Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Live from Nintendo's E3 2012 press conference

5 hrs.

The last of the big media briefings is about to get underway here at E3; we're packed into the spacious (and thankfully air-conditioned) Nokia Theater, waiting for the event to get underway. Nintendo already revealed a lot of new info about its new controller and some of its media and social capabilities in a video on Sunday, so we expect today's event to be largely about new games. Zelda, Mario, the works.

8:37 - I've arrived and am sitting in the wrong section. Very dangerous. Nintendo are notorious sticklers about this sort of thing.?

8:50 - Show starts in ten minutes. I have retained my spot despite great tribulations. I feel like a criminal. I may not be able to take many pictures because every time I lift my wrist, it's like raising a flag that says "kick me out of this section." I live in fear.?There is a rotating slideshow of Nintendo trivia that is, shall we say, trivially difficult.

8:58 - The show should be starting any minute; nearly every seat is filled. We're expecting a lot of live gameplay - hopefully it doesn't go wrong like it has for Nintendo nearly every other time.

9:01 - And we're live! Video of Miyamoto reading in his room with Pikmin everywhere. He's on stage.?Video of the audience with Pikmin all over. Miyamoto says he's been seeing them everywhere.

9:06 - New Pikmin on Wii U - looks great. The actions of each little Pikmin is visible, something Nintendo really wanted. Depth of field effect really enhances the smallness of everything. Full map is always visible on the GamePad, while you place them with the motion controls.

9:11 - Reggie is on stage. 23 Wii U titles being shown today. A lot to squeeze into an hour. Meanwhile he uses up a few minutes telling us what the Wii U is, in case you haven't been paying attention for the last year. Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, Amazon Video, revolutionizing your living room, etc.

9:15 - Reggie assures us that the hardware WILL support two GamePads. Not just yet, but it's possible! Should be really fun, from what I've experienced. Now, a little introductory video with soothing narration. Talking about Miiverse now, which we saw on Sunday.

9:21 - We're checking out New Super Mario Bros U, which will showcase some of the Miiverse features like tips and bragging about times. And now - Arkham City Armored Edition. Martin Tremblay, president of Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment, is here to talk about the game.

9:28 - Ooh, Scribblenauts for Wii U. It had to be done. Scribblenauts Unlimited. This really could be a lot of fun on the Wii U - the original was perhaps most limited by the small screen of the DS. Create and share items, play multiplayer, etc. All in HD, naturally, unless you play it on the 3DS.

9:31 - Several games being shown off very quickly:?Darksiders 2, Mass Effect 3, Tank! Tank! Tank!, Tekken Tag Tournament 2 (with super mushrooms), Ninja Gaiden 3 (very bloody), Aliens - obviously showing off the fact that this one isn't just for kids and families, an image Nintendo has been trying hard to shake.

9:33 - Music and fitness genres. Reggie talking about unveiling the Wii Fit... was it really five years ago? 43 million copies of Wii Fit sold around the world. Here comes Wii Fit U... which will leave you "sweatier." Luge-ing. I myself have luge-ed onto the streets of Montreux. It is very invigorating.?

9:35 - A karaoke game that puts the lyrics on the little screen so you can face your friends instead of the screen. That's legit. They call it Sing - but ultimately these things depend on the library of songs.

9:38 - Moving on to the 3DS. Reggie to 3DS guy: "We've carved out a few moments for you to do your 3DS thing on stage." That's cold. New Super Mario Bros 2 for 3DS coming August 19th. Many coins. Oh - and here comes a Paper Mario?

9:41 - Paper Mario Sticker Star on 3DS, looks like a lot of fun. Pull stickers off the environment and use them for attacks, items, etc. And Luigi is back too in Luigi's Mansion - Dark Moon. More ghost catching, more mansions.

9:46 - LEGO City Undercover. LEGO games are always fun. Why are they so fun? I don't know. They just are. This looks great. Just watching these little minifigs jumping around and beating each other up is fun?to watch, that's all I can tell you. It's a fully different game from the original, by the way.

9:50 - Ubisoft getting a call out. Here's Yves Guillemot. I love these scripted conversations, you can read them on the teleprompters before they say their lines and see how they go off-script. This one isn't very organic.

9:52 - They've got dancers on stage doing dance moves selected by Reggie Fils-Aime. He's probably used to this. And now ZombiU, which we saw teased already, but now they're really showing off the gameplay - looks like good times, sniping, scanning, shooting zombies, all via the GamePad. Heh, Reggie is showing off the Zombi minigame of turning yourself into a zombie. Slight glitches, but it's funny.

9:59 - NintendoLand, which will be the Wii Sports for the Wii U, showing how to use the controller via a bunch of minigames.

10:01 - Going over a few of the minigames. Luigi's mansion game looks fun - top-down ghost-catching.

And it's over! Thanks for tuning in.

Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for msnbc.com. His personal website is?coldewey.cc.

idiocracy deep impact usssa baseball alex o loughlin the godfather cape breton bowling green

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.