E3 2010 Nintendo Press Conference Report

Written by John Scalzo  on June 15, 2010

Special: Nintendo proves once again that E3 is their playground.

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Nintendo's E3 Press Conference took place at noon today and The Big N used it to showcase a bevy of new stuff and most of the games they just mentioned by name during last year's E3, including the opener, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.

Coming to the Wii in 2011, Skyward Sword will use the Nunchuk, Wii Remote and Wii MotionPlus to control Link's sword and shield. The game will use a realistic Link similar to the one found in Twilight Princess, but with cel-shaded touches. The "Skyward Sword" part of the title comes from Link's ability to raise his sword towards the sun and charge it with solar energy. Then, like in the original Legend of Zelda, he can throw powered bolts at enemies.

Another 2011 title is Mario Sports Mix. The game will include volleyball, hockey, basketball and dodge ball with a familiar Mario sports twist.



Next up was another minigame collection, this Fall's Wii Party. Already announced for Japan (and releasing over there in the next few weeks), Wii Party will offer plenty of party games. As will Ubisoft's dance simulator Just Dance, which got a sequel in the newly announced Just Dance 2.

Moving over to the DS for a second, Nintendo revealed the first footage of Golden Sun DS, now known as . It's coming this Fall.

Another big return coming this Fall is a GoldenEye 007 remake for the Wii. Yes, the rumors are true and Bond will suit up for a return engagement with 006 (although it'll be Daniel Craig saying "For England" this time) and six other Bond characters in the game's classic multiplayer mode very soon.

Epic Mickey got a showcase during Nintendo's show as the Warren Specter-developed game is coming along nicely and will bring Mickey's 80 year of history exclusively to the Wii this Fall. Other previously announced games included a short look at Dragon Quest IX (out July 11) and another short look at Metroid: Other M (out August 31).

One of the biggest surprises had to be Kirby's Epic Yarn, a Wii platformer that uses the stitching theme to give Kirby a new look. A new console Kirby game has been talked about since the waning days of the GameCube, so it's great to see the little pink puffball again. Even if his latest makeover was made popular by Sackboy and LittleBigPlanet a few years ago.

Another rumored return included the word "return" in the title as Retro Studios revealed Donkey Kong Country Returns, a 2D platformer (with mine cart levels, oh yes!) that brings the DKC series to the Wii this Fall. Retro said they weren't working on Metroid and this is about as far from Metroid as you can get.

The 3DS handheld was also shown off with the promise that the final name for the system will be the 3DS. I guess the Game Boy name is gone for good. The 3DS will have two screens, a larger widescreen one on the top and a smaller touchscreen on the bottom. It will also include an analog stick, a control pad, four face buttons and shoulder buttons. Basically a DS with an analog stick and built-in 3D graphics capabilities (the depth on these is controlled by a slider). Naturally, it will also include better graphics.

Other announced features of the 3DS include the ability to take 3D pictures and the ability to play back 3D movies like the recent How to Train Your Dragon. All this is done without 3D glasses by the way.

But what about the games? Well, how about Kid Icarus Uprising? A game designed from the ground up for the 3DS with GameCube/Wii-level graphics by Project Sora, a Nintendo team created to work exclusively on 3DS games. Nintendo's other 3DS game followed a similar "everyone" approach that the company has used with the DS. Say hello to Nintendogs + Cats.

A boatload of third party games were also announced, which reads like a who's who of the biggest PS3/Xbox 360 franchises:

Assassin's Creed: Lost Legacy

Chocobo Racing 3D

Dead or Alive 3D

DJ Hero 3D

FIFA Soccer

Final Fantasy

Kingdom Hearts 3D (just a demo for now)

Madden NFL

Metal Gear Solid

Ninja Gaiden

Professor Layton and the Mask of the Miracle

Resident Evil Revelations

Ridge Racer

Saints Row

Samurai Warriors 3D

Super Street Figher IV: 3D Edition

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory

Untitled AQ Interactive Game

Untitled Atlus Game

Untitled Harmonix Game

Untitled Hudson Game

Untitled Marvelous Game

Untitled Rocket Game

Untitled Sega Game

Untitled Take-Two Game

Untitled Takara Tomy Game

Untitled WB Games Game

And that was that. While this massive information dump of some of the biggest developers and publishers in the world is amazing, I was still holding out hope for a release window (I'd say 2010 is officially out now) or a price (beyond vague executive speak like "affordable").