Nintendo E3 presentation recap
Well, that was certainly . . . interesting.
Nintendo just wrapped up its E3 press briefing and to call it underwhelming would be an understatement.
The most exciting announcement, at least as far as I’m concerned, is a new entry in the “Animal Crossing” series. “Animal Crossing City Folk” will be available for the Wii this year and features both the traditional “Animal Crossing” town, as well as a larger city that contains shops and other businesses.
“City Folk” will also support voice chat thanks to WiiSpeak, a microphone peripheral that allows multiple users to talk at the same time — think of it as Nintendo’s answer to the teleconference.
Nintendo also announced a new “Grand Theft Auto” game for the DS. “GTA” on the DS? I can think of alot of things I would like to do on my DS, but beating up hookers and hijacking cars isn’t at the top of that list.
The company also announced a new add-on to the Wii Remote. The Wii MotionPlus snaps onto the bottom of the Wii Remote and is supposed to allow for true 1:1 motion control. The MotionPlus will be packaged with a new edition of “WiiSports” — “WiiSports Resort.” This new collection of mini-games takes place at a beach resort and includes games like jetski racing, swordfighting and tossing a frisbee to your dog. Yippee!
After some footage of several previously announced third-party titles like “Call of Duty: World at War,” the presentation closed with a look at “WiiMusic,” the “next big thing” for the Wii.
“WiiMusic” allows gamers to become virtual musicians simply by mimicking the motions used to play real instruments — strum with the Wii Remote to play guitar or hold the controller in front of your face and push some buttons to play the saxophone.
I was all about “Wii Fit” from the beginning and I’m sure “WiiMusic” will be a hot seller, as well. But I’ll be honest, I’m not feeling this one. I reserve the right to change my mind once more information about the game comes out, but right now . . . no thanks.
From where I’m sitting, Nintendo dropped the ball today.
