E3 2009: Nintendo Press Conference Wrapup

[Trebuken]

All right. Red Steel 2 and Tiger Woods may be fun, but did Red Steel actually earn a sequel? I have hopes for motion plus but it is still limited by the Wii hardware. Tiger Woods with the new PS3 motion controller will still leave the Wii in its wake. Wii motion Plus was supposed to be available six months ago I believe so next week isn't good enough, but if it is as great as IGN claims I'd be very forgiving.

Super Mario Galaxy was a great, great game. If Super Mario Galaxy 2 were to copy and paste 50% of it it would still be awesome...

I still think New Super Mario Brothers looks ridiculous, but I acknowledge that I could be wrong here. Nintendo usually succeeds when it comes to Mario games. This looks to be Nintendo's biggest game for this years holiday...after Animal Crossing and Wii Music last year I am really disappointed not to see the bigger sequels. Lots of stuff coming, but not what I was hoping for.

[Oobgarm]

I actually am more interested in New Super Mario Bros. than Galaxy 2.

I dunno, 3D Mario just hasn't been the same since the N64 for some reason.

[FantasiaWHT]

I actually am more interested in New Super Mario Bros. than Galaxy 2.

I dunno, 3D Mario just hasn't been the same since the N64 for some reason.

No to the first one... NSMB was ridiculously easy and pretty bland.

Yes to the second one - it's actually become playable.

[Icarus Moonsight]

I wouldn't be so bold as to say that the Sony technicolor glow stick is gonna leave anything in it's wake at this point. All they had was an engineering prototype. It's still this nebulous undefined thing as far as the button configuration and other aspects... How the hell can you make judgments off of that? Besides, I still say, a controller or control system will not do well unless it is the standard control set. You can make a mid-cycle upgrade (Sony did it with the DualShock PS1) successful, but it has to be carried by the software (as in a majority of the future game releases) and replace the old standard. As a side option, the chances of meaningful market penetration are rather slim.

On a side note, I love WiiPlay for no other reason than it has that awesome toy tank game. If that makes me retarded, I'll gladly take my extra chromasoam and be happy.

[FantasiaWHT]

On a side note, I love WiiPlay for no other reason than it has that awesome toy tank game. If that makes me retarded, I'll gladly take my extra chromasoam and be happy.

QFT. I've spent entire afternoons playing that with people.

[Zap!]

All right. Red Steel 2 and Tiger Woods may be fun, but did Red Steel actually earn a sequel?

Did 1987's Street Fighter I diserve a sequel? It sucked beyond belief, yet SFII was one of the biggest and best games of the 90's.

[Rob2600]

You aren't forced to buy anything.

If you want to play either of those two new games, then you are FORCED to buy the new hardware.

You want to play those games, but you're not forced to. There's a difference.

[joedick]

What did people think of Golden Sun? I thought the originals were gorgeous relative to what was out there on the GBA. But this one looks kinda bland. If only it was 2D!

Though it wasn't in the presser, I'm glad to see game of the show/year is coming to North America in Picross 3D!

[Lucifersam1]

Agreed, this is going to be the first Wii game I have bought in ages... This is going to be awesome.


I actually am more interested in New Super Mario Bros. than Galaxy 2.

I dunno, 3D Mario just hasn't been the same since the N64 for some reason.

[Rev. Link]

The fact that we're getting a new 2D Mario game on a console, even if it does use polygonal graphics, is a dream come true for me. As much as I liked Galaxy, and as much as I'm dying to see more of the new Metroid, NSMB Wii is probably the biggest deal for me. It'll have to be a day one purchase, just to show my support for 2D gaming.

[ProgrammingAce]

I'm strangely excited for the new SMB wii game, i'm kind of disapointed that it's only going to have 10 levels though...

[Bojay1997]

Ok, I'm willing to concede when I'm wrong and after spending the last six hours at E3, I think none of the three press conferences gave a true picture of what was actually on the show floor and therefore fairly close to release. As much as I dislike having to buy another add-on, Wii Motion Plus is pretty darn good. I played the sword duel on Wii Resort and it wasn't exactly 1:1, but it's as close as I have ever seen on a console or arcade unit. I think just like Wii Sports that this is a game most people will only play occasionally because it's pretty limited in its depth, but it was fun and a good demo of what the Motion Plus might be capable of.

Red Steel 2 actually plays really well and looks fantastic. The sword control is very tight and a huge improvement over the first game. Tiger Woods played ok, but I'm not a huge golf fan anyway, so I can't really tell if the Motion Plus added very much to the gameplay. It still seemed a lot like the same general accuracy as other golf games I have played on the Wii.

New Super Mario was not very fun. Unless you have three other people who are pretty similar in their skill level, someone keeps lagging behind and the camera keeps pulling out making it hard to get into the game. Oddly, I might enjoy this as a single player game.

Endless Ocean 2 and Sin and Punishment 2 were both in the Nintendo booth and looked great. I'm not sure why they couldn't have spent five minutes in their drawn out presentation at least acknowledging these games exist and are almost done.

This probably isn't the appropriate post to add this, but Sony seemed to have a lot more games from recognizable franchises playable in their booth than Microsoft. In fact, it seemed like Splinter Cell Conviction and Halo ODST were the two big games Microsoft was pushing and quite honestly they didn't seem that unique or interesting. You actually had to wait in line and get some weird pass to watch the demo of Beatles Rock Band which seemed really bizarre to me considering the game is coming out in less than 3 months and isn't exactly a secret anymore.

[chicnstu]

I'm strangely excited for the new SMB wii game, i'm kind of disapointed that it's only going to have 10 levels though...

Nah, Miyamoto said it has 80.

[NayusDante]

I'm strangely excited for the new SMB wii game, i'm kind of disapointed that it's only going to have 10 levels though...

Perhaps they mean 10 worlds.

[ProgrammingAce]

Nah, Miyamoto said it has 80.

You're right, my mistake.

I read this as saying they had 3 of 10 levels availible...


I played three of the ten levels being shown on the showroom floor at E3.

[NayusDante]

I want to see them use the Super Mario World map format. Also similar to SMB 3. That gives everything a feeling of being one continuous world, as opposed to just a bunch of stages.

[The 1 2 P]

Just finished watching the whole press conference. Overall it was very lackluster and had very little audience enthusiasm. Reggie pwned another Nintendo employee to prove that he's still the Regginator. I think the Wii motion plus is just yet another step in Nintendo's attempt to achieve true 1 to 1 motion sensing. Which means theres another future update forthcoming(next years E3 probably).

As for the games, Super Mario Galaxy 2 looked cool and I already knew The Conduit and Resident Evil: DC were going to rock. But Metroid M obviously was the best part of Nintendo's show.

[skaar]

Where did you find Mario Galaxy 2 playable on the floor? I didn't see it anywhere.

[meancode]

If you want to play either of those two new games, then you are FORCED to buy the new hardware.

What? They are not holding a gun to your head. First off, how is is that so many people forget Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis? It has a level editor, it has level sharing, and OMG it is out on the DS already.

Secondly, it is called DSiWare. You can't play Mighty Flip Champs, Pictobits, Aquia or WarioWare: Snapped on the DS, because they are downloadable games for the DSi. You had to have known when they announced downloadable games for the DSi that the system would have games that the DS did not.

[Icarus Moonsight]

PictoBits is downloadable crack, seriously. Almost as bad as Peggle. I still cant beat Dark Stage 14. :(

You guys in LA. When you play something on floor leave some play impressions please. I'd enjoy reading some first hand accounts of what's there.

[Kitsune Sniper]

AHAHAHAHA

WHAT

That Vitality sensor? They're going to get SUED over it! Guess they'd never heard of the MindDrive!

http://www.other90.com/

Everything I've read regarding the Vitality Sensor sounds a lot like what I read about this little thing...

[NayusDante]

It's not a new concept, it's a real medical device:

http://www.braintuner.com/images/oxymeter.jpg

[Kitsune Sniper]

Yes, I know that. But it looks like the MindDrive was the first of these devices intended for game playing (well, sorta).

Whoever owns the patents (I think it was someone who worked for Atari?) has a chance to make a boatload of money on a lawsuit.

[NayusDante]

Well, we don't know exactly how Nintendo plans to use the devices yet, or even exactly what they measure. There's several possibilities, but they can be creative in how they use the input.

[Bojay1997]

Yes, I know that. But it looks like the MindDrive was the first of these devices intended for game playing (well, sorta).

Whoever owns the patents (I think it was someone who worked for Atari?) has a chance to make a boatload of money on a lawsuit.

I believe there was already a pulse sensor available for the N64 which was released by Seta. It increased or decreased the rate of the in-game action based on the player's pulse. Also, the mind drive wasn't a pulse sensor, it was some kind of feedback device that could allegedly read your thoughts, although it probably just read your pulse or muscle flexes.

[VG_Maniac]

I'm definitely looking forward to New Super Mario Bros. Wii the most. I've been dreaming of a new 2D Mario platformer on a major Nintendo console for years now. The return of the Koopa Kids, and being able to ride on Yoshi like in Mario World were the icing on the cake for me.