Nintendo Conference

Nintendo surely has swung for the fences right from the get go this year at E3. Reggie Fils-Amie kicked the Conference off with a bang, revealing the next Legend of Zelda title for the Wii, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. The game is taking advantage of the Wii Motion+, allowing 1:1 motion. Graphically the game looks like a mix between Twilight Princess and Wind Waker. It’s a stylized look that should be please all Zelda fans.

Bill Trinen took the stage to give a live demo of the game. He pretended to not know how to play the game and the man himself, Shigeru Miyamoto “cut” through the back of the stage to properly demonstrate the game. Due to “wireless interface” however, there were a few hiccups with moves that wouldn’t register; same thing happened last year with Wii Sports Resort and that turned out fine.

Plant creatures open their mouths in a specific direction, in which you must match the direction with a slice of the sword. If you hold the sword over your head, the sword will charge up, which will release sword projectiles. This was a long over due homage to the original NES title.

The next title that Reggie focused on was a brand new Mario branded Sports title, dubbed Mario Sports Mix. Looks like Mario is putting down his mitt and hanging up his Tennis racket for some brand new sports. This title, which is coming sometime in 2011, showcased Volleyball, hockey, Dodgeball and Basketball.

Whipping the competition since 2008

After the game Reggie began to focus on hardware and software numbers. I’ll be blunt. I don’t believe numbers should be apart of these press conferences at all, as no one wants to sit and hear about them. These should be all about the games. This led Reggie into the next title, Wii Party. The best way to describe it is Mario Party with Mii characters. For all of you that loved “Just Dance,” here comes the greatly anticipated sequel “Just Dance 2”. Ok, I’m not serious, so let’s move on to games people will actually care about.

Golden Sun: Dark Dawn is that game that the people want. The newest game for the franchise is releasing on the DS and I must say it’s about damn time. Golden Sun was first created on the GBA and was rumored to have a Wii and DS title for years. Hopefully it will keep that Golden Sun feel, and the big surprise it will be ready this holiday season. This is a trend you will see throughout the conference, and I must confess it worked to win the audience over.

Keeping the “Golden” theme going Nintendo went right into the next GoldenEye, which is coming exclusively for Wii. Daniel Craig was announced to be doing the voice over work for James Bond, instead of Pierce Brosnan, which was in the original Goldeneye movie.

The next game that was shown was Disney’s Epic Mickey. Looks like they improved upon the look and feel of the game, as it more closely matches the original concept art than when it was first shown. Mickey has the ability to erase and draw in the world. Looks like the game will have tons and tons of cameo characters. One level that was shown was a side scrolling stage based off of “Steam Boat Willy” and I must say it looks fantastic.

If this doesn't look good to you, then hand in your eyes.

Making his return to a Nintendo console is that pink, round and stringy character? That’s right Kirby is back in Kirby’s Epic Yarn, and yes they actually used the word “epic” in the title. The game is sporting a brand new unique graphical style that plays off of yarn and fabric effects. It’s almost like what was done with Paper Mario, but with yarn. Best of all, it is coming this Fall.

Keeping the momentum going Nintendo showed off a new trailer for the highly anticipated Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies, which will be coming July 11th. Next up was a trailer for the newest game in the Metroid Series, Metroid Other M. It is shaping up quite nicely, and will hitting shelves on August 31st.

The bombshells just keep on jumping with Retro Studios newest title, Donkey Kong Country Returns. It looks like a 3D side scrolling version of the SNES classic. It looks great, but I wish the “fur” effect from DK Jungle Beat, made a return, but it still looks good. As for the release date, you guessed it, this Holiday Season.

Iwata came out to showcase the Nintendo 3DS. The handheld has a analog slider, a D-pad and a wider top 3D screen. The color that was shown was a black/teal mix. Not a fan of the colors, as I loved the look of the original DSI white look and feel. The camera part has 2 lenses this time, and Iwata explains this will allow the use to take pictures and display them in 3D. Not only will it play games, but also Nintendo is working with studios to release 3D movies on the device. As for the games, Nintendo showed an amazing Kid Icarus trailer. The graphics look better than what the DS is capable of now, but hard to tell just how capable the hardware is. I will hold off judgment until I am able to see it in 3D and right in front of me, not enlarged on a big screen. Iwata goes on to explain that 3rd parties will have a huge launch presence. This is different than most past system releases for Nintendo. A couple of the biggest ones teased were Capcom with Resident Evil, ad Konami with Metal Gear Solid.

Overall Nintendo had a phenomenal conference. They needed to come and blow people away this year, after the last couple of conferences have been utter disasters. With all the games that were shown it looks like Nintendo is bringing it again for all types of games.