Nintendo E3 2009 Press Conference Summary

Nintendo’s 2009 E3 Press Conference can be viewed here. This has to be the most boring E3 conference I’ve ever watched.  See also: My 2008 Nintendo E3 coverage.

Announcements

• Multiplayer Mario co-op: (holiday 2009 – yawn)
• Wii Fit Plus: 6 new exercise modes, 15 new balance games, available as software-only (fall 2009)
• User Generated Content: Some user generated DS content initiatives discussed:
  • FlipNotes Studio: animation drawing app (this summer)
  • WarioWare DIY: Microgame creator
  • Mario v. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again – level editor and online sharing (DSi – June 8, 2009).
  • Will be able to upload DSi pictures to Facebook this summer.
•  Wii Vitality Sensor: Monitor health, pulse. Some kind of health / relaxation / stress diagnostics tool (no release date)
• Super Mario Galaxy 2: New 3D Mario game

 

Retreads

The following were previously announced but demo’d at the show.

• Wii Motion Plus: Provides more precision control. This was announced at last year’s E3 press conference.
• Wii Sports Resort – archery and basketball shown (July 25, 2009)

DS Games Shown

• Kingdom Hearts
• Mario Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story (this fall)
• Golden Sun
• Women’s Murder Club: video book brought to DS and DSi
• Cop, the Recruit (Ubisoft)
• Style Savvy – (girls fashion game)
• Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks

2009 Third Party Wii Exclusives

• Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers (RPG – Square-Enix)
• Red Steel 2 (exclusive to Wii with Motion Plus controller)
• The Conduit (shooter – Sega – June 2009)
• Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles (shooter – Capcom)
• Deadspace Extraction (EA)

Just One New Nintendo ‘Hardcore’ Wii Game

 Metroid Other M  (2010) That’s it! No other new Nintendo ‘hardcore’ games announced

Platform Numbers

• 15 Million Wii fit balance boards sold
• 100 million DS’s sold
• 1 million DSi’s sold in 2 months in America

Live Blog Coverage

• CrunchGear
• Engadget
• Gamasutra
• Gizmodo
• Joystiq

My Thoughts

This was slow and boring compared to yesterday’s Microsoft press conference.

Their focus was, once again, on audience diversity – bringing gaming to everyone. Little of interest to hard core gamers.

I appreciate their getting into the user-generated content space.

The third party exclusives and their one new ‘hardcore’ game were the only games that were somewhat interesting to me. Enough to purchase a Wii? Not even close.

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