All of us here at ButtonBandits HQ got rather confused this weekend regarding the content of Nintendo’s E3 08 press conference. First off Andy Nuttal & Alex Trowers (ex Bullfrog) at Fusion 08 referred to a Wii mind controller when asked about Nintendo’s E3 presentation. Next up, speaking to ButtonBandits staff member Frosty on Virgin Radio’s Iain Lee show, Iain also referred to the mind controller when Frosty discussed Nintendo’s E3 content with him on air. The strange thing of course was that no Wii mind control headset was announced at E3 and it formed no part of Nintendo’s press conference, let alone being released this year like people suggested. Where then did this idea come from?
We found out when MCV linked to a Daily Mail article on the subject. In reality the device is a USB headset being released for the PC at a price of $299 this year in the US. The headset has no connection with the Wii other than the fact that Nintendo boss Saturo Iwata mentioned to a reporter that we might see mind control being used in games of the future. He made no reference to this particular headset. He went on to say “We don’t have that kind of technology right now, but when we’re talking about a 20-year time period, anything’s possible”. This came as part of an interview with the times while attending E3 08. Kotaku ran a good feature on the PC USB HEADSET back in February when they got a hands on with it at this years Game Developers Conference. They said it could have some good applications in games using the headsets ability to detect the emotions of the player. Mystery solved.
By the way, does anyone know what a Wii handle is?
The world’s first thought-controlled computer game could be launched by the end of the year. A new headset being developed by an Australian company may soon replace joysticks and Wii handles.
At a Nintendo developer’s roundtable event this evening in Los Angeles, a German journalist asked Nintendo designer Shigeru Miyamoto if it would be more appropriate to call “Wii Music,” which lacks goals and points, a” toy” rather than a “video game.”
Miyamoto replied tersely: “Yes, that’s right. And that’s why it’s more interesting than a video game.”
I hadn’t seen that side of Miyamoto before! Could it be — in this case as in so many before — that he’s right? Are we too hung up on traditional video game constraints to appreciate something more free-form?
In other news the Nintendo “lots of fake fun” E3 press conference is getting the same kind of treatment that Sony’s infamous giant enemy crab and RIIIIDGE RAAACER! one did back in 2006. Nintendo fans are not happy, just look at their reaction at the end of this video!
IGN have posted up the full Nintendo E3 2008 press conference video for on demand streaming. As before the quality is not great when we embed it into the page so if you missed the live stream then head on over to IGN to watch the full video.
The demonstration of Wii Music seen during the Nintendo press conference. Watch the video below and keep a look out for Mr Drums playing the drums on the right of the stage. Yes he really is called Mr Drums and is a professional drummer! This currently ranks as the most embarrassing event of E3 2008 so far!
Nintendo’s press conference didn’t go down well with the online audience. The majority of it was taken up with lots of boring graphs and talk about growing the market. The few mildly interesting announcements to come out of it are below:
Animal Crossing: City Folk coming to Wii with Microphone attachment to add to the sensor bar for online voice chat.
Shaun White Snowboarding coming exclusive to Wii and uses the balance board for controls.
Spore Creatures coming to DS. Basically a cut down version of Spore.
Grand Theft Auto Chinatown coming to DS. No details announced other than the name.
Wii Sports Resort announced. Includes Wii Motion Plus add on, that apparently tracks you arms better than the current Wiimote.
Wii Music game. Basically a poor mans rock band with Nintendo kiddie music.
We expect all of this to be released in Europe some time in the next 2 years going on past experience.
Just a few hours to go until Nintendo, closely followed by Sony take to the stage for their E3 2008 press conferences. Nintendo kicks it of at 17:00 BST. Sony starts their show at 19:30 BST. The sites below are offering live feeds. Gamespot claim in their forums there will not be a repeat of yesterdays crash. Personally we aren’t taking the risk and will use IGN as their feed was flawless during yesterdays Microsoft conference.
Sega have sent over an email saying their going to be sending out lots of info in the next few hours regarding some E3 announcements coming today. With the Nintendo E3 2008 press conference coming up in a few hours, this is the point where all SEGA fans get over excited about Shenmue remakes coming to the Wii, a possible announcement of Shenmue 3 or maybe even Dreamcast 2! All will no doubt be revealed in a few hours time when none of these things get announced.
Update 16/07/08 20:33: Sega have confirmed to Kotaku that Shenmue III is not in development and there are currently no plans for it to be so. While no questions got asked about remakes of 1 and 2 coming to the Wii it’s probably safe to assume the same answer would have been given to that question as well had it been asked.
Kotaku reports on rumours that Animal Crossing for the Wii is to be unveiled as part of the Nintendo E3 press conference. They state that Official Nintendo magazine is reporting on the subject as though it’s already happened but doesn’t link to the source. More here.
Infinite Puchi Puchi is a new game being released on the Japanese WiiWare download service. It’s highly original and based on popping bubble wrap, although somehow I don’t think it will be quite as satisfying bursting it virtually as it is in real life. Thankfully you can still do the old screwing it up trick to burst loads of them at once.
All of us here at ButtonBandits HQ got rather confused this weekend regarding the content of Nintendo’s E3 08 press conference. First off Andy Nuttal & Alex Trowers (ex Bullfrog) at Fusion 08 referred to a Wii mind controller when asked about Nintendo’s E3 presentation. Next up, speaking to ButtonBandits staff member Frosty on Virgin Radio’s Iain Lee show, Iain also referred to the mind controller when Frosty discussed Nintendo’s E3 content with him on air. The strange thing of course was that no Wii mind control headset was announced at E3 and it formed no part of Nintendo’s press conference, let alone being released this year like people suggested. Where then did this idea come from?
