Nintendo E3 2010 Press Conference rundown of the good stuff

Reggie Fils-Aime takes to the stage (of course as always). Love him or hate him, the man knows how to talk. “Technology is only a tool” it’s the end product and experience that matters. A veiled dig perhaps? “Nintendo is once again raising the bar on game experience”. The trailers begin and it’s “Zelda! Skyward Sword” made exclusively for Wii. The new game will use the Wii remote with Motion plus (sword) and nunchuck (shield).

Phil takes to the stage to demo the game with Shigeru Miyamoto speaking from video, until he appears onstage to demo it himself, very clever, well done Nintendo. The game itself looks similar to what you would expect from a full Zelda title, though the control method is obviously new. The title is tentatively dated “next year”.

• Miss Ann Thropic: You can see how easy the game is to control when Shiggy has trouble with the bow and then the beetle and they blame WiFi interference. I just want a f_cking Zelda game that uses a regular controller.

Reggie returns to waffle about game design crossing culture, age and gender. He starts talking sports, including NBA Jam and Mario Sports Mix coming 2011, the latter includes Volleyball, ice hockey, basketball and others. We’re then back to Wii sales figures and they’re sparkling needless to say.

It’s time for Wii Party, a party game for Wii Mii characters. 13 different game modes (board game island, balance boat and house party games. Over 70 mini games and all the Mii’s you care to invite. It’s onto third party with Just Dance from Ubisoft, Just Dance 2 has 40+ hits, Dancing Duets and face-offs for up to 8 players.

• Miss Ann Thropic: A party has one component Nintendo appears to be neglecting, that being Budweiser. Game fail! It’s not a party without Bud.

Golden Sun: Dark Dawn trailer plays for DS and it looks very nice indeed. That one is dated “this holiday season”.

Next up I gasped with joy… they’re talking about how “Golden” has a meaning for gamers, it’s a new GoldenEye game. This November GoldenEye is back titled “GoldenEye 007″ exclusively for Wii, 8 classic Bond characters and different modes of play. Here’s hoping its as good as the N64 title (a big ask). It’s out this holiday season.

• Miss Ann Thropic: Have people just blanked the other GoldenEye incarnations from their minds? You cannot capture whatever it was that made the N64 version so special. Stop trying to cash back in on it, GoldenEye N64 was a ‘rare’ fluke.

Time for Mickey Mouse chat. Exclusive to Wii comes “Disney Epic Mickey”. We’ve covered this game before, but now there’s more detail from the producers and – game design genius – Warren Spector. We’re told Epic Mickey is set in Wasteland, where old Disney characters end up. The core game mechanic is “drawing and erasing” using paint and thinner, erasing or restoring things dynamically changing the game world. How you treat the world dictates how game characters react to you in game.

• Miss Ann Thropic: Shit I can’t believe the central character in this title is a rat in shorts and I don’t have anything bitchy to say about it.

Back to Nintendo games now and Reggie is talking Smash Brothers and Kirby. “Kirby’s Got Game”. It’s a new Kirby game “Kirby’s Epic Yarn”. Really interesting graphical style, check out the trailer below, it’s due for release “this fall”:

Miss Ann Thropic: Nintendo don’t f_ck with me okay, two games in a row and nothing to say that is remotely negative? I so f_cking hate you right now.

Reggie talks Dragon Quest 9 and let’s cut to the chase, it’s released July 11. It then cuts straight to Metroid Other M trailer. This looks real nice, check it out below. It’s release August 31.

Miss Ann Thropic: It’s Samus Aran and Nintendo I f_cking hate you right now, three for three and nothing bad to say.

Wait I know that music!! I was playing it this week on SNES! It’s Donkey Kong Country! Wow this looks nice and they’ve stuck with the formula. Of course it lacks the graphical punch the original brought to the SNES (by comparison of the time), but it’s good to see they haven’t changed things too much. It’s titled “Donkey Kong Country Returns” and it’s out “this holiday”, gonna be a big release schedule this holiday.

Reggie is now talking the future of gaming and it is of course going to be the Nintendo DS 3D I assume. Yes here it is Nintendo 3DS. Reggie makes fun of the glasses for 3D TV. No glasses for the 3DS. A glowing plinth appears on stage with a 3DS on it, it looks like the regular DS at a glance. Satoro Iwata picks it up and introduces it to the crowd. The upper screen is slightly wider than the lower screen.

The 3DS has a 3D slider where you can alter the 3D effect or remove it altogether. The touch screen is only on the bottom screen, there is now a slide pad controller, which is like a flat analogue thumbstick by the looks of things. Two camera lenses on the outside means you can take photos and view them in 3D. It will also play movies in 3D though nothing was announced other than movie trailers playing on 3DS on the floor.

• Miss Ann Thropic: Well I don’t know about you, but I REALLY want to watch 3D movies on a 3.4 inch screen. You went on about not needing glasses, but at the same time you will make people NEED glasses from squinting at 3D movies on that thing.

It’s onto the 3DS games now. A game trailer for Nintendo 3DS starts and it’s Kid Icarus!!! Well actually it’s Kid Icarus Uprising. See the trailer below!

• Miss Ann Thropic: Okay it looks nice, I give up.

Iwata is back talking communication between 3DS, it will communicate via WiFi even when in sleep mode. Now we’re onto software chat. A 3D version of Nintendo +cats. He’s showing a partial list of companies backing software for Nintendo 3DS, he draws attention to Activision, Square Enix, THQ, EA, Capcom, Warner Bros, Ubisoft, Namco Bandai and Konami with Metal Gear Solid which gets the biggest cheer.

A trailer of developers talking when they first saw the 3DS screen. They are all very impressed of course.

Reggie is back to finish things off. He lists off all the games they’ve covered thus far. He’s summing up talking Nintendo 3DS. The trailer below is played to try and illustrate how the Nintendo 3DS works, because you can’t show it properly on the big screens.

• Miss Ann Thropic: Nintendo you are a marketing dream aren’t you, but Reggie, an actor you are not.

A stream of girls / women step onto the stage with 3DS attached to them, so they can show everyone in the Nokia theater. There are loads of them, like an army of 3DS mannequins marching through the theater and that is your lot people.

Disappointments, Animal Crossing 3DS wasn’t even mentioned.

Via our pals at [The LG].