E3 is always such a crowded, messy in-take of information. Among the main presentations, companies are also releasing little bits of information in other places online. It's difficult to keep up with everything! Nintendo had a great presentation though, so why don't we focus on that?
I thought it was pretty strong, they hit a lot of important marks! There was plenty of information on the Wii U, as well as exciting new titles for both the in-depth gamer and the casual ones. It's difficult to attempt to keep up with the expectations of the crowds, but they did it. The lack of information about the 3DS would have been more upsetting were they not doing a dedicated presentation tonight at six pm.
Let's look at the 3DS aspect of the presentation.
In the ten minutes given, audiences were shown New Super Mario Bros. 2, Paper Mario: Sticker Star, Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, Disney Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion, and more. Nintendo is rolling out the punches to create a stellar line of games, and they are really catering to the needs of 3DS gamers. It's particularly exciting that, after all these years, the Mickey "Illusion" series is getting a re-boot. Even though Epic Mickey for the Wii didn't do particularly well, we can thank its presence for this coming 3DS title!
Two side notes: the 'Sticker Star' subtitle for Paper Mario feels very cheap to me. It provides no real insight as to the game's story (like 'The Thousand Year Door' subtitle did for the Gamecube version), and instead is a call-to-attention of the series's newest feature: collecting and using stickers for battle. It certainly looks interesting, and I'm glad that for the 3DS version the turn-based battle is making a comeback, but only time will tell if the stickers are a gimmick or a beneficial battle system.
We were given a few demonstrations of the Wii U's capabilities, including a fairly comprehensive video of the newly redesigned controller. Unfortunately, Nintendo's presentation didn't eliminate all existing doubt; the controller simply seems too bulky. In every demonstration video it seemed that the players had to reach uncomfortably to access the touch screen with their thumbs. This doesn't seem all that different from the way people handle tablet devices, and the issue is that maneuvering tablets can be uncomfortable. How long will it be until hand fatigue sets in during attempted lengthy gaming sessions?
Considering the array of involving, mature rated titles that are slated for Wii U release I can see hand cramping or Wii U gamepad weight becoming an issue. Hopefully these concerns end up non-existent, because it would sure be frustrating to have to stop mid-Assassin's Creed or Batman adventure! Or, worse than that, what if a hand cramp sets in and spasms start in the middle of playing ZombiU? There would be many angry zombified gamers out there.
Some final thoughts on the presentation: NintendoLand looks like the perfect way to get new Wii U owners comfortable and acquainted with the Wii U's capabilities and controls. Whether or not it will be available on the system at launch remains to be seen. The system's ability to transfer the gaming action to the Wii U gamepad is a great feature, which must mean the screen is pretty stellar, and it's something that I wish had existed on previous consoles. I can't count how many times I've been kicked off a TV so that someone could watch football. Pah.
What's your favorite E3 announcement so far?
-MJ
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