Nintendo Press Conference - Live Coverage

[Peench]

Nintendo Press Conference Coverage - LIVE.

I'm sitting in the Nintendo Press Conference right now waiting for it to start. Access is spotty at best but I'll try to provide live updates on the major announcements.

I'm hoping for some huge announcements, but honestly don't know what to expect. Perhaps more new games to be announced for the DS and the Wii? I'm pretty sure there won't be an announcement of a price cut! But perhaps an announcement that there will be more Wii's available for purchase soon? We'll see.

[Crippler]

I'm actually watchin it also. I was wondering if you got an invite to it.

[Peench]

Main theme seemed to be of bringing people together and getting people who don’t game into gaming. Exercise and brain related activities are available on Wii and DS.

Video games have now taken their place as a staple of leisure entertainment. 46% increase in video game business this year over last year in US. In UK it is up 42% this year over last year. In Japan yearly growth is up 114%.

[Peench]

69% of all game industry growth comes directly from sales of Nintendo products.

DS doubled its share of all portable systems between 2005 and 2006. Majority of the rest of the portable sales were from Gameboy advance. In 2007, DS sales are up to 25%

Growth has also come from expansion of appeal to older players. Ages 18+ account for 53% of revenue. Over 25 now accounts for over 1/3 of all revenue. This is potential; Nintendo wants to reach that older consumer. Heavy growth in this age group.

Female gamers have also grown. For everyone except Nintendo is an 80/20 split. For Nintendo in 2007, it is 33/67. 1/3rd of all systems are being bought by women. This is driving Nintendo’s business as well. See this as a beacon driving future of gaming industry.

[Peench]

Who is playing the Wii – 95% of all males between 6 and 24. 3/4 of women say they’ve tried the Wii. Over 50, well over half have tried it, and 1 in 8 are playing regularly. This is another first in videogame history.

Nintendo is using software to pull total market outward by enlisting brand new players. Instead of pushing from hard core gamers only, they push to regular gamers and pull new gamers at the same time.

DS flew by 40 million mark months ago and is best selling handheld ever. Wii is poised to become the number 1 worldwide in this generation, very soon. Nintendo is not a fad, Nintendo is the future. Development community is responding accordingly. 60 games in Wii catalogue. Almost 300 for the DS. Between now and holidays, another 140 titles for DS and another 100 games for Wii. 14 of top selling Wii titles have been from 3rd party publishers.

[Peench]

Introduced the Wii Zapper. Test out this week a new Resident Evil game.

[Peench]

The Wii Zapper – test out the Wii Zapper on Resident Evil game for Wii.
Use the Ghost Squad game as well.
Medal of Honor for Wii is built to take advantage of the Wii Zapper.
3rd party developers are going to talk about it as well
Nintendo is going to package the Wii Zapper this year along with their software and make it available at an MSRP if $19.99

[Peench]

Souldcalibur Legends for Wii.
WWE Smackdown Raw 2008 (DS and Wii)
Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword to the DS
Square Enix – Dragonquest will be available early next year
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games
Super Smash Bros Brawl – Available in Americas on December 3, 2007.

[Peench]

Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass – touch sensitive interface completely

[Peench]

Metroid Prime 3:Corruption for Wii; Controls of Wii make it much easier to get into the game. Its never been easier to simply aim and fire against enemies. Lock on free aiming with Z button – can strafe around the enemy easily. While locked on you can still aim anywhere on screen. There are 3 sensitivity settings to allow tweaking. Hypermode is also available to defeat enemies. Stay too long and you will become corrupted.

[Peench]

Online
Is Nintendo getting serious about online? DS lite already has this and Nintendo knows it is huge. Opera web browser, news, photos, etc.
5.5 million DS owners have connected thru WiFi – all free.
5.6 million downloads within the Wii shop channel
112 classic games – distinctive stamp on online connections.
Wii Ware – unique standalone content to be downloaded to the Wii thru Wii Shop channel beginning next year

New channel only for Mii’s – “Check Mii out” Enter Miis and have them voted on by fellow gamers. Search thru them and take them home. Contests and promotions. Creating Mii’s based on real life celebrities.

>Pokemon Battle Revolution already permits online battle thru DS
>Mario Strikers Charged will allow online play as well
>EA sports football will allow online play this fall live against friends
>Fifa Soccer 08 features online leagues and party mode using your Mii against real players
>Dragon Quest Monsters – joker – RPG and monster catching adventure combined, battling online via Nintendo WiFi connection
>Guitar Hero III: Legends of Wii – Exclusive Wireless Les Paul controller and battle against other players online
> Mario Kart for Wii – online play in the first quarter of next year – race against rivals around the world in real time – including online multiplayer battlemode.
- Wii Wheel will come packaged with Mario Kart.

[Peench]

What’s next for Mass Market?

Brain Age 2 for DS available here on August 20 – already sold past original in Japan
Super Mario Galaxy for Wii on November 12, 2007.
Puzzle games have always bridged boundaries – Picross DS, make your own and share
MySims from EA for Wii and DS
High School Musical from Disney for Wii and DS
Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 from Ubisoft will be coming too
Vision training game – Flash Focus – already available in Japan, coming to US
My Word Coach from Ubisoft for DS – spelling and other vocabulary exercises
My Live Coach from Ubisoft from DS – promise to make everything better

Wii Fit – over 40 game modes to train you physically. The Wii balance Board. It can measure your weight, measures how your balance shifts while standing on the balance board. Can also use it as a new interface for games to use your whole body movement to control your character, etc.. Totally wireless so you can use it anywhere.
- Can also do body measurements and track your BMI over time.
- What is cost for the balance board going to be?
- Will it work on carpet?

Primary target for Nintendo is much wider. Only a small amount of time is available for leisure entertainment. Nintendo wants to steal more of that time for video games. People don’t want to simply consume entertainment anymore. Video Games are the ultimate interactive experience.

[namehater]

i just watched the nintendo part of E3 on G4, did you notice how boring it was? i watched the microsoft part first and nintendo almost put me to sleep, that host dude was SO boring

[Peench]

But didn't you hear at the beginning that he was "happy" ?

[namehater]

haha ya, i wanted to shoot that dude, what about that sony dude, he was sweatin bullets ehh? was probably expecting assassination! haha