IncGamers E3 Preview

27 May 2009 at 17:45:47 by Staff Writers

Welcome to the first of our E3 2009 preview features in which we look at what has changed since last year's event and what we can expect to see from the big three this year.

Nintendo

2008 was not a good E3 year for Nintendo. As we sat wondering if Cammie Dunaway’s grin had been surgically applied - and if Michael Scott had written her script - we waited patiently for the games. We listened to all of Iwata’s talk of “paradigm shifts”, looked at all of Reggie’s graphs and even resisted the urge to shit out a lung when he called himself “the Regginator.”  We just wanted to see the games.  And then came Wii Music. As Miyamoto and chums flailed embarrassingly about in a desperate attempt to make the game look fun, some questions remained. Where was Mario? Where was Zelda? What was up with Shaun White’s face? Of course, that’s not to say there weren’t games on display, just not the games we wanted to see. Wii Sports Resort? Nah. Animal Crossing: City Folk? Err. Guitar Hero: On Tour? Hmm.

Nintendo’s response to the deluge of dissatisfaction that hit the internet that night was to apologise to its core audience and then subsequently deny that it had disappointed its core audience at all. What’s not core about Animal Crossing, asked Reggie? Everything. What’s not core about GTA: Chinatown Wars? Well, he had a point with the second one although many were quick to point out that a glimpse of something other than the game’s logo might have got the crowd a little more excited. The upshot of Nintendo’s E3 feedback was this: not good enough.

In the past year it seems as if Nintendo has listened to its critics. We’ve seen a selection of more hardcore titles appear on the console, challenging the family-focused image of the Wii the mainstream press is so keen to promote. Games like the super-violent MadWorld, the super-sweary House of the Dead: Overkill and the super-shite Sonic and the Black Knight proved that Reggie and co. haven’t abandoned their hardcore base just yet.

Will this year’s presentation be better than last year’s? We expect so. For a company which prides itself on its adaptability we’d be more than a little surprised if Nintendo didn’t react to last year’s disappointment in a positive way. There may even be a joke or two about it. 

Nintendo is being pretty tight-lipped about what we can expect at E3 2009, with Iwata simply saying that the software which can help the Wii surpass the PS2's lifetime sales will be shown in LA. Rumours that Miyamoto will not be taking part in the E3 presentation have  led some to believe that he must be working on a new title and that we’ll be spared his “dad at a disco” antics from last year. Iwata’s comment that the Zelda and Mario teams have been “hard at work”, and Miyamoto’s that a new Pikmin game is in development,  surely bodes well for a big reveal at this year’s E3 and we’re pretty sure we’ll see at least one of Nintendo’s classic franchises making a return.

What about the hardware? Well, with the DSi’s recent release and the upcoming Wii MotionPlus peripheral, it’s perhaps unlikely that we can expect any major tech reveals from Nintendo at E3 2009. Indeed, if the rumours are to believed, it is Sony and Microsoft who will be debuting new motion-sensing controller tech. However, there are rumours circulating that Nintendo will expand the non-gaming functionality of the Wii. A recent survey hinted that video streaming service Netflix may be on the way to the Wii and, with the company having already struck a deal with Microsoft, it seems logical that it would try to push its service into many, many more households via the Wii [/Lassard off].

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