At the end of the press conference by Nintendo, executive vice president of Nintendo of America Cammie Dunaway returned to the stage to announce that the Wii will be the first Nintendo console to receive two full, new 3D Mario titles. With that, a video rolled which unveiled Super Mario Galaxy 2.
Like the first Super Mario Galaxy, Mario runs around small planetoids. Levels shown off include a snowfield, a ghost house and some levels in a garden. The bee suit from the first Super Mario Galaxy will also return.
Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime then returned and admitted to reading gamer blogs. In response to critics saying that there are no hardcore games for the Wii, he mentioned The Conduit, Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles and Dead Space: Extraction, all previously announced properties as Wii exclusives. "But what about Nintendo itself?" he asked rhetorically.
With that, a video began to play showing off the Project M collaboration between Team Ninja and Nintendo. After some pre-rendered videos of images in space and humans in military uniforms, the logo for Metroid: Other M popped on screen. A series of frenetic clips then played, showing Samus (or someone who looks like Samus) performing elaborate attacks against various giant aliens, including Ridley. More detail about Samus and the universe she lives in was also promised for Metroid: Other M. Fils-Aime ended the press conference by saying he hoped Nintendo can "provide something for everyone."
The audience reacted very positively to the Metroid: Other M announcement, and I'm sure many gamers did as well. The conclusion of the presser with a new Metroid game, along with Super Mario Galaxy 2, surely pleased many in Nintendo faithful and will help stave off criticisms from those who didn't like Wii Fit and Wii Music capping off Nintendo's E3 press-cons the past two years. There is no doubt in our minds that the games will do well, but their announcement does little to answer the cries of gamers who'd like to see an original IP from Nintendo aimed at the core audiences and those expecting a new Zelda title for Wii likely felt a bit of let down. [UPDATE: Miyamoto has revealed a new Zelda for Wii in a special roundtable session.] Plus, we remain openly skeptical about anything produced by the sundered Team Ninja until proven differently.
We'll be curious to see if the gamer population will think these moves by Nintendo are a good enough answer to the complaints about the Wii.
2 Comments
June 2, 2009
The new Metroid being voice-acted is very interesting. I wonder if this is a sign that Nintendo might consider voice-acting for their other silent protagonists (Link).
June 2, 2009
I was waiting for two things from Nintendo: first, some revival of old NES franchines (play the retro card!) and second, 3rd party aimed for hardcore fans. We did not get the first one and it's not with The Conduit - made by High Voltage Software, who did not made a new IP in the last 5 years - that my hardcore side will be satisfied. Sure, there's RedSteel... but that's all. I'm not interrested with Dead Space - we all know how spinoff are made... and I'm sorry, but Mario Galaxy is not hardcore.
My colleagues and I took some bets about Wii Music 2...