E3 Wrap-up
So, I watched the Nintendo E3 press conference via the internet this morning. I know, I’m a couple of days late, but it’s the first chance I’ve had due to exams. It was reasonably lengthy, and was no way near the failure of last year’s conference, yet for me, there still wasn’t a whole lot to be excited about. Here are the main items talked about during the conference, in order of appearance:
New Super Mario Bros. Wii: Another return to traditional 2D platforming for Mario, as a follow on from the New Super Mario Bros. DS game which came out in about 2006, if I remember correctly. The main feature Nintendo was talking up was 4 player co-op multiplayer. On stage, it looked like something of a chaotic mess, which I suppose was quite a lot of fun, but could easily be anything but - all I can think of is the rather terrible co-op multiplayer in Super Smash Brother Brawl. The game looks amazing, and hopefully will be equally as enjoyable to play.
Also announced was Wii Fit Plus, which appears to be a slightly more polished version of the (apparently) very popular fitness game. It only adds in a handful of new features, but apparently focuses more on creating a regular training regime.
Returning from last year’s E3 was Wii Sports Resort, complete with Wii MotionPlus. The main selling point for this is the incredible movement precision provided by the Wii MotionPlus. I will remain dubious about how precise the add-on is until I’ve actually played the game, which will no doubt be extra expensive.(Apparently I’m wrong, it’s releasing on the 24th of July at $99.95) Nintendo announced a number of sports game to be released within weeks (in America) that would also use the extension.
A number of 3rd party Wii and DS games were featured. Most of these, especially the new Final Fantasy game (Final Fantasy: The Crystal Bearers) looked rather underwhelming, although I could be completely wrong. Don’t quote me on that.
Also shown was a short trailer for Super Mario Galaxy 2. This was about the only thing from the entire conference I’m particularly excited about, as the original game was incredible, and this one looks just as good. No release date was announced, but I would imagine it to be sometime in 2010.
Finally, at the end of the presentation, fans were treated to a short trailer of a new Metroid game, called Metroid: Other M. I’m not the biggest fan of the metroid franchise, and to me, the trailer appeared rather confusing - a mix of traditional side-scrolling Metroid, Metroid Prime-style FPS and 3rd person fighting.
Some other things I’ve discovered while browsing various news sites include the announcement of Final Fantasy XIV (an MMORPG similar to FFXI), even though Final Fantasy XIII is still nowhere near release, as well as various motion-sensing devices for X360 and PS3. If you’d like more information about them, you’ll have to google.
Finally, even though we’ve known about this since about 2004, Nintendo is finally releasing coloured Wii units. Well, black Wii units. In Japan, with no known western release-date. Still, better than nothing:
