Nintendo's Press Conference

[Gadfly2317]

Hi-lites:

BIG news: TWO versions of Zelda, not just a disk than can be played in either; both available on the launch day of the Wii.

Sound AND rumble coming from the controller: demonstrated this with the arrow-shot in Zelda where you could hear the bow drawn taught in the controller, and the release, and the sound "as it travelled" to pierce your enemies heart on the screen. There was also some pretty violent dispersal of enemies with a nice downward "stake in the heart" thrust motion.

New first party titles: Excite Truck
Project Hammer
Disaster
Again, the interesting part was seeing how the controller interfaced with these games. Looking forward to seeing and hearing more about these.

Red Steel demonstration left me wanting to play the game, period. Very cool.

DS:
Final Fantasy III is looking wow.
Phantom Hourglass looks nearly as good as Windwaker?
Yoshi
Starfox (the most interesting of the new titles)
DidiKong racing

The Wii will have a 24 hour a day off/but-always-on standby mode, so like in Animal Crossing your friends can visit your village at anytime. Interesting possibilities with this.

The title Nintendo decided to use to demonstrate it's philsophy of bringing non-gamers and gamers together was Wii Sports, a Tennis, Golf, and Baseball game available launch day. Curious to hear hands-on experiences.

Overall really impressed. If the unveiling last year of a realistic Zelda brought tears of joy to some eyes, this press conference made my Wii hard. I

[Cuddly Knife]

Exite truck? As in Exite Bike? Insane.

Insane.

Starfox DS is on!

Curious to hear hands-on experiences.
Me too.

[trebor]

I have to admit, I'm going to find it really difficult to justify buying the GC version of Twilight Princess after seeing the demo with the Wiimote.

Plus, and I'm shocked you didn't mention this, but...

SUPER MARIO ****ING GALAXY!!?!?!?!?

Holy crap did that look awesome.

Plus they are already pimping a new Fire Emblem...:D


I'm really disappointed they didn't want to release the price/release date info and didn't go into more detail about how the WiFi network will be utilized with Wii, but overall it annihilated the Sony show.

[Mochan]

Excite Truck has me sooooo intrigued. I think I will get that game.

[Gadfly2317]

27 Playable Wii games on the floor tomorrow? Does anyone have a complete list?

Also, unless my notes and memory deceive me, there was something about the new Mario game on DS allowing two players to battle a giant Luigi wirelessly (online?)

[trebor]

If one heads over to www.nintendo.com there is a HUGE list of games they didn't even mention coming out for the DS...

Quendan sequel

Air DS - a flight game, wifi compatible

Chibi Robo Park Patrol

Custom Robo

Club Games - checkers, chess, etc., wifi compatible

plus tons of others.

[Cuddly Knife]

Excite Truck has me sooooo intrigued. I think I will get that game.
From IGN:
Once you get past the name, you'll find that ExciteTruck is a fun little racer with a lot of compelling play mechanics. The title utilizes the Wii-mote and not the nunchuck attachment. You simply turn the pointer on its side and use its tilt functionality for four degrees of movement. The B button functions as gas and the A as brake. As you race your monster truck over mountainous tracks, you can turn left or right simply by tilting the controller in the respective directions. There are a lot of jumps in the game and you'll often find yourself hovering, if not soaring through the air for seconds at a time. When you're way up high, you can push forward or pull backward on the controller in order to center your truck so that it lands correctly on all four wheels, which is an integral objective to succeed in races as it grants you boost power.

The game moves at a really fast pace - much quicker than Excitebike 64 by comparison and nearly at the speed of arcade racers like, for instance, Hydro Thunder. Actually, the two have a similar feel because in both you're gunning for speed boosts and air hang time.

Boosts in ExciteTruck are intuitively handled when you're in the air by tapping any direction on the Wii-mote's D-Pad. Bear in mind again that the controller is turned on its side so it's even easier to access the pad. Once you press a direction, the boost kicks in with a flaming effect, the screen goes a bit fish-eye and your monster truck shoots forward with noticeable force. Speed boosts in the game can make huge differences. For instance, there might be a huge chasm separating two mountains and you could easily clear the gap with a boost when you'd have no chance otherwise.

There are question marks strewn about the courses and when you run them over with your truck, the terrain around you dynamically shifts up and down to create new jumps and barriers. It's a very dramatic effect, actually, because in an instant a flatland can change into a fairly sizeable mountain - and right before your eyes. As a general rule, you'll want to run over the question marks whenever possible because they provide massive air potential for you, which is fun and useful. When you land big jumps, you gain more turbo bursts, after all. The section advantage, though, is that the changing landscapes can seriously malfunction your AI-controlled competitors and you can take advantage of their missteps. As a result, ExciteTruck presents racing environments complete with a fair amount of strategy.

The trucks themselves don't take damage and you can't stray too far off of the course, but the levels are still large and varied. Nintendo demoed two different levels to me. One was set in Mexico and featured big mountains, shrubbery and trees, while the other was set on Fiji and was surrounded by shimmering ocean water. (Every so often I would soar off a mountain and crash directly into the ocean below, and I'd need to tap the gas button repeatedly to reset my truck.) The trucks move about the levels with a solid sense of weight and physics and although you won't find extra graphical bells and whistles like detailed particle mud, many of the backgrounds look like something befitting of an Xbox racer, which isn't a criticism.

I found ExciteTruck to be immediately accessible and surprisingly entertaining, even if its premise is straightforward and its control method relatively simple. Using the Wii-mote to move tilt and turn about levels is easily performed and feels downright natural, in my opinion. When writing this hands-on, I went back and listened to some of the audio notes I took as I played the game. I'll end this hands-on preview by quoting my notes: "I had some concerns about whether or not driving games would work with the Wii remote. Not anymore. ExciteTruck feels great and I'm having a lot of fun."

The title runs in progressive-scan mode and 16x9 widescreen on Wii.

[Superjoint Ritual]

The Good

- Zelda looks f'ing amazing. This is a killer app Nintendo lacked with the GC.

- Mario in space !? Maybe the greatest idea ever.

- The DS is just seems to get better and better. The PsP really brought Nintendo back to life.

- The Wii is going to be awesome.

- 27 playable Wii games? PLEASE GOD LET MARIO BE PLAYABLE!!!!!!!!!

- Reggie is the shiz, and Nintendo's conference was much better this year.

The Bad

- Not very much info. Price, VC, specs, ignored. Hopefully we'll get more info in the next couple days.

The Ugly

- Some of the graphics were horrible. I mean, Metroid Prime 3 looked pretty gamecuby... Hopefully that's just because it's early. If not, the Wii better be no more than 150 bucks, because that isn't three times better than the GC.

[trebor]

Here is a more complete list of upcoming announced DS games and release dates...

Big Brain Academy - June 5, 2006
Chibi-Robo: Park Patrol - June 5, 2006
Children of Mana - Q4 2006
Clubhouse Games - Q4 2006
Custom Robo Arena - Q4 2006
Diddy Kong Racing DS - TBA
DK: King of Swing DS - TBA
DS Air - TBA
Elite Beat Agents - Q4 2006
Hotel Dusk: Room 215 - Q4 2006
Kirby - TBA
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass - Q4 2006
Magical Vacation (working title) - Q4 2006
Magnetica - June 5, 2006
Mario Hoops 3-on-3 - Sept 11, 2006
Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2:March of the Minis - September 25, 2006
New Super Mario Bros. - May 15, 2006
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team - September 18, 2006
Pokémon Ranger - TBA
Star Fox DS - August 28, 2006 - ? can't believe it's coming out so soon.
Sudoku Gridmaster - June 26, 2006
Tenchu: Dark Secret - August 21, 2006
Yoshi's Island 2 - Q4 2006

[Gadfly2317]

Elite Beat Agents is "Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan!" the DS rhythm game we've heard so much about in Japan. Thank god it's going to come stateside. Hope they keep the original soundtrack.

[trebor]

Here's a more complete list of playable/upcoming Wii titles, with ones of particular interest to me bolded...

Activision
-Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam
-Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
-Call of Duty 3

AQ Interactive
-Boxing Action (currently untitled)

Atari
-Dragon Ball Z Budokai: Tenkaichi 2

Atlus
-Trauma Center: Second Opinion

Banpresto
-Family Action Game (currently untitled)

Buena Vista Games
-Disney's Chicken Little: Ace in Action
-Disney's Meet the Robinsons

Capcom
-Resident Evil game - (?!)

D3Publisher
-SIMPLE series
-Original Action Game (currently untitled)

Eidos
-Title TBD

Electronic Arts
-Madden NFL '07
-Medal of Honor Airborne

Epoch
-Title TBD

From Software
-Action game (currently untitled)

Genki
-Title TBD

Hudson Soft
-BOMBERMAN LAND
-Flight Game (currently untitled)

Jaleco
-Title TBD

Koei
-Sengoku Action

Konami Digital Entertainment
-Elebits
-Soccer Game (currently untitled)

Majesco
-Bust-A-Move Revolution

Marvelous Interactive
-Bokujo Monogatari ("Ranch Story")
-Heroes
-Kawa no Nu****suri
-Original simulation game (currently untitled)

Mastiff
-Mr. D. Goes to Town (working title)

Midway Games
-The Ant Bully
-Happy Feet

Milestone
-New Vertical Scrolling Shooting Game
-New Action Game

MTO
-Character Action Game (currently untitled)
-SAN-X All-Star Revolution

Namco Bandai Games
-Final Furlong
-Mobile Suit Gundam
-SD Gundam G Breaker
-Digimon
-One Piece Unlimited Adventure
-New Action Game (currently untitled)
-New RPG (currently untitled)
-Tamagotchi
-Title TBD

Natsume (developed by Marvelous)
-Harvest Moon

Sega
-Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz
-Sonic Wild Fire

SNK
-Metal Slug Anthology

Spike
-Necro-Nesia
-Jawa

Square Enix
-Codename: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Crystal Bearers
-Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors

Taito
-Turn IT Around!!
-Let's go by train!
-Cooking Mama--Cooking with International Friends

Tecmo
-Super Swing Golf PANGYA

The Game Factory
-Title TBD

THQ
-Avatar: the Last Airbender
-SpongeBob SquarePants: Creature from the Krusty Krab
-Disney/Pixar Cars

Tomy
-Action Game (currently untitled)
-Battle Action (currently untitled)

Ubisoft
-Open Season
-Rayman Raving Rabbids
-Red Steel

Vivendi Universal Games
-Title TBD

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
-Title TBD

[Cuddly Knife]

Milestone
-New Vertical Scrolling Shooting Game

Sigh. Well, at least there's one shmup. Come on Treasure! I know you can do something great for shmups!

[Mochan]

Elite Beat Agents is "Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan!" the DS rhythm game we've heard so much about in Japan. Thank god it's going to come stateside. Hope they keep the original soundtrack.

I hope so too, but we'll probably get translated songs. Which isn't necessarily bad, Bust a Move had some good translations. As long as they do it right it shouldn't be an issue.

[Rogue Bounty Hunter]

Here's a more complete list of playable/upcoming Wii titles, with ones of particular interest to me bolded...


-Marvel: Ultimate Alliance

Any idea what kind of graphics Marvel: UA will have for the Wii? I know current-gen will have cel-shaded, but the 360 will have normal mapped, non-cel shaded (I call them real) graphics. I hope the Wii has normal mapped instead of cel-shaded.

[Cuddly Knife]

I was also wondering RBH, but for Medal of Honor and Call of Duty 3.

[Pandarbock]

The title runs in progressive-scan mode and 16x9 widescreen on Wii.

Wiiii!!!! now that is what I want to hear, I don't care as much about HD as I do native widescreen, hopefully all Wii games will be pscan/ widescreen.

[trebor]

Any idea what kind of graphics Marvel: UA will have for the Wii? I know current-gen will have cel-shaded, but the 360 will have normal mapped, non-cel shaded (I call them real) graphics. I hope the Wii has normal mapped instead of cel-shaded.


I'm pretty curious about this too. I'm also wondering if it is only coming to Wii or if it will grace the GC as well, because that will also factor into how much I'll want a Wii.

Yes, I'm a Marvel Super Heroes RPG whore and I'm proud of it. :D

[Renzatic Gear]

Anyone got more info on Super Mario Galaxy? I've only seen mention of it, no screenshots or any other tidbits.

Edit: Found one (http://www.1up.com/do/slideshow?pager.offset=0&mt=0&cId=3150586&mId=2859805)

[Mochan]

What kind of game exactly is Marvel UA going to be?

[trebor]

What kind of game exactly is Marvel UA going to be?

Imagine Xmen Legends, but with more characters, more RPG elements, and a branching storyline that has multiple outcomes.

[Mochan]

Sounds good.

[Zilla Man]

Here's a more complete list of playable/upcoming Wii titles, with ones of particular interest to me bolded...

Activision
-Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam
-Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
-Call of Duty 3

AQ Interactive
-Boxing Action (currently untitled)

Atari
-Dragon Ball Z Budokai: Tenkaichi 2

Atlus
-Trauma Center: Second Opinion

Banpresto
-Family Action Game (currently untitled)

Buena Vista Games
-Disney's Chicken Little: Ace in Action
-Disney's Meet the Robinsons

Capcom
-Resident Evil game - (?!)

D3Publisher
-SIMPLE series
-Original Action Game (currently untitled)

Eidos
-Title TBD

Electronic Arts
-Madden NFL '07
-Medal of Honor Airborne

Epoch
-Title TBD

From Software
-Action game (currently untitled)

Genki
-Title TBD

Hudson Soft
-BOMBERMAN LAND
-Flight Game (currently untitled)

Jaleco
-Title TBD

Koei
-Sengoku Action

Konami Digital Entertainment
-Elebits
-Soccer Game (currently untitled)

Majesco
-Bust-A-Move Revolution

Marvelous Interactive
-Bokujo Monogatari ("Ranch Story")
-Heroes
-Kawa no Nu****suri
-Original simulation game (currently untitled)

Mastiff
-Mr. D. Goes to Town (working title)

Midway Games
-The Ant Bully
-Happy Feet

Milestone
-New Vertical Scrolling Shooting Game
-New Action Game

MTO
-Character Action Game (currently untitled)
-SAN-X All-Star Revolution

Namco Bandai Games
-Final Furlong
-Mobile Suit Gundam
-SD Gundam G Breaker
-Digimon
-One Piece Unlimited Adventure
-New Action Game (currently untitled)
-New RPG (currently untitled)
-Tamagotchi
-Title TBD

Natsume (developed by Marvelous)
-Harvest Moon

Sega
-Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz
-Sonic Wild Fire

SNK
-Metal Slug Anthology

Spike
-Necro-Nesia
-Jawa

Square Enix
-Codename: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Crystal Bearers
-Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors

Taito
-Turn IT Around!!
-Let's go by train!
-Cooking Mama--Cooking with International Friends

Tecmo
-Super Swing Golf PANGYA

The Game Factory
-Title TBD

THQ
-Avatar: the Last Airbender
-SpongeBob SquarePants: Creature from the Krusty Krab
-Disney/Pixar Cars

Tomy
-Action Game (currently untitled)
-Battle Action (currently untitled)

Ubisoft
-Open Season
-Rayman Raving Rabbids
-Red Steel

Vivendi Universal Games
-Title TBD

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
-Title TBD

Holy sh*t, I've really got my work cut out for me this year!

At least you and Gaddy will get to read brochures/catalogs on whatever games I don't get to play.

[Superjoint Ritual]

Anyone got more info on Super Mario Galaxy? I've only seen mention of it, no screenshots or any other tidbits.

Edit: Found one (http://www.1up.com/do/slideshow?pager.offset=0&mt=0&cId=3150586&mId=2859805) I'm watching G4's E3 coverage tomorrow because they said they'll have a playable demo. Though it's was almost impossible to watch today due to the endless self-promotion and the same Mountain Dew commercial playing every break. :mad:

[Rogue Bounty Hunter]

I'm pretty curious about this too. I'm also wondering if it is only coming to Wii or if it will grace the GC as well, because that will also factor into how much I'll want a Wii.

Yes, I'm a Marvel Super Heroes RPG whore and I'm proud of it. :D

From the Game Informer article, it didn't mention the GC, but it also didn't mention the Wii (still Rev back then). Since X-Men Legends appeared on the GC, I think there's a good chance Marvel:UA could appear on there as well.

If you find out the names of the 20 playable characters, can you let me know?

[trebor]

Holy sh*t, I've really got my work cut out for me this year!

At least you and Gaddy will get to read brochures/catalogs on whatever games I don't get to play.

You'll be the first VGR member to get hands on time with the Wii-mote, you lucky duck!

[trebor]

From the Game Informer article, it didn't mention the GC, but it also didn't mention the Wii (still Rev back then). Since X-Men Legends appeared on the GC, I think there's a good chance Marvel:UA could appear on there as well.

I think I read somewhere that it was basically coming out for every single platform except the GBA. This included the GC and the DS as well, but I don't know if that's current.


If you find out the names of the 20 playable characters, can you let me know?

You bet. I do know that Spider-man, Captain America, Wolverine, and the Thing are a lock right now, which is awesome.

[trebor]

Man, the news is just never ending.

Here is a glimpse of the controller that will be used for the virtual console and/or Gamecube games, if one opts to not use a Wavebird (but why wouldn't you?)

http://www.planetgamecube.com/media/2533/1/22060.jpg

[Cuddly Knife]

SNES flashback! That is so freaking awesome!

[Rogue Bounty Hunter]

You bet. I do know that Spider-man, Captain America, Wolverine, and the Thing are a lock right now, which is awesome.

I read from GI and Gamespot that Blade, Elektra, Dr. Strange (who is this?) and Ghost Rider were also supposed to be playable characters. I saw a screenshot of Ghost and Elektra fighting, so I guess they can be penciled in on the playable roster. I bet Activision will hold out on the remaining characters until close to release.

Iron Man has to be one of the playable characters.

Are you interested in Justice League Heroes?

[Cuddly Knife]

Paper Mario goes side-scroller in this brand-new GameCube title. We get our first look.
By Alex Navarro, GameSpot
Posted May 9, 2006 12:02 pm PT

LOS ANGELES--Those watching Nintendo's Electronic Entertainment Expo 2006 press conference were likely all atwitter about the various Wii and Nintendo DS titles announced. But what about the GameCube? Watching that conference, you'd think Zelda was the only GC game from now until the end of time. Well, you'd be wrong. Shortly after Nintendo's conference, Nintendo released press materials on its upcoming GC lineup. And while the pickings were admittedly slim, one big, glaring omission from the conference stood out: Super Paper Mario.

Super Paper Mario is, in fact, a side-scrolling platformer in the vein of the classic Mario titles but with the aesthetic qualities of the Paper Mario series. However, it's not just a 2D side-scroller. The game fuses elements of 2D and 3D gameplay together, shifting back and forth between dimensions. Watching the brief video for the game, you can get a pretty good idea of how it plays. The paper version of Mario runs to the right, stomping on koopas, punching bricks, collecting coins, and whatnot. However, you won't just be playing as Mario, it seems. Both Princess Peach and Bowser are shown as playable characters in the video. And in perhaps something of a nod to Nintendo's newest Mario title for the DS, the video also shows all characters getting severely gigantic, blowing through enemies and bricks with reckless abandon. Even more hysterical, the giant characters are actually versions of the original Super Mario Bros. sprites, blown up to epic proportions.

Other highlights of the video include Mario swimming through outer space with an adorable little space helmet on, him going antigravity by running up and down walls, and Princess Peach using her precious little umbrella to glide down from a tall jump. All told, the 26-second video made Super Paper Mario look very appealing, and we suggest you check it out, as well as the latest screenshots from the game. Why this didn't hit Nintendo's conference, we'll never know, but you can bet we'll bring you the latest details on the game as soon as they become available.

[trebor]

I read from GI and Gamespot that Blade, Elektra, Dr. Strange (who is this?) and Ghost Rider were also supposed to be playable characters. I saw a screenshot of Ghost and Elektra fighting, so I guess they can be penciled in on the playable roster. I bet Activision will hold out on the remaining characters until close to release.

Iron Man has to be one of the playable characters.

Dr. Strange is the Marvel equivalent of Gandalf - he's the primo magic guy, albiet quite a bit younger and more suave looking.

http://home.att.net/~raidcon/drstrange.jpg


Are you interested in Justice League Heroes?

Not as much.