Nintendo covered all of their bases during their press conference, introducing new accessories such as the microphone called Wii Speak. The mic sits on the TV and lets everyone in the room chat with friends during Animal Crossing: City Folk sessions, the latest game in that series.
Pro Snowboarder Shaun White introduced the aptly titled White, a balance board based snowbarding title from UbiSoft. Tricks are handled by the Wii Remote, and steering is done by moving on the board.
A video montage showcased three game, including Star Wars: The Clone Wars and it’s Wii Remote lightsaber battling. and force powers. A new Rayman Raving Rabbids title is due for UbiSoft, this one titled TV Party. Using the Balance Board and controller, this looks to be another wacky mini-game collection coming this fall. Finally, the Wii port of Call of Duty World at War uses the plastic Wii Zapper for its combat, and will have split-screen co-op.
The DS will be gaining a new Guitar Hero, this one entitled Decades (seriously, didn’t On Tour just come out?). Players will be able to share songs between versions of the DS Guitar Hero games. Spore will also be available this year for the DS in its own, original, and vastly different game. Players can share their goofy creations between consoles. Oh, and a new Pokemon game is due for the DS too, though no details were announced.
Huge news was the reveal of Grand Theft Auto for the DS called Chinatown Wars. The only announcement was that free roaming gameplay would be intact with an original engine.
Reggie Fils-Aime detailed the previously announced Wii Motion Plus, and then demonstrated it with a new Wii Sports Resort, which has dog frisbee, jet skiing, sword dueling (who plays this at a resort?), and more next spring. The Motion Plus will be packed with the new Wii Sports. Shouldn’t Nintendo have made the motion controls accurate in the first place? It is apparently no backwards compatible, as Fils-Aime said developers need to take advantage of the device. Also, a new jacket will be released, as the on screen demonstration showed off a longer version of the jacket.
Nintendo will also be jumping on the music game bandwagon for the Wii, with drums, saxaphone, violin, piano, and more. The game is properly title Wii Music. Instead of cues or colored buttons, the game simply measures movement and automatically plays the instrument. The Balance Board is also used as a foot pedal for the drums. Also, players will be able to record their performances for later playback, so four players can save their best music to replay for friends. A demonstration played the Mario them accurately, making it seem simple and painless.
Tags: animal crossing, call of duty, chinatown, city folk, clone wars, ds, e3, e3 press confrence, grand theft auto, guitar hero decades, handheld, nintendo, on tour, pokemon, rabbids, rayman, reggie fils-aime, shaun white, spore, star wars, wii, wii locate, wii music, wii sports resort
