Here’s what dropped at E3
The presentation opened with The Legend of Zelda’s 25th Anniversary celebration
-Link’s Awakening on the 3DS eShop this week
-Ocarina of Time 3D (with Master Quest and Boss Rush modes) Register your copy at Club Nintendo for a free Soundtrack CD
-Legend of Zelda: 4 Swords will be free in the DSi shop
-Skyward Sword will release with a promotional GOLD Wii Remote
-There will be a symphony orchestra tour that will feature music from Legend of Zelda.
3DS Games
-Mario Kart 3D looks great. Upgrades make your Kart a submarine and can add a hang glider to your ride. The karts are customizable and allow for interesting build and mod combinations. Available in holiday 2011
-Starfox 3D!!! Multiplayer modes will utilize the 3Ds camera to show your opponents’ faces during and after combat. Available in Sept. 2011
-Kid Icarus 3D looks like it will be worth the wait. Nintendo showed a 3 vs 3 multiplayer mode that combined melee and shooting combat, and revealed an AR card battle mode.
-Luigi’s Mansion 2. Showed some nice lighting effects and will feature gameplay across several different themed mansions.
3rd party games shown:
Resident Evil: Mercenaries, Tetris, Sega Olympics, Ace Combat, Cave Story 3D, Resident Evil: Revelations, Pac Man & Galaga, Tekken 3D, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater 3D
Nintendo eShop:
View 10 3D game trailers, Excitebike 3D is free right now, the 3D Pokedex is free right now
Nintendo followed their 3DS presentation with the unveiling of their new console (codename: Project Cafe)
The Wii U
The Wii U is Nintendo’s next console system. It will feature full 1080p HD graphic output and surround sound. It is backwards compatible with the Wii, both in games and peripherals. It will have online capabilities on par with what is being currently offered on other consoles. Most importantly, it has an innovative new controller.
The controller looks like a tablet (it has a 6.2 inch HD touchscreen) with standard controls built around the frame. Dual analog, d-pad, face buttons, triggers, shoulder buttons, and a select/home/start layout similar to the Wii Remote. It will feature a camera, microphone, rumble, speaker, motion controls, and Satoru Iwata stated that it would be able to wirelessly stream full games from the main console with no latency.
Basically, Nintendo has applied it’s dual screen innovation to your living room. The controller will, essentially, add a second screen to your television and allow for the development of a new type of gaming. Nintendo showed this in 3 ways. Play a Wii U game on your television and use the controller for things like inventory management (very similar to what’s been done in countless DS games), Stream the entire game directly to the controller and let someone else do something entirely different on the TV /place the tablet controller on a table and play a board game like GO, and use the controller in conjunction with the television…
-Use the screen as a zoomed in scope view (the tablet was shown attached to a Wii Zapper like peripheral)
-Launch items off of the touch screen at the TV display (a demo was shown where a player threw ninja stars off of the controller’s screen into the TV’s screen)
-See an alternate perspective of what is happening in a game (in a baseball demo the TV displayed batter’s view, controller displayed pitcher’s view)
-Track an object on the TV with the controller’s screen (the demo showed a player using the controller to track a baseball off of the TV screen and into his controller which acted as a baseball glove)
The tablet controller was also shown interacting with existing Wii peripherals:
-The tablet was placed on the ground to display the placement of a golf ball, which a player could virtually hit by swinging a Wii remote over it.
-Carry the tablet and use it to control the Wii-Fit board without the need of a TV screen.
Overall I was very impressed by what Nintendo brought to E3. It seems to have the power and connectivity to finally appease the hardcore gamers. Nintendo showed a clip reel that highlighted Darksiders 2, Assassin’s Creed and a particularly violent and blood soaked teaser for Ninja Gaiden 3. The Wii U has multiplatform covered. Unfortunately all we got as far as a release date was a vague 2012 mention, and still no pricing! Only time will tell where it all goes from here, but I am excited about the innovation that Nintendo showed and has been showing. Game 0n!