Red Steel 2 Officially Confirmed for Wii

Although Red Steel 2 has been rumored for a very long time, the executive director decided to release some information on it today. They admitted that the first game may have been rushed a bit, but now with the new Wii Motion Plus attachment they will be able to make the game how it always should have been. There’s a chance that they just might get it right this time. The director also said the game might not be a Wii exclusive, but he is only confirming it on the Wii for now saying that it has been in development for a couple months.

New Wii Channel Released in Japan

The new Channel is a photo printing channel, but you won’t be printing your pictures with your own printer. The user will basically select different photos on the Wii and, for varied small fees, the user can send the photos to Nintendo and receive professionally made photo albums, business cards and more. The business card system sounds pretty detailed so far, and you could even create a card with your Mii picture and friend code just for the fun of it. With all of these new channels being released, hopefully Nintendo will make plans for a hard drive solution in the near future. With no hard drive, many people wont even be able to fit new channels like this on their Wii. Nintendo has world-wide plans for this new channel, so expect it to be released some time soon.

E3 2008 Nintendo Conference Summary

For those of you who missed the conference, we’ll cover all of the biggest highlights for today’s show.

One of the biggest highlights of the conference was the announcement of “Animal Crossing: City Folk”, where Nintendo is going to make full use of the Wii internet service from visiting towns to sending mail. Most notably, a new accessory called “Wiispeak” will be utilized in Animal Crossing, allowing players to voice chat with each other. This time the game allows for multiple friends to enter your town, which will add a lot more replay value. The game also features a brand new city that you can visit where all the shops are located plus much more. Other than that it looks like the same Animal Crossing we all know, but there should be more new details to come. The game is set for a release in American by the end of 2008.

Another highlight was the next installment of Wii Sports called “Wii Sports: Resort”. It features many different “summer” games and will utilize the MotionPlus add-on for pin point motion sensing. Three of the games were featured today including frisbee, waveracing, and swordfighting as demonstrated by the “Regginator”.

Nintendo ended the show by showing off another installment to the Wii series called “Wii Music”. This game features a variety of different instruments that allow players that can’t play instruments in real life to get the experience with ease. Of course this was all demonstrated through Miyamoto playing the saxophone with the Wii remote. Wii Music will have many different modes including a multiplayer band mode. Unlike Rock band, this game will not use extra accessory instruments, just the nun chuck and wiimote (Wii balance board can be used as an option for the bass drum pedals if the player chooses).

The conference is over, but Nintendo is revealing many other new games in the show rooms as we speak. This will all be summed up later on. The conference was not as full of many new and quality games as most had hoped, so hopefully something will at least be unveiled for the core fans by the end of this week. Reggie did sneak a couple hints in the conference of franchise games in development, but no news yet on what those were.

Nintendo Introduces Wii MotionPlus at E3

Below is what Nintendo has said so far, and they will be releasing more information on Tuesday. This new accessory will probably prove most useful in games involving sword combat or certain sports. Nintendo should have had this be part of the original remote, but either way this is still good news because it’s better late then never.

“Nintendo’s upcoming Wii™ MotionPlus accessory for the revolutionary Wii Remote™ controller again redefines game control, by more quickly and accurately reflecting motions in a 3-D space. The Wii MotionPlus accessory attaches to the end of the Wii Remote and, combined with the accelerometer and the sensor bar, allows for more comprehensive tracking of a player’s arm position and orientation, providing players with an unmatched level of precision and immersion. Every slight movement players make with their wrist or arm is rendered identically in real time on the screen, providing a true 1:1 response in their game play. The Wii MotionPlus accessory reconfirms Nintendo’s commitment to making games intuitive and accessible for everyone. Nintendo will reveal more details about the Wii MotionPlus accessory and other topics Tuesday morning at its E3 media briefing.”

Nintendo E3 Predictions - Day Five

This is day five of the predictions! Each game will be given a percentage based off of much information so an educated prediction can be made (Although nothing is ever fully predictable with Nintendo).  For any of the more probable predictions, keep in mind that if they are not announced at E3, they will most likely be announced at another gaming conference soon after. We’ll make sure to cover the chances of all the major franchises like Mario, Zelda, Pikmin, Animal Crossing and so on…..and maybe even certain games like Kid Icarus will be covered. Feel free to leave comments stating your own predictions as well!

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The Animal Crossing Series: Wii- 95%  DS- 1%

Most people have been anticipating the unveiling of Animal Crossing Wii at E3, and there are certainly many reasons for this high anticipation. Similar to Kirby, Animal Crossing has quietly been announced for a 2008 Japan release cited in Nintendo’s recent financial results statement. The official Nintendo magazine for the UK has also recently hinted the game in its E3 2008 section saying, “It’s been a while! It’s time to revisit an old friend. How’s your village doing these days?”. Note that not all magazines are to trust, but it’s an interesting hint at the game either way. There’s been lots of game development talk and it sounds like the game has enough gameplay ready to show off by now. I’d give the game 100%, but there is always that small chance that it will show at a later conference this year. The real question about this game is where Nintendo is planning on taking the game in respect to online play, and hopefully all of those questions will be answered very soon.

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The List of Predictions to Date

Starfox Series: Wii- 65% DS- 5%

Kirby Series: Wii- 80% DS- 99%

Zelda Series: Wii- 40%  DS- 1%

Pikmin Series: Wii- 5%  DS- 1%

Animal Crossing Series: Wii- 95%  DS- 1%

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