E3 2012: Nintendo Press Conference

The Nintendo E3 Event focused mostly on Wii U games. Nintendo will hold another event tonight to focus upon upcoming 3DS software. In the mean time, be sure to check out these videos:

For those of you who missed the introduction of the new and improved Wii U Gamepad, check out this video:

Up first, is the highly anticipated Pikmin 3. Due out around launch, Pikmin 3 has several different control options for you. The Wii U Gamepad gives you a detailed map of the area and you can use Wiimote Plus and Nunchuck for precise control and aiming. If you wish to just use the Gamepad, you can. A new Pikmin was introduced to us as well, Rock Pikmin. This new Pikmin is used to help break barricades. Last but not least, is a new multiplayer mode for up to 4 players. This is highly co-operative requiring teamwork to beat the game.

The Wii U may not be able to play DVDs, it will have plenty of other entertainment options at its disposal. Hulu, Netflix, Youtube, Amazon Video were all announced today to be coming Wii U later this year. Another question about the game was how many Gamepads it would support. It’s officially been announced that the Wii U will support two Gamepads. Of course don’t forget the system can support up to 4 additional Wii U Pro Controllers as well.

Although we saw a glimpse of it the other night, New Super Mario Bros. U finally has been unveiled to the public. The game is quite different from the Wii version as well as the upcoming 3DS version. For one thing, the game is very gorgeous in HD now; this includes the nicely detailed 3D background. New to the game is the new power up, the flying squirrel, and baby Yoshi’s. Last but not least is integration of Miiverse in the game, allowing for interactivity between you and your friends.

Although it was released last year, Batman Arkham City: Armored Edition is coming to the Wii U this holiday season. The game is an updated version with some new content and play abilities. Both Armored Batman and Armored Cat Woman are in this version of the game. This new mode allows you to store energy and then release it as powerful attacks.

Scribblenauts is back for the Wii U with a whole new game, Scribblenauts Unlimited. This allows you to create and share your own creations with others.

Nintendo also has the following Wii U games coming later this year: Darksiders II, Mass Effect 3, Tank Tank Tank, Tekken: Tag Tournament 2, Ninja Gaiden 3, Trine 2: Directors Cut, Aliens Colonial: Marines and more.

It should be noted that Trine 2: Directors Cut is a downloadable game at launch which automatically includes the already released extension for the game. It is also going to come out with its own unique DLC.

With Wii Fit brand selling just over 43 million copies, you can expect a new Wii U version to be announced. And announced it did, with Wii Fit U. This new version will use the already existing balance board and the new Gamepad for interesting fun ways to work out and burn calories. One of the new things is an activity counter that will allow you to take with you when you run. You can then later hook the tacker with the Gamepad to update your data.

Nintendo will also be publishing a new karaoke game for their new system called Sing.

Not to let the Wii U steal all the glory, three Nintendo 3DS games got a short spotlight: New Super Mario Bros 2, Paper Mario: Sticker Star, and Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon. Don’t forget to check back tomorrow for more details on upcoming 3DS games.

Announced at last year’s E3, comes Lego City: Undercover for the Wii U – An exclusive brand new open world Lego game. The main idea is that you use your Gamepad to help you track down criminals and solve crime. The game looks to be a lot of fun and has a good amount of humor to it.

Ubisoft is usually one the first and top publishers for any new hardware to be releases. And this time they are coming full force with eight different games. This includes: Assassin’s creed 3, Just Dance 4, ZombiU, Rayman Legends and more.


The concept of ZombiU could just be a system seller for the Wii U. What the game is, is a zombie apocalypse game set in London 2012. What sets this apart from other survival horror games is the very unique death system. Whenever your character dies, you are re-spawned as a new survivor in the game. This allows for some interesting gameplay including the ability to track down and kill your former infected self.

Last is the introduction of Nintendo Land. This is a mini-game like experience from each of Nintendo’s main IPs such as Zelda and Animal Crossing. Each of the 12 areas are suppose to give you interesting ways to fully experience the new Gamepad.

In Conclusion: In the end, I give this conference a C+. If it wasn’t for such a strong showing from Ubisoft I would of given this conference a D. A lot of different Wii U games were shown, some of which look very promising. The only main issue for me was the lack of 3rd party. We are getting some interesting choices, but some of which are old ports like Mass Effect 3 and Batman: Arkham City. Another issue with 3rd party is lack of initial support from some publishers like Activision and no sport games from EA. Now it may be too early to count those publishers out. Another main issue for me was no real surprises. Most of these games were known about beforehand. The only real Nintendo game to be shown off without being known beforehand was Nintendo Land.

So what do you all think? Do you think the Wii U has a chance? Or might it fumble out of the gate?

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