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The first section of the conference showed no hint of new hardware info, offering up only a free DSi download of 4 Swords Adventures something that piqued my interest the most, along with the announcement of a soundtrack CD for Skyward Sword. Following this was 3DS release time. This is still fairly a big deal, but I watched with a hint of scepticism. Last year the support for the 3DS was huge, big names like Metal Gear Solid and Kingdom Hearts poised to be released, neither of which have yet materialised. This time, Nintendo brought out the big guns. Mario Kart and Kid Icarus Uprising are my picks of choice, with Mario Kart showing off customisable cars and tracks where your craft can transform into a hang glider or submarine; and Kid Icarus demonstrating some charmingly bad voice acting, and gameplay that heavily reminds me of Sin and Punishment.
Then the Nintendo eShop was brought up. It's the marketplace system for the Nintendo 3DS, and the update to install it on your system is already live. It functions just the same as the Wii and DSi shops, but in addition to special 3DS software, the range of released DSiWare games (Go and play Shantae: Risky's Revenge. You won't regret it.), and a small (and rather terrible) pool of GameBoy games are also available to download. The UK prices seem to be slightly higher than the US ones, though.
With that done, they finally decided to show us the new console, the Wii U. They lead the showcase with the Wii U's controller, a 6.2 inch tablet surrounded by the the kind of buttons you'd expect to see on a modern controller. Only odd thing is the placement of the two analogue sticks - right at the top, even above the D-Pad and face buttons. Beyond the unique controller design, the 'big deal' about the Wii U is its processing power and graphics capability. It can now directly compete with the HD-capable PS3 and 360, allowing developers who dismissed the Wii as a non-progressive platform to give Nintendo users the same gaming experience everyone else gets; which is both a good and annoying thing.
While on the one hand I hope this should remove talk of “console wars” based on power, on the other, I felt that the limitations of the Wii forced developers to do something different with their games to make them marketable. The Wii U isn't going to make those developers magically vanish, but the line-up for the Wii U shown could largely be described as "Games the other platforms are already getting", and that made me a little sad.
At the end of the first day of E3 conferences, the most successful conference was, in most people’s mind, Sony's, with a slew of PS3 releases, as well as the unveiling of the PSVita. At the end of the second day, in which only Nintendo presented, the “winner” was less clear.
Obviously the big news is the Wii U, impressive not only for its touch-screen, tablet-style controller (though the unit will support original Wii controllers), but for its power, confirmed to be above that of even the PS3. While not actually showing off any games (though they appeared to, this footage was actually from PS3/360 versions), the company showed a tech-demo featuring a bird flying around a Japanese garden, complete with cherry blossoms and koi carp. Graphically this was stunning, especially considering we’ve not come to expect the height of graphical prowess from Nintendo in the last five years. The other big news was that the console will feature “real” games, from big-name studios. In the past Nintendo has shirked these more intense, mature titles, in favour of a more family-orientated style of games. The simple fact that a Nintendo console will be getting the same (or better) games as a PS3 of 360 is impressive.
Of course, the Wii U wasn’t the only thing on display. Indeed, the conference opened with information about The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, which, despite being on the Wii, still looks incredible, utilising the low power in a similar way Wind Waker did on Gamecube. The fact that this was introduced with a full symphony orchestra (due to tour in Autumn) really enhanced the performance. Also announced were numerous 3DS games, something the portable console desperately needs. Mario Kart, Starfox, Luigi’s Mansion, Kid Icarus and Mario games were all demonstrated, and they look amazing, really showing off the power of the portable. It’s no Vita, but is still really a looker. Post-conference, more trailers were shown, such as for Paper Mario 3DS, which seems to be returning to the series’ awesome RPG routes. All in all, it makes for one very happy Nintendo fan.
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