Nintendo's showing at this years mediocre E3 was easily the most talked up at the show for obvious reasons. The Wii was available behind an impressive and daunting 3 hour line. After getting past the security fans were greeted to a turntable display of the systems and Nintendo-rep players as they looped endlessly in front of their respective TVs. We were treated to the sight of the oft hailed but rarely seen Koji Kondo, the man behind Mario and Zelda's now household music. The 8-bit maestro was dressed head to toe in a leopard print ensemble and conducting a virtual orchestra using the Wii remote while other developers delivered cross court bombs in Wii Tennis and still another led Samus Aran through her paces with the Nunchuk addition. Further into their sanctum, 70 individual stations were available to show-goers and all were packed.
The system is impressive and very natural feeling. Most of the demos we played were tech demos designed specifically to show up the various system applications. A recreation of Duck Hunt had players aiming and firing reminiscent of the original Zapper (incidently, an add-on modification is planned to turn the remote into a gun). Another demo had players steadily twisting and maneuvering a chalk outline character through a dynamic obstacle course to collect coins and beat their opponent to the end. Tennis, baseball and even ping pong were on hand from first party development, but most of the crowd hovered around titles like ExciteTruck, Madden07, WarioWare Smooth Moves and Zelda: Twilight Princess. Sadly, the crowds were stifling and Nintendo considered some people more important than others. My 3 hour wait was spurned because a 'VIP' had been waiting 5 minutes and I had to give up my control before my demo ended.
That ridiculousness aside, we also got a look at the Virtual Console. Yet another attachment that combines the SNES and N64 controllers allows gamers to take a trip back in time for an impressive retro-emulation. The original Super Mario Bros. played beautifuly, as did Super Mario World.
Still no prices have been announced, but rumors are persistant that they base system will sell for less than either Microsoft's or Sony's next gen systems. The message is clear: Nintendo isn't competing with the other big two. They are offering a unique game platform with unique games and they've built up enough intrigue in the industry to quite possibly take back a part of their former game glory. I say, welcome back Nintendo.
