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You know, when the world's largest independent game publisher says that they're planning to drop you, you tend to pay closer attention. That world's largest is Activision, one half of the Activision-Blizzard monolith, and its Chief Executive Officer Bobby Kotick made this overture to Sony Computer Entertainment and in particular its PlayStation 3 console. Not a marketing guy or some errant public relations agent but the CEO himself. Yeah, that big.
Read on to see who said what...
David Braben, Founder and Chairman of Frontier Developments (developer of the incredible Lost Winds on WiiWare), takes reviewers to task when it comes to their assessments on Wii games. Echoing similar recent criticisms from Electronic Arts' EA Sports President Peter Moore on review site Metacritic.com, Braben questions the source of Wii games' bad reviews. Unlike Peter Moore, Braben doesn't necessarily blame the website itself for the Wii games' dismissal.
You nosey lookie-loo you. Okay, get a snootful and read on...
Shigeru Miyamoto, the resident Nintendo genius, was not on stage for Nintendo's E3 presentation but he made sure to make his rounds with the gaming press in his annual E3 Developers Round Table. His Round Tables are the format he uses to discuss his imaginative ideas and creative process to eager wide-eyed Jimmy Olsens looking on with mouths agape. In this one, we hear him talk about Super Mario Galaxy 2 having close to 99% new content; watch him diplomatically field questions about the Kind Code patent; listen to him promote the qualities of Wii Sports Resort, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Wii MotionPlus, and Wii Vitality Sensor; and apologize for the absence of an expected new Zelda for Wii at the presentation.
Oh, and about that Wii Zelda. The famed creative guru says that it will use Wii MotionPlus as he showed the press people the first bit of artwork for the upcoming title (no photographs allowed). Artwork showed a Twilight Princess-era Link standing back-to-back with a mysterious young girl surrounded in a field of sky blue. Miyamoto said that it has not been decided if the new Zelda will use Wii MotionPlus exclusively (joking that it depended on the success of the peripheral's package, Wii Sports Resort) while also saying that the artwork revealed major themes of the new game (due in 2010 by Nintendo's "estimates").
Ah, Nintendo. So so secretive. It's why we love you...and sometimes hate you.
Nintendo President and Chief Executive Officer Satoru Iwata comes on stage and announces what?! The Wii Vitality Sensor? It's a Wiimote associate device (plugs into Wiimote like Nunchuk and other peripherals) that tracks your pulse (among other biological signals) once you put your finger in its sensor. Alrighty then.
Wait a minute. Hold on. This could be very interesting. Imagine a Resident Evil style of game (survival horror, if you will) and your pulse picked up by the Vitality Sensor affects the gameplay making the enemies more menacing, aggressive, sedate, or passive. How about a game which reads your pulse in order intensify the adrenaline rush caused by the on-screen action? Obviously medical type games can use this device. But here's a new genre for you to ponder...lie detector games?
Iwata just presented the gizmo and left. No word on when it will be released. No word on what games will be compatible. No word on all the intricate details of how exactly it works. All he said was that this device enables you to see the information related to the inner world of your body. Whereas most games tend to excite and motivate you this little doohickey may be designed for aiding relaxation and even sleep. Hmm. Some people may write this off as a gimmick but they said the same thing about the DS and Wii and we saw what happened there. I will be watching this development with a hawk's eye. This could be major.
Nintendo does the unthinkable and releases a sequel to their super-selling exergaming phenomenon! Wii Fit Plus is its name and Nintendo announces that it will be ready for sale this fall...in Japan, that is. Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America's Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing, during her presentation on the E3 stage referred to Wii Fit as a gaming platform. Well, it looks like that's how Nintendo is approaching the Wii Balance Board and its incidental gaming applications.
Wii Fit Plus is heavier on the customization than the original with the ability to set playlists of exercises in order to find a specific workout routine for the player. More yoga and strength training exercises are added not to mention 15 new balance games including skateboarding, juggling, a math game where you bump numbers with your hips to make a count, and even a first-person perspective Super Mario Bros.-like platformer to move through. Interested? Well the NEW Wii Fit will be for sale in Balance Board bundled format AND game solo format for Board owners. Get ready.