I just watched Nintendo's conference, by far the most confusing yet highly anticipated conference so far.
So here's my thoughts on their announcements, in the order they arrived.
The conference started with a montage showing off the history of the Zelda series, from the very first game, to the very latest releases.
All of this with a live Orchestra and Choir playing and singing the music from the games.
The montage finally ended with Skyword Sword, the next Zelda game.
Miyamoto came up on stage, and away we went.
Miyamoto spoke about the evolution of the Zelda series, both visually and musically. He asked the Orchestra to play a couple of recosnigable themes from the series, and then thanked the fanbase and community for continuing to play the series over the years.
As a part of the 25th Anniversary celebration of Zelda, Miyamoto announced all sorts of goodies for Zelda fans.
First up was Link's Awakening coming to the 3DS e-shop, which should be available by tonight.
Next was Zelda: Four Swords coming as a free download to all people that own a DSi, to push the concept of friendly gaming. DSi owners are very lucky indeed.
Ocarina of Time remake is coming out in a couple of weeks on the 3DS, which I've got pre-ordered already. I'm sure many others are also in the same boat.
Miyamoto also revealed that a special Golden WiiMote would be released, with the Hyrule eagle appearing on it. CD soundtracks for the Zelda games will also be released, and Miyamoto ended the Zelda love by talking about the 25th Anniversary Celebration symphonies to be touring the world later this year.
It was also said that other goodies would be revealed at a later date.
Skyword Sword will be available this year, around the holiday season.
Satoru Iwata next came up on stage to speak of how Nintendo had created new ways to game, but had failed slightly on creating a console that catered to both "hardcore" and "casual" markets.
He spoke of the new console, but didn't reveal anything, saying that it would be covered later.
Next up came Reggie on stage talking about the lineup for the 3DS.
Super Mario 3DS offers players the first ever 3D Mario designed specifically for a handheld, and it focuses uite heavily on Mario's Raccoon Costume.
Starfox 3DS offers players the ability to play with traditional controls, or the 3DS's tilt controls.
Kid Icarus is yet another classic title built specifically for the 3DS.
Luigi's Mansion 2 is a direct sequel to the first Lugi's Mansion, offering up new mansions and new gameplay modes.
And finally Mario Kart is a new kart game built, again, specifically for the 3DS. New tracks, new abilities, etc.
Reggie also detailed the launch of the 3DS e-Shop, with Excitebike 3D being offered for free for a limited time, and Pokemon E-dex being made avialable for free.
The Pokemon E-dex brings Pokemon into the real world, asking you to fill in your e-dex through spot-pass, street-pass, and all sorts of other things.
Finally came the big reveal, the one that everybody has been waiting for.
Nintendo's reveal of the Wii's successor, the Wii U.
This is a high-definition console, 1080p, that brings a new controller with an added touchscreen built in.
The controller can be used to play the console games whilst the TV is on a completely different channel, it can be used in combination with other games, and appears to even be compatible with various Wii accesories (such as the balance board).
Finally Nintendo appears to be getting the big developers making games for it. However, what's going to make me buy the games for Wii U over my PC, or 360, or PS3?
Smash Bro's has been announced to be in development for both the 3DS and the Wii U, which was met with a lot of applause, but more information needs to be released on this before I can feel any sort of hype.
Highlight of the conference?
Very little to be honest.
Skyward Sword looks great, but they barely showed anything of it.
The new console sounds interesting, but they chose to focus entirely on the controller over the actual console...which was unimpressive and confusing as a whole.
Luigi's Mansion 2 made me happy though. The GameCube version was fantastic, so I expect the sequel to be just as good.
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