Nintendo’s Road to E3 Dorado
In less than two days, Nintendo will have its Pre-E3 Press Conference. This presscon is definitely the one receiving the most amount of hype right now. Why, you ask? No one has more to win or lose than Nintendo. They have played their cards on the Wii very close to their chests for two years now and the world is tired of waiting. There have been no games shown. There haven’t even been any tech demos shown. All we have are pieces of what is an elaborate jigsaw puzzle. “Here is the controller” they say. “It’s revolutionary” they say. Now is the time for them to prove it.
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In less than two days, Nintendo will have its Pre-E3 Press Conference. This presscon is definitely the one receiving the most amount of hype right now. Why, you ask? No one has more to win or lose than Nintendo. They have played their cards on the Wii very close to their chests for two years now and the world is tired of waiting. There have been no games shown. There haven’t even been any tech demos shown. All we have are pieces of what is an elaborate jigsaw puzzle. “Here is the controller” they say. “It’s revolutionary” they say. Now is the time for them to prove it.
At this conference, the Wii should become clear to us all. The price and release date may not be released, but the games should be unleashed in full force. We will actually be able to see Metroid Prime 3 with its revolutionary new control scheme. We will witness the evolution of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and its brand new Wii controls. We will (hopefully) get a peek at what Super Smash Bros. has become.
With Wii, Nintendo is embracing the online world. They have already reached record numbers with their Nintendo WiFi Connection on the Nintendo DS. They must now do the same in the home console market – home to gamers with a bit more requirements. The barebones service might work on handhelds, but a console requires more structure. When on a console, you’re not looking for “a match before work,” you’re sitting down for some serious playtime. Will the Nintendo WiFi Connection reflect that?
The Virtual Console promises to let us download some of the greatest games in history. At this conference, Nintendo might just give us the price of nostalgia. How much will Super Mario World cost us? How much of our childhood will we be able to download? We know Nintendo, Sega and Hudson are all on board with the Virtual Console, but what about Square-Enix, Capcom and Konami? Would this not be the perfect time to remove the veil of secrecy surrounding this feature?
Although Wii is what has the entire world’s attention, it’s not the only thing Nintendo has to market. They’ve still got the DS and Gamecube on hand. The DS Lite will be launching in only a month. They’ve got to show us what it’s got. They’ve got to back it up with new software. The Sony PSP has been Nintendo’s strongest handheld competitor since the Sega Game Gear. Although Nintendo is doing well, they still need to show that they’ve got a lock on the formula. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass was shown at the Game Developer’s Conference, so what’s left? Metroid Dread perhaps? Pokemon Diamond and Pearl? You can be assured that Nintendo will reveal something extraordinary for the DS. Just what it is remains to be seen.
Even though nobody is really looking into the Gamecube anymore, it’s still got what is quite possibly the most anticipated game of this generation coming out this year – The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. You can expect Zelda to be a huge hit. Not only that, a Japanese magazine quotes Nintendo as saying they still have a title or two they’ll be revealing for the Gamecube soon. The long rumoured Kirby game might be one of them.
As you can see, Nintendo has a lot to do in the span of an hour. The journalists who will be attending have been starved of this information for far too long. They’re ready to hear it. Just witness their reactions during the 2004 E3 Press Conference after the unveiling of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.
Now doesn’t that just get your heart racing? Nintendo did not pay these people off. That’s just the Nintendo magic at work. With the amount of information there is for this year, the entire conference will be filled with those moments. Obviously, the reaction is going to die out by the end, but we’re going to see at least one thing that reaches out to our inner fanboy and allows us to holler and scream with joy. Even if it is into our monitors. Want something to tide you over? Download and listen to this little “rap” that a fan created by pasting together the words of Satoru Iwata and Reggie Fils-Aime – the two men you’ll be hearing from most on Tuesday May 9th at 9:30 PT.
QJ will be at Nintendo’s Press Conference. You can check in here for live updates during the entire conference and pictures plus a downloadable video of the entire thing shortly after. We’ll be updating the website with interviews and podcasts throughout the week.
Download [Reggie & Iwata Rap]