Nintendo InfoAll praise goes to Zero for this MASSIVE post.
Nintendo's E3 2006 Press Conference
Nintendo's press conference was held on May 9th at 9:30am at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles. Nintendo had a lot on the line during their press conference because their new system, the Nintendo Wii (pronounced, "We," codename: Revolution) was still mysterious to gamers, how would the control be used? Will we see gameplay footage? When will it be released, what's the price? What games from first and third-party developers will we see? And what of their recent handheld, the Nintendo Dual-Screen (The DS)? How will it make an appearance during E3? Well, as known in the past, Nintendo always seems to make a bang during E3 and this year was no different.
First we were introduced to news about the controller (dubbed the Wiimote), it was redesigned slightly and now has a speaker built-in for the most optimum sound quality. Examples of this are when you are pulling a bow (bow-and-arrow set) back, you will be back to hear the very minute sound it makes, immersing the player even deeper into the gaming world. A few button chages were also made, the select button is now a curved arrow, symbolizing a refresh icon on a web browser. The "home" button now has a little house on it, symbolizing the "home" button on a web browser. The "start" button now has two horizontal lines ontop of one another, symbolizing the "pause" button on a media player. The "a" and "b" buttons are changed to "1" and "2." The controller design is still considered a prototype and is probably going to go under even more fine-tuning to get everything down to perfection. A current image of the
Wiimote.
Next up were gameplay videos of a flight game then Metroid Prime 3, both demostrated how the Wiimote could be used in its respective environs. Using the main control to pilot the plane in the flight game, and in Metroid, aiming with the main controller and firing with the button. Next up was The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.
Twilight Princess was originally slated for the Gamecube, however after many setbacks it has been confirmed to release the same day as the Wii, furthermore, a second version of Twilight Princess has been confirmed to release on the Wii using the Wiimote to play, thus making Twilight Princess the first official launch title for the Wii! Gameplay using the Wiimote is somewhat simple from what we saw, you can use the main control to aim with your bow, use your grappling hook, fish, move your shield and thrust your sword forward. Moreover, thrusting the Wiimore forward slightly throws items, such as boxes, crates, bombs, etc. You move around with the analog stick found on the other part of the Wiimore, the nunchaku portion.
Next we were told of confirmed games for the Wii, said games are, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Dragon Quest Swords, Disaster: Day of Crisis, Fire Emblem, Sponge Bob Square Pants, Cars, Super Mario Galaxy, SD Gundamn G Breaker, Tony Hawk: Downhill Jam, Sengoku Action, Excite Truck, Elebits, Red Steel, Rayman 4, Super Swing Gold Pangya, Sonic, Project H.A.M.M.E.R., Finalfurlong Revolution, Madden '07, Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.
Nintendo's first big third-party game, Red Steel, was also demoed. Apparently in this game the enemies will care for themselves, they will hide, go for cover, flank, just like a real player. It seems that firing with your gun is done by aiming with the main control and firing with one of the buttons, the sword combat of the game is also done entirely with the main control as you swing left with the remote to block, and right to slash. It is said easy to learn, but hard to actually master.
We then moved onto the Nintendo DS with an introduction to the sales of the DS (16 million, worldwide) with 1.3 million people playing wi-fi totaling over 40 million game sessions. Then they introduced the Nintendo DS Lite, a remake of the Nintendo DS featuring a much sleaker and smaller design, much brighter screen (with up to three options of brightness you can choose), and much lighter. But appearance alone was not the name of the game, we were introduced to the games that will be hitting the DS in the coming months. In a week they will be releasing a new Mario game, Super Mario Brothers DS which is the long anticipated "old-school" Mario game for the Nintendo DS. The classic side-scrolling Mario, however, it is also a brand new Mario game which will appeal to brand new players. Next up was the famous Pokemon with a new game, Pokemon: Myster Dungeon, which will be making another introduction onto Nintendo's systems. However, there is a twist, it was said that, "You don't play with the Pokemon, you are the Pokemon."
Next up was Final Fantasy III which will feature improved graphics, then, Tony Hawk: Downhill Jam, The Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass which is a sequel to the Gamecube Zelda game, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and will feature sailing, swordplay, and other things all done with the touch screen. A total of 100 new DS games to be released between now and the end of 2006, including, but not limited to: Mario Hoops: 3 on 3, Starfox DS, Diddy Kong Racing, Yoshi 2, Elite Beat Agents (multiplayer multi-rhythm), Big Brain Academy, Mario vs. DK: March of the Minis. Also note with Star Fox DS it seems Nintendo has done away with the land and tanks and have gone back to their original SNES and Nintendo 64 roots with a game those looks like it's nothing but pure flying in space fun.
Going back to the Nintendo Wii, we are told that it will have 24 hour online, meaning that even when your Wii is off you will be online and updating your games. Another launch title for the Wii is, WiiSports, a collection of sports games that will feature tennis, golf, and baseball. Finally the press conference ended with a small game of tennis, a member from the audience was selected to play a game of tennis on the Wii using the Wiimote. On a two-on-two match it was Iwata and Reggie vs. Miyamoto and Scott (the audience member). It looks like the game takes a bit of practice to master.
------------------------------------------------------
The Nintendo Wii's Hardware and Specs
Hardware-wise, the Wii is the weakest of its three competitors, it sports:
512 megabytes of internal flash memory
Two USB 2.0 ports and built-in Wi-Fi capability
SD memory card bay to expand the internal flash memory
"Sleepless" WiiConnect24 mode (always-on connection for downloading content etc.)
PowerPC CPU (code-named "Broadway") jointly developed with and manufactured by IBM
Graphics Processing Unit: Being developed with ATI (apparently the GPU isn't finished)
Four ports for classic Nintendo GameCube controllers
Two slots for Nintendo GameCube Memory Cards
AV Multi-output port for component, composite or S-video
------------------------------------------------------
Some Confirmed First-Party and Third-Party Game for the Wii
A slew of classic Nintendo games and new Nintendo games are hitting the Wii:
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess which will incorporate the Wiimote in playing.
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Retro Studios) Samus returns for her third installment in the Metroid Prime series. She must defend the Galatic Federation's Base Sector Zero, which is under attack by Space Pirates led by Dark Samus.
Super Mario Galaxy a villian has taken Princess Peach and taken her to space. Mario must go rescue her with the help of you and your motion-sensor controller as you walk, hop, and jump around in zero-g space.
WarioWare: Smooth Moves the return of Wario and his crazy mini-games which will probably make some of the best uses out of the Wiimote.
Disaster: Day of Crisis (Monolith) Natural disasters have devastated the US. A rogue Special Forces unit has taken advantage and stolen a nuclear weapon. As Ray, a former rescue task force badass, you must save the world, or at least, what's left of your country. Disaster will feature scenarios like lava avalanches, earthquakes, and floods. (Credit to Joystiq for game info)
Excite Truck (Monster Games) off-road racing where you hold the Wiimote as an NES controller and drive your truck by moving the Wiimote from side-to-side. Once you're in the air you'll tilt the control in the right directions to land.
Project H.A.M.M.E.R. killer robots are attacking the United States. You must play as one of Project H.A.M.M.E.R. cyborg prototypes and defeat all your foes with the awesome power of a... Hammer!
Wii Sports a three-in-one sports game that features four-player tennis, two-player baseball, and one-player golfing. It is unknown if additional games will be added or not. Tennis is a simple tennis game where you use the Wiimote as a racket. Baseball is a home-run derby where one user pitches and the other user bats. And golfing features putting and driving.
Sonic the Hedgehog: Wildfire (Sega) the last three pages of the book Arabian Nights are missing and now it is up to Sonic to recreate the end. The Wiimote will be used horizontally and held with two-hands, you tilt to the left or to the right to steer Sonic on different paths avoiding obstacles enemies. If you continue to tilt then thrust foward you preform a dash attack.
------------------------------------------------------
Other Information
The shell for the Wiimote has been made, the shell is an object where you can set your Wiimote and use the shell as a controller so you don't have to move around to play. It looks like the Super Nintendo controller, only a bit bulkier and with two analog sticks.
The Wii's Shell.
There is no set price yet, however Reggie is quoted as saying that, "We will offer you a lot more, for a lot less." Nintendo's previous consoles have been at the $150-$200 mark, but rumors are saying that the price could be as low as $99, although most people predict the price to be at an even $150.
There is also no release date, however Miyamoto has hinted that we will see the Wii in November. Will it launch the same day as the Playstation 3 (announced today to be release November 11th in Japan, and November 17th in the US, Europe, and Australia)? Who will be the company to get the head start?
Credit and sources go to Joystiq, Gamespot, Nintendo, and IGN.
Reply
