With plans for Constantly Abbreviated v6.0 buzzing around my mind, I feel that the time has come for me to really master the tricks and trades of website design and development. As such, I’ve hit the internet hard with the much-recommended www.w3schools.com as my guide.
They say that time flies when you’re having fun. “They” were lying. Time flies whether you want it to or not. Were the last six months of University really all that fun? In parts, sure. But they were mostly a lot of hard work and kept me very busy indeed.
It’s all over now, though. It’s been over for a couple of weeks, actually, and I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I’ve gone from terrified fresher to Journalism graduate (we hope) in what were three very short years. I returned to Poole a little over a week ago for the first time in five months, and it felt very strange to call it ‘home’ again.
There’s plenty I will miss about Sunderland life. The people are definitely on that list, but even the little things like the two mile walk into Uni, the five minutes I’d waste at Pelaw waiting for my changeover Metro to South Shields, the Billy Connelly look-a-like tramp who prowled the Bridges shopping centre with his array of shopping bags…
It’s daft thoughts of that sort which have kept me preoccupied the last few weeks. Silly little thoughts on a chapter of my life now passing. Time to move on. The serious matter of job hunting looms, but I’d also like to get back on top of this blogging business. Mostly I’d like this to mean lots of writing, but don’t be surprised if it just means we get Constantly Abbreviated v6.0 sometime around August.
Lets wrap this all up then. Nintendo’s press conference was a mix of hits and misses, but a massive improvement on last year’s show. The news of a new Super Mario Galaxy game and a very hardcore-looking Metroid title will definitely go down as the highlights, while the likes of Golden Sun, Wii Sports Resort and Miyamoto’s roundtable Zelda reveal also provided strong headlines for the day after.
Was their room for improvement? Absolutely. Nintendo don’t seem to have grasped the fact that those who will play Women’s Murder Club and Style Savvy will not have been watching E3. Yes, they need to provide casual coverage but there are titles available which can appeal to both core and casual players and those should have been on display. At least we did get a release date for Professor Layton 2 post-conference.
Cammie Dunaway has picked up her game a little bit (I’m wondering if she was deliberately handed the opportunity to present Galaxy 2 to improve her image with the fanboys) but really should not have skimmed over Spirit Tracks the way she did. Nintendo had a trailer and they should have used it.
I also cannot help but feel that Wii Ware, DSi Ware and the Virtual Console could have benefitted from some more attention. All three services are delivering top notch gaming experiences for pocket money prices and it surely won’t end anytime soon.
The Vitality Sensor was the big downer on this year’s presentation. Iwata was talking a big game and then killed it with a peripheral reveal which unlike past such announcements have come with software to at least try and reassure us he hasn’t lost his mind.
There are big things ahead we should be able to look forward to at next year’s show though. Miyamoto wants to get his new Zelda title out there and so do we, while Pikmin 3 has got to make an appearance as well.
And, I know it’s a strange complaint, but as brilliant as four new Mario games may be Nintendo should explore other IPs in their back catalogue. It’s been so long since we had a Star Fox game, while cries for new Pilot Wings, Kid Icarus or Kirby titles can regularly be found on the internet somewhere. Nintendo have said that they’re reading the blogs, might I suggest a sudden increase in articles about these franchises? (IGN.com continuing to harp on about “seeing” such titles doesn’t count.)
If we were to rank this conference against the past few, it’s certainly one of the best. There are some dodgy areas, but Microsoft and Sony had those too (seriously, MS, Yoko Ono?). The next 12 months will feature some great Nintendo gaming, while the third parties are also showing what they’re made of. I’ve said for a while that anyone complaining about a dusty Wii isn’t buying the right games, after this conference I’d stand by that claim even more if they’re still whining in 12 months’ time.
It wasn’t all hardcore fan service and technology from Nintendo, however. The company still have to reach out to their casual audience, and for us more core players those segments of the conference can be a giant snoozefest.
In my opinion, there have been some top notch point-and-click adventure titles on both Wii and DS: the Ace Attorney series, Another Code and Professor Layton immediately spring to mind. New entries for all three of these franchises are on the way and would have been heartily welcomed by myself in Nintendo’s presentation.
Sadly, Nintendo sided with a trio of new intellectual properties which just didn’t do anything for me. Style Savvy, C.O.P and Women’s Murder Club all look pretty ghastly and I’m not going to waste more than 200 words on this blog.
130 will do.
Games are always a big deal at conferences like E3 but in recent years, especially with Nintendo, a new peripheral (or two) will be brought to the audience’s attention with wild promises of a deeper and more immersive experience. This year, peripherals were very much making their presence felt in Nintendo’s conference.
The big focus was on periperhals we already knew fairly well about. The release of Wii Motion Plus is just around the corner while the Wii Balance Board is seen as one of the biggest ingredients in Nintendo’s casual success.
Motion Plus was unveiled at last year’s conference as Nintendo finally fessed up that their Wiimotes hadn’t been providing the 1:1 motion control experience which many had imagined would be present right at the system’s launch.
Still, Nintendo are working to right that wrong now and while they didn’t have a new Zelda to show off the gadget, Wii Sports Resort did a bang up job of showing some of the dongle’s potential. While we already knew about the sword fighting element, it looks set to be archery that draws most of my attention. The combination of the remote and nunchuk looks set to provide a proper archery experience and consume hours of my time in much the same way that bowling on the original Wii Sports managed to.
Twelve games have been confirmed for the title - not including the opening parachute tutorial - and I just can’t stop myself from thinking this will be a launch day purchase out of total curiosity (and no matter how bad my wallet looks in a month’s time).
Nintendo’s other past peripheral revisited was the Wii Balance Board. Two years ago, Nintendo unveiled the Board and eyebrows were raised. What looked like little more than a set of bathroom scales was being described as one of the next revolutionary steps in gaming.
Skip forward 24 months and Nintendo are standing proudly by their Balance Board. Wii Fit has shifted almost 20 million units worldwide while the peripheral itself is being supported by a range of third parties including Ubisoft, EA and Sega (in the upcoming Mario & Sonic at the Winter Olympics).
Following such success, it was inevitible that a sequel to Wii Fit would be on the cards and so we are all advised to keep an eye out for Wii Fit Plus in the last quarter of 2009. The game will feature the original title’s activities as well as a host of new games, a calorie burning counter and a facility to create your own fitness regime.
I’ve been steering clear of Wii Fit, favouring instead for a daily four-mile walk which doesn’t cost me anything but for those with a little paunch to shift it seems to be the gimmick of choice - and eventually working out cheaper than a gym membership.
The Big N’s other perhipheral offering however was highly questionable indeed. Satoru Iwata is the mastermind behind Nintendo’s growth into casual gaming masters and every year he has something new to offer which he believes will make the audience grow even further.
This year, however, I couldn’t help but wonder if he was simply testing the theory that casual players really will buy any old junk. Looking like (and I mean exactly like) one of those things you get on the end of your finger in hospital, the Wii Vitality Sensor. Turns out Nintendo have tried the pulse-tracking technology before with Tetris 64, where your heart rate controlled the speed that Tetriminoes fell. As it stands, that’s the only concept we’ve got to go on when it comes to how this technology will work on Wii. For me, though, it was the major low point of the conference. Perhaps a demonstration or application would’ve made me feel better, but mostly it was a wasted 10 minutes for Iwata.
Alongside the big Mario announcements, Nintendo had another major player lined up for the rest of this year and the beginning of next. Non-Mario conference highlights for 2009 included Wario Ware DIY, Wii Sports Resort (more on that tomorrow) and Wii Fit Plus. But next year looks even better.
Though Cammie Dunaway deserves a bit of a slap for glossing over Spirit Tracks on DS like it was old news (okay, it was - but there was a trailer they could’ve shown to keep wild fanboys happy), adventure lovers were given a long-awaited treat. Golden Sun is making its way to DS.
Taking a glamorous-looking step into the third dimension, GS DS will focus on the descendants of past characters with gameplay that will “push the boundaries of intuitive touchscreen controls” while maintaining series staples including the Djinni and elemental summons.
Golden Sun was one of the first RPGs that I comfortably got into - that wasn’t Pokémon, anyway. The story was beautifully told with a host of compelling characters and some very clever game mechanics. It’s also one of the few games where I will complement it graphically, as the battle animations outshone Pokémon in 2002, and still do today.
The sequel, Lost Age, got a little bit overcomplicated for me with some needlessly dragging elements (not to mention the furiously complex link system that made the Zelda Oracles games seem simple), and I have yet to finish it. Needless to say, however, talk of a sequel has got me scribbling Lost Age into the top three games I must finish this coming summer.
For those who like their games (and trailers) packed with a bit more action, boy did Nintendo have a treat lined up. As Reggie lined up the third party hardcore lineup for the coming months (Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, The Conduit and Dead Space) he posed the big question “What about Nintendo? Could a new, edgier game also be coming from us?”
The answer was a resounding hells yeah as an action-packed whizz bang trailer for a brand new Metroid title brought fans to their feet. A collaboration between Nintendo and Team Ninja (of Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive fame) looks set to marry 2-D, third-person and first-person perspectives into the one game with a story that pieces together elements of Samus’ past. It looks very impressive, and Team Ninja are known for their challenging games so this could very well be THE title which fans of genuinely hardcore Nintendo franchises are calling for.
You wouldn’t think that three (including Galaxy here) games could have quite such an effect on a near-jaded fan, but there’s great promise here. Galaxy 2 will expand on one of the Wii’s best titles, Golden Sun will be making its way to DS and lifting the spirits of RPG fans everywhere and Metroid: Other M could well be the balance that old school Metroid fans and the Prime lovers are looking for.
And you just know Nintendo will have more up their sleeves for E3 next year. In fact, the smart money could actually go on new Zelda next year, after Shigeru Miyamoto’s roundtable conference after the E3 show which revealed new art and some sketchy new details. Pikmin 3’s absence this year might be sad, but fingers are crossed for an appearance later down the line (maybe October or November?). The next 12 months are going to be very, very good times.
With memories of last year’s car crash conference still in people’s minds, Nintendo needed something special from their E3 conference for 2009 and for the most part they delivered.
Over the next few days I’ll be commenting on the big reveals from Nintendo’s LA conference, Shigeru Miyamoto’s roundtable discussion and the E3 show floor.
At the heart of Tuesday’s revelations was Mario, who was the star of four new games on both Wii and DS. The sort-of leaked New Super Mario Bros Wii opened the show as the first Mario game to focus on four-player action. Taking the design and gameplay of NSMB on DS, it’s your choice whether you play co-operatively or competitively with friends and family.
The game introduces a number of new power-ups for Mario and his chums, including the Propellor and Penguin suits. These come in addition to a power not seen since Super Mario Bros 2, where players can pick up and fling each other - for better or for worse.
A new 2-D Mario adventure is one of the big asks of the hardcore fans, and the co-operative gameplay mode is an ideal opportunity to bridge the gap between core and casual players. Despite an initially sceptical reaction, I’m very tempted to get this come Christmas as I further attempt to bring Miss Amy into proper Nintendo gaming.
Next on Mario’s roster a title we already new about - though not the subtitle. The third entry in the highly entertaining Mario & Luigi RPG series got its Western subtitle at the conference as Bowser’s Inside Story.
After the somewhat disappointing use of the DS’s features in Partners In Time, Bowser’s Inside Story looks set to blow us away with more love for the dual screens, touch screens and microphone than you may know what to do with. With the return of Fawful also on the cards, an American and European release date of Autumn 2009 cannot come soon enough.
As Cammie Dunaway - much maligned last year but doing her best to redeem herself this year - discussed the potential for customisation with the DSi and the growing trend for players to create their own games, Mario stepped up once again with his first DSiWare specific title.
I loved the first Mario vs Donkey Kong and have been meaning to pick up the second title for months. This coming Monday, DSi owners will be able to download Minis March Again a package which will let them create their own MvDK levels from the ground up and upload them locally or by Nintendo Wi Fi Connection.
Of course, the best was saved for last. Or almost last, as Nintendo still had a trick up their sleeve for a true grand finale (more on that tomorrow).
With Super Mario Galaxy providing one of the best Wii gaming experiences available, Nintendo would be fools not to make a follow-up. Fortunately, Miyamoto and his team had plenty of ideas left over and the end result is Super Mario Galaxy 2.
Wild cheers came from the crowd and part of me felt the strange urge to kiss Cammie “Queen of Disc Dog” Dunaway as Mario soared through the stars once more. But he was not alone. Everyone’s favourite dino buddy Yoshi is making a return, complete with enemy shlurping and spitting abilities and a few new tricks that turn him into as versatile a character as Mario himself.
Looking just as stunning as its predecessor - which I am going all out to complete when I get home - Galaxy 2 is set to be 90-95 per cent new content according to Miyamoto. Any claims the man doesn’t have classic gaming ideas in his body are instantly dismissed.
Though a 2010 release date is sketchy, Miyamoto has assured us that the project is far into development so here are some fingers tightly crossed for Q1 or Q2 2010.
2010 is set to be a big and bright year with more sensational games on the way, which I’ll dive into a little more detail with tomorrow.
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Space, the revamped frontier. These are the voyages of the massively hyped Star Trek movie franchise. It’s mission? To blow your mind with tremendous special effects, surprise you with its strong character development and dazzle you with ridiculous levels of lens flare…
I’m not as big a Trekker as the vast majority of folks that will go to see this movie probably are. My only real Trek credentials are that I have a fairly solid knowledge of The Next Generation and can sing The Firm’s Star Trekkin’ from start to finish without pausing for breath.
My Sundays a few years back were dominated by old school Trek repeats, with Bill Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and company doing what they did best in the 60s - really bad sci-fi with really, really bad action sequences.
JJ Abrams’ Star Trek, however, is a whole different beast. The man behind Alias (yay!) and Lost (meh) has brought the franchise screaming into the 21st century with one of the most action-packed films of the summer. Abrams begins with a sensational and dramatic opening sequence focusing on Kirk’s birth and the incident which cost his father his life.
The film then turns its attention to 20-something versions of James Tiberius Kirk and Spock as they enter Starfleet Academy and find themselves drawn into the maiden voyage of the Starship Enterprise.
There are plenty of things about this film which could allow you to heap praise up on Abrams. While powering through at a frenetic pace with heaps of flash-bang action sequences, the story (by frequent collaborators Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman) is well constructed and still manages a perfect amount of character development throughout the course of the film.
This, in turn, is fortunate as Abrams has brought together a cast which manages to pay homage to the characters as we knew them, but provide new twists to each of them. Karl Urban’s performance as ‘Bones’ McCoy and Zachary Quinto’s Spock are two of the best, while even Simon Pegg managed to pacify concerns that he wasn’t up to the job as Scotty.
If there is a weak link, I would argue that it is Chris Pine. His version of Kirk is very unlike Bill Shatner’s, which goes against the continuity offered by the other actors.
Another minor complaint would be the presentation of the Enterprise. Whoever designed the thing clearly spends too much time around crisp white Apple products. And what is with all the lens flare? The levels of glare were incredibly distracting.
They are small complaints though. As revamps go, JJ Abrams’ Star Trek is a brave and impressive step in a new direction. Rumours are that the team are pushing to get a sequel out in the next 18 months and from what we’ve seen there are solid foundations for such a move.
Hope someone can explain what the heck Uhura was doing with Spock though…
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I could open this post by looking back at the disappointing display Nintendo put on at last year’s E3. I could rant about the lack of solid first part content, the lackluster showing from third parties and Cammie bloody Dunaway, but the fact is we know what went wrong.
Fortunately, Nintendo know that they messed up too. Fingers crossed as E3 builds itself back up to the all singing, all dancing mega conference it once was the Big N will be leading the way with some hot announcements that will restore the faith of jaded fanboys everywhere.
It would be wrong to whack out a list expecting New Zelda, New Mario, Kid Icarus Wii and the end to casual gaming. Nintendo’s strategy of announcing games only when they’re near ready - a result we can assume of the megahype for Twilight Princess and Brawl - means unless we’re going to have the most first party heavy Christmas in recent years we’re going to have to keep our feet a little more firmly on the ground. So, here, I’m making some serious predictions about what to expect from Nintendo. My personal hopes are in there a little, but this is very much a prediction thread based in reality (mostly).
Fairly safe bets
- Pikmin 3: Announced on the hop by Miyamoto last year as Nintendo tried to restore their reputation with longtime fans, a sequel to one of Nintendo’s most charming franchises was expected by many for the Wii, with the console’s controls seeming an obvious advantage. It’s time for Nintendo to bring a smile to our faces once more - and for once, demonstrate that they can do a bit of originality in their sequels.
- Mario and Luigi 3 release: Release dates are probably a bit of a cop out, but this is among several titles I hope to see get a EU (and I s’pose US) release date at E3. Others I would like to see include the artist formerly known as Perfect Prosecutor, Professor Layton 2, Elite Beat Agents II and Captain Rainbow. Yes, seriously.
- Wii Fit Plus: The casual market will get a look in this year and rumours are running around at the moment it’s going to be Wii Fit Plus, and, why not? The original is easily one of Nintendo’s biggest casual money-makers so a sequel had to come sometime.
- Ubisoft segment: In 2006, Nintendo turned over a large portion of their E3 presentation to Ubisoft and this year I have a feeling we may see the same. Wii Sports Resort will be Nintendo’s big title to show off Wii Motion Plus, but for the hardcore (as much as you may want to see Zelda) I think Red Steel 2 will lead the demonstrations. I would also love to see some proper footage for Rabbids Go Home, so fingers crossed on that.
- Spirit Tracks: Don’t expect to see Mike “TSA” Damiani demoing the newest DS Zelda title this time around, but keep your fingers crossed for a more in-depth look at Link’s new adventure - as well as a firm 2009 release date.
Either way predictions
- New Super Mario Bros 2: One of my recurring predictions for E3 and one year I will be right. Nintendo shouldn’t make us wait another 12 years for Mario to do what he did so well last time.
- Game(s) with Wii Speak: So, we’ve got a Wii Speak Channel, Animal Crossing and The Conduit (on the way) but apart from that, Nintendo’s big peripheral reveal from last year doesn’t seem to be getting much. Will that change this year?
- New Star Fox: People want to see this franchise get back on form. Star Fox Command on DS was a step in the right direction so maybe - just maybe - something is in the works for Fox and co to take flight again.
- Super Mario Galaxy 2: Miyamoto himself has expressed interest in following up Mario’s great space race, and I’d be quite happy to see him pull it off. We have yet to have two proper Mario platformers make it out on the same home console since Super Mario World 1+2. Galaxy was out early enough for Nintendo to change that and I have no qualms about recycled environments if the gameplay can keep a fresh feeling to it.
Almost totally unlikelies
- Cammie Dunaway will call in sick: I know, it’s mean, but she was the low point of last year’s presentation. “Mom” anecdotes, a constant urge to grin and a near game-wrecking demonstration of Disc Dog leave me hoping she’ll get five minutes on stage at most, but knowing that’s unlikely…
- Kid Icarus Wii: I’m no longer a believer in this game’s existence. Sorry.
- New Wii colours, Wii HD, Death of Friend Codes: All very nice ideas but all against Nintendo’s current strategy. White Wiis are still selling like the proverbial hotcake, they’ve got an adequate enough solution for VC and WiiWare games and Friend Codes are just staying. End of discussion.
Earthbound on VC, 2D Metroid on DS: I would love to see these, but Nintendo have to give fanboys something to complain about the recurring lack of. Yes, I’ll be one of those whiny fanboys.
I managed to score an amazing two points on my predictions last year (and that was including Miyamoto’s post-conference Pikmin reveal). Better luck this year…?
It’s comment time!
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I handed in my last degree assignments yesterday, took part in my final exam and have just one more portfolio of work to print off before I officially bring three years of University living to a close. Expect a blogging burst in the next few days, as well as a liveblog Twitterfest on Tuesday to mark Nintendo’s E3 press conference.
Coming shortly, my predictions for that conference.