July 11, 2007 -
So GP is at the Nintendo press briefing right now. It starts in about five minutes.I got here early, about 8:05. Ran into Nintendo exec George Harrison, chatted, found out he is originally from nearby the GP homestead in Bucks County, PA. Nice guy...
Bumped into Chris Grant and Ross Miller from Joystiq, Shawn Sines from the Columbus Dispatch/Filefront and Curt Feldman, late of GameSpot and soon to announce something new. Sounds exciting. Curt's a pro...
While I wait for the show to start, I'll share a little E3 gossip: ECA prez Hal Halpin was seen having lunch yesterday with new ESA boss Mike Gallagher in the grill at the Fairmont Miramar, E3 2007 HQ. They spent about two hours together and seemed to get on very well.
Okay - Reggie is now onstage, touting the broad appeal of games:
Everyone's a gamer... says that portable now represents 50% of hardware sales... more older gamers involved... more women involved on Nintendo systems... audience getting restless, stats getting boring. Time to show some games, Reggie
Here's something: Wi Zapper, a new Wii controller, a gun-looking device that seems to combine the Wiimote and the Wii nunchuk. Cool! Medal of Honor Wii will make use of Wii Zapper. Price = $19.99
Smash Bros. Brawl launch date is... December 3rd; showed some new control features for Metroid Prime 3...
Reggie now talking online play... Madden & FIFA will have online play... Mario Kart Wii in Q1 2008 will feature online play. Reggie showed a new Wii Wheel controller that will come with the Mario Kart Wii game.
CEO Satoru Iwata onstage, sort of a pep talk, no hard info. He did say that Miyamoto-san would be on later to announce a new game! Reggie came back to announce a street date for Super Mario Galaxy - Nov. 3rd. Showing off Wii Fit, an exercise game.
Miyamoto is on to talk about Wii Fit - kind of disappointing. Thought maybe he had a big announcement. One cool thing is the Wii Balance Board, a wireless controller that measures your weight and senses body movement for the Wii Fit game - and, we would imagine, additional games to come. Reggie jumped on... what does he weigh?
It's over - now off to Sony.
GP: we're cheating with the Reggie pic, by the way. It's from a past E3.
Comments
'nuff said :P
Hey, you know it and I know it, but...
Because the Wii Zapper will train kids to use guns? That's a pretty laughable concept. Real guns weigh substantially more than a wii-mote and nunchuk in a plastic frame. Real guns have more recoil than the rumble function of the wii-mote. Real guns are not calibrated to an IR sensor on top of a tv with adjustable sensitivity. Real guns have to be loaded and cocked to fire, the zapper will accomplish this by pushing a button or shaking it. Real guns have to be maintained, the wiimote just needs it's batteries changed.
If anyone would try and connect learning to fire a real gun with the Wii Zapper, then they are dumber than dirt.
Thanks GP. I know you were going to leave the information to the big guys and focus on the "feeel" but I don't visit those so thanks!
Heres a thought Nintendo create a 3D version of Super Mario world and SMB3,mix up the power ups make them a bit more sturdy (they end at half hit points) add some extra lite RPG elements let him equip things to make better use of power ups and maybe even keep a power up in a bottle to use at anytime,Mario has really not been revitalized in the 3D age Sonic was full of win(it was made when sega still had living dev teams) Mario has been "hooky" and stale.
BTW this new E3 is for the elite not the connected its on the other side of the coin from the old uber party trade show.
Only other title may be Galaxy, but Sunshine left an ugly stain on expecting a great title to own, it may just end up a rental or just too short.
SSBB has been pretty much my only hope, and them killing the online capacity is really hurting my choice to buy it. If we didn't want an online SSBB, we'd stick with SSBM....
Meh to this E3, all 3 deserve a C- or D.
Ok, I'll confess, I used some hyperboles when I compared SSBB to Halo. The point I was trying to make was that if SSBB had online capabilities, it might achieve a strong following as Halo has; essentially, it could theoretically overtake Halo's popularity.
On a side note, and not to get anyone riled, can anyone else hear JT salivating over the Wii Zapper? I can almost hear "Murder simulator gun" on the wind.
God what is the obsession with the halo killer. Hell its the last game in the MC series, there is no need to kill it.
Yeah, the same thought passed through my head as well.....
FPS games would be laggier than a simple game like SSBB, there are more things to keep track of in a FPS (or even a MMO) than there would be in SSBB. I say this as a programmer, SSBB would functionally not have as many data to transfer on projectiles and the likes. A FPS is MUCH worse, and they still work just fine. I say SSBB would work online. I'm just interested in how they plan on implementing lag compensation...
It should have online, but I wouldn't expect it to. Imagine the lag...
Nintendo's conference beats M$. But that didn't take much effort, did it?
It was never said that Brawl wouldn't have online. Additionally, recall that Nintendo itself as a corporation is not directly responsible for SSBB; SSBB is more of a personal project of Sakurai, with programmers at his disposal really. And if I recall correctly, Sakurai has hinted at online play, and I think they would be smart enough to realize that making SSBB online would be enough for it to destroy Halo 3. Online SSBB = Halo killer. Offline SSBB = Halo competitor.
The balance board doesn't sound new, but I'll have to find info on N's device and see if it's similar to the ones I see at conventions.
The Miyamoto announcement was a bit of a bust huh? Was hoping for something a little more, just like everyone else apparently. Oh well.
I've got cataracts in one eye and 20/400 in the other and even -I- can see where this is going.
Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
Reggie kicks ass.
The business slides from the beginning are EXTREMELY embarassing to Sony and Microsoft.
cry.
spelling error
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the gun device thing sounds cool
This was one time where I have to agree to disagree...
I'll have to see about getting one of these and then give you feedback. Since I happen to have a Wii and I'm sure I can find a game or two I'd enjoy (or my sons would) using this device, I think I may eventually one day be able to provide intelligent feedback.
Bare in mind, as I've said before: there are seven basic skills in marksmanship:
Stance
Grip
Sight alignment
Sight picture
breath control
trigger press
follow through
While it's difficult, at best, to teach all of them on a simulation of any sort, it's quite easy - and in fact mandatory - to master several of them if you want to be competent at using a device that shoots anything.
Sight alignment
sight picture
trigger press
Stance is a moot point since there's no recoil to manage and you're not using cover or concealment.
Grip is going to be determined by hand size and manipulation of the device.
Breath control is academic in all but competition situations. In a real shooting breathing is out of control. In a gaming environment, does anyone really get so excited as to breath heavily? (Unless they're dancing or something?)
Follow through: should be easy since there's no recoil.
So, as said above, while I don't see such a device as being valuable in teaching someone how to shoot a real gun, it CAN be used to reinforce and improve certain shooting skills.
Now that I've weighed in, how many people have I pissed off?