E3 Update: Nintendo E3 2007 Conference details

The big boys in E3 are finally showing the aces up in their sleeves, and Nintendo’s no exception, the legendary company behind beloved franchises such as Mario and Metroid is bringing out its biggest guns to bear in this year’s Media Briefing at E3. We get you a sneak peek at what sort of weaponry Nintendo’s bringing into the fray of this generation’s console war.

The entire E3 update after the jump!

 

The big boys in E3 are finally showing the aces up in their sleeves, and Nintendo’s no exception, the legendary company behind beloved franchises such as Mario and Metroid is bringing out its biggest guns to bear in this year’s Media Briefing at E3. We get you a sneak peek at what sort of weaponry Nintendo’s bringing into the fray of this generation’s console war.

The first piece of big news is the unveiling of the Nintendo Wii Zapper. Remember the gray-and-orange gun you used to shoot down ducks in Duck Hunt? It’s the same here, except it’s more of an attachment rather than an entire device. The Wiimote clips onto the front of the Zapper, and the Nunchuck on the back – probably for the handle. Retails at US$19.99, bundled with a free game specifically made for the Zapper. Awesome.

Next up are some juicy tidbits about two of the most highly-anticipated games for the Nintendo Wii, those being Super Smash Brothers Brawl and Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors. What’s the news, you ask? Super Smash Brothers Brawl will be released on December 1, while Dragon Quest Swords around sometime this year. AWESOME!

New details on Metroid Prime 3: Corruption too, courtesy of a demo being played on the conference itself. The graphics and details look smooth. You can also trigger different views in the visor by holding down the Wiimote’s minus button and gesturing with it. You can also opt to lock on to enemies, or just aim at them manually. Injecting an energy tank into Samus gets her into able-to-destroy-anything-in-one-shot mode, but abuse of the tank will get Samus corrupted. Ouch.

We also learn that WiiWare will begin next year. If you remember, WiiWare is a highly-anticipated service of Nintendo that lets budding game developers to create games of their own and put it up online for anyone to download and play on their Wiis. There’s also a new channel specifically devoted to showing off your Wiis, called Check Mii Out. More than just a Mii-sized Friendster, Reggie says that there are going to be contests revolving about that feature. Sweet.

Even more news about games – namely, Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Wii, Mario Kart Wii, and Nintendo’s most ambitious title so far, Wii Fit. While Reggie only mentioned that Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Wii will let you “walk into the Wii hours”, probably a hint about how the game’s going to have players rocking out all day and all night, he didn’t reveal anything else about the game itself. Too bad.

For Mario Kart Wii, though, there’s a lot. Not only is Mario Kart Wii going to have an online multiplayer battlemode that opens on the first quarter of next year, it’s also going to have a custom Wii Wheel peripheral to go along with the crazy driving experience. Awesome on all counts there.

A sneak update on both Brain Age 2 and Super Mario Galaxy: to be released on August 2 and November 12 respectively, and from Reggie himself, the latter being “the first worthy successor to Super Mario 64.” Featuring varying levels of gravity, the odd sensation of running upside down on a planet, as well as levels that remind one of Super Mario Sunshine‘s bonus levels, Super Mario Galaxy is going to be a classic for the Wii.

Finally we get to the big surprise of the conference: Wii Fit for the Nintendo Wii. This game pretty much takes what Wii Play and Wii Sports tried to do, and takes it to the next level – that is, a game designed to get gamers (and non-gamers) in tip-top condition. Announced by none other than Miyamoto himself, Wii Fit gets gamers to dance, stretch, and pretty much have a workout in 40 different activities, with the Wii Balance Board acting as a highly-sensitive dance pad that tracks movement, weight and pressure. And with the game tracking your progress and Body Mass Index as you play, it certainly blows the saying that games rot your mind (and body) clean out of the water.

Whew! That certainly was an exciting conference for Nintendo. And with all these groundbreaking titles, we can only wonder what they’ll come up with next. Updates as we get them, so stay tuned right here!