Dave Gray
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It's doo-doo, baby!
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« on: May 09, 2006, 02:26:35 pm » |
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Nintendo is pushing the Wii, it's new game system that is bringing forth a new way to control and experience games, instead of simply pushing graphics. It's also expanding their DS lineup.
My first impression was that the Nintendo conference was about 1000X more entertaining than Sony's. How good the system is aside, Nintendo can really put on a show.
Sony started with boring sales numbers and powerpoint charts.
Nintendo started with Miyamoto using the wiimote (the controller) as a conductor's wand and playing the theme to Zelda with a virtual orchestra. As he'd speed up and slow down his arms, the music would match. It was pretty dope....probably useless, but for showmanship, it just did it up from the start.
The main point of the show was that the Wii was not a next gen system....it was a completely new system, aimed at everyone...not just existing gamers. ...and the show did a pretty good job of backing that up.
1) The controller
I was a huge skeptic of this, but it looks reallly cool. REALLY COOL, now that I've seen it in action. While the PS3 controller has motion elements, this is a control system completely based around it. They showed several different uses for how it works. ...basically, the orientation of the controllers is its own input.
They showed Zelda, where when you fire arrows, you actually make movement of firing an arrow...aiming, pulling back one controller from the other, and it guages the distance and accuracy.
They showed tennis, where you actually swing the controller to hit the ball back, depending on where it comes.
They showed fishing, where you treat the controller like a fishing pole.
They showed first person shooters, where you use the controller like a gun, and there is a mouse recticle on the screen.
They showed baseball, where you swing to hit.
There was sword fighting with two swords, where you use the two controllers as swords.
They showed driving, where you use the controller like a wheel.
I was pretty impressed with the versatility.
A surprise that nobody knew was that the controller has a speaker in it. ...so that you get some surround sound. ...for example, when you pull back the arrow in Zelda, you hear the string stretch as you pull back the controller over your shoulder in the speaker near your ear, but you hear it hit the target at your TV.
2) Wii Games
Again, I can't help but compare to Sony. ...Sony had about 5 playable games for E3. Nintendo has 27.
Zelda: Twilight Princess will be released simultaneously on Wii and Gamecube in the 4th quarter of this year.
We saw a new Mario game called: Super Mario Galaxy, which looks like Super Mario 64, but all crazy in space. It looked super, duper, dope.
We saw a new Metroid Prime that looked much like the others.
We saw a FPS called Red Steel (I think) that was an interesting concept, but looked awkward graphically for some reason.
3) The DS
They announced a new version of DS, the DS Lite, and some new titles for it. They talked mostly about their existing franchises: Nintendogs, Brain Age, Pokemon....just things that people thought would never work, yet they've become great successes.
4) Wii Price / Availability
They said nothing on price....other than it would be "considerably less" than the competition. (Speculation is between $200 and $250) As for availability, they said 4th quarter of this year...but no exact date.
Overall: I was very impressed with the entertainment value of the show. As for the Wii system, I think that it will sell to a lot of people that will also own either an XBOX or PS3. Since it will offer a completely different gaming experience than the other 2, plus a way lower pricetag, it will be inviting. The only thing that concerns me is that their innovative control will become tedious...and at some point you don't want to put that much effort into playing a game.
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