Nintendo's E3 showing--and beyond

[Aesthetic Monk]

I haven't followed absolutely every in-and-out of Nintendo's E3 presence, but the summaries I've read so far today suggest that Nintendo had a pretty good if not absolutely brilliant press conference today (5/9). The best news seems to be that there'll be a good lot of games either at the Wii's launch or within a few months thereof, though one can expect the normal number of delays. The most perplexing aspect for me was Nintendo's lack of a final price point or launch date. Those are of course coming, and I personally don't have any worries that the price is going to be too high (for me), but I think the conference could've gone over better with a killer price, especially coming on the heels of Sony's $500/$600 price points announcement.

(The biggest news of all, if only for me, may have been that my nongaming wife, after reading Time's write-up on the Wii, said, "I want one ... kinda." Well played, Nintendo, well played. Now we just have to work on the broadband thing.)

So ... what, if anything, has got people excited for this console? For me, Zelda and Super Mario Galaxy are at the top, and I'm also interested in how Super Monkey Ball will play with the new controller. Red Steel looks good, and this controller would seem tailor-made for FPSs if it's precise enough. Even the rather barebones tennis game looked fun--Nintendo could do worse than to pack WiiSports in with the console, I'd say.

 

[Alzrius]

I'm loving the Virtual Console, myself. The fact that it'll have even games from the Genesis and Turbo Grafix-16, and the suggestion that it could used to sell games from indie game designers...it's just got so much potential, all as an added bonus for what Wii can do.

 

[trancejeremy]

I've found this (and a lot of the e3 stuff) to be depressing, because it seems all the consoles, including the Wii are really pushing the online aspect. Which unfortunately is impossible for me, since I can't get broadband in my area (other than Sat, which is insanely expensive and laggy)

 

[Arnwyn]

The Wii should be interesting. I've heard commentary noting the exact opposite (that Nintendo's press conference was simply "full of missed opportunities"), but the announcements have caught my eye.

Noteable games (for me):
- Dragon Quest
- Super Mario Galaxy
- Metroid Prime 3

I'm just sticking with the GCN version of Zelda, though. I don't care about fishing with the Wii-mote.

(And yeah - that whole over-emphasis on "online" blows... and has been proven to be less than popular, as even the supposedly-lauded Xbox Live can barely get 10% of it's user base online... and those that are on often complain about the poor overall experience - there's a reason why X-Play runs a continuing joke feature called "It Came From XBox Live". What a bunch of freaks who hang out on Live. But whatever. As long as it remains a 'bonus' and isn't integral to the game, I'm fine with it.)

 

[Zappo]

I find Nintendo's bet that they'll be able to find new markets and appeal to a new segment of the population by making a cheap and innovative console to be very interesting. I really hope they succeed!

 

[Aesthetic Monk]

(And yeah - that whole over-emphasis on "online" blows... and has been proven to be less than popular, as even the supposedly-lauded Xbox Live can barely get 10% of it's user base online... and those that are on often complain about the poor overall experience - there's a reason why X-Play runs a continuing joke feature called "It Came From XBox Live". What a bunch of freaks who hang out on Live. But whatever. As long as it remains a 'bonus' and isn't integral to the game, I'm fine with it.)

Considering how reluctant Nintendo was to get into the online fray, I wonder how well it'll come out. I don't have a DS, but I gather that that service has been at least OK. I'm no network expert, but I'd imagine that Virtual Console downloads would be relatively simple compared to having full-fleged multiplayer environments.

Anyway, the whole "(do) we need broadband" discussion continues to go on at my house, so online functionality may be a moot point for me, too.

 

[Bront]

Well, When Zelda comes out, I'll make my choice then, probably mostly depending on my budget at the time. However, the Wii looks intriging. It is supposed to be GC compatable, right?

 

[John Crichton]

The E3 showing did nothing for me to sway me either way about the Wii. I was buying one before and I still am. Maybe not at launch and probably when the big titles hit.

What I want to know: How much will it cost me and when exactly is it coming out? I know it will out in time for the holidays but I'm going to be spending a small fortune on the PS3 so it will have to be priced pretty low for me to pick one up at launch. Any more than $200 and I'll be waiting for a price drop not to mention that they'd be insane. Low pricing and good availability could net the Big N a huge holiday season. Um, not that I care as long as the games rock.

 

[Bront]

I'd guess about $250-300 as the pricerange John. That's still $100-200 less than the other two.

 

[John Crichton]

I'd guess about $250-300 as the pricerange John. That's still $100-200 less than the other two.

$300 is too much. Doesn't offer any advanced video or audio options nor do the graphics compare to the newer systems. Plus, the 3rd party support is suspect at best. The controller isn't going to make a lick of difference if it's almost the same price as a 360. That said, the game line-up could change that quickly if the Wii launches with a killer Mario game and the new Zelda. And still, I wouldn't buy it for more than $200, especially considering that the Zelda game will be out for the GC.

They need to undercut Sony and MS by a significant amount to be serious with their new system. You can get a neutered 360 for $300. I guess I'm just worried that the Wii will continue the Nintendo trend of bad 3rd party support and will only get 2 games a year that are must-haves (and are made in-house).