9:00 Matt Peckham: Welcome to Nintendo E3 2010!
9:01 Matt Peckham: The show’s just ramping up. People are taking their seats. Ominous looking guys in official shirts are patrolling the byways, looking menacing…
9:02 Matt Peckham: And just like that, we’re underway! Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo America is on stage.
9:03 Matt Peckham: Reggie’s talking about the multi-varied nature of E3. Promises to “adjust that perspective just a little bit, because technology is only a tool… the end product, the thing that does matter, is the experience.”
9:03 Chris Holt: lots of philosophy, but lets see the meat here.
9:04 Chris Holt: Zelda!
9:04 Chris Holt: Looks like a return to form. Skyward Sword is the title.
9:05 Chris Holt: Zelda’s creator is talking through a translator while holding the master sword and a hyrule shield.
9:06 Chris Holt: transforms into Wii remote and nunchucks. You’ll use the nunchuck controller to move your shield.
9:06 Matt Peckham: Nintendo’s out on stage with someone named “Bill” to show us how Zelda works.
9:06 Matt Peckham: The WiiMotion Plus becomes the sword, the nunchuk becomes the shield.
9:07 Matt Peckham: Bill’s botching the demo. Oh wait, he’s… Out jumps Shigeru Miyamoto!
9:07 Matt Peckham: That was pretty cheesy, and a little deafening.
9:08 Matt Peckham: Just imagine that you’re holding a sword and shield yourself, all the actions will be done using realistic motions. Miyamoto seems to be holding the controls naturally.
9:09 Chris Holt: they claim 1:1 mapping but it really doesn’t look it. Miyamato-san is demonstrating vertical vs horizontal cutting. Can still charge sword by pointing it at heavens.
9:11 Chris Holt: the overall look is familiar for those who played Ocarina of Time. Taking out some shrubs now with the shield deflecting trick.
9:12 Matt Peckham: The sword mapping seems choppy, not entirely together… Miyamoto was having difficulty executing a few actions, particularly deflecting boulders with the shield.
9:13 Matt Peckham: Now we’re switching to inventory management. You make a gesture, which brings up a radial menu, and lets you select the usual Zelda items, e.g. slingshots, etc.
9:13 Matt Peckham: The slingshot looks pretty choppy as well, not entirely accurate. I’m guessing this is either fairly early stage work, or they’re having notable trouble getting the mapping together.
9:14 Comment From Jacky Matt!!! more screenshots!!
9:14 Matt Peckham: Sorry Jacky, our camera tether’s on the fritz. 🙁
9:15 Matt Peckham: What we’re seeing: Miyamoto’s onstage demonstrating the Wii remote and nunchuk while overhead on a large screen we’re watching the game in action. The game looks almost identical to Twilight Princess.
9:15 Matt Peckham: They’re having “serious interference” issues (claim), causing accuracy issues.
9:16 Chris Holt: Really, really big interference issues. As for the question about the story line: so far they’ve said nothing.
9:16 Comment From Sam No word yet on the story line?
9:18 Chris Holt: Demonstrating a remote beattle you can control. Pretty much every item here has had major control issues. The people on stage are clearly frustrated. The whip is next up. Its like the boomerang- it can stun or deter enemies. Or, in the case of bats, kill them outright.
9:18 Chris Holt: you can play it on the show floor.
9:19 Matt Peckham: Development: Looks like it’ll take through the end of this year, so don’t look for Skyward Sword until sometime NEXT year.
9:20 Matt Peckham: They’re playing a montage of clips, lots of boss creatures, huge scorpion-things, the usual lava levels, flying around with the bug/beetle/thing, etc.
9:20 Matt Peckham: It looks like the battles themselves will be considerably more tactical in nature, but it all won’t matter if they can’t get the mapping issues fixed before launch.
9:21 Chris Holt: the mechanics seem far along, but there only seems to be 1.5 stages completed. Looks like a beginning forest level and a lava level- no temples, horse riding, or expansive environments yet.
9:22 Chris Holt: NBA Jam for Wii?
9:23 Chris Holt: Mario Volleyball announced. I think the response could be considered as “wha?” and “why?”
9:23 Comment From Jon They still make NBA Jame?
9:23 Matt Peckham: Mario Sports Mix, that’s the title. Tepid response from the audience.
9:23 Matt Peckham: How many Nintendo games have ‘Sports’ in the title at this point?
9:24 Matt Peckham: It’s coming in 2011. Oh boy!
9:24 Matt Peckham: Reggie’s about to address the ‘Wii momentum’s starting to wane…” question.
9:24 Matt Peckham: More games have sold for Wii “than any other platform ever over the same launch period.”
9:25 Matt Peckham: Now they’re claiming more people play the Wii than any other system.
9:25 Matt Peckham: Reggie’s trying to deconstruct the “myth” of who the Wii gamer really is. Calls the Wii a “bridge” system.
9:26 Matt Peckham: Nintendo can certainly point to impressive numbers (Mario Kart, New Super Mario Bros. Wii sales). Can’t argue with the sale, but who’s really playing these games, and how often?
9:26 Chris Holt: new title. Wii Party. 13 different party game modes. It’s Mario Party, but not.
9:27 Chris Holt: I think Reggie is missing the point. This is E3, a hardcore gaming conference, and his products are all “bridge” games.
9:27 Chris Holt: No applause for this title. Seriously.
9:28 Chris Holt: Just Dance 2. 40 hit tracks. The Hottest Dance Moves. Dancing duets. More awkward flailing.
9:29 Matt Peckham: Okay, he just announced a new Golden Sun for the DS, subtitled Dark Dawn!
9:29 Matt Peckham: Golden Sun rules… Let’s see how this turns out…
9:29 Matt Peckham: It looks more fully 3D this time, perhaps zoomed down a bit closer to the character. It’s still overhead, almost isometric.
9:30 Matt Peckham: The DS’s visuals look pretty horrific on a massive flat screen, alas.
9:30 Comment From Guest Are they actually going to improve the sensor?
9:31 Matt Peckham: We’re watching a montage of clips from Golden Sun Dark Dawn, but it’s difficult to tell what the story’s going involve. Presumably a big bad, prefaced by lots of slightly less-big-bads.
9:31 Matt Peckham: Golden Sun for DS arrives this holiday season.
9:31 Matt Peckham: “For many other games, Golden has an entirely different meaning.”
9:31 Matt Peckham: Here we go: GOLDENEYE!
9:32 Chris Holt: Jesus Chrst please dont let this suck.
9:32 Matt Peckham: Chris Exclusive for Wii. Split screen multiplayer. 8 classic characters. Paintball. Iconic weapons. Familiar stages but with …. Daniel Craig?
9:33 Chris Holt: It looks only ok. I’ve actually been more impressed by the Source Engine mod for Goldeneye I’ve seen online.
9:33 Chris Holt: Arrives this Holiday. Let’s hope that’s it’s better than Goldeneye: Rogue Agent.
9:34 Matt Peckham: Moving on to… EPIC MICKEY.
9:34 Matt Peckham: It’s officially called DISNEY EPIC MICKEY.
9:35 Matt Peckham: Warren Spector’s on the stage to give us a demo of the game. We’re watching Mickey jump around in a dark, surreal environment. Very Tim Burton (nee Disney).
9:35 Matt Peckham: It looks like…like…a Disney ride! We’re in…did he call it Ventureland? or Adventureland?
9:35 Matt Peckham: The cutscenes work through cartoon-like pieces.
9:36 Matt Peckham: They’re pulling in a bunch of ancient Disney stuff, things they haven’t used in decades.
9:37 Matt Peckham: It looks like a platformer, more or less. Mario Mouse? I’m not sure there’s anything new here, though it looks fairly cool style-wise.
9:38 Chris Holt: except for the paint and paint thinner element. Players can change the world. Changes the visuals but also how the characters interact with you. Using paint is good but using paint thinner is bad.
9:38 Chris Holt: Could Mickey Mouse use paint thinner, make lots of enemies, and end up as a villain? Would Mickey eat pluto? I’d pay to see that.
9:39 Matt Peckham: We’re jumping through a movie screen to a third location type. It’s black and white, looks like Steamboat Willy. Pretty spot-on translation of the cartoon.
9:40 Matt Peckham: The gameplay during these side-sequences looks rote, but stylistically clever.
9:40 Matt Peckham: If I had a penny for every time these guys used the word “innovation.”
9:40 Matt Peckham: They’re going to show us the game hands-on, on the E3 show floor. Stand by for impressions tomorrow.
9:41 Chris Holt: I want to see a Mickey with a drinking problem and a string of ex-wives.
9:41 Chris Holt: Also, you could play a great drinking game based on the word “imagination.”
9:42 Matt Peckham: There’s a giant Kirby on screen. He’s…very pink.
9:42 Matt Peckham: And Reggie, you really need better canned dialogue. “Spin a yarn like it’s never been before”?
9:43 Chris Holt: Oh I hope it’s a knitting game.
9:43 Matt Peckham: It’s KirbyBigPlanet!
9:44 Matt Peckham: Imagine Kirby as a doodle, able to change shape dynamically, turning into ships, flying saucers, imaginary objects, morphing through the environment, even turning into a giant missile-chucking tank at one point.
9:44 Matt Peckham: Kirby’s Epic Yarn, that’s what it’s called. Reasonable applause this time. For a change.
9:44 Chris Holt: slated for release this fall. Applause.
9:45 Matt Peckham: Dragon Quest IX, here we go!
9:45 Matt Peckham: Shameless DQ fanboy here.
9:45 Matt Peckham: Sentinels of the Starry Skies, you guys already know the title. This one was announced months ago (out in Japan a year ago, coming to the US this summer).
9:45 Matt Peckham: “It practically begs for multiplayer action.” Indeed!
9:46 Matt Peckham: Reggie’s rehashing stuff we already know, e.g. that the game will keep calculating (running an algorithm when it relaunches, in other words) while the DS shuts off.
9:47 Matt Peckham: T-minus 26 days to DQ IX’s arrival. “Then, on the last day of August, Wii players get…”
9:47 Matt Peckham: Metroid!
9:48 Chris Holt: Lots of running, lots of rolling into a ball, several 3rd person segments. Many sci-fi areas to explore and blow up. Forgive me if I don’t find this exciting. I’ve seen this all before from Metroid.
9:48 Matt Peckham: Metroid: Other M.
9:49 Matt Peckham: August 31, that’s when we’ll see Metroid: Other M. Tepid response from audience. Surprising.
9:49 Matt Peckham: Donkey Kong. Donkey Kong Country? Yep!
9:50 Matt Peckham: The audience’s slightly excited about this one.
9:50 Comment From Wii are not french remember when the wii mattered?
9:51 Matt Peckham: Diddy Kong’s there as well. Donkey + Diddy leaping sidewise through various environs.
9:51 Matt Peckham: Title: Donkey Kong Country Returns
9:51 Chris Holt: it’s a side scroller. I’m really excited. The DK franchise lost its way when it went 3D.
9:52 Chris Holt: Nintendo 3DS.
9:52 Chris Holt: If this is the response to the iPhone eating their market, I think Nintendo has to do some serious thinking.
9:53 Chris Holt: Reggie is rambling on about 3D glasses.
9:53 Matt Peckham: Eh, a boring montage of 3D’s history.
9:54 Matt Peckham: Red-tinged steam’s rolling down the steps. We’re about to see it. It’s rising from a podium, spotlight on it, and here comes Satoru Iwata, President of Nintendo.
9:55 Matt Peckham: It looks like the early leaked pics were accurate.
9:55 Matt Peckham: It has a widescreen up top, and a standard-sized DS screen on the bottom.
9:55 Matt Peckham: It has two screens, the upper has 3.5-inch widescreen display, and it’ll show you 3D graphics without special glasses.
9:55 Matt Peckham: This is going to be interesting: How do you demo 3D on an LCD?
9:56 Chris Holt: 3D depth slider on the side of the screen.
9:57 Chris Holt: successor to Nintendo DS. Bottom screen is a touch panel.
9:58 Chris Holt: 6 years since DS launched. Now its gotten graphics improvements.
9:59 Chris Holt: Talking about controls. Slide control. Gyro sensor and motion sensor. Has a camera. 2 camera lenses on outside. Why? You can also take photos and view them in 3D. You can take and enjoy 3D digital photos. Can test this out at booth.
10:00 Chris Holt: Can view 3D Hollywood movies. Can see “How to Train Your Dragon” on your 3DS.
10:00 Chris Holt: To their knowledge, first time they’ve demonstrated 3D graphics without 3D glasses.
10:01 Matt Peckham: Project Sora… It was actually established to create a game specifically for Nintendo 3DS.
10:01 Comment From Bryan Have they mentioned anything about battery life with the new graphics potential included with this handheld console?
10:01 Matt Peckham: No word on battery life yet.
10:02 Matt Peckham: And now we’re watching Kid Icarus… Kid Icarus Uprising.
10:02 Matt Peckham: Wow, how long has it been since a Kid Icarus game? Never played the original myself.
10:02 Matt Peckham: He’s leaping, diving, rolling, and (of course) flying. He attacks with a sword and has the ability to fire…bolts?
10:03 Matt Peckham: He’s fighting some sort of grim reaper boss, dozens of time larger.
10:03 Matt Peckham: So there we go, Kid Icarus Uprising. Is this for DS or 3DS? Reasonably positive audience response.
10:04 Matt Peckham: Moving onto further 3DS capabilities, we’re be able to navigate game environments better, says Iwata.
10:05 Matt Peckham: Networks improvements? Automatic communication between 3DS systems. Boy, this thing better have good security.
10:05 Comment From Bryan Have they mentioned game format for the new handheld, or backwards compitablity?
10:05 Matt Peckham: It’s backward compatible with DSi games.
10:05 Matt Peckham: They haven’t named the format, but I’m assuming it’ll be the same DSi-style cards.
10:07 Matt Peckham: Chris; It looks like Kid Icarus is for the 3DS. Just FYI.
10:07 Chris Holt: 3D version of Nintendogs. Now with Cats.
10:08 Matt Peckham: Chris; announcing 3rd party developers who are planning on publishing on the 3DS. Kingdom Hearts. Saints Row. Madden. Fifa Soccer. Dead or Alive. Batman. Resident Evil. Assassins Creed. Metal Gear Solid.
10:09 Chris Holt: That’s quite a list. Fans went wild for Metal Gear’s inclusion. Lots of WTF? looks about Saints Row.
10:10 Matt Peckham: Now we’re treated to film roll of developers talking about their reactions to the 3DS.
10:10 Comment From Sam So for those of us that own the original DS, are we out of luck? Will we have to buy a new DS in order to play the new Golden Sun game?
10:10 Matt Peckham: The new Golden Sun is for the standard DSi/DS, not 3DS.
10:10 Comment From Robert What about Wifi standard? 802.11g or n-draft?
10:11 Matt Peckham: Not a word during the show about WiFi. We’ll have to wait for the show floor, probably.
10:11 Comment From Bryan How do the demonstrations of the “3D” games without glasses compare to current 3D movies with glasses?
10:11 Matt Peckham: Great questions, Bryan. We’ll be able to see when we demo it hands-on, show floor. It’s impossible to say here, since we’re only able to talk about it, not demo it.
10:13 Matt Peckham: Reggie’s hyping the 3DS. “What’s added, literally, is a new dimension.”
10:13 Matt Peckham: The great irony: It’s the greatest thing ever…except we can’t represent it here onstage! True enough.
10:13 Matt Peckham: They’re going to try and communicate it “a very different way.”
10:14 Matt Peckham: They just showed a film of Iwata being sucked up into the 3DS.
10:14 Comment From Matthew Any chance of getting a glimpse of what this beast looks like?
10:15 Matt Peckham: We’ll have slides after the show! It looks like a DS with a widescreen up top and an analog stick.
10:16 Chris Holt: It looks like confetti was supposed to fall. Whoops.
10:16 Chris Holt: we’re letting everyone in the theater travel to the 3rd dimension right here, right now.
10:17 Chris Holt: All hot women. All dressed the same.
10:17 Chris Holt: this is shameless. “Please stay seated while they work their way to you.”
10:18 Chris Holt: I want to see the casting call that went out for this. “Must look good in white t-shirt, have a great smile and certain hair length.”
10:18 Comment From Scooter Please yell “where’s Zelda”
10:19 Matt Peckham: Zelda is, I kid you not, literally about 50 feet down the theater way from Chris and me.
10:20 Matt Peckham: And that’s it… We’re being herded out to test the 3DS!