Not-so-live Blogging Nintendo's E3 Conference

It's E3 once again and today was Nintendo's turn in the spotlight. I was going to take the massively original step of giving my impressions on Twitter as the inevitable train wreck unfolded. I ended up missing it when it was on live, but luckily for you, I opened up a Notepad window and jotted down my impressions as I watched it two hours later. Will we find out more about Cammie's son, will Ravi Drums return and most importantly, will Nintendo be bringing any smiles to this gamer's face. If you want to follow along, you can watch the conference here.

Let the madness begin...

• 10:03:11AM And we're off. Look at how happy all those fake gamers look.

• 10:03:49 Holy crap, might want to tone down the crazy flashing animations guys. I wouldn't want to have epilepsy right now.

• 10:04:20 "Everyone's Game". Oh goody, lots of casual shovelware to look forward to, I suppose.

• 10:04:28 Cammie! The stage is engulfed in what can only be described as "Gamecube purple". So sick of that colour from back in the day. I wonder if there are more Wiimakes on the way.
  

• 10:05:17 Sales data incoming.

• 10:06:00 Oh! Everyone's game. As in everyone is up for gaming. That's sort of clever.
  

• 10:06:42 "A grin or a shout buried in the middle of a level." What?

• 10:07:07 Mario reveal on the way. A little retrospective of Mario games begins.

• 10:07:29 Super Mario World. Fuck yeah!

• 10:08:04 Mario in the fourth dimension? Mario on PS3 confirmed!

• 10:08:30 New Super Mario Bros. for Wii. Excite!!!

• 10:09:24 So, Mario Four Swords then. I like how the Treehouse guys have shirts to match their characters.

More after the jump.

• 10:09:33 The game is under way. Cammie dies immediately.

• 10:11:08 A new power up, the propeller suit. Shake the Wiimote to fly. Kind of like the spin move from Galaxy.

• 10:14:24 Holiday 2009 for SMBW. Looks like it's a retail release.

• 10:13:41 Wii Fit. ZZzzzzzzzzzzz

• 10:14:11 The balance board is a platform of its own now. Take that PS3!

• 10:15:12 Yep, Wii Fit Plus. Soccer moms everywhere go wild.

• 10:16:05 A hilariously lame Wii promotional photo. An Asian girl on the board with a white mom and black dad cheering her on. I guess she's adopted.
  

• 10:16:23 Swing your hips to combine numbers. Where do I preorder?

• 10:16:30 "Brain Age for your backside".
  

• 10:17:00 Platforming mini game looks kind of cool though.

• 10:17:37 A lame Wii montage. More actors and old games. I nearly had a heart attack on seeing Fox, before realising it was just footage from Brawl.
  

• 10:17:46 Reggie is here. It can be chartz time now?

• 10:19:02 Wii Motion Plus info incoming. Where are my chartz?!

• 10:19:56 Off the couch? Speak for yourself.

• 10:20:51 An overly elaborate and totally unimpressive Motion Plus trailer.

• 10:21:58 Looks like it's actually a trailer for Wii Sports Resort. Meh.

• 10:22:56 "On video you can do almost anything." Stealth trolling Milo?

• 10:23:59 Jumping out of an airplane. I guess Pilotwings is history then. :(

• 10:24:31 Not too impressed to far. Ghost from the Matrix seems to skydiving too.

• 10:25:39 Archery. Gotta remember to put on that Wiimote strap kids.

• 10:25:58 Suddenly, I'm getting flashbacks of E3 '06. Didn't one guy try to con the audience into thinking that Twilight Princess had motion controlled archery?
  

• 10:25:05 Feels good man.

• 10:26:52 So far, the Wiimote looks pretty responsive with Motion Plus. Pulling back the nunchuck seems to be a bit fiddly.
  

• 10:27:48 He wants to be punished by Reggie. Who doesn't?

• 10:28:08 Lots of trash talking.

• 10:30:03 It's neck and neck.

• 10:30:26 Did Bill let Reggie win? I feel cheated.

• 10:30:51 More Motion Plus games. Tiger Woods first.

• 10:01:40 Now you can fail as much in games as you do in life. Buy now!

• 10:32:04 Red Steel 2

• 10:32:14 ...logo. Exciting.

• 10:33:14 Crystal Bearers. Didn't expect to see that here.

• 10:33:30 A slightly different edit of the E3 trailer.

• 10:34:20 Kingdom Hearts 385/2 Days trailer. Where's my megaton Reggie?

• 10:35:25 Mario & Luigi 3 subtitled "Bowser's Inside Story". What?

• 10:53:21 The game takes place inside Bowser. Looks interesting.

• 10:37:10 "One more piece of important news". Colour me intrigued.

• 10:37:34 Golden Sun DS. Never played any of those game before. Should I be excited?

• 10:38:23 Great. Cammie's back.

• 10:39:49 Rocking screenshots from side to side makes them much more exciting.

• 10:40:40 COP: The Recruit. Is this the GTA rival IGN were talking about?

• 10:41:19 Looks like it. Very promising looking.

• 10:42:53 Style Savy. More DS shovelware.

• 10:43:40 More insane flashing graphics.

• 10:44:30 Everyone loves the DSi.

• 10:45:35 Can't get enough of those awesome promotional shots.

• 10:47:30 Mario Vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again. DSiWare with user created levels. Could be cool. Still nothing on DSiWare that would prompt me to pick up one though.
  

• 10:49:06 Facebook integration. Everyone's doing it.

• 10:49:42 I'm dying of boredom here. I'd welcome James Cameron at this point.

• 10:50:09 Choo! Choo! Spirit Tracks time. Cammie's Played it. I'm sceptical.

• 10:50:17 That's it? A bit of artwork from the game. Lame.

• 10:50:44 Yet another promo video. Zzzzzz

• 10:51:23 Iwata bitches!

• 10:52:09 If I never hear the phrase "expanded audience" again, I'll be a happy man.

• 10:52:25 "Those who actively play games". XD An awesome promotional shot as always.

• 10:55:22 Hmm, could The Legend of OO be making an appearance. Sounds like he could be leading up to it.

• 10:58:27 Wii Vitality Sensor?

• 10:59:24 Could have some interesting applications in survival horror maybe.

• 10:59:47 Sounds like he's building up to some kind of relaxation/meditation game. Hopes of a megaton rapidly deflating.
  

• 10:59:55 I wonder if they put this in at the last minute after Microsoft's showing yesterday?

• 11:00:03 I'm falling asleep already.

• 11:00:27 No software for the vitality sensor. Looks like a last minute addition after all.

• 11:00:45 Cammie's back again and is going to give us a little stimulation. Naughty!

• 11:01:16 More Mario news?!

• 11:01:45 Holy shit! Mario Galaxy 2 with Yoshi.

• 11:02:29 Loving the music. A snow galaxy, hot!

• 11:03:02 Music's from Gusty Garden Galaxy, Still awesome though.

• 11:03:39 Okay, Reggie's back. Looks like he's getting ready to wrap things up.

• 11:04:45 No. There's more. Some third party stuff apparently.

• 11:05:04 The Conduit. I'm sure it'll be pretty good. I'm not exactly salivating at the thought of it though.

• 11:05:50 Still looks very generic.

• 11:06:13 Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles. First one was decent. I'm a bit more pumped for this one with Resi 2 making an appearance.
  

• 11:03:29 Joy unbounded, Steve's in it.

• 11:06:58 Code Veronica definitely making an appearance. No surprises there.

• 11:07:16 Dead Space Extraction. I'll definitely check out the original when I finally get a 360, not too keen on this spin-off. Enough with the light gun games already.
  

• 11:08:52 "A new edgier game" from Nintendo. Steam punk Zelda confirmed! Well, that or S&P 2.

• 11:09:37 WTF?! Team Ninja?

• 11:10:09 Samus?

• 11:10:40 Holy crap! Third person Metroid. Looks awesome!

• 11:11:30 Mother Brain is back! Damn.

• 11:12:00 What's Retro up to then?

• 11:13:12 It's all over. Is that The Kooks? Lame.

So, what did I make of it all? Overall, I think this year's conference was a much improved showing over last year's disaster. A lot gamers are never going to be interested in Nintendo casual offerings, but it's a big part of their business now and it'd be foolish to think they wouldn't take the opportunity to publicize their casual output at a major event like E3. One of the main problems with the previous two years was that the casual stuff took centre stage - with little to appeal to the old Nintendo fans apart from "bridge" games like Animal Crossing and Mario Kart Wii. They seem to have learned from the outcry of previous years though, by striking a better balance between core and casual games this time around. the casual stuff is still about as exciting as watching paint dry, but hey, I guess we can't have it all our own way.

It was also the first Nintendo conference in a while to deliver some real surprises. NSMBW was kind of spoiled by photos from the show floor yesterday, but Metroid: Other M came completely out of the blue. Both long-awaited home console returns to the series' 2D roots that no one would have predicted a few weeks ago. Mario Galaxy 2 was rumoured for a while, but few believed that another full blown 3D Mario would hit the Wii. A direct squeal to one of the premier entries in the series makes the news all the sweeter.

Another major improvement this year was the scaling back of the tedious sales talk that usually dominates Nintendo conferences. Finally, the charts were put away and, for the most part, the focus of the conference was directed to where it should be - on the games.

I've got to say though, that I'd love to see a more diverse line up of core games from Nintendo, especially in the West. They seem to have gotten the idea that all we want are more Mario, Zelda and Metroid titles. What happened to the likes of Star Fox and F-Zero? Where's Pikmin 3? What about the new games they showed in Japan last year like Cosmic Walker, Dynamic Slash and Supan Smasher. Are these going ever going to see the light of day here? It's great to see Sin & Punishment 2 getting some show floor space, but having a good showing from a few of these old favourites or new IPs would have really elevated the conference from just being good to being something really spectacular.