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Wii

Nintendo's Booth at GC Detailed

by Lasse Pallesen - August 23, 2007, 2:53 pm EDT
Total comments: 22

Even when considering the absence of Brawl, Battalion Wars II, and Mario Kart Wii, you should click to get a tour of Nintendo's booth. UPDATED: Now with videos.

While Nintendo chose not to hold an actual press conference, they did invite members of the press for an extensive collective booth tour. Nothing groundbreaking was ever revealed, and no new games were shown. Instead, Nintendo faithfully relied on Super Mario Galaxy, Wii Fit, as well as a bunch of non-games for Nintendo DS to wow the crowd. Based on the general press reaction, they succeeded.

When all was still quiet, the Nintendo booth looked like this:

In German, Nintendo started off detailing their vision of bringing non-gamers and hardcore gamers together with gameplay experiences that cater to both groups. Yes, we’ve heard the story before. Among other titles, they mentioned Nintendogs, Brain Age, and Wii Sports as examples showing how successful their strategy is. Impressive sales graphs and demographical data supported their claims - Nintendo apparently holds a hardware market share of 65% in Germany, and more than half of all gamers are over the age of 40!

Nintendo also demoed Super Mario Galaxy live. Clearly the highlight of the presentation, the demo started with Mario running at the foot of a big hill. Mario was controlled all the way to the top, using triple jumps, wall jumps, back flips, and butt stumps, after which he turned into a bee – just like at E3. Still, the demo continued to impress with its sharp visuals, smooth framerate, and multitude of objects to interact with. Watch the demo here:

A video followed, showing footage from many titles already released in the States. Super Paper Mario, Pokémon Battle Revolution, English Training (for Germans), Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Forever Blue, and Flash Focus, a game that “trains" your eyes, were among them. Watch it here:

The Big Brain Academy demo, which came next, proved less entertaining. After teaching everyone about how to actually improve one’s memory (don’t ask!), the woman demoing the game found a journalist willing to join her in a two-player versus battle. He lost, though.

The Wii Fit demo didn’t come off as a surprise, considering the amount of floor space it occupied. However, a video appeared first:

Like at E3, the game was demoed in a competitive context. One player would play the hula hoop mini-game, while another waited for her turn and eventually tried to get the high-score. She failed, but, nonetheless, it was entertaining to watch.

At the end, people were allowed to walk around freely, eat as many healthy free apples as possible, and try out some of the games. Super Mario Galaxy proved particularly popular, but also titles like Wii Fit and Phantom Hourglass drew a crowd.

In the near future, look for more previews and impressions on Nintendo’s titles, including Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, which was playable at the Sega booth.

Talkback

MashiroAugust 22, 2007

Whyyyyyyy WHYYYYY WON'T NINTENDO LET PEOPLE PLAY BRAWL.

Well, besides the fact that they don't need to, demoing a beta build would probably give away too much information that they want to keep as a surprise, and they probably don't want to spend the time coding a demo interface to hide it.

UERDAugust 22, 2007

They had free apples? What? Truly there is NO JUSTICE IN THE WORLD. NONE AT ALL.

NinGurl69 *hugglesAugust 22, 2007

THIS IS EXACTLY THE TYPE OF ATTITUDE BY NINTENDO THAT WILL MAKE PS3 THE WINNER

nickmitchAugust 22, 2007

Not having Brawl playable isn't a big deal to me. Monday was the first time a character's ENTIRE move set was revealed, so there's really no reason to demo it.

GoldenPhoenixAugust 22, 2007

Quote

Originally posted by: Mashiro
Whyyyyyyy WHYYYYY WON'T NINTENDO LET PEOPLE PLAY BRAWL.


It is because the game sucks and they want to hide it from the world until launch.

King of TwitchAugust 22, 2007

This show is like unleashing goldeen. Flop, flop, flop.

NinGurl69 *hugglesAugust 22, 2007

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAH

so true.

TJ SpykeAugust 22, 2007

Just a minor thing, it's "Battalion Wars 2" and not "Battalion Wars II".

Wow, surprising they didn't even have Metroid Prime 3 playable!

... Or is Metroid Prime 3 banned in Germany?

UncleBobRichard Cook, Guest ContributorAugust 22, 2007

I want a Nintendo Apple.

Kotaku says Metroid Prime 3 is playable. On a single kiosk. One. And six for Wii Sports.

Wii Fit: 7
Wii Sports: 6
Super Mario Galaxy: 2
Metroid Prime 3: 1
Super Paper Mario: 1
Zack & Wiki: 1
Unspecified: 10

that Baby guyAugust 22, 2007

Hey, now Wii sports is like a daily thing now for me and my new roommate. Those journalists have got to get their fix somehow, right?

There's no denying that Wii Sports is a killer app the likes of which we haven't seen since... hmm...

Woah, Nintendo gave Wii Fit SEVEN booths! Sounds like they're hoping for lightning to strike twice!

KDR_11kAugust 22, 2007

Quote

Originally posted by: Kairon
Wow, surprising they didn't even have Metroid Prime 3 playable!

... Or is Metroid Prime 3 banned in Germany?


No, it's probably just NoE's "nothing good for Europe" policy.

BWII never existed, did it?

NinGurl69 *hugglesAugust 23, 2007

What never existed?

DAaaMan64August 23, 2007

That game better exist, it is huge high light for me...

GoldenPhoenixAugust 23, 2007

Quote

Originally posted by: DAaaMan64
That game better exist, it is huge high light for me...


It exists, it is just so terrible, like Smash Brothers Brawl, that NIntendo wishes to bury it.

CalibanAugust 23, 2007

Quote

Originally posted by: GoldenPhoenix
Quote

Originally posted by: DAaaMan64
That game better exist, it is huge high light for me...


It exists, it is just so terrible, like Smash Brothers Brawl, that NIntendo wishes to bury it.


The newest Nintendo Power has a 4 page editorial on BWii.

KDR_11kAugust 23, 2007

... titled "We apologize"

CalibanAugust 24, 2007

"War is Swell".

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