E3 2007: Nintedo Appeases Mainstream Audience During Keynote - Page 2

Mario Kart Wii was the obvious attempt to save the online portion of the presentation. They claimed gamers of all levels will be able to compete thanks to another new controller, a steering wheel attachment that holds the Remote. It looked almost exactly like the one released at launch with the mediocre Wii launch title GT Pro Series. How this evens the playing field is definitely something worthy of contention.

Saturo Iwata’s appearance was nothing more than a build-up for a new Miyamoto creation, which would end up being the show stealer. Before that reveal, Reggie re-took the stage to announce a release date of Mario Galaxy, which is due November 12. Other creations include DS Vision Training, an extension of Brain Age.

This finally led to the introduction of the Wii Balance Board, undated and unpriced. It will be used for Wii Fit, a game with the full potential to eclipse the appeal of Wii Sports. Players stand on the white, wireless board and use their weight-shifting to control gameplay, or go through fitness routines. Miyamoto was ecstatic as he usually is, and also had the opportunity to embarrass Fils-Aime by using the software to show he was overweight. Internet fanboys will go nuts for this on YouTube for weeks.

Those who complain that Sony came off as cocky last year will likely have the same reaction to Nintendo here in 2007. The difference is that Nintendo can back it up, and they did just that. While the hardcore audience will be disappointed by the lack of huge surprises geared towards them and the frustrating lack of online improvements, the new core gaming crowd was given a staggering amount of information to process and be excited about.

Article Author: Matt Paprocki

Matt Paprocki is a 12-year movie and game critic. He currently freelances for Blu-ray review site DoBlu.com and video game site MultiPlayerGames.com.

Visit Matt Paprocki's author page — Matt Paprocki's Blog