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The press event will be starting soon, it's being streamed all over the place. Everywhere is actually blocked at my job, but I just managed to hax into one of the official streams. I am so excited, I really did squeal out loud. Good thing no one is in the office with me right now.
Find somewhere to watch it if you desire. Sony's is later today. More information will be posted later.
I'm betting there will be atleast SOMETHING about Super Smash Bros. Brawl..
First 'big' mention: WII ZAPPER. Talk about RE Umbrella Chronicles, Ghost Squad, Medal of Honor (32 players in multiplayer on Wii!?)
Will be released this year, with some Nintendo software, for $20
It looks different than what you might imagine.
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SMASH BROS DEC. 3RD
MARIO KART WII, online in Q1. Online battle mode in particular sounds tasty. They teased that they will be allowing a larger number of players online. Also revealed the official Nintendo Wii Wheel, which can/will come with Mario Kart.
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Aaaand it looks like my stream conked out. Or the IT department here caught on to me after 45 minutes and killed the connection. Ah well.
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Continuing, based on Live Blogs:
Miyamoto will be revealing a new game soon
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Stream's back on! Just in time to hear them talk about...Brain Age 2. This is not Miyamoto's new game.
Mario Galaxy: Bumblebee suit confirmed. Does it transform? Game comes out November 12.
After a quick montage of news reports about Wii's potential to increase fitness, they announce 'Wii Fit'. 'WTF' was my first though. But it started to grow on me--primarily because of the controller. It's a 'pad' that looks like a scale, but it's used for all kinds of stuff. It's pressure sensitive in 2 main areas (left and right), and can also determine how you are balancing on either foot. Like it can tell when you're leaning forward or leaning backwards... wow. Still watching it now, it's making my mind melt. It's pretty freakin' cool. Mind you, it's not the 'Wii Fit' game alone that has me impressed, it's the 'Controller' and the possibilities for other games.
The controller is called the Wii Balance Board. It can take your weight, how you're balancing, and it's wireless. They're demonstrating the measurement function by having Reggie stand on it while it goes through the process. Results: it shows how your center of gravity and how it shifted. My stream cut out while it was showing the results, so I missed some of the stuff, but right now it's showing something about the Body Mass Index.
The last bit of stuff I caught was a Miyamoto vs Reggie match. It was a Wii Sports-esque mini-game where you have to headbutt footballs (soccer balls) while evading shoes and panda heads (that look like footballs). Looks like the same kind of crazy fun as Wii Sports, while looking like they were working their muscles quite a bit. It is personally fascinating.
In all, it was an enjoyable show. They did a lot of horn-tooting, but that's what press conferences are for. Wii Fit and the Balance Board are pretty significant new announces. We all knew Mario Kart was coming eventually, it's good to see it finally on the way. So, Nintendo is continuing to strengthen the 'new gamer' side, while trying to include the 'core gamers' at the same time. I didn't mention everything that they showed or talked about, like Phantom Hourglass or Metroid Prime 3, so there was more going on during the event. It's looking pretty good. Still, nothing quite 'OMG' worthy (despite the crazyawesome Balance Board), but I guess we shouldn't expect something like that every time.
And Nintendo were the ones who were supposedly all about the games. What the hell were they doing on that stage, they showed off nothing to arouse any excitement in me. The only thing worthwhile on show was that Wii Zapper. But it surprises me that there were cheers after they announced the $20 price tag. For one, its just a piece of plastic that holds the remote and nunchuk on place. Thats it. So $20 isnt necessarily a steep price tag but nothing to cheer about. With enough time and effort maybe I could even make one.
So there big thing to end the show off was the Wii Balance Board. Which I think just showed how disconnected Nintendo is getting with there hardcore gamer fanbase. Im not a Nintendo fanboy, but im sure that everyone who was watching who is wasnt impressed. All I see Nintendo is doing is trying to get Mummys vote to buy their kid a Wii. Getting fit is not why I play games, and I see no enjoyment in doing so. If I wanted to get fit, I'd go to the gym.
And talk about bragging, Microsoft were bad enough but Nintendo went that step further. Constantly showing off video's of actors ( apparantly the typical family to Nintendo ) all crowding around the Wii. And what was with the two people heading on stage to demonstrate the video. No one just picked off the street could be that good at those games. I suspect Nintendo employee's getting paid big bucks to do this. Either way, too many bar graphs and too much talk of the elderly. This was not a conference. This was a joke.