The Nintendo Wii Conference Unveiled

What were some of the games shown?

I think the term “Overload” applies here as well. From Super Mario Galaxy to a Dragon Warrior game, there was about everything I could imagine shown on the screen, and all so fast I didn't know what to say. Certan titles that popped out were “Sengoku Action” from Koei, which appeared to be a Dynasty Warriors clone, as well as “Elebits” from Konami, “Red Steel” from Ubisoft, and even a console version of the Massively Multiplayer game we reviewed, “Pangya”. Of course, one thing that popped out to me was the overabundance of Anime games, but familiar faces showed up, such as Madden NFL, the Final Fantasy Chrystal Chronicles series, and best of all, The Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess.

The Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess

After all that, the press conference went into The Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess. Firmly announcing that it will be alongside the Wii the very day it launches, Reggie yet again explained that it will be not only the most beautiful, but also the most interesting. And we didn't know how much he meant it- until they had two NOA people come out and actually play it- on the Wii.

Basically, here's how TLOZ:TTP works on the Wii. It uses the Nunchuck configuration, and the nub for your left hand (The analog stick) is mapped to control Link. The right part of the nunchuck, the actual pad, controls Link's selection of items. The famous targeting system will be present, of course, on the nunchuck “trigger”, which can be activated with the left hand. One interesting thing is, to provide a “Cursor”, a small fairy which looks remarkably like Navi from The Link to the Past is back, and can “Activate” the icons on the screen, rather than using buttons.

Before I go any further, let me correct a theory: No, you cannot swing the sword with the Wii remote. Sorry, fans. Swinging the sword is tied to the B button, and one of the only real uses of the controller is any “Fire” weapons, such as the hookshot or the bow. There are a few things you CAN do with the remote, like a “Shield Shove”, which is done by pushing the Wii remote forward, but like I mentioned before, it's very basic- and I actually somewhat felt like it was just tacked on. While I was rather disappointed, it still seems like the Wii version of the Twilight Princess is very intuitive and easy to use, and the speed and ease in which the demonstration player was able to control Link was actually quite refreshing. It's like the difference between driving blindfolded and driving whilst able to see.

One surprising addition is the revelation of a Wii speaker on the controller, which acts as a miniature version of the game speaker. However, unlike normal speakers and playing everything, the controller will play relevant sounds- for example, when shooting a bow with Link, you can actually hear the arrow travel from the player's hand to the screen, and to the enemy to kill him. That's called awesome.

Without spoiling too much, I can say that the Zelda version is very impressive. But that's only half the press conference.

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

Looking quite like the older Metroid Prime games, Metroid Prime 3 features the same old style of gameplay, but remapped on the Wii remote, with features such as the ability to point and shoot with the remote. While it was shown sparsely through the conference, I can honestly say it looked awesome.

Super Mario Galaxy

“Mario is back”, and this time, he's in space. With balls all around looking like Katamari Damacy, Mario now has the ability to run completely over a whole globe, and it definitely looks cool. But I was still left wanting to play it.

Excite Truck

Excite Truck appears to be a truck racing game that uses the Wii remote as a “Steering Wheel” to guide your miniature truck anywhere you want it to go. Made by Nintendo, it appears to be the successor to Excite Bike, which will send fans on a tailspin when it comes out. Hell, the terrain deforms when you drive- that's pretty cool.

Project H.A.M.M.E.R.

Looking quite a bit like a Gauntlet game, Project H.A.M.M.E.R. Only features the ability to swing a huge hammer around and defeat bad guys- by swinging the Wii remote.

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