-Starts off with montage of very different gamer types
-Kids, adults, teens, the elderly play
Cammy (sp?) Dunaway VP of Sales and Marketing
-”We promise to keep you smiling…” CHEESY!
-This lady is definitely out there to appeal to moms and Nintendo’s “new audience” types
-This is nearly unbearable. She’s telling stories about her fall snowboarding last year.
-Shaun White is on stage to demo snowboarding with the Balance Board and totally hamming it up.
-Whatever game it is, it looks good
-Of course, it’s Shaun White’s Snowboarding by Ubisoft
Shaun White’s Snowboarding
-Shaun White gave lots of input in development such as look and feel
-Goofy mom figure steps on the a board next to Shaun
-I don’t know if this is pre-rendered, but she’s nailing some nice tricks in the half pipe…ok, not pre-rendered, she wipes out a few times
-Exlusively for Wii by year end
Satoru Iwata
-A true paradigm shift has taken place
-5 years ago in May 2003 was Iwata’s first E3
-Everybody had negative outlook on Nintendo’s future
-Agrees that view was common sense, even Nintendo couldn’t imagine that 5 years later that Nintendo would be on top and selling “bathroom scales” by the millions around the world
-Games like Nintendogs and Brain Age combined with games like Mario Kart and New Super Mario Bros. are causing the big change in the market
-Graphics aren’t always the answer (yeah, we know this stance all too well)
-Nintendo is dedicated to making impressive games from a technical standpoint…internal teams hard at work on those (confirmation of Mario and Zelda games on the way?)
-Small games and small budgets can be worldwide hits if they have good ideas backing them
-Intuitive interfaces attracting new games and expanding audience
-Seasonal nature of hardware sales is gone. No longer just a gift item.
-Nintendo selling hardware like every week is a holiday week
-Guitar Hero III selling best on Wii
-Takes a jab at those trying to “reproduce” what Nintendo has done
-Must find more ways to engage players and enrich games to grow enthusiasm
-Nintendo always challenges itself to be a pioneer in the industry
Katsuya Eguchi - Creator of Animal Crossing
Animal Crossing: City Folk
-Curved world, like DS
-No required goals (as in the past)
-Players still rise and sleep while you aren’t playing
-City is new place to explore…separate from Town where you live
-You can put things up for sale in the city auction center
-Stores located in the city for customization
-Letters can be sent to PCs, cell phones, Wiis
-NEW PERIPHERAL…WiiSpeak
-Microphone for the Wii, shows a group (4 players) talking while fishing together
-Still looks very similar to old Animal Crossing experience
-By the end of the year
Reggie Fils-Aime
-Nintendo is pleased, but not satisfied
-Wii over 10 million, DS over 20 million in North America alone
-Total DS worldwide sales will be over 100 million by the end of the fiscal year
-Pokemon over 180 million sales
-DS software 29% higher than last year, hardware 12% up
-After ads ran targetng females using celebs, software sales doubled on those featured titles
-Wii software sales are at a higher pace than 360 and PS3
-Wii library fastest growing of all 3 consoles
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
-Trailer showing players in lightsaber duels using Wii remote and nunchuck
-Force moves motion controlled
-Coming for the holidays
Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party
-Balance Board + Wii Remote + Nunchuch
-Looks fun and silly, just like you’d expect
Call of Duty: World at War
-Graphically very strong for Wii
-Using Wii Zapper
-Co-op mode included
-”Coming Soon”
-Audience pretty underwhelmed…WE ALREADY KNOW ABOUT THESE GAMES
Back to Mommy to speak about DS releases
-DS appeal for females growing fast
-Guitar Hero: On Tour sold over 300k in first week, On Tour: Decades on the way
Guitar Hero: On Tour Decades
-Able to song share between other versions of the game
Spore Creatures
-DS version is unique and custom
-Missed a lot of the rest…
Pokemon Rangers: Shadows of (something or other)
-No info given
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
-DS this winter
-That’s it for info?!
-DS going to be used to improve air travel
-Currently being tested in airports
-DS to be used to check box scores, watch highlights, play trivia, order food, and more at Seattle Mariners baseball games
-Cooking Navi is an electronic cookbook in Japan
-English version coming in November
-Jeez, laying it on thick wit the moms, huh?
Back to Reggie
-Wii remote improvement through Wii MotionPlus
-Makes the Wii remote much more precise
-Successor to Wii Sports
Wii Sports: Resort
-Comes with MotionPlus and extended Wii remote jacket
-Wow, MotionPlus looks super accurate with Wii Sports: Resort
-Mommy throws a frisbee, her puppy doesn’t catch it
-Second try the puppy catches the frisbee…Reggie not impressed (jokingly)
-Reggie playing a Wave Race type of game using Remote and Nunchuck
-Mom and reggie getting ready to duel with swords
-Game understands any angle of slashing or blocking
-Reggie takes down mommy in first round
-Reggie loses round 2
-Launches next Spring
Wii Music
-Starts off with a guy showing drumming
-Uses balance board for bass drum and hi-hat, Wii remote and nunchuck for the rest
-Shigeru Miyamoto using Wii remote to play a sax instrument, buttons like valves
-Shiggy on sax, funny looking second dude on the drums…they’re playing a jazzy song
-Was in development while in finalization of plans for Wii
-Music transcends age and gender
-Different than most music games
-Wii Music allows everybody to perform, rather than just try to hit buttons quickly
-Wii Music lets you create music through movement
-Ok, this looks insanely simple to play…maybe too simple?
-Over 50 different intsruments
-You control tempo, but the game controls the tone
-Amount of motion controls volume
-Other game types including (conductor, record videos, etc.)
-Showing 4 players (Nintendo execs) choosing from 6 parts
-All 4 perform Super Mario Bros. theme w/ drummer dude in the background
-It looks fun, but everybody looks like a giant tool doing it…except Shiggy of course, he’s the muthaflippin’
Reggie and Mommy
-Recapping the show
-Is this it? C’mon Nintendo, at least one more game!
-Looks like they’re playing it safe with the casual crowd
-Reggie saying that you can’t call the Wii a fad anymore
That’s it. Underwhelming, for sure, and the crowd looks confused. Yes, it looked like they were having fun out there, and I’m sure there are more games coming, but the spotlight was given to some pretty tame stuff. The mainstream news is going to be all giddy about what Nintendo has in store, long time fans didn’t get any Mario, Zelda, Metroid, F-Zero, Fire Emblem, or any other big franchise outside of Animal Crossing.
Just days away, boys and girls…E3 is upon us once again. It’s that special time of year when airport food prices expand all across Los Angeles, hotel rates jump 33%, and hot dog carts can be found 2 blocks in each direction around the LA convention center. Yes, even in its terribly scaled back form E3 is stirring up the industry and its supporters. Nintendo has their conference on Tuesday, and as usual, knowing what to expect is like cracking into a fortune cookie. You’re expecting something cute, but there’s always a chance you’ll be highly entertained. Usually, however, you just kind of nod and say, “well, that’s sort of what I was expecting.” Either way, Nintendo is always the company to garner the most pre-show hype. Here is what I’m expecting to see:
Bringing Back the Classics - Nintendo’s greatest strength has always been its franchise characters. Mario, Zelda, Donkey Kong, and others have been driving Nintendo profits for more than two decades now. Because of this, and because the fans demand it, we’re going to get more classic characters getting new games. We know Mario will be there with a sport game or two, Pokemon will have some sort of presence, but we should also be seeing Kid Icarus’ return, along with a balance board supported version of Punch-Out!!. Animal Crossing is going to be there, and I really hope it’s announced alongside a hard drive solution for the Wii (more on that later). Much like Capcom is doing with Mega Man 9, look for 3rd parties to jump in on the retro love with the Wii in some fashion.
Fixing Things That Need Fixin’ - It’s no secret that the Wii needs a better storage solution than its built-in memory. I’m hoping that along with their Animal Crossing unveiling that Nintendo will also announce that it will come bundled with a hard drive. I’m out of space on my Wii, and I’ve been swapping things on and off my SD card, and it’s a bit obnoxious. A hard drive would immediately fix these issues. Also, without a hard drive, Nintendo would be severely limited in what they could offer as DLC for Animal Crossing. I also hope that they’d make the hard drive available separately. In addition to the storage issues, Nintendo needs to bring voice chat to the Wii. I’m not real confident in it happening just yet, but there’s always a chance that Nintendo has paid attention to the complaints.
LOOK AT ME!!! - As always, Nintendo will parade around with their chest out and show how completely insane the sales have been for the Wii and DS. They’lll reiterate that they’ve become the media darlings, and continue to showcase products that illustrate just how they’re going to keep soccer moms buzzing about the Wii. Continued support of the balance board can be expected, and there’s an outside chance that some other crazy peripheral will make its debut.
Eye to the Future - Nintendo is hot now, but they have got to realize internally that the DS and Wii are getting old in a technological sense. While high power has never been the focus of either platform, there are cell phones pushing out visuals on par with the Wii (almost) and much better than the DS. I was doubtful a few months back, but now I’m beginning to think that Nintendo may start to hint at the successor for the DS or even another possible redesign (removed GBA slot, slimmer form factor, better battery life, etc.). Without showing too much, Nintendo will definitely attempt to instill faith in their fans that they are actively working on their future beyond the Wii and DS.
Nintendo always has 2-3 games that everybody wants to play in each conference, another 3-5 that are interesting on some level, and then a whole bunch of games that just seem to be for “someone else”. With the revival of Punch-Out!! and Kid Icarus, I’m pretty much happy with things already, but I really hope we can see some quality 3rd party efforts beyond Fatal Frame and Mega Man 9. Capcom has done very well on the Wii, so I can really see them tossing some love in the Wii’s direction.
If true…holy crap. I don’t care if it’s a remake, a port, or a new adventure entirely, I just sorely want the rumor to be true. Apparently a scan is floating around on 2ch from Jump News, but I’ll wait for more concrete info before getting too excited. Hopefully we’ll hear more at E3.
Do the right thing, SquareEnix…give us Chrono Trigger.
Nintendo’s latest earnings report showcased some insane sales numbers and some pretty lofty sales expectations for the DS and Wii. The numbers also provided lifetime sales for the GBA and GameCube. While there are still a few Cubes and GBAs getting sold, the numbers are so insignificant that we can effectively take these numbers as their final sales totals. Here are the numbers pulled from the report:
GameCube:21,740,000
North America: 12,940,000
Japan: 4,040,000
Other: 4,770,000
Current hardware (lifetime to date):
Nintendo DS: 70,600,000
North America: 22,390,000
Japan: 22,380,000
Other: 25,820,000
Nintendo Wii: 24,450,000
North America: 10,610,000
Japan: 5,900,000
Other: 7,940,000
Other Fun Numbers:
DS has 57 million-selling games (LTD)
Pokemon Diamond/Pearl: 14.77 million sold
Brain Age 1 and 2 (combined): 23.81 million sold
Smash Bros Brawl: 4.85 million as of March 31
The Wii has 26 million-selling games.
Sales Forecast For Next Fiscal Year:
Nintendo Wii hardware: 25 million sold worldwide
Nintendo DS hardware: 28 million sold worldwide
Nintendo Wii Software: 177 million sold
DS software: 187 million sold
So in less than half the time, the Wii has already surpassed GameCube (and Xbox) lifetime sales. That’s pretty impressive and a big turnaround for Nintendo who has struggled the past two generations. The DS is just crazy. There’s not a lot that needs to be said there, because the monstrous numbers speak for themselves. It’s easily going to fly past the GBA lifetime sales,especially if the DS is around for as long before a true successor hits.
No, not Mario games plus Sonic games, but rather Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games has sold over 5 million copies to date. Between the DS and Wii versions, this game is blowing up in every territory, and that’s before the expected sales bump that the game will receive once the Beijing Olympic games roll around. By most accounts the game was merely average (I never tried it), but this is definitely a sign that Mario and Sonic still have some serious draw.
So does this mean that we’ll be seeing more Mario and Sonic crossover titles? Maybe. Sonic is already in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and I don’t think it’s too far-fetched to see Nintendo and Sega getting the characters together again in some sort of racer or other type of party game. With the sales that this game has received, you can count on seeing Mario & Sonic at the Winter Olympic Games two years from now.
With the release of Advance Wars: Days of Ruin, I decided to pull together some tips and strategies for Advance Wars. I noticed that a lot of newcomers to the series were on message boards across the Internet complaining about the difficulty of the game or their inability to nail down a good strategy. I hope this little guide helps out, and I’ll be adding to it over time. Here’s the link: Advance Wars Strategy and Tips. You can find this easily in the link just below the site banner as well, right next to that HDTV buying guide that I never finished and is probably horribly out of date.
So, feel free to comment on whether or not the guide was useful or if you have anything to add. If you haven’t played Advance Wars, now is the time to start! All of the titles are excellent, don’t pass on a single one.
Time did a top ten games of the year, and they ultimately gave Halo 3 the nod as the overall pick. The top 10 are as follows:
1.Halo 3
2.The Orange Box
3.Rock Band
4.Super Mario Galaxy
5.BioShock
6.Call of Duty 4
7.Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
8.Mass Effect
9.Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation
10.God of War 2
I agree with the top 10 (for the most part), but I think there needs to be a shift in the ordering. I think I’d swap Super Mario Galaxy and Halo 3, and bump BioShock to 3 and drop Rock Band down a bit. Oh, and I guess Ace Combat 6 should be taken out entirely.
I’ve got my own list coming up soon which is guaranteed to be better. If you don’t think it’s better, well, then you’re wrong…not me. Anyway, Congrats to Halo 3!
Yeah, that’s right…the Nintendo DS is currently averaging more than one DS sold per second in the United States right now, according the latest sales figures released by Nintendo. In the past week (which includes Black Friday), Nintendo moved over 653,000 DS Lites in the United States alone.
The Wii also is selling at an incredible pace (not exactly a secret at this point), coming in at 650,000+ units over the past two weeks. These huge numbers are definitely the reason for the continued Wii shortage on retail shelves. As the holidays approach, it’s more than likely that finding a Wii will stay extremely difficult. If you have even the slightest desire to own a Wii, and you see one in the store, don’t hesitate to grab it.
Full November numbers will be available once the NPD hits in about 2-3 weeks.
Amazon.com released their top ten list today for games, and here is how it breaks down. Sorry if the formatting is a little funny, but I tried pulling this straight in from Amazon to try something out.
“Our one word review for the new Mario: Wow! The new standard in platformers, the best game on the Wii hands down, and maybe the best Nintendo game of all time. If you don’t own a Wii yet, this is the reason to buy one.”
“The Orange Box is loaded with phenomenal games - Half-Life 2, Team Fortress 2, Portal - and each game by itself is amazing. Portal itself is one of the most innovative games in years.”
“A tremendous first person shooter experience with a great storyline, amazing graphics, creepy little girls, and one of the best baddies - “Big Daddy” - in years.”
“The best game to date on the Nintendo DS, Phantom Hourglass makes great use of the stylus, has a terrific storyline, and provides action/adventure everyone should enjoy.”
“The comparisons to Guitar Hero are natural, but the guitar and game play have a smoother feel in Rock Band. Plus, the song list is extra strong thanks to MTV’s involvement. But most of all: DRUMS!”
“2007 was a year of many great games and lots of focus on next generation consoles. Somehow along the way, GOW2 got a bit overlooked. It’s an amazing game that builds upon and goes beyond the original. A must for gamers who can tolerate heavy violence, it’s one of best PS2 games of all time.”
“The fourth installment of COD is simply amazing and by far the best game of the series. The graphics are stunning and the gameplay is near-perfect for a first person shooter.”
“Certainly no game received more press during the year…and deservedly so. The third installment continues the Halo tradition of providing gamers a great first person shooter experience. If you’re an online junkie, Halo 3 is a no brainer buy.”
Neomoto, over at the NeoGAF forums put together a great summary of the recently held Nintendo conference. Instead of just ripping off his info and work, I’ll just link to it directly. Lazy? Yep. Does it make my day a bit easier? You betcha.
Nintendo E3 press conference notes
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