E3: Day 2 - The Nintendoing

Solid performance makes up for the overall lack of newness.

Word has it that Nintendo's show was a bust; a disappointment. I disagree; I'm actually quite excited for Nintendo's newest system, and I'm patient enough to know that in time I will be rewarded with bigger and better things. But for now? I'm okay with not one, nor two, but three new Mario games, one of which is a sequel to my favorite series: Paper Mario. I'm a sucker for a platformer, and even though I'm not expecting them to blow my mind away, I'm alright with a comfort zone for now.

Tiny, Tiny Yoshi's!

Also: I really effin' love Pikmin.

So yeah, maybe I'm more easily impressed, but virtually nothing that was mentioned wasn't something that I will be owning in my collection. That's a win in my book, as far as conferences go. Not everything's going to be "Teh Megaton"

IGN has a write up on ZombiU (which is apparently named in such a bad way because it's a callback to Ubisoft's first game from 1986, called Zombi) that makes this game seem fantastic. I'm hoping we're not doomed to a new Red Steel, and that ZombiU really has the potential I'm looking for in a Survival Horror game. The idea of using the Wii U GamePad to rifle through corpses inventories, punching up a data pad while being attacked, and sniping.

Nintendoland was something I'm rather interested in. Yes, it's 'just' a mini-game collection, but nobody does them better than The Big N. Throwing in some IP Flavors like Zelda and Animal Crossing help make it more interesting than just another Wii Play, but also give me a craving for a nonexistent Zelda's Epic Yarn:

So god damned cute!

But there was more to be had! After the conference, Nintendo announced another game in one of my favorite franchises, Game and Wario. A new WarioWare is good news any day of the week.

The third party efforts are huge with Nintendo, and while not everything was a new announcement, the fact that Nintendo fans are finally getting their hands on a Mass Effect and Assassin's Creed is a damn good thing. On top of those we have new announcements like Platinum's P-100 and 5th Cell's Scribblenauts Unlimited. I'm a huge Scribblenauts fan, so that got me excited, and Platinum makes some of the best games today.

Platinum's P-100

Lego City: Undercover is a comedic take on the Grand Theft Auto style of open-city game. Disguises, vehicles, and a brilliant charm are all apart of this original title by Travelers Tales.

Some other third party wins were shown off in a sizzle real, including Darksiders 2, Trine 2: Director's Cut, Rayman Legends, and Tekken Tag Gournament 2, all with unique features for Wii U.

This game looks and sounds great in motion.

The 3DS was barely scratched; apparently that's for tomorrow's bonus press conference. What was shown however was pretty much all great. There was (finally) some footage from the new Castelvania: Mirror of Fate, as well as Disney's Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion and a 3DS version of Scribblenauts. Also, just throwing this back out there, Heroes of Ruin looks amazing. The first party efforts were slim (because of the later conference) but strong. There was another New Super Mario Bros. title (adding a 2 at the end), and featuring gameplay focused entirely on collecting coins. Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon looks great. I pretty much need Paper Mario: Sticker Star inside of my mind grapes right now.

Again, maybe it's just me, but that's a lot of games I'm going to be picking up for the Wii U, and that's not really even all of them thus far. It's a fairly solid start, as far as I'm concerned, to what will undoubtedly be a great system.

-Make it a Nice Day

Solid performance makes up for the overall lack of newness.

Word has it that Nintendo's show was a bust; a disappointment. I disagree; I'm actually quite excited for Nintendo's newest system, and I'm patient enough to know that in time I will be rewarded with bigger and better things. But for now? I'm okay with not one, nor two, but three new Mario games, one of which is a sequel to my favorite series: Paper Mario. I'm a sucker for a platformer, and even though I'm not expecting them to blow my mind away, I'm alright with a comfort zone for now.

Tiny, Tiny Yoshi's!

Also: I really effin' love Pikmin.

So yeah, maybe I'm more easily impressed, but virtually nothing that was mentioned wasn't something that I will be owning in my collection. That's a win in my book, as far as conferences go. Not everything's going to be "Teh Megaton"

IGN has a write up on ZombiU (which is apparently named in such a bad way because it's a callback to Ubisoft's first game from 1986, called Zombi) that makes this game seem fantastic. I'm hoping we're not doomed to a new Red Steel, and that ZombiU really has the potential I'm looking for in a Survival Horror game. The idea of using the Wii U GamePad to rifle through corpses inventories, punching up a data pad while being attacked, and sniping.

Nintendoland was something I'm rather interested in. Yes, it's 'just' a mini-game collection, but nobody does them better than The Big N. Throwing in some IP Flavors like Zelda and Animal Crossing help make it more interesting than just another Wii Play, but also give me a craving for a nonexistent Zelda's Epic Yarn:

So god damned cute!

But there was more to be had! After the conference, Nintendo announced another game in one of my favorite franchises, Game and Wario. A new WarioWare is good news any day of the week.

The third party efforts are huge with Nintendo, and while not everything was a new announcement, the fact that Nintendo fans are finally getting their hands on a Mass Effect and Assassin's Creed is a damn good thing. On top of those we have new announcements like Platinum's P-100 and 5th Cell's Scribblenauts Unlimited. I'm a huge Scribblenauts fan, so that got me excited, and Platinum makes some of the best games today.

Platinum's P-100

Lego City: Undercover is a comedic take on the Grand Theft Auto style of open-city game. Disguises, vehicles, and a brilliant charm are all apart of this original title by Travelers Tales.

Some other third party wins were shown off in a sizzle real, including Darksiders 2, Trine 2: Director's Cut, Rayman Legends, and Tekken Tag Gournament 2, all with unique features for Wii U.

This game looks and sounds great in motion.

The 3DS was barely scratched; apparently that's for tomorrow's bonus press conference. What was shown however was pretty much all great. There was (finally) some footage from the new Castelvania: Mirror of Fate, as well as Disney's Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion and a 3DS version of Scribblenauts. Also, just throwing this back out there, Heroes of Ruin looks amazing. The first party efforts were slim (because of the later conference) but strong. There was another New Super Mario Bros. title (adding a 2 at the end), and featuring gameplay focused entirely on collecting coins. Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon looks great. I pretty much need Paper Mario: Sticker Star inside of my mind grapes right now.

Again, maybe it's just me, but that's a lot of games I'm going to be picking up for the Wii U, and that's not really even all of them thus far. It's a fairly solid start, as far as I'm concerned, to what will undoubtedly be a great system.

-Make it a Nice Day

I agree and disagree. I'm also a huge fan of Mario and Pikmin, and a few of the other things you mentioned, but frankly, it's just not enough. They've had years to prepare for this system, and its launch, yet it's only as powerful as other current-gen systems, and all we're getting at launch is NintendoLand and a new Mario game that, while I am sure it will be good, is yet another seemingly cookie-cutter 2D platformer (which will be the 3rd one) in as many years. Aside from Pikmin (which they did not even specify would be at launch), there were no other AAA games aimed for the hardcore that were even mentioned (Metroid, F-zero, whatever... just a mention of anything like that, even if it is a 2013 game, would have been welcome). Instead, all we got was a ton of time wasted on 3rd party games that have either already been released or will just have tacked on 'gamepad'(tm.) gimmicks, and worst of all.... NintendoLand. I'm sorry, but I am sick of Nintendo mini-game collections... and it's not like I haven't given them a chance. I own every single one up to this point. They just do nothing for me anymore. If it comes with the system for free or releases as a $15 download, then OK, fine. But if it's a $50 retail game?... I'm sorry, but just, no. The most embarrassing thing was the time they devoted to explaining in mind-numbing detail the Luigi ghost mini-game. I was honestly feeling sick to my stomach at that point with embarrassment for them. Yeah, WE GOT IT after like 30 seconds... but they went on and on and on about it... and that was the finale of the conference! It was just incredibly underwhelming. They had years to prepare for this, and Sony and Microsoft both had mediocre showings. It was their show to take, but they just fell flat on their face. But sadly, I am not surprised.

Anyways, while I can see where your optimistic viewpoint comes from, I am just finding myself with less and less patience and enthusiasm for Nintendo nowadays... it makes me sad, because like many people, I grew up with them and have been a HUGE fan since the NES (I own every system, tons of handhelds, almost every big 1st party game, etc)... but at this point, I just find myself not every excited for WiiU at all. I am not even sure I will even buy one at this point, which is saying a lot. I guess I'll just wait and see.

PS - what the fuck is Retro Studios working on????? If I knew the answer to that, my whole outlook might change on a dime. The lack of any info on that has been perhaps my biggest disappointment so far...

So Darksiders 2, Assassins' Creed 3, Rayman Legends, ZombiU... just to name a few... these aren't hardcore franchises? Because these are all launch window, half of which I just named are exclusive titles. And certainly those, stacked with a new Mario and Pikmin 3 (which will be "launch window") is a hell of a lot more impressive than a gamecube ported Zelda, a busted ass Red Steel, a surprisingly engaging Raving Rabbids (minigames!) and Wii Sports. Oh there was also a DS port (Trauma Center) and Excite Trucks which..was actually really cool. But if we count that, three 'hardcore' games at launch, one of which was totally garbage, and that would be the last we would hear on the hardcore front until Super Paper Mario came out the next March or April. And the 3DS launch was equally sparse, and that turned out quite nicely, and the original DS even moreso.

My biggest point is that a launch is just that, a one time start with so much more to come. Nobody has ever had a great launch. Not one system. It will get better, and I honestly view this as one of the best system launches I've ever seen.

I'm happy with the lineup, there are about five or six launch window Wii U games I definitely want. And the fact is, Nintendo is one of the best game makers out there, they make some of my favourite franchises and the only way to play those games (Mario, Mario Kart, Pokèmon, Legend of Zelda etc.) is with Nitendo hardware, so I will be getting a Wii U - at launch, if the price is right. And quite frankly, I can't NOT play Lego City Undercover. I think there are two reasons the Presser seemed underwhelming. First, Nintendo is holding off on telling us a lot of details until nearer the launch because they prefer a shorter, more controlled PR cycle (Much like Apple). Second, they focused exclusively on launch window (for the same reason) so there was no megaton tease. HD 3D Mario is coming, HD Zelda is coming, Unannounced HD Retro Studios project is coming. Third parties also probably have several more Wii U projects for 2013 they have not yet announced because of Nintendo's launch focus.

You're right about the launch and launch history. I wasn't expecting too much at day one launch honestly, but since they have had so much time to prepare this console, I would have thought there would be more than just one 2D Mario game (I'm just talking first party here) on day one. And when they start talking "launch window" to try and make everyone feel better, I'm not buying it. Reggie just stated in an interview that when they say "launch window" they are really talking about months past launch. I am sorry, but something released 3-4 months after launch shouldn't be using the term "launch" as part of describing its release date. It's just marketing BS.

Anyways, the majority of my disappointment doesn't even have to do with the launch. Honestly I am OK with just a Mario game on day 1. I just would have really liked to have some announcements of additional 'hardcore' games, even if they wouldn't be released until 2013. I just want to know it's going to be more than just a series of mini-game collections and normal games with gimmicks tacked on, like with Wii. So far I'm not seeing it...

As far as 3rd party, I don't really care at all. I have never bought a Nintendo console for 3rd party games. With very few exceptions, there have never been any multi-platform 3rd party games that are better on a Nintendo platform and whenever possible, I always go for PC as my first option anyways. I really only buy Nintendo consoles to play Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Pikmin, etc. 3rd party WiiU-exclusive games might potentially interest me, but as of yet, I don't see any that do, except maybe Rayman Legends (depending on how critical the tablet is to it).

If you think about it though, what could they have done? EAD is just finished Super Mario 3D Land on 3DS, Retro is only a year and a half out of Donkey Kong Country Returns, and probably isn't in any sort of a finished state for an announcement, Sakurai just finished Kid Icarus and probably has his name and a working title on a Design Document for the next Smash, a brand new Zelda is still warm on the table... Unfortunately it would seem that the timing for new game announcements is in a poor alignment.. there's nothing to announce right now. The fact that they're launching with any sort of a Mario Game, a new Pikmin, and something that at least teases ideas for bigger Zelda, F-Zero, and franchises with Nintendoland shows, to me at least, that they're aware of the crossroads they're in.

Don't get me wrong, I'm bummed that there wasn't a list of new announcements, either. Especially at that hour long press conference last night. But it just seems to me that this year was kind of a down-year for announcements, due to development cycles. But to me, that means that next year will be a hum-dinger. Although, also, keep in mind that Nintendo is intent on these smaller Connect presentations that might spread some of those announcements out also.