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With Sony failing to capitalise on PlayStation 3 hype, Nintendo took to the stage at 5:30pm BST to deliver its pre-E3 Media Briefing, in front of an audience packed with excited Nintendo fans.
Media Briefing as it happened
17:35: Miyamoto takes to the stage and conducts a musical number. No joke. He has a Wii controller in his hand and a virtual orchestra is seen playing behind him.
17:39: A Wii racing game is show, followed by Red Steel. Miyamoto dances in a rather peculiar way in front of the large video display, but the crowd seems to like it.
17:40: Reggie Fils-Aime, Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Nintendo of America, takes the stage and hypes up the next leap in gaming.
17:41: A promo video for the Wii is shown. A tennis game is featured that shows four players playing together around a TV. A golf game is also shown. A family is seen playing an orchestra game. An off-road racer is shown that seems to run at quite a breakneck speed. A new Mario game is shown being played with a Wii remote. An unknown flight game is shown. Metroid Prime 3 is shown. A table tennis game is shown that features incredibly basic visuals. WarioWare looks suitably odd and seems to include some interesting mini-games. A Baseball game for the Wii is shown. Red Steel is shown again. Zelda is shown using the Wii controller for fishing and fighting.
All of the games look nice, but not a huge leap over the best games available for the GameCube
17:50: No date and price to be announced today. To be released in Q4 2006. It will offer the best value for money.
17:52: Another video reel is shown. Metroid Prime 3, Dragon Ball, Fire Emblem, SpongeBob, Super Mario Galaxy, Gundam game, Tony Hawk’s Downhill Jam, Excite Truck, Elebits, Red Steel, Rayman 4, Super Swing Golf, Sonic Wild Fire, Project H.A.M.M.E.R., Final Furlong, Madden, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles and Zelda all shown.
17:55: It is announced that The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princes is to be available at launch for Wii. The game is to take advantage of the Wii controller. A fairy acts as a pointer on the screen. Link’s bow can be aimed using Wii pointer.
One of the Wii remote’s secrets is that a speaker is built into it. The crowd seems to really like this feature. It is said to offer a depth of sound that other consoles supposedly can’t. Controller has a built in rumble. Nunchuck also has in-built motion sensing capabilities. A demo of Zelda to be playable on the show floor, which will include a fishing section.
18:02: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princes is to be released in two versions: One for GameCube and one for Wii. Both will be released on the same day.
18:04: Metroid Prime 3: Corruption announced. Super Mario Galaxy announced with free hand control, to give Mario a new set of moves. Excite Truck announced, with deformable terrain and wii controller support (why not ExciteBike?). Project H.A.M.M.E.R. announced. Disaster: Day of Crisis announced, but no game footage is shown.
18:06: Sonic is shown for the Wii. Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles exclusive to the Wii from Square-Enix. Madden NFL 07 for Wii with Wii remote control. Tony Hawk’s Downhill Jam, Rayman, and SpongeBob all announced.
18:07: 27 Wii games to be playable on show floor, with more on video.
18:08: Ubisoft take the stage to demo Red Steel for the Wii – A first-person action game set in USA and Japan. The game looks nice, but is clearly a step behind PS3 and Xbox 360. The destructible environments look nice and the AI system is said to be advanced.
Demo switches to a section being played with a sword. The player can block with left hand and slash with right hand, in any direction. It is said to offer depth, but also be easy to pick up and play.
18:14: George Harrison takes to the stage to discuss the Nintendo DS. DS has sold more than 16 million since its launch – a few million more than the PSP (according to independent research).
1.3 million Nintendo WiFi Connection users so far. Brain Age sold to more than five million players in Japan, with more than 120,000 copies sold in the US so far. ‘Touch Generations’ series of games coming that are designed for non-gamers.
18:18: Yoshi’s Island 2, Star Fox DS and Diddy Kong Racing announced for the DS, with a cheer coming from the crowd even before the games’ names can be announced. Final Fantasy and Tony Hawk’s Downhill Jam also announced. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass is shown in video form.
Video reel shows new DS games. Mario Hoops 3 On 3. Star Fox DS, Elite Beat Angels, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, Diddy Kong Racing, Big Brain Academy, Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minnis, all featured.
18:22: Satoru Iwata, president of Nintendo, takes the stage. He talks about Nintendo’s strategy of disruption with the DS and the Brain Games. Wii remote said to break down barrier between game and gamer.
Virtual Console will bring gamers together with much loved titles. Loading times are mentioned, and in particular how load times seem to be getting longer and longer. DS doesn’t suffer from this problem. Wii can load applications very quickly.
Wii will never sleep. Wii Connect 24 means that the console will enter standby mode, using power similar to that used by a miniature light bulb – the console’s fan will be powered down. The console will be constantly connected to the internet. Content can be delivered when the system is not in use.
WiiSports (Candidate for worst name ever?) is announced, to include tennis, golf and baseball in one package. It will be available at launch.
18:32: Reggie has taken the stage again. A lucky competition winner gets to play the Wii for the first time.
18:34: Miyamoto shows how to play Tennis in WiiSports. The Competition winner takes the stage to play with Miyamoto, Reggie and Iwata. It’s embarrassing, but the crowd enjoys it and it looks like fun.
18:39: Reggie: “It’s hot if it’s disruptive.” Nintendo are really going to town in their ‘Disruption’ strategy.
18:40: Show ends with a speech from Reggie. No Mario Galaxy live demo, which is rather disappointing.
