E3 – Nintendo Summary

As promised, here it is, a summary of the topics mentioned in Nintendo’s E3 conference (i think i got them all ^_^).

First up, one of the most anticipated games this year is Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and this received a release date; It is destined to come out on December 3rd in America, so hopefully, if the regions get sorted quickly we could hope for a Christmas release over here in the U.K. :D

Next up is the long awaited Mario Galaxy; It went from being a “release game” to a long-delayed game, but finally it too has been given a release date, it should be in shops in America on November 12th, so once again, maybe we could look at a Christmas release for the U.K.?

Other games that have been given release dates are:
~Donkey Kong: Barrel Blast – October 8th
~Battalion Wars 2 – October 29th
~Fire Emblem (this wasn’t actually announced at the conference, but the date has come up) – November 12th

Another game that was obviously going to make an appearance on the Wii was another Mario Kart game, and sure enough, it was unveiled at the conference. Like the DS version, the Wii one will too be able to go online so you can play with people all over the world; No doubt that means there will also be noobs who turn off their consoles when they are about to lose xP. And along with Mario Kart Wii comes another accessory, a steering wheel; This is a device that you can slot your Wii-mote in and then when playing you can actually hold a wheel as opposed to just holding the controller, this would also be very useful when playing other Wii games, for example Sonic.

On the topic of accessories, there is another contraption that will be coming out soon, and that is the “Wii Zapper”. This is a device that allows you to put not only your Wii-mote, but also your Nunchuk into the holder, this way when you play shooting games, you can actually hold a gun. There is talk of a package where this contraption will come bundled with a game, but not much has been said about that just yet.

Finally, i thought i would save the best till last; This is what Nintendo were most excited about this year, the Wii Balance Board. This is basically a board, it actually looks somewhat like a set of weighing scales, that you stand on and it calibrates your body mass then it can tell how you are standing on the board, be it leaning to one side, standing one one foot, etc. And the game that it will play a huge role in…well its not actually a game per-say, more, an activity. It is called “Wii Fit” and the idea is for gamers to use this to keep fit. Like Wii Sports it keeps a log of your activities, so over time you can see if you are improving. This was tested by fitness instructors at the conference and they were doing set keep fit moves and then it is replicated on screen. I know to some of you this might seem a little silly, i mean you are probably thinking “why would i want to buy a game where i have to do exercise?” but think of it in a different light, not only will this widen the market and once again push Nintendo further above the other companies, but also think of the possibilities it could have for other games: Snowboarding (1080º Snowboarding Wii?) Skateboarding, or perhaps, think about how good it would be if you could mix it with the wii mote, and you could create a game like Time crisis, where you crouch on the board to hide and reload, then come out and shoot?

Either way, i am very interested in this new device, and i will certainly be getting the Fitness game, i mean then my parents can’t complain at me for playing games, because i can say I’m keeping fit :D