Obvious Diversion

Nintendo probably had the smartest opening I’ve seen. It was at the Kodak Theater, where they host the Academy Awards. Miyamoto comes out in a tux with a controller and he conducted an animated orchestra on the large screen behind him. He was able to control the tone and speed of the music with the motion of his hands.

The Controller

• The nun-chuck controller attachment has motion sensing too, allowing for both hands to be tracked
• Rumble is built into the controller (which puts the lie to Sony about Rumble being a problem with motion sensors)
• Speaker in the Controller to Add Depth of Sound
  Using the controller for a bow and arrow on zelda, you hear the pull of the string up close where it should be. When you release, you hear the arrow go from your hand to the screen. It’s a depth of sound never heard before and it’s delivered on a player by player basis.
• The demos really were amazing. I’ll have more on first-hand play experience tomorrow.

The Games

There will be 27 Wii Games playable on the show floor tomorrow. Nintendo said over and over “playing is believing”. Given the number of titles they will have for us to play tomorrow, it’s right for them to brag.

• The Legend of Zelda
  It’s a launch title and fully uses the Wii controller. The gameplay is simply amazing. You use the want to control your sword, bow and arrow and boomerang. They gave a very long demo of the game and it really gave a sense of how different and new the Wii really is.
• Red Steel
  A mature game, without a doubt. Shooting and sword fighting in an urban environment. Looked like a lot of fun with the new controller. Playable tomorrow.
• Metroid Prime 3 – only video shown
• Mario Universe
  While Zelda’s gameplay was obvious, Mario’s was hard to figure out. It’s clearly a new control scheme for a platformer (“jab the controller to push enemies away”) but it wasn’t obvious how it worked.
• Wii Sport
  Four player tennis, baseball and golf in a single game. This generally isn’t done anymore and reminds me of Atari days when you could buy things like the “action pack”. Clearly this is targeted at new gamers looking for a fun introductory experience at a low price.
• Sonic – footage shown, but not gameplay
• ExciteTruck
  Yes, a new game from Nitnendo in the vein of Excitebike. You hold the Wii controller sideways and use it like a steering wheel.
• Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles – only video shown
• Warioware
• Project Hammer
• Disaster
  A realistic adult game from Nintendo. It looked like a volcano was exploding over a city and you had to survive.
• Tony Hawk
  Looks like you manipulate the controller as if it was your skateboard
• Rayman – just mentioned, nothing shown

Wii Connect 24

This is Nintendo’s online component. They didn’t reveal a whole lot. They just confirmed the online iTunes style game store for classic games and emphasized that the console will always be online. I’m surprised we didn’t hear more about this, but I suppose they are saving some surprised for later in the year as they get closer to launch.

Nintendo DS

• Zelda game in the Wind Waker style
• Tony Hawk game with head to head online play with voice chat
• 16 Million units sold worldwide (as opposed to Sony’s number of units “shipped”)
• 1.3 Million gamers online