Wii Rally

Can’t be at E3? Well neither can I, So I’ve got the next best thing Internet video.

OK here Wii go.

First up for the Nintendo media briefing is a 2 minute video of some news stories and user videos which have used the Wii as a focal point. Nintendo begins by tooting their own horn….obviously.

After the short video a gigantic man in a beige suit [Reggie Fils-Aime, NoA President] walks to the middle of the stage and says “Hi I’m Reggie and I am Happy!”

The first segment of Reggie’s speech is about all the stuff that only venture capitalists and investors care about. You know stuff like expanding demographics, sales figures, and market share info….BORING!

Now some interesting stuff. Reggie states that by the holiday shopping season there should be over 160 Wii titles available in North America and over 430 DS titles for the same territory.

After a second video similar to the first Reggie introduces to the world the first offspring of the Wii Remote and nunchuck. The Wii Zapper a housing for your Wii Remote and nunchuck making it look like a small SMG. Reggie goes on to talk about 3 new games that are being designed around the new housing, Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles, Sega’s Ghost Squad a popular arcade light gun game, and the newest addition to the Medal of Honour series will also be centered around the Wii Zapper which will retail for about 19.99 USD. Reggie also mentions plans for a 1st party title that will come packed with a zapper later this year.

Next much to my surprise Reggie begins to talk about Super Smash Brothers: Brawl and announces when it will be released, December 3rd 2007.

Next up are two quick demonstrations of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption both look intriguing and fun.

On to online. Reggie talks a bit about “Wii Ware” which developers will use to create unique stand alone software available via the Wii Shop Channel. Reggie also announces an all new channel called “Check Mii Out!” which will allow Wii owners to share their Miis with others have them voted on etc. Now we already know that Pokémon: Battle Revolution and Mario Strikers: Charged will have online play but now we find out that EA’s Madden ‘08 and FIFA ‘08 will both feature online making them the first titles not published by Nintendo to have such a feature. While finishing up his talk about online Reggie tries to hit that last one out of the park by announcing that Mario Kart: Wii will be available in the first quarter of 2008 and will be online. Reggie goes onto say that Mario Kart: Wii will come with a “Wii Wheel” packed in with the software.

Next up is a small talk by Nintendo’s Worldwide President Saturo Iwata. He speaks about the non-traditional games which have been embraced by non-gamers the world over. I’m speaking of course about games like Nintendogs Brain Age 1 and 2 as well as translation and recipe software.

After Iwata’s talk Reggie comes back out and begins to talk about Super Mario: Galaxy. He then announces that SM:G will be available in North America on November 12th 2007.

The last game that Reggie talks about is the new Wii Fit he comically states that “Wii Fit is it!” I must say out of all the games Nintendo talked about this is game that excites me the most. It’s not something that I personally would play but I can really see the appeal for others like my girlfriend Jen who for awhile used Wii Spots for her daily exercise routine.

Reggie closes by stating that “I began today by saying that I was happy, but please understand were not close to being satisfied”

Points of interest:

-By Christmas 2008 the Wii software library will be about 160 titles strong.
-Super Mario: Galaxy will be released on November 12th 2007.
-Super Smash Brothers: Brawl will be released on December 3rd 2007.
-Mario Kart: Wii Announced, Online confirmed.
-Wii Fit Announced.
-3 new 1st party peripherals are coming and will be packed in with Nintendo Software. The Zapper, The Wii Wheel and the Wii Balance Board.
-Madden ‘08 and FIFA ‘08 online play confirmed.

Thanks to GamingCentral.nl for posting the video on YouTube. Screw you GameSpot!