They are part propaganda mill, part “wow”, part illusion and part circus. I’m of course talking about the large, glitzy press briefings the console manufacturers hold just before E3 each year.
Nintendo’s was no different. Held at the Hollywood and Highland Complex next to Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood, Nintendo put on a multimedia extravaganza that, if one were uninitiated, would have you thinking they were the top console on the market and the leader in handhelds. Of course Nintendo is the current undisputed leader in handhelds but their GameCube console trails both Sony and Microsoft in number of consoles sold. Even on the handheld front, Nintendo faces a new challenge from Sony’s PSP unit. But Nintendo is not sitting still and waiting for the Sony PSP to assail its Game Boy bastion and it has not given up the console fight.
The briefing kicked off with some truly impressive footage from GameCube-exclusive titles: Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, Starfox and Resident Evil 4. These were games clearly designed with the hardcore gamer in mind.
After showing these very hardcore gamer titles, it was a little surprising to hear Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of sales and marketing, say that Nintendo is not just being run for the hardcore gamer. He explained that the current generation of gaming hardware is on the back half of its life cycle. This means mass market gamer must be addressed as Nintendo manages the remaining life of the GameCube. While this may be true, the game quality and gritty feel of the aforementioned titles do indicate that Nintendo will not be abandoning all the work it has done in this generation to show that they are more than just a kid’s system.
Mr. Fils-Aime next addressed the booming Game Boy business. Nintendo has ruled the handheld category now for 15 years. They have fought off no less than six upstart rivals that in many cases had superior technology. Mr. Fils-Aime of course had great news on the Game Boy Advance front: by the time Sony can release its PSP handheld in spring 2005, GBA is on track to have sold 25 million units. That’s a rather commanding lead. To further enhance the GBA, a wireless adapter that allows gamers to play together without cables will be introduced. 2004 will also see the introduction of video on cartridges so GBA owners can watch Pokémon and SpongeBob SquarePants cartoon episodes. Nintendo says up to four episodes of each cartoon can be stored on the cartridges which are set to retail for $19.99 each.
Okay, I know you’ve been waiting patiently for it. The Nintendo DS was there. Nintendo says the “DS” actually stands for “Developers’ System” because it offers so much new for developers. (See, I told you … part propaganda mill.) It is true that the system features are impressive and Nintendo has a slew of developers lined up. The features include the dual screens, each of which is independently programmable to display 2D or 3D graphics; a touch screen on the lower screen; a microphone for voice recognition and online chat; wireless gaming, either local wireless networking of 16 players up to 100 feet away or Wi-Fi compatibility; wireless game sharing, only one player need have the game for two or more to play; two processors, an ARM9 and an AM7; and GBA compatibility. Nintendo also revealed that Nintendo DS is only the working name for the system and it will be released with a new name before the end of the year. No price was announced, but some industry analysts have opined that about $150 is the likely price.
As the event wound down, Satoru Iwata, president of Nintendo, took the stage to talk about Nintendo’s history of innovation in video gaming and the future of the company. He mentioned Nintendo being the first company to put an analog joystick on a video game console (sorry, but GCE’s Vectrex and the Atari 5200 were out in 1982 with analog joysticks), the first game system with four controller ports (sorry again, Bally’s Professional Arcade console in 1978 had four), and the Rumble Pak for controller feedback (he’s got me there, they were the first as far as I know). He made it fairly clear that Nintendo will be participating in the next-generation of console and that “Nintendo’s Revolution” would take games to a new level. So put those no-next-gen-console-from-Nintendo rumors to bed right now.
The briefing ended with a short trailer of a 2005 release Zelda game that showed a quite adult Link (Windwaker was good … but those graphics!) and the obligatory appearance of Nintendo’s top game mage, Shigeru Miyamoto.
Nintendo made a lot of promises at their pre-E3 press briefing. A tour of the Nintendo booth at E3 and a little hands-on time with the Nintendo DS demos showed they mean to deliver. I have to admit, I had a lot of fun with the DS and it is definitely on my Christmas list. Many of the games also look outstanding and will probably be must-buys for GameCube and GBA fans... but only time will tell.
