I still can't believe they're sticking to the Wii brand. Can't say it's better than some of the best names in our guessing game threads, but it's not really bottom-barrel material either. I also didn't expect Nintendo to make the screen the central mechanic, given than Sony is also delivering connectivity between games and portables that can be taken with them. I'm honestly waiting for that something new we haven't been told yet, but that may never come.
The system itself still feels very early in development, but the announcement of Smash Bros. (For Wii U AND 3DS!) and all the 3rd-party announcements/developers are a step in the right direction. Seeing it now, though, I wish the press didn't twist their arm (you can tell they were forced into it) and I was shown this a year later so I don't have to wait for the substantial content from Nintendo. Their demo video felt rough (better than Wii, no doubt), and the system may have more visual potential than we're being shown. Headlining with a Lego game also doesn't help their case too much. It feels like what happened with Pac-Man Vs. in 2003. Beside a promised Smash Bros. like in 2005, this system has no killer app yet. If they also get some kind of hot 3rd-party exclusivity, that would go a long way.
I was still REALLY surprised we didn't see anything about Pikmin 3, but I was pleased to see we're actually getting a full sequel to Luigi's Mansion. It's nice that we're seeing the first steps of voice chat on the 3DS and Wii U, and I hope it's actually incorporated into games.
THEY DIDN'T EVEN TALK ABOUT THEIR ONLINE STRATEGY! They didn't mention an abolition of friend codes or the general interface. I hope Nintendo covers this in their after-conference announcements over the next couple of evenings. I also hope for plenty of killer 3rd-Party announcements for 3DS (Professor Layton vs. Ace Attorney) and some localization love for Wii.
As a musician I was ecstatic during the Zelda Anniversary segment. ^_^ Certainly not like the Mario anniversary.
Overall, the show did raise more questions than it actually answered, and it was shortchanged in comparison to the seemingly endless stream of announcements of last year. It's nowhere near the best of their shows, but 2008 is still the worst show by a longshot. People were betting on the wrong horse expecting this year to be the knock-out one, because that'll probably happen next year. Meanwhile, Sony may have taken the show this year because they entered with guns a-blazing.
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