E3 Sony and Nintendo Round-Up

Now that the big three consoles makers have had their conferences, I got to say there were very few moments at this E3 that awed me. That's not to say there wasn't some really cool and interesting games and ideas offered. Here's what Sony and Nintendo had at their conferences:

Sony

From the developers of Heavy Rain comes Beyond: Two Souls. I loved Heavy Rain, so I'm excited to play this new game. It's about a girl who has psychic abilities and is being hunted by an agency.  I can't wait to hear more information about it.

The Last of Us. Is there anything more to say? It looks amazing. Although, I heard it's shipping in 2013 instead of 2012.

The All Stars Battle Royale  game. To me, it still looks a lot like Super Smash Bros, but it was announced that a Big Daddy (Bouncer) will be a playable character, so I want it.

God of War Ascension will be released in March 2013.

Wonderbook for Move. I don't know what to think of this. If it wasn't for the fact that JK Rowling made a Books of Spells for it, I probably would have ignored the whole thing. However, I don't have Move, so even if Jo did create a book for it, it better be super awesome in order for me to buy it. I think I'll wait and see. I've never been too impressed by other HP games (except for the Lego ones), so I don't have my hopes up here.

Overall, I think Sony did a good job of showcasing games, more than Microsoft did. The PS3 has some really great looking games coming out.



Nintendo

Everything started out great for Nintendo's conference. Miyamoto was showing Pikmin 3 for the Wii U, but after that, the feeling sort of deflated.

On Sunday Nintendo had a pre-E3 video explaining more about the Wii U. That was helpful and I thought they wouldn't go on and on explaining it again at the conference. But they did anyway.


The best announcement was the the Wii U will support two GamePads. Of course, they didn't talk price yet. I've heard it will be a few weeks or maybe longer before we get prices and a release date.

No word of Zelda anything yet.  I wasn't expecting much, though. But any little mention would have been nice.

The 3DS line-up looks pretty great. Paper Mario and Luigi's Mansion are coming this holiday. I'm totally excited about them. There's also  Scribblenauts, Epic Mickey, and Castlevania games coming for the 3DS.

The Wii U will have games the hardcore crowd has already beaten like Mass Effect 3. Still, it's a step in the right direction. And the Batman Arkham City game has its own "Armored Edition" for the Wii U.  ZombiU looks awesome as hell, though.

There's Nintendo Land which is a themed park with different Nintendo game based mini-games. I'll check it out if it's bundled with the Wii U, but I doubt I will go out of my way to buy it right away if it's not.

My favorite thing about the Wii U is the GamePad. I want one now. I'm hoping it lives up to what is being promised. I can't wait to play Wii U games without needing a TV.


So yes, I still want a Wii U as soon as humanly possible. Nintendo's conference was rather dull, but they still had plenty of great games to show.

Final thought:

You know what really made me weep tears of fangirl joy? The fan-made trailer for Majora's Mask. For the 3DS or Wii U, who knows? Whatever it was looked awesome and I wish it was real.

The 3DS at E3 2012: A Wishlist

In less than two weeks E3 will kick off.  While many gamers are focused on what will be said about the Wii U, I'm slightly more interested in what's happening with the 3DS.  So here's a little wishlist of things I hope are announced for the handheld at E3 2012.

1. Give me Luigi's Mansion 2 and Paper Mario 3D for the holiday season. If I had to pick one, though, I guess I'll go with Luigi. Just don't announce that both of them are coming out soon and then delay them both. I can't take anymore delays this year.


2. Give me more downloadable games. I'm not ashamed to admit I spent a lot of time "window shopping" in the 3DS eshop. I especially want to see all the older Legend of Zelda games available. If Nintendo isn't going to remake a Zelda game for the 3DS before they release a new one, the least they can do is let us download the originals.  Why don't you want to take my money, Nintendo?


3. Show me anything new Zelda related. I don't care if it's a picture of poorly drawn Link framed by a 3DS. I'm not hoping for a definite release date, just something to remind us that you're making it.

4. Something brand new, exciting and a surprise to everyone. I suspect that the Wii U will get its share of (hopefully) awesome announcements, but don't leave out the 3DS.


That's about it. I'm not a greedy person. I just want everything on this list and anything else you think is cool. Okay, Nintendo?

Nintendo's presentation will be on June 5 at 9:00 am PDT. You can watch it at http://e3.nintendo.com/

Nintendo: Lost and Found?

This week on GBE2 the topic Lost and Found. Before Nintendo's E3 conference, I was sort of lost on what to write about.

Let's start at the beginning. I own all three consoles. In my house the PS3 and the Xbox 360 gets played way more then the Wii. Why? Because with the Wii, Nintendo lost its way. What? Don't I love my Wii? (yes, I do) What I mean is the motion control  of the Wii, the fact that it's not in HD or as graphically powerful as the other two meant that some "hardcore" games couldn't be played on the Wii. Instead what we got was tons of third rate "party" casual games. Yuck. I like Wii Sports, but any party type game that wasn't made by Nintendo was sucky. So my Wii sits, waiting for the next Mario, Zelda, and other games like that. And I love those titles enough that my Wii is definitely worth having. It's been 5 years since the Wii came out and it's no doubt Nintendo lost its way with the kids who grew up to be hardcore gamers.

But yesterday at E3, the Wii U  was shown and boy, what a showing it was. I'm not going to repeat everything I talked about yesterday, but I'm confident that Nintendo is trying to find its way back to the core auidence of gamers and I am so excited. The Wii could never handle titles like Ninja Gaiden or Battlefield. Besides the graphics, the Wii tried to go into the casual market. It didn't release many M rated games. Many of the titles for Wii U that were teased yesterday aren't family friendly. There's nothing wrong with family friendly, but not at the expense of the hardcore.

The Wii U is being touted as the console that can be all things to all gamers. I say good. I want to be able to play quality FPSs on my Wii. I also want Mario games and Zelda and other series I grew up with. If the Wii U is everything it says it is, it will be a great day for gamers when it's released next year. Then Nintendo will find its way back to the adults who grew up to be gamers because of  its early consoles.

Nintendo's 2011 E3 Conference

Nintendo's conference at E3 was just a few hours ago. Here's what was unveiled:


The Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary: For the anniversary of LoZ, there will be many things happening. Apparently, not all of them where unveiled today. More details about specials and events will be announced through the year. For now, we have Link's Awakening on the 3DS that launches today. A new golden Wii remote that launches with Skyward Sword this holiday season. Four Swords on the DSi in September. Two music CDs. One will be for Ocarina of Time's soundtrack on the 3DS. The other will be a  CD from the Legend of Zelda symphony. There will also be live concerts in the US, Japan, and Europe.


For the 3DS:
There was footage of Kid Icarus, Mario Kart, Luigi's Mansion 2,  Star Fox, and a new Mario. Most of these will come out this holiday season.

The big Nintendo news was, of course, what is Project Cafe. The new Nintendo console is now named Wii U. And it looks freaking sweet. It will be released in 2012.

First, the controller looks like a tablet. There's a 6.2 inch touchscreen. There's sticks, there's buttons. L buttons, R buttons and Z buttons on the top. You can use a stylus. You can make video calls with the thing.The controller interacts with the console and the game that's on the TV. This means a number of things. In the demo, they had the controller on the floor while playing golf. The ball was in the controller's screen, just like it would be on a golf course. You swing the Wii remote and play. You can use the controller with Wii Fit and the wheel and gun accessories. This means the system is backward compatible with Wii games. Hooray!!!

The controller also works as a drawing tablet. You can switch from the TV to the controller and play games that way. The possibilities, it seems, are endless.

That's great, but what about the games? It seems third party publishers are very excited about Wii U. The graphics look like 360 and PS3 graphics. They will be in HD finally. They gave glimpses of Ghost Recon Online, Tekken, Darksiders 2, Batman Arkham City, Ninja Gaiden 3, Battlefield and others. There will also be a new Super Smash Bros.

Nintendo promises to make the Wii U the system for both hardcore and casual gamers. I love the Wii, but the ungodly amount of crappy party games definitely turned many hardcore gamers off. I grew up with Nintendo and I would be thrilled if they can regain the core gaming audience.