The show began with a video montage of fan videos and press clippings of the Wii and the DS successes. It's a little self-indulgent, but expected. They entered underdogs and took the cake, the icing and the candles: a little back-patting is expected. Unfortunately they dip into that well several more times throughout the conference. It goes, for me, from friendly self-congratulations to arrogant posturing pretty quickly.
Like MS Nintendo began in earnest with a business overview. Yes, for those that needed to be told, they are doing very well. The business presentation seemed to stress (perhaps just a tad too much) that the Wii is "not a fad ". Nintendo seems worried, perhaps only by the perception, that their console lacks staying power. They did show a lot of games and featured several brilliant-looking ones. "The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass" (for the DS) may very well make up for the unfortunately weak "Twilight Princess". "Metroid Prime: Corruption" looks great. It may be the first good âmatureâ title on the Wii. I still have concerns controlling of any fast-paced FPS using the Wiimote as a pointer although the person on stage seemed to be doing well enough. "Super Mario Galaxy" was shown, playable, and will be available for Christmas. This will probably be the first game that convinces me to sit in front of the Wii for than 10 minutes at a stretch. It looks great with "Ratchet and Clank" style mini-worlds to run around. The most annoying part of the show was a ten-minute segment where we were told, over and over, that Nintendo "gets" online play. Here Nintendo claimed that number of titles supporting online and the number of games played online are the measures of success. For those hoping for a unified, simplified, usable online service from Nintendo, you're still hoping. In vain, it seems since Nintendo clearly feels there's nothing wrong. Nintendo needs to understand that people are playing online IN SPITE of their system not BECAUSE of it. The Nintendo online system sucks. It's difficult, obtuse and half-baked. The only reason people put up with it is due to the power of the experiences once you suffer through it. Yes, Nintendo, your online "service" is an obstacle, not a feature! (In case you haven't noticed that segment of the show got me a little riled up.) Nintendo, rightly, congratulated themselves on expanding the market for games devices. Many DS titles would be hard pressed to assume the label "game" and nobody seems to mind. Quirky experiences, virtual pets, assistants and reference material are thriving on the DS. Nintendo announced some Wiimote "frames": a light-gun zapper (which also holds the Nunchuck) and a steering wheel. The wheel is a free-standing circle (no base, no pedals) which looks like itâll be horribly imprecise for driving. Itâll ship with "Mario Kart". As with so many games on display at the show I found myself wishing that they didnât eliminate the traditional controls. The zapper is more intriguing but I'm still not sold on it, especially for FPS play. It holds both the Wiimote (in a horizontal, forward-fire position) and the Nunchuck (at the rear in a semi-vertical orientation) and provides a larger trigger. For any game where you move with the Nunchuck it seems like this will transfer movement making precise aiming more difficult. For on-the-rails shooters it should be fine, maybe even better. Both of these peripherals are cute, both add some activity to traditional games but I predict that both are going to be less precise and more frustrating than the base controller. The third peripheral introduced is truly exciting. The "Wii Balance Board" is a pressure-sensitive step plate. You stand on it and it recognizes how you're leaning, moving, etc via pressure sensors. The title "Wii Fit" will be shipping with it and include (you guessed it!) a collection of fitness-related mini-games. The balance board is, by far, the most innovative product introduced by Nintendo this E3. I do have some fears about it. For example: how will it work on my wall-to-wall carpet? Will it even support my 320 pounds? Despite that I think it demonstrates Nintendoâs stated philosophy more than any other product shown. I was disappointed that they failed to show any examples of their announced, original games download channel. The Wii is an unabashed mini-game monster: selling them individually, a la carte, seems a natural evolution. With the exception of the oh-so-very-cool Balance Board Nintendo focused almost exclusively on existing IP and franchise development; the vast majority of it first party development. Their misguided attempt to prove their dedication to online was more insulting than convincing. The overall subtext was "weâre doing great so expect more of the same from Nintendo". While that's not a bad thing it would have been nice to see some humility, some understanding of the (admittedly few) mistakes made. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Macromedia ColdFusion MX7 Upgrade to MX7 & experience time-saving features, more productivity. http://www.adobe.com/products/coldfusion?sdid=RVJW Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:238405 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
