Nintendo's press conference is live right now, and their first announcement: New Super Mario Bros. for Wii. The game features four player, drop-in/drop-out co-op, new costumes that take advantage of the Wii remote functionality, and more. It will be available worldwide this Christmas. Very cool!
Next up, as expected, is Wii Fit Plus. It now features a locker-room that will allow you to customize your workouts for length or focus area. There are six new strength and yoga exercises as well, and it will keep track of calories burned. Wii Fit Plus will also have a bunch of new fitness-themed minigames, and it sounds like one will have you running like Mario, which could have possibilities.
After that, they show off Wii Motion Plus again. By the way, shameless plug here, but we should have a full review up for this new accessory shortly after its release later this month, so stay tuned for that. Here's hoping the announce some new games for it as well.
The show a bit from Wii Sports Resort where you skydive out of an airplane, and your Mii is controlled using the Wiimote/Motion Plus combination. Then they show off archery using Wii Motion Plus. Archery really looks like it'd be cool as part of a Zelda game. Next up is a basketball 3-point contest. I'm pretty pumped about that, as I've been waiting for a decent motion-controlled basketball game. The best one so far was in Carnival Games, and this looks better than that one by a mile. It'll be out on July 26.
Oh, I should also note that yesterday, it was announced that the old LucasArts Monkey Island adventure game series would be coming to Wii from TellTale games of Sam & Max fame in Tales of Monkey Island. Pretty cool if you're a fan of the series.
Now back to Wii Motion Plus. Other games using it: Tiger Woods 2010, Grand Slam Tennis, Virtua Tennis 2009, Red Steel 2. Looks like nothing new being announced on that front, unfortunately.
Next up: a trailer for Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers from Square Enix which looks cool, and is being called an "open world game." From there they go on to show a trailer for the new DS Kingdom Hearts title, then the DS RPG Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story. Not exactly Wii-specific stuff, but I figured they were work a mention. Oh, cool, they also announced Golden Sun DS for, obviously, Nintendo DS. Anyone here remember that old GBA RPG? Trailer looks pretty cool.
More DS talk follows, as they announce an interactive novel by mystery writer James Patterson, a new Ubisoft game called C.O.P. The Recruit that promised gritty action for core gamers but looks kind of "meh," and a new fashion game called Style Savvy that is aimed at young, teen and tween girls. They follow that up with a DSi montage that really makes me think we're not getting Pikmin 3 or any more Wii announcements today.
They run some DS and DSi sales figures and then talk some more about both handhelds. They announce a DSi movie maker piece of software, and then announce Mario vs. DK 3: Minis March Again, for DSi, which will allow users to create levels from the ground up. It will be available for download next Monday, June 8. Next they announce WarioWare DIY (Do It Yourself), for DSi, which will focus on user-created content. Players can make their own microgame challenges and upload them via Wi-Fi connection. Why can't we get stuff like this for Wii?
Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks is playable on the show floor. Wish I was there right now! Ha ha!
Next up is Mr. Iwata, the Nintendo president. After some general discussion about the hobby and gaming audiences, and the challenges in satisfying both veteran players and new gaming fans, he revealed Wii Vitality Sensor, which is a new over-index finger add on that detects your pulse and heartrate. It can tell how nervous you are. They talk about it in terms of relaxation, but... this definitely has possibilities, especially when it comes to survival horror games. Imagine if a game can tell when you're scared and can somehow react to that. Might make for a very immersive Resident Evil or Silent Hill experience, don't you think?
They promise they have a little "stimulation" left to deliver. Another new Mario game is announced... Super Mario Galaxy 2 is officially unveiled, and it shows Mario riding Yoshi, carrying various objects, fighting a big walking robot, conversing with a little wooden block guy, rolling a snowball, and more. Excellent. Nice surprise.
Is that it? Doesn't look like it. They show some third party titles, exclusively for Wii: The Conduit (which has already been announced; look for a review on Bright Hub shortly after its release in three weeks); Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles from Capcom; and EA's Dead Space: Extraction. He teases a new, edgier franchise from Nintendo. Hmm... what could this be? Team Ninja and Nintendo teaming up for a new Metroid title? WOW! Entitled Metroid: Other M, this is a Ninja Gaiden style action title that looks to be heavy on both story and action. It's due out in 2010 according to the teaser. They promise it will go deeped into Samus's story and expand on the Metroid universe. Now that is a nice surprise.
Well, looks that that's all she wrote for the Nintendo press conference. So, what does everyone think? Are you happy with what was announced, or do you wish there was more? What was the biggest surprise? What do you think of their Wii lineup for the rest of 2009? Let us know what you think!