by John Constantine
While talking about his work with Nintendo Tokyo on the brand spankin’ new “Super Mario Galaxy 2”, Shirgeru Miyamoto revealed that the project started out brand spankin’ old.
MTV Multiplayer › e3 2009
‘Super Mario Galaxy 2’ is 90% New, 100% Awesome Looking
Posted 6/3/09 2:01 am EST by MTV Video Games in e3 2009, nintendo
‘Wii Sports Resort’ Delivers on WiiMotion Plus’ Promise
Posted 6/3/09 1:51 am EST by MTV Video Games in e3 2009, nintendo
by John Constantine
The first thing you do in “Wii Sports Resort” is jump out of a plane. Your Mii, that adorable Nintendo-ified caricature of yourself, leaps into the air over Woo Hoo Island and plummets to the ground. This isn’t just your introduction to the game. It’s your introduction to the WiiMotion Plus’ one-to-one action. Your Mii’s whole body responds to every movement of the new Wiimote and lets you acclimate to the far more sensitive controls before throwing you into the game’s twelve sports.
Miyamoto Wants the Wii Sports Resort/Wii Fit Island Island As His New Franchise
Posted 6/3/09 1:46 am EST by MTV Video Games in e3 2009, nintendo
by John Constantine
In this evening’s Developer Roundtable, the indomitable Shigeru Miyamoto revealed that the sticky sweet tropical paradise that players romp through in games like “Wii Sports Resort”, “Wii Fit”, and the upcoming “Wii Fit Plus” has itself a name: Woo Hoo Island. What he did say is that he’s spent a long time thinking about treating a game’s setting like it’s a specific character, a location that he can use as a license in the same way that Mario, Link, and Samus carry their own multi-title, multi-genre game franchises. Miyamoto went on to describe possible games that would be set on Woo Hoo. Say you spot a hotel while going on your morning “Wii Fit” constitutional. Miyamoto wants to set a murder mystery there! Wii “Hotel Dusk” confirmed! Nah. That would rule though.
Miyamoto on Project Natal: Nintendo Makes Sure Its Hardware Works Before Announcing It
Posted 6/3/09 1:21 am EST by MTV Video Games in e3 2009, nintendo
by John Constantine
During a post-Developer’s Roundtable Q&A session, Shigeru Miyamoto was asked for his thoughts on both Microsoft’s Project Natal and Sony’s new motion controller. After some thought, Miyamoto answered that it’s Nintendo’s policy to test their hardware repeatedly, ensure that it’s accessible and easy to use for anyone, make sure it works, and only then announce it to the public. Oh. Snap. He went on to say that until this sort of technology is in the users hands, its impossible to judge it. Served, Microsoft and Sony. Served.
by John Constantine
The problem with most press conferences in the gaming industry is that, with a few notable exceptions, there just aren’t many entertaining personalities. The marketing executives, the publisher presidents, the developers, everyone. The vast majority of them are pretty dull. It’s not their job to keep a crowd entertained for two plus hours. They make games. So, at first blush, you can understand the logic behind Ubisoft’s hiring of “The Soup” host Joel McHale as the host for their E3 press conference. McHale’s an entertainer. He also entertained, but the man’s scripted humor didn’t do much to save Ubisoft’s big-on-talk, low-on-games show.
Most of the first hour was devoted to talking up Ubi’s new multimedia initiative. With their acquisition of special effects studio Hybride Technologies, the French publisher has slowly but surely built towards their dream of making more than video games. Ubi started collaborating directly with filmmakers when developer Michel Ancel worked with Peter Jackson on 2005’s “King Kong”.
Today, Ubisoft Montreal’s Yannis Mallot discussed his studio’s collaboration with James Cameron on “Avatar”. Cameron himself came out to talk to the crowd about how both the “Avatar” game and movie share a metric ton of three-dimensional art assets. Ubi themselves have produced one-hundred shots for the film. They also revealed that the “Avatar” game is the first stereoscopic three-dimensional game. Even though the game’s on the E3 show floor, we didn’t get a demo from Mr. Cameron.
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by John Constantine
EA is a big company. Huge. Sprawling even. Their many branches are hard to even fit into the human consciousness. EA Casual, EA Sims, EA Games. Heck, EA Sports is the only one that’s easy to remember because they have their own catchy phrase about it being in the game (they have, strangely, never explained what ”it” is or what it’s doing in the game.)
So considering that Electronic Arts is a multi-tendril-ed beast, it’s no wonder that their E3 press conference was a bit all over the place. For example when the lights finally dimmed, a gory explicit rendered trailer for the highly highbrow “Dante’s Inferno” was shown. Then John Riccitello came out and introduced “The Sims 3”. Then “Charm Girls Club” with its hair-teasing Wiimote action. Yeah.
E3 2009 - Microsoft Press Conference: The Highlights
Posted 6/2/09 1:08 am EST by MTV Video Games in e3, e3 2009, microsoft, Uncategorized, Xbox, xbox live, Xbox Live Arcade
by John Constantine
You’ve got to hand it to Microsoft. In the weeks leading up to E3, the discussion surrounding the house of X was focused on precisely what they didn’t have. Where was their fall line-up? Where were the exclusives that have defined the console? Microsoft had them and then some.
Opening your show with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr instead of closing with them is the probably the most impressive show of corporate confidence in history. With the reveal of Project Natal, Microsoft’s new hands-free controller-camera, the house of green showed that this was no mere act of baseless hubris. They came to play.
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Steve Wiebe Could Win A Sack Full Of Quarters For Breaking The 'Donkey Kong' High Score At E3 2009
Posted 5/13/09 4:04 pm EST by MTV Video Games in e3 2009
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by Adam Rosenberg
We all know Steve Wiebe as the lovable "Donkey Kong" champ from director Seth Gordon's "The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters" documentary. Wiebe's ongoing high score feud with current-then-former-then-current-then-who-the-hell-can-keep-up? "Kong" champ Billy Mitchell was the subject of the documentary, but it was really just laying the groundwork for a much larger story.
The next chapter will unfold at this year's E3 convention in Los Angeles, where Wiebe will again attempt to topple Mitchell's high score. The makers of Stride, The Ridiculously Long Lasting Gum, are sweetening the deal for Wiebe, offering up a year's supply of their newest flavor along with a cash payout of $10,001. In quarters. Which he'll probably have to part with half of in order to pay the airline for the cost of carrying such heavy luggage on his flight home. Read More...
E3 Registration Is Open, Activision Blizzard And Others Return
Posted 2/2/09 1:00 pm EST by Tracey John in activision, blizzard, e3, e3 2009
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The ESA announced that registration for E3 is now open, and that many exhibitors who didn't attend last year's show -- like Activision Blizzard -- will return for 2009. Read More...
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