Nintendo E3 Conference Recap

Nintendo’s conference was a little over an hour and focused on Wii U games – most of which were ports of already-released or upcoming 360/PS3 games, or expanded audience titles. Here’s a recap of everything Nintendo had to offer:

• Shigeru Miyamoto kicked things off by officially unveiling Pikmin 3. He showed off some gameplay footage of how the Wii U GamePad works in conjunction with the Wii Remote Plus and Nunchuk to offer better views for strategizing. He also showed us the Rock Pikmin, which can be used to break down things. Full story.
• Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Video, and YouTube will all be available for Wii U.
• Wii U will support two GamePad controllers.
• The GamePad has a touchscreen usable with finger or stylus, analog sticks with buttons underneath, ZL/ZR triggers, infrared transciever, accelerometer, gyroscope, rumble, camera and mic, stereo speakers, headphone jack, and volume control for internal and TV speakers.
• More details on Miiverse, including speech bubbles which can be used to share simple text messages, hand drawings (similar to SwapNote for 3DS), screenshots, or recent activity/scores. Miis gather around home screen tiles representing personal taste as well as entertainment trends.
• Eventually you’ll be able to access Miiverse from 3DS, PC, and mobile devices, but not at launch.
• New Super Mario Bros. U integrates with Miiverse features with a real-time social window during gameplay. The game features Boost Mode, in which four players can use Wiimotes while a fifth player can use the GamePad to spawn platforms for the other four.
• Martin Tremblay showed off Batman: Arkham City – Armored Edition. A major new feature is BAT Mode – Batman’s suit collects kinetic energy, and you can use the touchscreen to release the energy and power up Batman. Other things such as the remote control Batarang have been tailored for Wii U. Full story.
• Scribblenauts Unlimited will be released for Wii U. Includes HD visuals and multiplayer with two Wii U GamePads. Full story.
• Other third-party games coming to Wii U include Darksiders II, Mass Effect 3, Tank! Tank! Tank!, Tekken Tag Tournament 2, Trine 2: Director’s Cut, Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge, and Aliens: Colonial Marines.
• Wii Fit U unveiled. Uses Balance Board plus GamePad for exercises and minigames. There is a pedometer called the Fit Meter which can link to the GamePad.
• SiNG allows you to sing and dance to popular songs with the lyrics displayed on the GamePad.
• There will be an event to showcase 3DS games tomorrow night (June 6) at 6PM Pacific time. It will be streamed on Nintendo’s E3 site.
• New Super Mario Bros. 2 has a gold theme: gold coins, gold enemies, and gold Mario. Coming August 19 to 3DS. Full story.
• Paper Mario: Sticker Star features stickers that can be pulled off the scenery and used as battle commands. They can also unlock new items and areas. It will get both retail and digital release on 3DS this holiday. Full story.
• Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon has multiple mansions, each with its own mission-based challenges. There are also new ghosts with varied capture strategies. Coming this holiday to 3DS. Full story.
• Many third party games will be shown off at tomorrow’s event, including Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate, Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion, Scribblenauts Unlimited, and Kingdom Hearts 3D.
• A trailer was shown for Lego City: Undercover as well as an announcement of a 3DS game.
• Just Dance 4 coming from Ubisoft. Player with GamePad is puppetmaster of other dancers.
• A trailer for ZombiU was shown, showcasing the different gameplay modes.
• Ubisoft’s Wii U lineup also includes Assassin’s Creed 3, Rabbids Land, Your Shape Fitness Evolved 2013, Rayman Legends, Sports Connection, and Avengers: Battle for Earth. Full story.
• Nintendo’s Wii Sports-like title for Wii U will be Nintendo Land, a theme park with areas based on Nintendo franchises. Full story.
• There are 12 different attractions, each one featuring a tech demo minigame based on Nintendo properties such as Zelda, Animal Crossing, and even Takamaru.
• The game shown off during the conference is “Luigi’s Ghost Mansion”. Four players with Wiimotes serve as Luigis, while the person with the GamePad is the ghost. The other four players cannot see the ghost but the Wiimotes vibrate when he is near. The object is to either defeat the ghost or make all four Luigis faint.
• Nintendo Land launches alongside Wii U this holiday.