Nintendo’s Autumn Conference Wrap Up

October 12th, 2007

With the University year coming to a close I have been run off my feet with work left right and centre. I just don’t have the time to think up ideas for my usual gaming essays. So lately the news has been a great resource for geting ideas pumping.

Unfortunately last week wasn’t overally interesting. Thankfully the announcements over the past few days have been a god send, literally flooding my out with creative ideas. With a slew of great releases, Syphon Filter and Final Fantasy Tactics both going fairly well on the PSP and this rumoured bomb shell announcement by Capcom, there are so many possibilities to write about.

But for today I am going to wrapping up Nintendo’s Autumn Conference as there is such a large volume of content to waddle through. The announcements made at here really should have happened at E3, I guess they just weren’t ready. So lets get on with it

Wii Ware takes Centre Stage

It was clear that the Wii Ware announcements dominated this event. Nintendo showed off a number of strong 1st and 3rd party content for the new service. Overall its a pretty impressive list:

What was even more impressive was that Iwata stated that they have had around 100 game ideas put forth for the service that is launching in March 2008(Japan).

pokemon farm wii

I just want to elaborate on some of these titles.

Extra Media

Pokemon Farm – Video| Screens
Final Fantasy CC – Video | Screens
Dr Mario – Screens
Minna de Puzz Loop – Screens
Maruboushikaku – Screens

More Wii Channels, downloadable DS demos and more!

It seems as though Nintendo is starting to get the message when it comes to online play. With Wifi included in games like Smash Bros and Dr Mario, the online connection is slowly (but surely) improving.

Although Nintendo didn’t announce any real online infrastructure for upcoming Wii titles they did announce some useful Wii channeldr mario wii ware information. Firstly they are revamping the Everybody Votes Channel to now include ratings for various game titles. Users can go through, rate games and find out what games best suit their taste. The Mii Contest Channel was also announced, this is the Mii beauty contest channel that Miyamoto briefly suggested at E3. But the real news comes from the new Everybody’s Nintendo Channel. This channel allows users to download DS game demos via their Wii. Finally they are getting the message!

New Games Announced

Monster Hunter 3 for Wii

This announcement seems to have been quite overlooked by Wii fans which is a real surprise. The Monster Hunter series is huge in Japan, even more so this game was removed from the PS3 and brought over to the Wii. This definetly highlights Capcom’s once questioned dedication to the Wii. So far only a short clip and a screenshot have been released.

monster hunter 3 wii

Video

Fire Emblem DS

This really isn’t much of a surprise. The new Fire Emblem is sporting a new look. Firstly the ap is now brought to life with a lovely textured 3D look. Sprite shading effects have been used to add a little depth to the characters. It also appears as though the face portraits are a bit more high res. So its a similar graphical upgrade the Advance Wars Dual Strike but only better.

fire emblem ds screenshot

Screens

Kousoku Card Battle Card HeroThis title sparked my attention, its a card battler made by Intelligent Visions and Nintendo. Looks like we now kno what Intelligent Visions are up to:

  1. Kousoku Card Battle Card Hero
  2. Fire Emblem DS
  3. Advance Wars: Days of Ruin

Screens

Super Mario Stadium Baseball for Wii

Once again, another updated installment in the sporting franchise.

Screens

Kirby Ultra Super Deluxe

Yup, new Kirby platformer for the DS.

Screens

New Information for Upcoming titles

Sonic in Super Smash Bros. Brawl

I have been doing my best to not think about this game. Its just the fanboy following, it really offends me. In anycase, with the recent inclusion of Solid Snake(which got me very hot), I have had no choice but to stand up and pay attention.

Along with Snake we’ll be seeing Sonic, thats right after years of rumours its finally true. Its a pity that poor Sonic’s credibility had to plunge so low before this was announced. With Smash Bros, Sonic Rush 2 and Mario and Sonic at the Olympics this may be another come back.

sonic is super smash bros brawl

An online co-operative mode was metioned and two new trailers released. One being for Sonic and the other a general trailer show casing some of the adventure mode of the game(which looks pretty sweet). Although one of the biggest announcements was the Japanese delay, pushing the game back to early 2008. This announcement was followed with the announcement of an American delay till February 10th 2008 at Nintendo’s Media Summit.

General Trailer | Sonic Trailer | Delay | Hands on(Media Summit)

Mario Kart with Motorcycles

Thats right the new Mario Kart game will support the option for motor cycles. Initially this sounded pretty retarded but after watching the clip it looks to be pretty neat. The game will also come bundled with a steering wheel mold.

Video | Screens

Wii Fit and Wii Music

Miyamoto participated in another Wii Fit demonstration, he seems pretty apt about this title. With this he annonced that the game will cost 8,800 yen and be released on the 12/1. Some gameplay video was also shown of Wii Music.

Advance Wars named, screened and dated

Unfortunately not much was said about the new Advance Wars(again) but not much really needed to be said..I guess. The game has a more ‘realistic’ graphical style as it and has been named Advance Wars: Days of Ruin set for an American release on January 21, 2008. Check out the screens.

mario party ds title screen

More Screens for Mario Part DS

Conclusion

Man, so many announcements in such a short time. Overall I think that Nintendo have covered excellent ground, everything from changes to the Wii channel(that actually sound impressive) to new games for all consoles and services. This really is what Nintendo needed at this years E3. But its good to know that these announcements eventually did come.

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Are Nintendo Against Blogging?

September 29th, 2007

Probably not but in anycase I found an interesting news article on that topic that is definitely worth sharing.

Recently Nintendo of America has fired a contracted employee from their division for a blog that they have been running. Their personal blog contains various posts that aren’t very encouraging from an employers perspective(the usual over opinionated offensive rant from your typical trashy MySpace blog). Infact one of their posts distastefully describes their opinion of their former boss.

The interesting part here is that the writer goes by an alias and not by their real name. Although the site does contain photos of he person in question. She also never mentions anything about her work life at all. So from where I see it, I reckon that the comments on her boss would have been the key issue at hand.

Perrin Kaplin commented on the incident stating that:

“we generally don’t encourage them. However [Zenner] was expressly discouraged from doing what she did. I’ve seen everything that she’s written and it’s really not work appropriate.”

So do you think that Nintendo are justified here? The blog itself had no relevance to her work life, despite being rather distasteful. I think that its just a case of revenge from her boss because of the comments that she posted on her blog. Have Nintendo gone too far here? Is there no such thing as freedom of speech? Tell me what you think.

Article | Their Blog

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Nintendo’s Grand Plan(The Conversion Process)

September 13th, 2007

metroid prime 3 corruption

Before I start this article, I want to thank you guys for your patience. I know its been longer than usual between this and my last posts, reason being because it is the last week of Uni for the term. Hence I have been run off my feet.

It almost goes without saying that Nintendo is currently regaining control of the gaming industry that it once reserected. The Nintendo Wii in less than a year is already the best selling home console on the market. Just sneaking ahead of the Xbox 360.

Nintendo through clever marketing has regained it’s old crown back. But I don’t think that they want to stop now. They are undoubtably on a very powerful roll, one which I believe they plan on taking full advantage of. So let me introduce you to what I call:

The Conversion Process

Lets put things into perspective first. Nintendo has successfully gained large control over the non gaming market with the Wii console. These people are now literally sold on almost anything that Nintendo would try to plug to them. Nintendo well and truely has them hooked on the line.

So it would be wise of Nintendo to use this time(that is the Christmas period and onwards) to attempt to persuade the casual customer into trying some of their ‘core’ titles. If they can successfully lure this market towards their core titles then they have the ability to turn these games into dedicated Nintendo followers. Which for them will guarantee success in the generations to come.

This “convert” the casual gamers into dedicated supporters theory is the main idea behind The Conversion Process.

The Conversion(corruption?) has already began

This process has already started. Infact it started a few weeks ago with the release of Metroid Prime 3 Corruption. This game can definetly be labelled a ‘core’ game for the system. It is made for the traditional Nintendo gamer. But the new Wii controls definetly make the experience much more accessible to new players of the series.

So how would Nintendo pitch this game to gamers? Would they plug it as an accessible action title or something to gets the fans excited? I’ll let George Harrison take the stage:

“Metroid Prime 3 has a revolutionary control style that makes it easy for anyone to immediately jump into the action,” says George Harrison, Nintendo of America’s senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications. “Now, an entirely new audience can experience this amazing first-person adventure”.

So George thinks that the title is for well….anyone and he is right, this title can definetly appeal to anyone.

The Metroid Preview channel also backs up the idea that Nintendo are beginning The Conversion Process. Nintendo knows that all of the fanboys are going to snap up the title from day one so for them they are just waving meat infront of starving dogs. But as for the casual gaming base, the marketing ploy unintrusively allows curious gamers to find out what this title is about. Nintendo are allowing the non gamer to plant their own seed.

So Whats Next?

Alright, alright. I probably need a bit more juice to back this theory up, right? Thankfully this past week Nintendo have provided this for me with the announcement of a new pack in game for the upcoming Wii Zapper peripheral. That is Link’s Crossbow Training. Ugh it reminds me of this:

phillips cd-i link

Anyways, it kinda makes you think as to why they chose Zelda as the theme of this game rather than say your Mii character? Here is how I see it. This title is the gateway in this Conversion Process because just like Metroid it contains ‘core’ Nintendo mascots and accessible gameplay.

Unlike Metroid, this title is more appealing to the non gamer. Not because Link is more appealing than Samus but because the game comes with a peripheral. Now, heres the thing, most of the Wii peripherals are pretty damn useless but they sell like anything, especially to these non gamers.

Hence this bundle is an attractive purchase, doubly so if Nintendo market it correctly. So then what happens? The casual crowd are then familiar with Link and decide to try out that other Link game that they have heard about(Twilight Princess). Once again, planting the seeds.

The Zapper can also lead the way towards other ‘core’ titles like Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles and Medal of Honour. So it has enourmous potential.

Conclusion

Now if Nintendo can string these points together then they are on their way to baptising a new future for themselves. Of course, with more ‘core’ gamer titles on the way only time will tell as to how well they will take advantage of this massive opportunity.

On a final note, this idea stemed from some thoughts that fellow blogger Matt G kicked around a few weeks back. Once the Link’s Crossbow Training was announced I saw the link straigh away and had to share my ideas.

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