Nintendo E3 Conference - Live Blog

Wii, DS, 3DS

It's Nintendo's turn to take the stage, we'll keep you up to date:

2:02 am - Reggie is on the stage. He mentions both motion controls and the Kinect.

He mentions an experience we've been waiting for. A video plays, it's Zelda! The game is called The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. The graphics have a similar style to that of Wind Waker. A video of Shigeru Miyamoto plays, he says that the Motion Plus will be fully supported, and will be used for both sword control and item usage. The Wii Remote and Nunchuk will be your sword and shield. We see a bit of gameplay, but suddenly Shigeru pops out from behind the sage to show us how to play the game properly. Most actions will be performed by moving the controllers, with a couple of buttons being used as well. Link's sword follows the players movements accurately. You have to cut enemies in certain ways in order to defeat them. Spin Attacks can be executed by swinging both controllers quickly. Shaking the Nunchuk allows you to perform a shield bash which can deflect projectile attacks. Until now items have been equipped to buttons. Players should think of items as being stored in a pocket, and they should reach in and grab them. We see a scroll wheel of items, which are selected by waving the remote. Bombs can be thrown by performing a throwing motion with the remote. There seem to be some technical issues with the bow and arrow item. We're seeing a new item, which is a mechanical beetle which can be flown around an area. Another new item is the whip, which can cut grass as well as grab items and enemies. We're assured that the game plays perfectly on the show floor - damage control! Development will continue on through the year, we won't be playing the game until sometime next year. A gameplay montage plays, there's plenty of action.

2:20am - Reggie comes back on stage, says Zelda is just the start. We're seeing the anouncement of a new Mario sports game. It's Volleyball! Now it's Hockey! Now Basketball. The game is called Mario Sports Mix, due out next year.

Reggie goes on to assure us that the Wii is still selling well, and people are buying lots of games. Apparently they have "bridge-games" which both casual and hardcore gamers enjoy. Now we have the announcement of Mii Party, a mini-game compilation which makes a lot of use of Mii avatars. Reggie mentions the original Just Dance game, which has sold well. Now we have Just Dance 2, with a montage video playing.

2:29am - Now we have a new Golden Sun game for DS, called Golden Sun: Dark Dawn. Looks pretty interesting.

2:35am - We're now seeing Epic Mickey, a new Wii exclusive game from Disney Interactive. Mickey can use a paintbrush to both create and destroy objects and characters. There are connecting levels which lead to new areas, they're based on classic Disney cartoons such as Mickey's own Steamboat Willie.

2:41am - Reggie comes back. He mentions Sakurai, the creator of Kirby and Smash Bros. Could this be a new Kirby game? Reggie says it's time for a new Kirby game on Wii. We have Kirby's Epic Yarn. It looks like a typical Kirby platformer, but everything appears to be made out of coloured strings of yarn. Kirby can use string to reflect projectiles. We'll be seeing the game later this year.

2:45am - Now we've got Dragon Quest IX. There's 120 quests in the game, and over 900 items. The interaction between players is important. The game has Tag Mode, which will seek out other players who have their DS consoles running in Tag Mode. The game will be released on the 11th of July. At the end of August, we'll be seeing...Metroid?! The game seems to alternate between first person and third person gameplay. There's plenty of action, it looks like we'll be seeing a fair bit of Samus's face. The game will be released in the U.S on the 31st of August.

Wait, I know that music! It's DK, and he's finally getting a new side scrolling platform game! It looks like Donkey Kong Country, but in full 3D. Donkey and Diddy are racing through levels. The game will be available this Christmas (at least in the U.S).

2:52am - Reggie has something new, the Nintendo 3DS. He says we've been hearing a lot about 3D TVs, but there's not much content and the glasses are a pain. It's costly. Nintendo are going to make it easy. There will be no glasses, and plenty of content on day 1. A pedestal rises out of the stage, and on it is a handheld. Satoru Iwata come on stage and holds it up. It looks pretty similar to a regular DSi. He says they've searched for a way to bring 3D gaming to the mainstream audience. You can turn the 3D element on and off at will. The bottom screen is a touch screen. They've added 3D, and they've improved the graphics capabilities. They've added what looks like an analogue stick, and it also has a motion sensor and gyrosensor. There are two cameras on the front of the console, to allow us to take 3D photos! The 3DS will also be able to play 3D movies from Disney, Warner Bros and Dreamworks. As far as they know, this is the first time 3D movie trailers will be shown without glasses.

He mentions Project Sora, which was designed specifically for the 3DS. Who better to show off the 3DS but a character we know well, Kid Icarus! The game is called Kid Icarus: Uprising. We see a trailer. The game is in full 3D, the graphics are almost at PSP level! Pit will be able to fly freely. A 3D trailer will be available on the E3 show floor. The 3DS will have new communication features, being able to search for other players no matter what game is being played. There will also be a form of DLC network which will be free.

Nintendo are expecting their largest support ever for the new system. There's a new Nintendogs game coming, it will feature cats. We see a big list of developers who will be supporting the 3DS. We'll be seeing Kingdom Hearts, Saints Row, Metal Gear Solid, and Resident Evil, just to name a few. Iwata leaves the stage.

3:10am - Hideo Kojima and other developers talk about their experience with the 3Ds. They all seem to love it. Hideo is experimenting with a 3D Metal Gear Solid game. The 3DS will be more than just a game console.

Reggie is back. He recaps everything we've just been shown. He mentions new experiences, and says he believes that the 3DS will be the most interesting new thing at E3. Unfortunately we can't really see how the 3DS works on stage, so we have a video instead. Apparently Mario will be jumping out of your handheld as well dogs. Miyamoto and Iwata are sucked into the game, and Bowser also pops out and torches Reggie. He pulls off his "now ruined" jacket. "That felt pretty real to me", he says.

We've now got a small army of women pouring out on to the stage, all holding 3DS consoles. They'll be passing through the audience and showing people the console up close. Zelda: Skyward Sword will be playable right there on on game stations. That's it, the conference is over.

A very solid effort by Nintendo!

Latest Reader Comments:

Posted by admeister 19/06/2010 1:14am

For example, PALGN's hands-on with the 3DS:

The 3D effect itself is actually really quite good. Don't be expecting too many objects popping out at the screen into your face, a la some gimmicky 3D movies, but instead expect an attitude similar to Avatar - everything has depth.

Posted by zen 18/06/2010 9:02pm

link please?

Posted by admeister 18/06/2010 2:45pm

The hands-on stuff I've read all says that the effect is similar to Avatar. I'm happy with that.

Posted by insanopointless 17/06/2010 6:38pm

Yeah. Hard to tell, one of the Kotaku dudes said at one point during lylat wars it seemed a bad guy kinda popped out, but he tried to tone down how much it popped out by. So I would say, mostly in the screen.

Posted by zen 17/06/2010 6:12pm

popping out at you - ala shit shooting at you in 3d avatar.
3d depth is much easier i think, since its all 'in the screen' - you dont have to do the projection illusion

Posted by insanopointless 17/06/2010 1:09am

I've seen a few hands-on videos of Skyward Sword and the controls work perfectly. However, I really don't like the name Skyward Sword.

Also: http://tinypic.com/usermedia.php?uo=zHAawG5Dm5Z5aQ0GYq45A4h4l5k2TGxc

I agree, the name isn't as cool or doesn't translate so well into English. Just sounds not very epic. Nice to see something running on the DS.

As for popping out of the screen - you mean when it sort of jumps out of the screen at you? If it can do depth, I don't see why it couldn't, but I'm not sure how well it would work on  a small screen? I think it will look really cool whatever the case.

Posted by 400 Turtles 17/06/2010 12:04am

No, I'm pretty sure it's the usual popping out 3D. The screen has a resolution of 800 x 240, which is split in half to give two images of a resolution of 400 x 240. Each eye picks up one of the images, which is pretty much how stereoscopic 3D works.

Posted by Master Chief 16/06/2010 11:57pm

So its just 3D as in, like, Super Mario 64 3D?

I'm confused.

Posted by admeister 16/06/2010 11:47pm

That seems to be correct, from what I've been able to gather.

Posted by zen 16/06/2010 11:45pm

so if i understand correctly, the 3ds does 3d by adding depth into the screen only - it doesnt do the whole leaping out of the screen at you thing?

Posted by 400 Turtles 16/06/2010 11:33pm

I've seen a few hands-on videos of Skyward Sword and the controls work perfectly. However, I really don't like the name Skyward Sword.

Also: http://tinypic.com/usermedia.php?uo=zHAawG5Dm5Z5aQ0GYq45A4h4l5k2TGxc

Posted by insanopointless 16/06/2010 5:10pm

Yeah Zelda looks like it runs fine in a proper setting, it's a shame it was screwing up on stage. I wouldn't be surprised if it's out either March-ish or maybe the same sort of time Galaxy 2 has been / will be released, as in about now. I'm undecided on the style - I had a feeling a couple of days ago they might return to a celda sort of thing. I like link but the sort of disneyland look with the mushrooms and that? Not so sure.

3DS was great, Kid Icarus is an interesting thing to show but doesn't get me heaps excited. Go to e3.nintendo.com right now though, they have screenshots of a bunch of the games and tech demos.

Pilot wings, Lylat Wars remade, Ocarina of Time remade (tech demo for now), new Mario Kart, Paper Mario (that will look SICK in 3D), Metal Gear Solid 3 (Radddd!), Animal Crossing, Kingdom Hearts, Splinter Cell Chaos Theory, etc.

It's a really great line up so far, and if they can deliver half of those in the first few or six months of launch, it'll be one of the best going around.


Zen - as for the two screens they probably noticed that in most games the second screen was pretty redundant. Often it's just a map or inventory or a space to draw stuff. Not always the case, but most of the time. So, make a bigger, 3D screen where all of the action will be, but retain the smaller bottom for touch control. It'd have to be bigger if they made the bottom screen big as well. To fit the buttons!


edit:

By the way, it's interesting that they didn't announce a release date or rough period for it... but here are my predictions;
I reckon it'll be out in November or there abouts. Because;
with the DS original, they announced it's existence in March of 2004, I think. Then they showed it at E3, and it was released in the States in November and here in Feb.
There's a press release where Iwata says it will be out by the end of the fiscal year, ending march 2011. This was a while back, so it might have changed - but I doubt they'd push it much past that, and they would really wanna get it out for the holiday season.
A lot of the games they've shown look quite polished. Mariokart, paper mario, etc. They all seem pretty far along.

So yeah, November.

Posted by nshady 16/06/2010 4:30pm

All reports from the floor suggest Zelda works perfectly well. They had the same problem last year with Wii Sports Resort - so much infrared coming from within the crowd and the spotlights. New Kirby looks awesome, and I'm psyched for DKCR by Retro.

Posted by zen 16/06/2010 1:28pm

zelda skyward sword looks fun - i agree that the controls will have to be finessed ALOT before launch - i could see miyamoto looks at his wiimote a few times, quite perplexed as to why his actions irl were not copied on screen
kid icarus looks good - the trailer i saw has quite good graphics for a handheld i think. although hardwarewise, i wonder why the 3ds top screen is larger than the bottom screen?

Posted by 400 Turtles 16/06/2010 11:02am

Nintendo definitely won this year. 3DS looks great and so do most of the titles coming to the Wii (especially the new Kirby game).

Posted by Master Chief 16/06/2010 7:42am

There seem to be some technical issues with the bow and arrow item.

Understatement. They got owned, and the game they finally release in 2013 will be nothing like this game. The motion plus was fux0red, Link was just holding the sword out wide or 'skyward' as he was running along.. then they BLAME THE CROWD for the 'technical issues' hahahahahaha, jesus.

I went back to bed, doesn't look like I missed anything either, they didn't even demo the 3DS.