We Still Riding on Wii & DS Cash Machine: Highlights From Nintendo E3 2008 Media Briefing

July 29, 2008 by Chapree

Nintendo had mind-blowing E3 media briefing in 2006 and 2007 but this year, it was really a meh. If there is one word that I could say about Nintendo’s E3 Media Briefing this year, it would be UNINSPIRING. What I saw was just bragging fest and lack of interesting + innovative titles. Come on Reggie, Iwata and Miyamoto…I know that you not targeting the core gamers but really, you can do better than that.

I couldn’t help but facepalmed myself when I saw this.
Photo credit: GameZone.com

Aside from my personal emo summary, from the media briefing we can basically see a clear view of Nintendo’s future plan: riding on Wii’s huge user base, baby. Wii Music, Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party and Shaun White Snowboarding are three upcoming games that’s going to take advantage of Wii Fit’s balance board. The board will serve as drum pedals in Wii Music, surfboard (a-la Silver Surfer w00t!) in the new Rabbids and as snowboard in the Shaun White’s game.

Speaking about Wii Music, it is not actually new. Remember E3 2006 where Miyamoto conducted a virtual orchestra with Wiimote? Wii Music is that orchestra game except now, it is a full blown game. But it ain’t another Rock Band rival, the game was in fact designed in opposite way - instead of following on-screen rhythm queues, now you just need to pretend you can play ‘em instruments.

But then you still need to keep your time (or sense of rhythm) well, so it’s not a really a complete pointless game. You can gather with up to 5 of your mates to jam in this game. While I predict that Wii Music is not going to appeal to rock stars wannabes but it’s perfectly fine with kids with it’s cute graphical contents all.

Wii Speak and Wii Motion Plus

Nintendo announced two peripherals for Wii: Wii MotionPlus and WiiSpeak. As per Wii Balance Board, Nintendo used the new hardware to further announce two more new games: Wii Sports Resort and Animal Crossing: City Folk respectively.

The new MotionPlus is an attachment for Wiimote which promised to translate more complex and accurate movement for Wii. The attachment will be packed together with Wii Sports Resorts together with a longer Wiimote Jacket and will also be available separately. Meanwhile, the WiiSpeak will enable players to talk with each other during multiplayer session and will be available as a stand alone peripherals.

Set in current Liberty City and features the same free roam world of GTA as per its other siblings.

On DS front, things was pretty much the same. Couple of games was announced including the exclusive Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, Guitar Hero: On Tour Decades, Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia and SPORE Creatures. Strong title they are but lack of proper presentation doesn’t help to promote them at all during the briefing.

Well, that’s all from Nintendo’s short E3 briefing. Sony was the last one to unleash their annual E3 media briefing and boy, I believe they definitely have more things to say. Especially when they are now currently at the bottom of the spectrum.

E3 2008 Center @ Lowyat.NET Forums
Nintendo HQ @ Lowyat.NET Forums

Posted in Consoles / Handheld, Events, Hardware, International, New Releases, Nintendo, Upcoming Releases