E3 2011: Nintendo Conference

Here's everything...

The Legend of Zelda: 25th Anniversary
- Link's Awakening arriving today on Nintendo eShop
- Ocarina of Time 3D arrives next weekend (we know this)
- Legend of Zelda: Four Swords for DSiWare in September
- Skyward Sword releasing for Wii this Holiday
- Gold Wii Remote launching with the game
- Zelda Symphony Concerts worldwide this Fall
- Ocarina of Time 3D soundtrack free to early register of the game on Club Nintendo

Mario Kart 3D
- Trailer shown
- Fly with karts, dive with carts
- Customize karts with with wheels and accessories
- Arrives this holiday

StarFox 64 3D
- Arrives in US this September
- Play with normal or motion controls
- 4 player multiplayer records players faces

Super Mario 3D
- First original 3D Mario game on a portable
- Return of Tanooki suit, music blocks
- Has 2D platforming levels
- Releasing before year's end

Kid Icarus: Uprising
- Full voice over… I'm scared
- 6-Player Multiplayer battle mode
- Will have AR Cards of its own
- Coming "later this year"

Luigi's Mansion 2
- Trailer shown, looks fun!
- Will have "several" new mansions

Nintendo eShop
- 10 3D videos to be available soon (?)
- Demos for games coming later this year
- Free Excitebike 3D (available now)
- Pokedex 3D available free now as well

Nintendo Wii U
- Controller has a 6.2" screen
- Continue game from TV to controller
- Seems super gimmicky
- Controller has 2 circles pads, D-pad, A, B, X, Y, L, R, ZL, and ZR buttons
- Has a camera, gyroscope, microphone, speakers
- Works with all Wii titles and accessories
- Video chat online using the controller
- HD Zelda demoed, looks awesome… but, I'm turned off.
- Arriving next year

(click to enlarge)

Super Smash Bros.
- Nothing to show, but will with with both 3DS and Wii U

Graphical Demo
- Doesn't seem like actual gameplay graphics, just pre-rendered footage

New Super Mario Bros Mii
- Tech demo, Use Mii to play on TV or controller screen

Sheild Pose
- Tech demo, use controller as shield/continuation of screen

Chase Mii
- Tech demo, 4 players on Wiimotes, 1 using the controller
- Miis in Nintendo franchise universes

LEGO City Stories
- Co-published by Nintendo and Tt Games for Wii U and 3DS
- Really?

Darksiders II, Tekken, Batman Arkham City, Assassin's Creed, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Online, Dirt, Aliens: Colonial Marines, Metro Last Light, Ninja Gaiden 3 all in development.

More AR Games Weirdness

I was reading the comments section on GoNintendo after they reposted my article from earlier today about AR Games acting weird, when someone posted a picture of their Link card in the mirror, and Kirby appearing in the reflection. So I whipped out my mirror, and I tried it out myself...

It appears that Pikmin and Kirby are most likely to accidentally appear for other characters for some reason. I even had Kirby appear on the ? Card alone, but I couldn't managed to snap a pic of that, as I wasn't sure what exactly was triggering it. The weirdest to me is when both Kirby and Pikmin would appear from one card that wasn't their own; and when even with the Kirby card present, he still appears for Mario's reflection...

At least now we know Mario is not a vampire... but Kirby's in Mario's body via Quantum Leap.

AR Games Weirdness

So I've had my 3DS since launch, and while I haven't had the time to do any formal reviews, I have been using the device daily. Once thing I haven't used much though, are the AR Games. I played them when I got the system, and then just put them away until now... and I encountered something... weird.

I took out my Mario and ? cards, placed them on my desk. I then took out my Pikmin card and held it to observe how it tracked the card at different angles. As I moved my Pikmin card in front of the other two... and strange thing happened. Kirby showed up and quickly disappeared! After a ton of tries, I realized it was happening when I covered the ? card a certain way, leaving just the bottom exposed. I managed to get 2 snaps of the occurrence:

I also tested what happens when 2 of the same card are visible. Sadly, no you cannot make a Pikmin army, as the software will only recognize one of each card, so it will either only identify the nearest image or the characters will pop between the two...

Now I'm just curious if Nintendo has any plans to release new cards, or update the software to allow for multiples. Because I'd be all over that. I did buy an e-Reader after all ;)

Initial 3DS Impressions

Hello all, I picked up my 3DS this morning, along with four games: Ridge Racer, Super Monkey Ball, Nintendogs + Cats, and Pilotwings Resort. I've played around with the device a little bit, and here are some basic impressions.

The first thing I noticed when unpacking the 3DS, is how sexy that handheld is. I have the Cosmo Black one, and it's just hot. I don't know, maybe it's because it's a new piece of tech, but it just looks and feels slick. I like it.

The stylus takes a little work to pull out, and I can't just flick it out and get it from the slot. It's also inconveniently placed on the back of the system, instead of on the side like the DSi, and I think the DS Lite. It also takes a bit of work to extend it as well. Granted, it's all brand new and shouldn't be flimsy, but it simply takes a bit of effort to pull it out and use, so you can't just do it at will during gameplay. You'd want to pause the game, take it out, extend it, and then go. We'll see if it gets easier after doing it a bit.

The camera is kinda shitty. Haven't played around with it too much, and it was in a semi-dark room, but it's like, .3 megapixels, and it's all...pixelated....It ain't no iPhone 4 camera. I haven't messed with any real 3D pics though, so no comment.

Everything can have a suspend temporary save, and everything pretty much requires one. I haven't looked at the manual yet, because it's 100 pages long, but it seems like each channel requires a suspend save, although there are a few menu items on the top bar, like the browser, note pad, and notifications, that don't have this suspend file. You can also only have one suspend at once. What this basically means is, you can't suspend a game file, from the cartridge, go to the menu, and do ANYTHING else. You are limited to the few aforementioned options on the top menu.

Also with the above, you HAVE to create a suspend file when leaving any of these channels/applications. For instance, with the Mii Plaza, when you leave, you AUTOMATICALLY create a suspend file. There is no way to simply go back to the main menu. You can't hit 'B' until you're at the home screen, but instead, MUST hit the HOME button to go back, which creates the suspend. This is kind of weird, and not how the Wii does it. This also requires a few warning messages to pop up, alerting you that you have the suspend and alerting you that when you try to enter another channel, it will be deleted. It's pretty annoying.

Another interesting thing I'm noticing is that a lot of stuff is saved automatically to the SD card. This includes some 'extra data' that games save to. Out of the retail games, I've only played Ridge Racer, but it has some of this 'extra data' which is saved to the SD card, and not the Ridge Racer cart itself. I'm not 100% what all this means, but I think it's like ghost data and SpotPass data. I just find it a bit odd that it would need to save onto something besides the cart, and wonder exactly how much data this is and how much Nintendo will allow for. You might need to be getting a few more SD cards....

And while I do like the slide pad, when I'm playing, I feel like it should be able to move further out. Like, when I'm taking a turn, I want to move the pad more to the right or left to take a tighter turn, but it's hitting that wall and I can't turn anymore. I also noticed this while playing the demo of Pilotwings at Best Buy earlier last week. I'm not sure if it's just my 360 controller has a deeper analog or what. I guess I have to get used to it.

Other than those things though, the 3DS is pretty slick. The interface is nice and the buttons are solid. Setting up the device is very easy, and the system moves you step by step to set you up. Each channel, like the Mii Plaza, pictures, music, etc, each have a little guide to help you navigate the options. There is also a notifications menu to give you little tips. This channel will also house notes about StreetPass and who you've downloaded info from. It seems cool, but was kind of annoying when starting, as you would see you had a notification, go and check it to see a tip about the menu, exit, and then instantly get another notification, which was another tip. I understand why they might not want to bombard you with information at the beginning, but don't make me go in and out of the same app for no reason.

But yeah, so far, enjoying it. The hardware is solid, and the software is great as well.

3DS Indecision ....hmmmm

Should I get a Nintendo 3DS? Fuck yeah, shoooooot. But what games?!?! This question is killing me, and the launch of the 3DS is like, 2 days away. I still don't know what I'm gonna do...

The first question, whether or not I should get a 3DS in the first place was pretty much a no-brainer. I love the DS, and the 3DS will have many amazing future games, be they Ninty titles or others, like Metal Gear Solid. I want it. However, my only original concern was whether or not I could actually see the 3D. Apparently, I have astigmatism, which I guess is why 3D movies never wowed me. I could make out the picture ok, but it was always a bit blurry. I thought it was the technology, but apparently, my eyes are simply retarded :(. So, here comes the 3DS, the main attraction being the 3D. Would it be worth getting the system if I couldn't even see the 3D? After a few hours of pondering, I figured I couldn't miss out on the games, even if I couldn't see the 3D, but the question still lingered.

Luckily, I got a chance to actually play with a 3DS a couple days ago at Best Buy. There are demo units set up in many of their stores, so if you're curious, I'd recommend heading to one. Nways, I played with the 3D slider a bit, getting kind of scared, because again, it was blurry. Luckily though, on the lowest possible setting, I could see the 3D and the image wasn't blurred at all! An amazing feeling. So, if you're like me and have eye problems, there is still hope. What I want to do next is try playing with my glasses on, totally defeating the purpose of glasses-less 3D, but hey, we'll see. I'm not too hopeful, as I can't use them to look at things close up and I very rarely wear them anyways, but I'm curious to see what effect it might have.

Anyways, after getting over that fear for the most part, and having pre-ordered my Cosmic Black 3DS long ago, I must now decide on which games to purchase, and I'll tell ya, I'm struggling. I went in with the idea months ago on which games I would probably get; PilotWings and Nintendogs. Now though, I just don't know. I've been reading reviews and flip-flopping all over the place, considering games I wasn't before, and thinking I shouldn't get some I wanted initially. It's all very confusing.

Being a pretty heavy gamer that I am, and Nintendo lover, I want all of them. Well, not ALL of them, but a decent number. And luckily, I have a job and plenty of money, so if I really wanted to, I could afford however many games I want, but I'd feel bad about it, especially these days. I buy games all the time, and then rarely play them. I have a problem with that, especially games on sale. If I see a $20 game that was $60, I'm buying it, even if I never play it. I have a handful of games I've actually never played, and quite a few more that I've only put a couple hours into.

But these 3DS games....$40 each. Kind of steep, so I know I'd hate myself if I got one and only played an hour or two of it, worse yet, if there's only a couple hours of gameplay in it to begin with. And what if those prices drop next month? I'll feel even stupider...but, at least with Nintendo titles, they NEVER go down, so I don't have to worry there.

Anyways, I've pretty much narrowed my choices to the following: Nintendogs, Pilot Wings, Super Monkey Ball, Ridge Racer, and Ghost Recon. Street Fighter looks really good, but I never really get into fighting games, so I know if I got that I'd regret it, even though it looks amazing, I'd probably never play it. I love getting Nintendo games, even if only to get those darned Club Nintendo coins I NEED so much, but Steel Diver looks stupid and short. I wasn't really interested in Ghost Recon at first, but then saw it was similar to Advance Wars, and I love those games. I watched a video though, and it looked pretty bland, so I'm on the fence and will have to wait for reviews I think, which will hopefully come before its launch.

So, that leaves four titles, although after reading one comment, I started to teeter on Monkey Ball, but I think I'll hold true to my decision to get it. And if you didn't know, Toys R Us is having a sale, perhaps all week, but definitely on launch, for a Buy One, Get One 50% Off on ALL 3DS titles. I can't pass up a deal like that, and nor should you guys, so head over there. So, I COULD get those four games. Or I could somehow narrow my choice down to two games...getting an odd number doesn't make any sense, because of the deal; damn sales trickery *shakes fist*. I don't really need Nintendogs, seeing as how I got it for free on the DS, THANK YOU NINTENDO!!! Good times. And Pilot Wings, looks cool, but I don't know how long it will last and how repetitive it will get...So there go the Nintendo games, but damn it, I need those points!

So, I'm not sure. There are definitely some titles I'm in no way interested in, but I'm not sure about the others. I don't want buyers remorse, because that's the worst, and I don't want to buy too many games that I get distracted with one and don't play the others. But, I can't wait and buy them later, because I'm lazy. I just don't know. I'll head over to Toys R Us after I pick up the 3DS from Best Buy, see what they have, and slap my debit card down and be done with it.

E3 10: Nintendo Conference

Microsoft's conference was part of Day 0 yesterday... so now it's Nintendo job to kick off E3 Day 1, and let's recap how their conference went:

Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
- First trailer/footage show
- Looks like Twilight Princess/Wind Waker
- Video with Miyamoto explaining controls
- Live on-stage demo
- Uses Wii MotionPlus
- Miyamoto teleported on-stage. HOLY SHIT!
- Wiimote calibration looks... off
- Can toss or roll bombs now
- Technical difficulties... [sadface]
- New beetle item to fly around and scout
- Comes out next year, hopefully they can fix the controls by then...

Mario Sports Mix
- For Wii
- Volleyball
- Hockey
- Dodgeball
- Soccer
- Basketball

WiiParty
- 13 different part game modes
- 70 different mini-games
- Coming Holiday 2010

Just Dance 2
- From Ubisoft for Wii
- Sequel to a game you probably didn't even play
- Supports up to 8 players (how?)
- Coming Fall 2010

Golden Sun: Dark Dawn
- aka Golden Sun DS
- New trailer shown
- Coming Holiday 2010

Goldeneye 007
- Yes, a remake of the N64 game
- ... with Daniel Craig as James Bond (wtf?)
- Graphics look.. bad
- From Activision... how can this be without Rare?
- Coming this Holiday, exclusive for Wii

Disney Epic Mickey
- On-stage demo
- 2D animated cut-scenes... I love the style
- Paint and un-paint the world
- Game changes based on your actions (karma system basically)
- Three location types: quest, action, and travel zones
- Looks like a really cool game, especially if you're familiar with Disney animation history

Kirby: Epic Yarn
- A spin-off of Epic Mickey
- First gameplay trailer
- Oozes style, great animations
- Releasing Fall 2010 for Wii

Dragon Quest IX
- Reggie is just talking about it
- But this released in Japan already, so...

Metroid: Other M
- New trailer
- Releasing August 31st

Donkey Kong Country Returns
- From Retro Studios, yup, the Metroid Prime studio
- 2.5D gameplay, looks awesome
- Coming Holiday 2010

Nintendo 3DS
- Reveal trailer shown
- Device is shiny as hell, and small
- Fits in Iwata's one hand
- Top screen is 3.5" and wider than the bottom screen
- Has a 3D depth slider to adjust the effect
- 3D is only on the top screen, touch screen is just as it has been
- New 'Slide Pad' for analog control, D-pad still there
- Includes motion sensor and gyro sensor
- Outside has 2 camera lenses for 3D photography
- Capable of playing 3D movies (including partners Disney, Warner Brothers, and DreamWorks)
- Can use wifi while on or off (think WiiConnect24)

Kid Icarus: Uprising
- The same character model from Brawl
- Honestly, looks better than most Wii games

A ton of games announced in production
- Nintendogs + Cats
- Professor Layton and the Mask of Miracle
- DJ Hero 3D
- Kingdom Hearts 3D
- Resident Evil Revelation
- Saints Row
- Assassin's Creed
- Metal Gear Solid (!)
- and more!

Hilarious 3DS promo video shown. Show over. I'll update with media later.

I was iffy on the 3DS in concept form, and I still obviously don't know how the 3D experience is in person. But from what I saw of Kid Icarus: Uprising and the list of in-development titles... I'm pretty much sold. All I need now is a price and release date, but, honestly, I'm pretty pumped. But, at the same time, the lack of current DS content in the show was upsetting, other than Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, there was no DS content, not even a word of Pokemon Black and White. Does that mean 3DS is around the corner? Who knows.

Also, where was WiiWare and DSiWare? I was really glad of what had to be said about the next generation and 3DS, but I'd of liked to see more about the right now. But, that new Kirby game looks so different from anything I've ever seen and looks awesome, I'm now glad that nameless Kirby game from GameCube got scrapped. And the new Zelda looks great... but the control screw-ups were a bit disappointing. Sony you're next!