Nintendo Live Blog

I haven’t slept yet (I’ve been working on my L4D map) so I’m going to try to make this painless. Here’s what I think about Nintendo’s conference as it happens.

• Oh boy, it’s Cammie. Tell us about how well Nintendo’s doing Cammie. Really well? That’s just great.
• It’sa me, Mario. 2d and 4 player coop. The “coin rooms” look a lot like the OOOOLD Mario Brothers game. Neat. Of course there’s waggle. Holiday 2009.
• Balance Board/Wii Fit sold really well. Hurray. Wii Fit Plus adds to the original, which will somehow make people who gave up on the original return to Nintendo’s fitness regiment. Cammie says Wii Fit is “Brainage for your Backside.” I say hooey.
• Reggie! Thank god, save us from Soccer Moms. Wii Motion Plus time. I remember when they were talking about this last year.
• Wii Sports Resorts doesn’t strike me as any more fun this year. Wii Skydiving doesn’t seem as exhilarating as the real thing. Archery looks decent, not something I’d play for more than any other tech demo. After some faux witty banter and a tedious 3 point competition we finally get a release date: July 26th.
• Tiger Woods and Virtua Tennis will be out around the same time.
• Wii won for most 3rd party games sold, DS came in second, so saith Reggie. Lots of poor selling shovel-ware adds up.
• Square Enix is bringing another Crystal Chronicals game, exclusive to Wii. Looks like a 3rd person adventure/rpg from the brief gameplay.
• September 29th brings an ‘exclusive version’ of Kingdom Hearts.
• A Mario RPG on the DS, Mario & Lugi: Bowser’s Inside Story, drops this fall. Doesn’t look terrible; but I didn’t see any treadmills.
• Golden Sun DS. Apparently I’m supposed to be excited about this IP returning, but I honestly don’t remember it.
• James Patterson game is going to be an innovative ds interactive novel. Hotel Dusk anyone?
• COP is an innovative ds open world game. GTA: Chinatown Wars anyone?
• Style Savvy is an innovative ds fasion game. This one might actually be innovative, I just don’t care.
• “DSi captures the passion of players.” I mean, it has the entire DS libary!
• Flip Notes Studio drops this summer, if you want to make movies on your DSi.
• Mario vs Donkey Kong: March of the Minis drops Monday. It looks like content for the DSi that is closing in on system-seller status. Too bad I still have my doubts about other games in the near future.
• LoZ: Spirit Tracks —is mentioned. I was hoping for details.
• Iwata takes the stage. He’s acknowledging the slowing growth. He believes there is a possible 50% growth of gamers left. To summarize Iwata’s point, “Games should be easy to learn and difficult to master.” Iwata brings out the big guns… Wii Vitality Sensor. *sigh* Another gimmicky peripheral. It’s a pulse detector; and while it could be used to do awesome things, it won’t happen on a console like the Wii. Third parties are too gunshy to take a risk on a game that requires an attachment.
• Another 3d Mario! Yoshi’s in it! Super Mario Galaxy 2 – looks better than Galaxy was from where I sit.
• Reggie’s back on the stage to talk about exclusive 3rd party ‘hard-core’ titles.  The Conduit, still looks good for a Wii game. Resident Evil: The Dark Side Chronicles – Looks like a light-gun shooter to me; I’ve got a softspot for light guns and zombies. Finally EA’s Dead Space: Extraction.. I’m not sure I’m feeling that one.
• Nintendo’s “new, edgier game” co-created by Team Ninja is Metroid: Other M. 2d and 3d levels, has a first person camera that looks a lot like prime. From the gameplay/story shown I’m not sure what makes it darker or edgier, but it doesn’t look bad.

Nintendo’s press conferance summary: Hot DAMN. New Super Mario Brother’s Wii, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Metroid, Conduit (again) and Dark Side Chronicles. That was a pretty strong showing, even if I didn’t get dates for everything. Reggie closed that presentation like a champ.