| [News] Nintendo's E3 Press Conference July 15, 2008 — by |
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While we didn’t see any Zelda, Metroid, Star Fox, or anything else core gamers are familiar with, we did see some pretty interesting things. Taking advantage of the Wii-fit’s pad, they’ve constructed a snow boarding game which you control by tilting on the pad. They had Sean White test it out for the audience, and I have to say, it looks fun. Sure its new, but so is everything at one point.
They’ve also taken a larger step into Wii-Sports with the “Wii-Sports Resort” which in all honesty looks like it could be loads of fun. The sword fighting, which was demonstrated on the big screen, particularly caught my interest. By using an add-on to the Wii-mote called the MotionPlus, it can be attuned to every move you make. 
That being said, you can swing a sword in any angle you want, or move your tennis racket any way you want. Its much more responsive, and definitely adds another dimension to your interaction with the game. There are bundles of games that they didn’t show- but Wii-Sports Resort seems worth buying, and could be a lot of fun for everyone in the house. Animal Crossing: City Folk. This titles stirred up a lot of attention, and adds a new dimension to the Animal Crossing we all know. Not only do you get to take the train to a city which holds auctions(specifically) and other events, but now you have the chance to buy a new piece of Wii Hardware. I’m talking of course, about Wii-Speak. 
Using this speaker that sits on the top of your sensor bar, you can talk to friends who are visiting you! They mentioned that it’s a loudspeaker so that parents can monitor what their children are saying. Morgan Webb made a comment about how parents should hear what their kids say over X-Box Live. If you’ve ever played Halo in a room full of people, you’d know exactly what she’s saying. They’ve also announced Spore for the DS, which allows you to create a civilization with monsters and creatures that you yourself create! While we’ve been anticipating Spore for the PC, it seems that it will make an appearance on the DS around the same time as well! Spore looks like a very interesting game, and I think the Nintendo DS will pull it off nicely. Along with Spore, they covered more on Guitar Hero: On Tour, which utilizes the DS’s GBA slot as the keys you press, the DS slot for the game, and the Touch-screen which you strum on with your stylus. It looks a little tough to play, but then again, we’ve said that about Nintendo’s innovative ways before- and truthfully I’ve never found anything with the Nintendo label on it difficult to play. As if there wasn’t enough spotlight on the DS, its revealed that the Nintendo DS will have a GTA exclusive! That dropped some jaws in the audience, as Nintendo is known for its family friendly gaming. It definitely turned some heads at E3, and one head in the virtual audience specifically. He asked if Nintendo, by putting a game like Grand Theft Auto on it’s DS, was turning away from kid-friendly games. Nintendo wants to appeal to everyone. They’ve proven this by installing a virtual cook-book assistant into the DS(which was popular in Japan), as well as non-gaming applications for Baseball games, and airports. The functionality of the DS is definitely taking another large leap, and with it’s sales being about 12% ahead of last year’s, you can expect to see more of it. Now I know what some of you are thinking by now. “I find your lack of StarWars disturbing…” In no way have I forgotten about StarWars: The Clone Wars. Saving the best for last as the saying goes. The game looks absolutely brilliant! Using the Wii-mote as your light saber and your Nun-chuck to use The Force, it proves to be an epic combat system. A few light saber duels were shown on the big screen, and it looks absolutely epic! While the graphics did look a little choppy to me, its still in progress, and will definitely be on my gaming shelf- err… floor(I’m not too organized). Expect to see more from Nintendo over the next few days, as they’re definitely not done yet. Right? I mean honestly, they’d better not be done. I saw absolutely nothing I’m comfortably familiar with. It was just their press conference, and they did in fact make the statement: “We look forward to seeing you over the next few days.”
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