have it already.

Wii Sports Resort showcasing how to do sword swinging action should give Lucas Arts no excuse for that kickass Lightsaber game we're all craving. Also, Red Steel 2.

Shaun White. Say what you will, but its not everyday an Olympic gold medalist is in the public eye after the Olympics are over. Though if I were him, I'd wear that gold medal everywhere. At work. In the bar/clubs. In bed. Not the shower though...

Bad Things

Animal Crossing looks like it never left 2002. Seriously. W. T. F. The original AC was a bumped up N64 game, so there was an excuse. There's no excuse here. What about Cel shading a la Wind Waker? T

Core games. *Dustball blows* Hell, just show Wario Land Shake if they have nothing to show to the public. No F-Zero. No Star Fox. No Pikmin. No Disaster Day of Crisis(Are the kids still talking about that?). No Retro Studio title. In short, a whole lot of no.

I'm just going off of NWR's summary, but no real mention of WiiWare. This is more of a personal expectation, but Nintendo/3rd party showcasing some kickass WiiWare title coming soon? Was that too much to ask?

WiiMotion Plus coming out later than sooner. What are the chances of 3rd parties giving it retro-active support? Star Wars:TFU is a prime example.

Some interesting comments I read on Destructoid

MaxVest at 07/15/2008 15:29      

I was hoping that your car could get stolen in the Animal Crossing City just like mine did in real life. And it needs moar homeless animals.

dprime at 07/15/2008 18:51      

You people say no innovation? I believe that in the DS version, you came to town in a TAXI. It is now a BUS. What are you people BLIND?

If we're judging on press conferences alone, I think Capcom gets the big thumbs down. Aside from being a Lost Planet: The Movie love-fest (at least a love-fest among the people on stage.), when live bloggers are contemplating streaming porn in a to spice up the monotony, there is a problem.

[NWR_Lindy]

GTA on the DS would have been cool in 2005.  Now it's on every platform out there, so nobody cares.

What amazes me is that they didn't even show any "hardcore" titles in montage trailers.  I figured they'd at least throw us a bone...instead, there was no bone.

[NWR_insanolord]

I actually think the total lack of core gamer games, with literally none of them shown, is something of a positive, as opposed to showing a couple things that weren't that big of a deal. The fact that we got nothing at all makes me believe we'll see a Nintendo show come out of nowhere within a couple months like we got last year that focuses almost solely on gamer games.

[matt oz]

What amazes me is that they didn't even show any "hardcore" titles in montage trailers.  I figured they'd at least throw us a bone...instead, there was no bone.

There was very brief gameplay footage of Call of Duty: World at War, mixed in with Rayman and The Clone Wars.  Personally, none of those titles interest me, being that I have the tolerance for one FPS per generation, I won't make the mistake of buying another Rabbids game, and I have no interest in Star Wars.

I was watching G4's live feed, and their interview with Reggie afterward was so funny.  You could tell Kevin and Morgan were holding back when Reggie said that Animal Crossing and GTA DS were the games to satisfy the "core" gamers.  As much as I loved Animal Crossing, I have absolutely no desire to play the same game again with the same graphics.  Visiting other peoples' towns doesn't seem like a big enough leap for the series.  As for GTA, would it have been too much to show a video?  A screen shot?  Concept art?  Tentative release date?

Wii Music...  I completely agree with Ian and the rest of the naysayers out there.  Seriously, if Guitar Hero is TOO HARD for you, then put your helmet back on and go rock back and forth in the corner.  My sister happened to come into the room while Miyamoto was miming playing a virtual saxophone with a Wii remote, and she said, "He's not even blowing!"  I just laughed because that would've been so perfect.  Why not complete the picture of miming playing virtual woodwind/brass instruments by blowing into them?

Oh, and Cammie Dunaway needs to never speak in public again.  I really miss Perrin

[Michael8983]

Back in the days when Nintendo was facing an uphill battle we'd of probably seen footage of a new Zelda title, along with many other reveals. But with the Wii essentially raping the competition, Nintendo obviously feels no need to reveal much of anything.

Animal Crossing is pretty much what it needs to be. It doesn't need a complete overhaul. The new features we've seen so far warrant an upgrade over whatever version you currently have. I suspect the game will also interact with the DS version which could be further justification for the nearly identical graphics.

Wii Music, like Wii Sports and Wii Fit, will have to be experienced first-hand to truly appreciate.

Wii Sports Resort is sure to be awesome and it will nice to finally have true 1:1 support.


Zelda, Pikmin, Punchout, Kid Icarus, Starfox, FZero and all the other franchises we wanted to see are likely being developed as we speak along with original titles we'd never expect. From Nintendo as well as third-parties who have no doubt finally accepted that the Wii isn't just a fad but infact the leading console this generation. We're just going to have to wait a little while to see anything major, unfortunately.

[D_Average]

Again, looks like we're screwed and there's nothing we can do.