E3 2011 Showfloor- Nintendo Wii U

The announcement trailer for Wii U, seen in the press conference, complete with motion control and screen interactivity tricks. It's hard to explain, just watch the trailer and you'll understand better how the controller's screen works with the TV. The games being played are Nintendo's own tech demos and not actual games.

The controller has symmetrical four-button setup and dual analog sticks. Not nubs, real sticks. It has speakers like the Wiimote, a gyrosensor, and an in-built camera. Rechargeable batteries are used in favor of AAs. The detailed console specs are still unknown, only a general overview was given. However we do already know Nintendo is going hi-definition with this one, supporting full 1080p output...finally! I'm not a graphics whore, but having the option is nice. And it also means 3rd parties will develop games for it without complaining about graphical limitations!

There were tech demos and a few minigames on show to allow people to get to grips with the new controller and see what games would look like, which Reggie called the 'Wii U experiences' in the press conference. The graphics demos were also here and could be interacted with, meaning they are not pre-rendered cutscenes but represent what gameplay footage would look like on Wii U, which is amazing.

Graphic Demo 1 (bird and trees)
Graphic Demo 2 (Zelda HD)
Chase Mii (to show usage of controller screen as a second screen, much like DS)
New Super Mario Bros. Mii (to show basic button controls, controller duplicating as TV screen)
Shield Pose (to show how the controller's screen matches up with the TV)
Battle Mii (to show controller's gyrosensor and controlling two things at once)
Measure Up (to show controller's pressure-sensitive touchscreen)

List of announced Wii U 3rd party games (in the order they appear in the trailer below). The footage shown are of the PS3/X360 versions (ironically) of the games and do not represent Wii U graphics.



Other announced titles from the roundtable or through statements:
Pikmin
Smash Bros 4 (together with 3DS version)

Expect to see Wii U sometime in late 2012 after Wii has exhausted its last legs.

E3 2011 Showfloor- Nintendo Wii U

E3 2011 Showfloor- Nintendo 3DS

Nintendo's latest handheld, finally getting a strong showing with new footage and gameplay of most of last year's announced titles that haven't already been released. No new games were actually announced save for Luigi's Mansion 2, but Nintendo already have enough on their plate as it stands.


Metal Gear Solid 3DS. Thank god no one forgot about it, though it doesn't look like it'll be released anytime soon. Watch for bonus Yoshi!


Hey, didn't know Paper Mario got a trailer as well. Finally shows some real gameplay, though the paper effect is less impressive than that of Super Paper Mario on Wii...but who am I to compare a handheld to a console?


Mario Kart 3DS with added things like customizable karts, underwater stages and gliders. For some reason a lot of classic tracks are shown here. Veterans of Mario Kart Wii and DS should pick them out easily.


Animal Crossing 3DS, which again, everyone thought was a no-show at E3, also has a new trailer. Aside from being generally better-looking than Wild World, you can now hang furniture on walls (saving space in the process), and swim in the water. Looks like the exact same gameplay to me, though there probably are even more things we don't know about AC3DS yet.


One more trailer for Kid Icarus: Uprising. Hopefully this is close to launch, being the very first 3DS game to be shown and all


Super Mario 3DS' first gameplay trailer, which looks bright and colorful. Whether it achieves Galaxy-like success and imaginative level is another issue, but enjoy the footage! Also, return of the Tanooki Suit!


E3 surprise Luigi's Mansion 2, a follow-up to the Gamecube original all the way back in 2001.

E3 2011 Showfloor- Nintendo 3DS

E3 2011 Showfloor- Nintendo Wii

Ah, to finally reach the end of Wii's life cycle. The past five years haven't been easy. Although hailed as a revolution in gaming at first, it was and still is treated like a baby's toy by most people wanting better graphics and more mature games. Didn't stop Wii from being the top of the pack this generation in terms of sales, but at this point in the Wii's life, you can see where their worries stem from.

This year, the showfloor had six Wii games worth looking at, all from Nintendo (the rest being your typical shovelware). Kirby Wii which you can see in the post below this, Zelda: Skyward Sword, Rhythm Heaven, and unrevealed at the press conference but was on showfloor, Mario Party 9. Also present at the show were Mario and Sonic at the London 2012 Olympics and of course, Wii Play: Motion.



Gameplay is identical to the Rhythm Heaven released for DS and GBA (Japan only), with an art style reminiscent of Wario Ware Smooth Moves from all the way back at launch day.



Seeing Kirby Wii in action finally made me so happy I could almost cry. How long has it been since the last proper Kirby console game? (and no, Epic Yarn doesn't count even though it's awesome in its own way) Though I'm not fond of the logo- I really hope this isn't the final name...



Flying on islands in the sky? Final frontier for Zelda in terms of transportation- at first there were horses, then there were boats, and now Link rides on birds! Land, sea, sky! Looks like a long way down if you let go. I'm glad they ditched Twilight Princess' dark graphics for something with more vibrant color, which just adds to the excitement.



And yet again another Mario Party game. We never get tired of this stuff, don't we? It's up to its ninth game, for chrissakes



Mario and Sonic, with a lavish opening cutscene like the one from four years ago. There are screenshots if you're willing to hunt them down- or I might just bring them over here in a bit! There's also a 3DS version.



Wii Play Motion, showcasing six different minigames out of the 12 available. Where's the ice-cream game? I wanna see that.

E3 2011 Showfloor- Nintendo Wii

Nintendo E3 2011 conference/Wii U- My thoughts

This is actually my first time catching a live stream of an E3 conference. Traditionally I'd leave everything till later because the conferences start at exactly midnight where I live! This makes it, under normal circumstances, impossible for me to watch, as this means sacrificing my beauty sleep, which I really like, by the way. This year however...lots of free time, I'm on holiday, I don't have to wake up early the next day, what's stopping me? All the Wii2 rumors were driving me absolutely nuts, from the extended 3rd party support, to the HD graphics, to the queer new controller with a screen on it. And then there were 3DS games to see. And then the final batch of good 1st-party Wii/DS games. My body was ready.

Nintendo E3 2011 conference/Wii U- My thoughts

Nintendo's pre-E3 site

And here we go. Tomorrow the world will know another year's worth of Nintendo games and consoles to drool over. Given how awesome E3 was last year, and the gaming drought this year, and 3DS not getting any good games at launch, and rumblings of Project Cafe...to address these things would be nothing short of an avalanche of news.

This is the link to the Japanese E3 site.

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n10/e3_2011/index.html

And in English.

http://e3.nintendo.com/

June 7th, 9 am PDT. Be there!

Nintendo's pre-E3 site