E3 Nintendo Conference Our bodies are ready

Say what you may about Nintendo, but they always seem to have an interesting way of starting off their conferences. This year is no different. Shigeru Miyamoto sitting in his dressing room going over notes as little Pikmin playfully run around and play in his clothing. As he's called he casually walks out towards the stage with Pikmin army in tow. And so it begins....

Sometimes I feel like that too :(

Obviously the question that were on many fingers within the last few years has been "where is Pikmin 3" And this gesture seems to have answered that question in full force, as Miyamoto and Bill Trinen divulge the game's inner workings. More Pikmin types, and a focus on offense and strategic depth. With a blow of the whistle Shigeru and Bill were off and Reggie took the stage. Reggie the stoic, Reggie the lord of the Memes, takes the stage and immediately implies that during the course of the conference will be showing off 23 Wii U titles within the course of conference (Of them, Mass Effect 3, Arkham City Armored Edition, Tank Tank Tank, Tekken Tag 3, Trine 2, Ninja Gaiden 3, Aliens Colonial Marines, ect ), and then goes on to discuss that yes, the console will have features such as Hulu Plus, Netflix and the other streaming services, then downplays them for the sake of the games themselves, which was what really impressed me. Keep in mind that in the three conferences both companies spend far too much time talking about things gamers don't care about. Between my roomate and I, we have four devices that play streaming media, The Roku box being the main device. While it's nice to have those extended features on a console, I care more about playing the games than what non gaming features are there, and I'm sure that I'm not alone in that manner of thinking. As usual, I'm digressing.

Back to the conference.

We find out some more interesting tidbits about the Wii u, The one of biggest importance being the fact that it does support dual pads at the cost of a little strain on the console (this was further elaborated on during the liveblog later that night). Miiverse will be the hub area that is displayed when the Wii U powers on. It will be a "media main street" that shows what your friends are doing as well as what games are trending as of current. Miiverse is browser based, which means with a simple update you can check back on the service via your phone or tablet, as well as the 3DS. This is actually a really good step towards Nintendo accepting a larger role in a connected world, but I won't know how well this idea is executed until launch later this year.

Still don't know what the gun game is...

Mario

Next on the agenda is the discussion of Mario which leads us to two big releases; New Super Mario U for the Wii U, and New Super Mario Bros 2. The first, was displayed during the pre E3 conference video, and thanks to the internet detectives we were treated with glorious information like the new flying squirrel suit, the use of baby Yoshis and the lush looking backgrounds and new stages. The Latter game, for 3DS focuses on the use of gold coins, with a golden flower that can turn bricks into walls of currency. I half expect Goldmember to stroll out from my bathroom and yell out his catch phrase while rollerskating in my living room. More interesting than that NSMB2 is expected to be released August 19th.

Balance Board


Talk moves onto Wii Fit U, which provides new features and new means to exercise and implement the user's regular work out into the software. One interesting note was using a pedometer to upload workout data. I like that idea and since I constantly use the 3DS' pedometer feature in my nightly working exploits, I could probably do the same to increase my level of fitness (like work doesn't keep me fit enough). The last of the Wii u titles that are disclosed was an in production project currently called sing, which turns the pad into a karaoke machine. Music games aren't flooding the market anymore, so i guess this is fine.

3DS News

On top of NSMB2, we get to see Paper Mario Sticker star, which uses stickers collected from buildings or fallen enemies to enhance Mario and his friend's abilities. Not to place the focus solely on mario, Luigi's Mansion 2 is discussed and will be released this holiday season. The game features multiple mansions and new ghosts that have different methods of capture. Then came the teaser trailers for games like Epic Mickey 2, Castlevania: Mirror of Fate, and Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance. the last thing they covered due to time constraints was Lego City undercover, which is a nice little Lego game that is for both console and 3DS, and features an interesting cop story about busting an international crime syndicate using disguises and various vehicles. Apparently it was also revealed that even though there's not much time there was still a 3DS roundtable event which covers the games discussed as well as other ones.

Ubisoft

When Yves Guillemot took the stage, the first thing I figured was that there is going to be a Just Dance game revealed. At this stage of the game it's just common knowledge. Well Ubisoft didn't disappoint. Assassin's Creed III was also revealed for Wii U as well as Rayman Legends, and Sports Connection, Marvel's Avengers, and Your Shape.

Welcome...to Jurassic Pa. er NintendoLand

Nintendoland


Katsuya Eguchi, who's worked on such games as Star Fox, Super Mario Bros. 3, and Animal Crossing, took the stage and discussed Nintendoland, which is in essence a doorway into understanding Asymetric Gameplay, and to give the gamers further enjoyment of the Upad. Nintendoland is basically a virtual themepark that will feature twelve events which are taken from popular Nintendo titles (The Luigi's Mansion haunted house game , An F zero type racing game, ect). Players can earn coins that will go to Nintendoland is scheduled to be out at launch, but information during the liveblog states that they're not discussing anything on making the game a pack-in title or not. Hopefully they continue on with the tradition they started with Mario and continued with Wii Sports.

Hell YES!!

I'll have more information as I get to it.

Game On!!