E3 2008 - Nintendo Conference

Not super interested, honestly. Nintendo has been very hush hush (as usual), which either means they have a big secret announcement...or they have nothing. I wouldn't count on a new Zelda so soon. Though it is time for a console Animal Crossing. All I really care about is more Ace Attorney and Fire Emblem.

I think it's going to be hard to top Square's bomb shell announcement yesterday about bringing the new Final Fantasy game to the 360.

They do have their new motion plus device. It's supposed to add a higher level of precision and motion tracking to the wii-mote. Great for FPS games.

And here we go! Will Nintendo try to go for hard core gamers this year? Or more casual gamers (some more)? What franchises will be seeing new releases?

I think this woman here is the VP of marketing at Nintendo America (Cammie Dunnaway?)? She's kicking it off talking about her children and being a mom, but we all know that Nintendo is fairly family oriented. Oh, she's talking about snow boarding, which I'm guessing will lead into the balance board...and there it is. .......................... HAHA I thought that was Carrot Top for a second. He's actually an Olympic gold medalist...for snow boarding, I'd assume. I can say this for Cammie: she doesn't sound like she's reading off a cue card like the Microsoft dude did. And she appears to be genuinely excited. Now Cammie is playing; she's not bad. The game is Shaun White Snowboarding (the name of the fellow here).

Global president Satoru Iwata. What's he have to say.... Talking about the Wii development and how well it's done. Talking about the long lasting...ness...of their games (he's calling them "evergreen" titles). Basic Nintendo mottos.... Mentioning Mario and Zelda games may be upcoming. Innovation, etc. He's a little hard to understand. Talking about expanding the game market beyond traditional gamers. Gah, the camera signal keeps cutting out. Destroying the psychological barrier is his next point. Innovation again, engaging players and enriching the experience. It's all basic Nintendo stuff - what they stand for, etc.

Here's the creator of Animal Crossing. "In 2008 Animal Crossing comes to Wii." It's called Animal Crossing City Folk. Nice new additions here. You go into the city where Gracie sells her clothes from an actual store instead of a car trunk. Oh! You can dress up your character to look like your Mii; that's cool. Oh...they're coming out with a microphone now. WiiSpeak. It sits on top of the TV like the sensor bar. You can visit other people's towns, of course, like in the others.

Ah, here's Reggie, the pres of Nintendo of America. Sales numbers. Marketing figures. The DS is stomping all over EVERYTHING. Pokemon is a big seller, no surprise there. More sales figures; LOL at the PS2 outselling the PS3. Now he's talking about giving the loyal gamers what they wanted at launch, and pulling in new gamers at the same time. 3rd party game stats. Now he's talking about a balance of classic games, casual games, and new franchises. O.o They're going to preview just 3 new games.

Star Wars: Clone Wars. Showing some nerdy looking guys using their wii-motes as light sabers. Holiday 2008.

Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party. Well...it's Rayman. Not much else to say really. You can use the balance board with it. Fall 2008.

Call of Duty World at War. Showing people using the Wii gun trigger thing. "Coming Soon."

Lol - "As you can see, Wii creativity is mushrooming."
Cammie is back to talk about new players. She's showing the rise of female players with the DS.
More Guitar Hero DS (On Tour: Decades). Spore is coming to the DS? I didn't know that.
For Guitar Hero you can share songs through Guitar Hero on Tour and Decades between friends, even across the separate titles. All of these demos and videos (except for the snow boarding one) have been prerecorded sequences. There haven't been any more live onstage demos. Annnnnd more Pokemon, coming on November 10. Wow. Grand Theft Auto for the DS this winter. China Town Wars? It's not a port, but it does take place in Liberty City. Now she's talking about flying. Are they partnering up with airplane companies? Checking baggage, flight times, restaurant times with the DS. Using the DS at baseball games to check scores and watch highlights. WOW. DS in the kitchen? A DS cookbook. Nifty.

Reggie is back. He's talking about the Wii Motion Plus. As I said before, increased sensitivity, etc. Wii Sports Resort, like a sequel to Wii Sports. They're going to do a live demo using the new Motion Plus thing. OOO - they'll package a Motion Plus with every Wii Sports Resort, along with a new larger rubber sleeve (like what they were giving away before). Aw, she's playing frisbee on the beach with her dog. CUTE. Reggie is...riding a jet ski? Resort is all beach games. This other fellow is...chopping logs or something. Now Reggie and Cammie are going at it together in some sort of stick/sword battle.

Reggie is talking about Motion Plus some more. "We care about smiling faces!" That's nice. What are they showing now? Smoke effects? Lol Here's a guy playing a drum set with the wii-mote/nunchuck. Oh, he's using the balance board too. Miyamoto is using the Wii-mote to play a saxaphone. This must be their new music game. Oh, the other guy is playing drums at the same time. Well that was certainly interesting. It's called Wii Music. He's pointing out that this isn't a rhythm button game like other music games (like Guitar Hero). You just move your body around, and the game plays the notes to match the song you're playing. Oh, he is pressing buttons - that sets the tempo, like when you actually play the notes, but it does not determine the actual note you play. Piano, violin, guitar, can't remember what kind of drum that is, lots of different instruments. Oh, here's their orchestra game. Is it the same game? I think it is. Heh, Miyamoto pokes fun of himself: "Two years ago I conducted an orchestra. Many of you said I was pretty bad." You can record videos of your performances. The Wii really needs a HD expansion. You can play with up to 4 players at a time. But...there's 6 of them playing it right now. Oh, they're playing the Mario theme song. Two trumpets, bells, cow bell, drums. OK there is actually a little thing in the corner that tells you when to press the buttons so you don't have to memorize the melodies. Doesn't sound too bad, really. Looks fun.

They're wrapping things up now. Cammie and Reggie have been pretty amusing through the whole thing. You can tell they love what they're doing. Would be cool to be there; Nintendo put on a pretty entertaining show today. No Mario titles, no Zelda. Animal Crossing, two new casual family games, and some big title cross overs. Nothing huge, really, though WiiSpeak has good potential. But a good conference all around.