E3 part 3 - Nintendo Press Conference Tuesday 29th July 2008

Welcome to the final instalment of my three part series analyzing, reviewing and bringing to you, all the much needed knowledge and information from this years E3 gaming press conferences. So far we have seen SONY bring about an informative and professional conference which was dominated strongly by INSOMNIAC GAMES, the announcement of ‘SONY HOME’ coming this fall and the highly anticipated title ‘Little Big Planet’. Next up was Microsoft who in my opinion blew SONY out of the water with a much more entertaining and gamer orientated event. The highlights of Microsoft’s conference were ‘Gears of War 2’, ‘Fable 2’, ‘Fallout 3’, the new Xbox interface and the announcement of ‘Final Fantasy 13’ now going multiplatform. Last but not least, Nintendo, the soaring giants hit the stage to bring forth their new releases and announcements. While Nintendo may not be the hardcore gamer’s first choice, their dominating sales and impressive intuitive tactics have certainly put them in an exceptional position to financially win in this fiscal year.

The Nintendo conference opened in typical Nintendo fashion, showing a vast range of cultures and ages enjoying the Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS all over the globe. The small segment really gave off a sense that Nintendo is for everyone and anyone looking to enjoy themselves. The clip ended with a very meaningful phrase ‘’we promise to keep the world smiling’’ which I felt was very fitting for it really made sense with Nintendo’s goals and aspirations with their consoles. Immediately after, the executive vice director of sales and finances for Nintendo Miss Cammie Dunaway, entered the stage and begun the presentation.

Miss Dunaway proceeded to babble about literally nothing of relevance, talking about how her children love that she works for Nintendo because she brings them loads of games (she doesn’t bring me any games so why do I need to know this, it just makes me jealous, move along with the show!) and how she went snowboarding with her kids and proceeded to break her wrist, it really got boring very quickly. I should have seen where the snowboarding story was leading to as shortly after, a curtain was dropped and snowboarding superstar Shaun White was standing on a ‘Wii Fit’ board showing off his new title ‘Shaun White Snowboarding’ from Ubisoft. The game used motion controls implemented through your body posture and weight to adjust how the boarder moved across the snow. The physics was very cool but I believe it really is a game for certain people, not everyone could enjoy this. Miss Dunaway then proceeded to have a go and it was really interesting to hear Shaun White chatting about his gold medal win in 2006 and how this is one of the best snowboarding Sims to date. ‘Shaun White Snowboarding’ is set to arrive in stores by the end of the year in all regions.

Next up on the stage to join Miss Dunaway was Nintendo’s Global President Satoru Iwata. Mr Iwata went on to address the pessimistic view of Nintendo’s future held at his very first E3 press conference in May of 2003. He stated that it was not an enjoyable period for them, but he could not blame people thinking that way because they were looking at Nintendo’s position from a common sense view of the video game market. Now 5 years down the line, the gaming market has accepted and taken Nintendo with open arms to make them the most profitable gaming company. ‘’Why is this?’’ asked Mr Iwata. The first reason he stated, was because Nintendo sell games that can and will sell for a long period of time. Titles such as ‘Nintendogs’ and ‘Brain Age’ are continuing to reel in continuous profits with little slowdown in their selling patterns Iwata continued on to state. Other titles with similarities to these patterns are the ‘New Super Mario Bros’ and ‘Mario Kart DS’. Iwata argued that these products are considered ‘evergreens’. The second reason Iwata believed was that gamers are now no longer simply looking for new software with better looking graphics and sophisticated content, but rather innovation and enjoyability take over a large proportion of gamer’s priorities. Iwata also emphasized that he is fully aware a large proportion of gamers do still increasingly demand beautiful games and as such he took the time to mention that the producers and designers of Mario titles and Zelda titles are hard at work to continue satisfying the needs of those gamers. Nevertheless, ‘’small teams with small budgets can capture a wide range of support globally from consumers, if they had a great idea,’’ stated Iwata. He emphasized that titles such as ‘Wii Fit’ and ‘Wii Sports’ gained massive credit because of its ability to capture the attention of those not involved with the video game market. The third reason Iwata stated was largely because of titles such as ‘Wii Fit’. Nintendo’s view he believed, was very limited a few years ago, but now the user interface has expanded to gamers in both genders, of all ages. The final reason Iwata liked to share with the audience, was his goal from last year’s E3, to destroy the psychological barrier between gamers and non gamers. He pointed to such hit titles as ‘Mario Kart Wii’ and ‘Guitar Hero 3’ which have really brought people together and gotten them to try new and different things, something which perhaps without Wii, would never have been possible.

After Mr. Iwata’s speech regarding Nintendo’s changing position in the global market (which I thought so far, was the best and most prepared and well delivered speech of any employee to hit the stage across all three conferences), he mentioned a very interesting point which I agree with and admire that it is something Nintendo have taken on board already. Mr. Iwata stated that ‘’no matter how revolutionary something is, gamers will eventually become bored of this new play style and will need something new.’’ Iwata went further to emphasize that Nintendo’s goals are to make every single gamer feel Engaged, Enriched and Enthused (how’s that for E3 right there). On that note, Mr. Iwata concluded in telling the crowd that Nintendo seeks to pioneer fresh new ideas to really make the gaming market evolve in ways like no other company can do so. ‘WiiWare’ is a prime example he pointed to where consumers can become creators and share innovation around the world.

Upon Mr. Iwata exiting the stage, a clip began to play which showed legendary ‘Animal Crossing’ creator and the director and designer for Nintendo EAD, Katsuya Eguchi. The clip announced that ‘Animal Crossing City Folk’ will be coming to Nintendo Wii by the end of 2008. The small clip of the game showed some of the amazing interaction in ‘Animal Crossing’ and Mr Eguchi made it very clear that the idea of having this continuous in game 24 hour clock could really make gamers feel like they have stepped into a real living and breathing world. This means that while a player might not necessarily be playing his game, the animals will still be getting up and performing their daily routines while they wait for you to log back in. Eguchi then went on to point out that the real beauty of this Animal Crossing, will be the ability to communicate and interact with other players. One thing he mentioned will be the ability for gamers to send post cards to each other with pictures. These post cards can be sent to towns, to friends or even to the Wii message board. The biggest news here was the confirmation of WiiSpeak, a community microphone that will plug in and stand on top of your TV. This peripheral will allow gamers to talk to everyone in their allotted rooms on ‘Animal Crossing’, all over the world. The ability to move to friend’s towns will really allow user interactivity to be the main asset of ‘Animal Crossing City Folk’ and will consequently bring many hours of replay value and multi player excitement to living rooms.

Upon the Animal Crossing presentation ending, the loud speaker gave a warm welcome to Nintendo’s main man, the President and Chief Operating Officer, Reggie. Reggie is known worldwide as a dominating and charismatic speaker who has had a profound effect on many Nintendo conferences and events in the last few years. Reggie began his speech with a quick note that when he ended last year’s E3 speech, he stated that Nintendo were pleased, but not yet satisfied. However, this year it was announced that over 10 million Wii systems have been sold in the US and over 20 million Nintendo DS units as well. ‘’Despite all of this, we are still no way near closer to being satisfied’’ continued Reggie as he emphasized that there are still millions upon millions of people who are not yet involved with video games and at the same time, there are millions upon millions of gamers who are hungry for what is next. Reggie continued his informative talk by going into depth regarding the sales of the Nintendo DS. Each year sales continue to rise, making the Nintendo DS another ‘evergreen’ unit in Nintendo’s arsenal. Reggie also emphasized that the Nintendo Wii is by far the strongest selling of the 3 console giants and it has the fastest growing gaming library of the 3 as well. The speech then took a turn for the worse in my opinion. While the other two conferences showed a huge amount of titles that will be coming in the near future, Reggie announced that because there is no way they could show us everything that is coming to Nintendo Wii, the Nintendo organisers opted to preview and demo just three titles for the audience. ‘’Each title’’ he announced, ‘’takes a different approach to the innovation offered by Wii.’’ Let’s hope these titles are really big for this conferences sake.

The first preview to hit the large screen was ‘Star Wars the Clone Wars’. While not particularly exciting, the Wiimote Lightsaber idea is pretty cool I guess. The second title to be blasted up for preview was ‘Rayman Raving Rabids TV Party’ which also makes use of the Wii Balance Board, another title not of particular interest. Finally and most impressively, ‘Call of Duty World at War’ was shown which will have some pretty intense multiplayer action and will incorporate the Wii Gun Accessory which was promoted for ‘Resident Evil the Umbrella Chronicles’. All 3 games really did not have me holding my breath; I believe that not even remote gamers will purchase these titles apart from maybe ‘Call of Duty’. The other two titles look like they’ll be incredibly popular with children, which is a great thing if you have little ones in the household. After the lights came back on we were greeted back on stage by Miss Dunaway. She went on to state that although these Wii titles looked fantastic, there is even more great stuff coming for the DS. She emphasized that DS software and hardware sales were increasing dramatically due to the drastic amount of girls who now purchase or receive DS consoles. ‘’In 2007’’ she stated, ‘’the amount of DS consoles bought by girls and boys was 48% to 52%, almost identical to each other.’’ This really shows the unique ability of Nintendo to engage the other gender in video games, something which Microsoft and SONY completely fail to do or even acknowledge.

‘’Such hit titles as ‘Guitar Hero on Tour’ really show the power of the DS to help third party companies such as Activision to make huge financial success’’ she stated. The game itself sold over 300,000 copies in its first week in the US. A brief mention of a new spin off title ‘On Tour Decades’ from the Guitar Hero series is meant to be on its way in the near future, the quick presentation showed that players with ‘On Tour’ and ‘On Tour Decades’ will be able to share songs with each other to increase their libraries during multiplayer. The next game to be presented on the big screen was ‘Spore Creatures’, a spin off of the PS3 title coming in the near future. ‘Spore’ really reminds me of some sort of Pokemon Safari Zone style of game play. Players will be given the opportunity to create their own little monster and they will be able to share these monsters with friends and do all sorts of crazy stuff. Straight after that clip, Miss Dunaway announced that ‘Pokemon Ranger Shadows of Almia’ will hit US shores on November the 10th. Another exclusive announcement came in the form of ‘Grand Theft Auto – Chinatown Wars’ which will arrive this winter for the DS.

The next phase of the presentation was all about using the Nintendo DS in every day life. Miss Dunaway explained that soon it could be possible that airports will allow you to use your DS to find out where to collect your luggage from, where the nearest ATM machine is. Another example used was the Seattle Ball Park where Nintendo DS owners can use their DS consoles to order food, check box scores, watch updates and highlights of other games. The idea is to incorporate the console to make it not a video games system, but a pocket computer system. Games such as ‘DS Cook Book’ could really see the console be used for more than gaming, but every day necessities for everybody. Needless to say, the Nintendo DS really seems like a great gaming device, but also a natural companion for everybody.

After giving that insight to the Nintendo DS, Miss Dunaway quickly gave the spotlight back to Reggie who immediately announced the new Wii peripheral, ‘Wii MotionPlus’. The Wii MotionPlus Reggie claims ‘’renders all hand and wrist movements into the game.’’ He then went on to announce ‘Wii Sports Resort’ as the sequel to the hit ‘Wii Sports’ and as the software bundle that the MotionPlus will come with. The first game for show from ‘Wii Sports Resort’ was a Frisbee throwing game with a virtual puppy. Miss Dunaway clearly showed that her precise movement in every direction is picked up on screen in real time by the MotionPlus. Although the game looks horrifically bad and boring, the MotionPlus does its job well. The second mini game to be shown was a Jet Ski game much like ‘WaveRace Blue Storm’ but simplified for the Wii. The game had Reggie holding his Wiimote and nun chuck horizontal like he would hold the handle bars of the Jet Ski. The MotionPlus was implemented when Reggie tilted his hand forward doing a revving motion, just like on a real Jet Ski. The final game demoed was a Sword Wielding Duel title. Once again, very simplistic and probably wouldn’t keep any serious gamer entertained for long, but it was pretty sweet to watch Reggie or ‘the Regginator’ as he likes to call himself, beat the hell out of Miss Dunaway in a 1 on 1 duel. The good thing I think though is ‘Wii Sports Resort’ will be packaged as a real game, not a mini title that comes with a console which means that a considerable amount of games will be inside the title. The launch time for ‘Sports Resort’ is spring next year. Reggie concluded this section with one final title that will bring more smiles to the faces of gamers, ‘Wii Music’. As the entire auditorium went dark, a small spotlight hit a guy who was sitting with a Wiimote in hand, nun chuck in the other and the Balance Board at his feet. The guy proceeded to play on a virtual set of drums and from what I could tell, it was very responsive. Shortly after, video game legend Miyamoto entered the stage and was playing the Saxophone using his Wiimote. This looked like it was being done with the assortment of button on the pad. With the help of a translator, Miyamoto explained that this is not a competitive music title like ‘Guitar Hero’ or ‘Rock Band’. This is an opportunity for everyone and anyone to enjoy music. The idea is by moving in the way a musician would move, the Wii will register your movements and button pressing to play the notes according to the song. This essentially means that there is absolutely no way to miss a note or ruin the song, so like what is the point? Maybe I am missing something, but it seems completely pointless if you ask me. Nevertheless, it is innovation as its best, instead of evaluating a players performance, it will record and allow gamers to make their own performances, all in the spirit of fun, rather than competition.

Coming to the end of the conference, Reggie and Miss Dunaway stepped back on stage to reemphasize the idea that Nintendo are looking forward to a place where gamers will be Engaged, Enriched and Enthused with their Nintendo experience. Reggie denounced the idea of the Wii being a ‘fad’ and concluded by stating that they will be looking to outdo even themselves, they will be looking for the next ‘advantage’ to keep them ahead of the competition. With that, the conference was over.

Well, what can I say? Inevitably I am biased, why I hear you ask? Well, I am an 18 year old gamer who likes to blow things up, become immersed in deep and compelling stories, play games which require skill and precision to accomplish. The Wii really does not offer a compelling gaming experience for me, but nevertheless I applaud them for their fantastic ideas and intuitive ways of presenting them. While only a small number of games were previewed and shown here, a very strong sense of awareness and confidence was seeping from everyone who spoke and from that we can gather than Nintendo’s future looks very bright. As long as the software quality stays high, the Wii will no doubt have another huge year.

Keep on reading because soon I will have a smaller review posted summarising and comparing all 3 conferences in a fair amount of detail. Together I hope we can come to a conclusion as to who was indeed this year’s E3 winner.

Igor Kharin

I.K.
CeX Towers

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