You've read our reports on the Microsoft and Sony contingent at E3 2007, but what about the third player? Nintendo haven't been forgotten here on BigPond GameArena and Steve was on-site scoping out all things new and upcoming from the big N. Read on for his in-depth coverage.
Nintendo At E3
Wednesday 18 Jul 2007, Coverage by Stephen Farrelly
While Microsoft gave us a solid glimpse at their equally solid 2007 line up, Nintendo offered a slightly different approach. Their press conference was riddled with reminders that they're taking gaming in an all-new direction, one even further removed from their usual 'kiddie' image. It could, in fact, be argued they've gone from 'kiddie' to 'oldie'. But making such assumptions would be a bad move from the punter field of play. At the very core of Ninty's new business model rests hope for the rest of the industry. If games are to ever be held in the same light as the likes of movies, music and television, the audiences involved have to expand, and more directly, expand beyond the core veteran players that have, until now, kept videogaming as their one true secret.
There's no question the Wii has expanded the videogame audience. The gesture sensitive Wii Remote and its ease of use has heralded a new way to interact with games, and this is something Nintendo drove home during their pre-show press event. The entire thing was caked with videos of news reports from mainstream media talking about the Wii and how it has opened the videogame world to a new spectrum of consumers, consumers who are no longer locked into a stereotype or specific demographic. In fact, when NOA president Reggie Fils-Aime took the stage, the first important figures he threw at us were pulled from the overall growth of the industry in its three key markets. In Japan, he cited growth in 2007 at 114%, the US was at 44% and the UK 42%, and he wasn't afraid to suggest this growth was in direct response to the success of both the Wii and DS.
So with this idea in mind, where were Nintendo going to take their lead? According to the NOA front man, it's all about maintaining their hold on the mainstream with such titles as Nintendogs, Brain Training and Wii Sports. These titles, he suggests, act as satellites to the less hardcore gamers out there, and even to those who have never played games before. And as satellites, they eventually introduce the new consumer to the old, and the world of games, while expanding, becomes smaller, also.
Which brought us to the games. (Finally). More party compilations? You bet. Mario and Sonic, together at last in Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games is essentially just that, a collection of mini-games built around events at the Olympics. A new Rayman Raving Rabbids title was also revealed as well as The Sims 2 Castaway, a seminal Animal Crossing-esque title, err...
crossed with The Sims. More party games were also shown in short video form, but they weren't really the games we were interested in and it was when we saw footage of Super Smash Bros: Brawl we all began to feel like maybe Nintendo hadn't forgotten us.
SSBB looked exactly as you'd expect: Fast, colourful, fun and most of all chaotic. New characters such as Wario and Pitt (from Kid Icarus for those of you up the back), definitely made everyone feel special, but the biggest surprise came in the live demos of both The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hour Glass for DS, and the much anticipated third installment in the 3D Metroid series, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.
Phantom Hour Glass is one of the first games on DS to
only use the stylus and touch pad for character control. Every other button on the DS simply houses a shortcut to a menu or map. Everything else, the real time stuff; it's all handled by the stylus. Awkward you say? Not at all, in fact within 30 seconds of handling the game on the show floor I was buzzing about, talking to people, picking up objects and fighting monsters without a single problem. This is one of the most intuitive action titles on the DS and Nintendo needs to be complemented on once again showing the rest of the development community just how to get the most out of their hardware. No official word on a release date for this game in Australia, but in the US it hits October 1, so here's hoping we don't have to wait too long.
Metroid Prime showed that the steady flow of screens we've seen recently are by no measure an indication of how the game looks in motion. Stunning, beautiful, crisp... umm, stunning (did I mention that already?), well you get the idea. But visuals aside, it's all about the controls for this games, as we're all expecting it to be the benchmark for the fps genre on the Wii, and based on watching this live demo, it's going to be that and more. The target lock-on from the first game remains, however, with the Wii Remote, you're absolutely free to aim beyond your locked target. This small indication of freedom stands as the first rung on an innovative ladder I'm sure will prove itself once the game is released in the US August 27. Again, no official word from Nintendo of Australia on a local release date, but as soon as we know, you will.
Something else that came from the live demo was a new peripheral to be used with either fps games or that new breed of shooter heading Wii's way - on rails arcade-inspired (or ripped) shooters. The first of which will be Capcom's Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles which is an arcade shooter romp through the first three chapters of the infamous series. The other is Sega's recent arcade smash, Ghost Squad. The peripheral we saw is dubbed the Wii Zapper, it's essentially a gun-shaped housing for both the Nunchuk and the Wii Remote and offers a more solid device with which to play these games. A quick run through from yours truly with Res Evil painted a picture of promise, but a few minutes with it just wasn't enough to work out if it'll be worth it in the long-run, however, Nintendo did say the device would be packaged with an undisclosed title when its made available later in the year.
Speaking of peripherals, Reggie also revealed Nintendo would be releasing a fully online-capable Mario Kart Wii title in the early part of 2008 which would come packaged with a new Wii Steering Wheel. Unfortunately I didn't get any time with this, and it does seem weird given Ubisoft already released a steering wheel way back when the machine launched, but it makes sense given their overall 'embracing mainstream' strategy in that, such a device will invite more people to the Wii, especially with such a well known title as Mario Kart. No details were given as to how many players will be able to race online, but Reggie did reveal the battle mode would also be an online component.
Online became a solid focus hereafter, with news that both Madden 08 and FIFA 08 would be fully online for the Wii, while the big news came with the announcement Medal of Honor Airborne would support 32 players online. Which seemed like big news to me, but was pretty well brushed over by Nintendo.
Probably the biggest announcement to come out of the event though, came from the ever enigmatic Shigeru Miyamoto as he unleashed Wii Fit, another non traditional game outing Nintendo hopes will continue to bridge the gap between veteran players and mainstream and newcomers alike. The title will come bundled with the Wii Balance Board, which at first glance looks more like a set of scales. Basically the device measures your centre of gravity and therefore your overall body mass. It then offers a number of training exercises in fields such as yoga, aerobics and muscle stretching, while also dishing out some pretty clever and fun mini games. The hope here is the device will further propel people to get off the couch and embrace games as a form of interactive entertainment. We have no idea about an Aussie release date, but Wii Fit is due to hit the US in early 2008, so anytime in 08 after that would be an appropriate guess.
From an excitement perspective, Nintendo's event wasn't all that empowering. Their big name games are games we've known to be coming for a while, and although seeing Zelda and Metroid in action was awesome, the only other real highlights were new trailers for SSBB and Super Mario Galaxy. Beyond these, Wii Fit is definitely a good idea, just not very 'gamey'. Equally, the introduction of the new housing peripherals seemed more gimmicky than anything else, though the announcement of Mario Kart Wii is still very cool. How Nintendo handles this monster they've created will be looked at under a microscope for the next 12 months, but it does seem like they have everything in check. Only time will truly tell though.
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