Nintendo E3 conference roundup

Nintendo's US boss Reggie Fils-Aime today declared that now is Nintendo's time to lead as he brought to a climax an E3 conference that saw firm release dates for Super Mario Galaxy and Super Smash Bros. Brawl, a new Mario Kart game, several new Wii peripherals and a pledge from Nintendo president Satoru Iwata "to destroy the psychological barrier that separates veteran gamers from novice gamers".

But for all the big names (there were enough that a demonstration of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass for DS was practically a footnote), the title that's likely to dominate headlines is Wii Fit - arguably a spiritual successor to Wii Sports and the one game shown that's most likely to help level the playing field for games and achieve the mass-market recognition that Nintendo so obviously craves.

Built around a unique, wireless step aerobics platform that measures weight and balance called the Wii Balance Board (price TBC), Wii Fit includes over 40 aerobic, yoga and muscle conditioning activities as well as balance-based games. When you start to play, it measures your centre of gravity and body-mass index (BMI), and allows you to track this information as you return to the game daily through a range of Brain Age-style charts for the whole family. Demonstrations included a one-legged stretch, step aerobics with a rhythm-action element, sideways twists, head tennis (football) and press-ups, with videos pointing to an array of others. The game will be playable at E3 this week, although a release date is yet to be announced.

Mario's confirmed release date was a weight off our mind.

Mario Kart Wii finally raced out of the shadows of its stable-mates, too, as Nintendo promised a global launch in Q1 2008 with worldwide online play at the centre of its new features. Battle Mode, a staple of Mario Kart games since the SNES, will finally be playable online, too, and Fils-Aime hinted that the number of supported players could be big - although said we'd have to wait to find out more. The game will also offer a "variety of control options" including the Wii Wheel, a plastic steering wheel that allows you to clip the Wiimote to the reverse. Obviously similar to other third-party peripherals, Nintendo's decision to bundle it with Mario Kart demonstrates that they think more of it than some reviewers did of its predecessors.

Before then, gamers will also finally get to take home the big Nintendo titles everyone wants. Metroid Prime is already down for US release on 27th August, but joining it with firm dates on the schedule were Super Smash Bros. Brawl on 3rd December and, before then, Super Mario Galaxy on 12th November. "In one sense, this is the first worthy successor to Mario 64," said Fils-Aime, quietly elbowing away the protests of Super Mario Sunshine.

It only got a few minutes' worth of demo, but Phantom Hourglass looked spectacularly good.

The first of those big titles, Metroid, will also be supported by the launch of a new peripheral - the Wii Zapper. A lightgun that resembles a machinegun with front and rear handles, the Zapper incorporates the Wiimote and Nunchuk into its design, like Devastator or something. The Wiimote lies across the top of the barrel with an extension of its B-trigger on the front grip for firing, while the Nunchuk locks onto the back grip allowing for movement control. The execs were careful to use the word "zap" rather than "shoot" whenever they referred to it, but did claim that it could do for the first-person shooter genre what the Wiimote did for sports. Third party support will come from Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles (Capcom), Ghost Squad (SEGA) and Medal of Honor (EA), and it will be packaged with Nintendo software and sold separately for USD 19.99.

For once, claims of wide-ranging third party support - so often made by Nintendo, even at the lowest depths of the GameCube trenches - rang relatively true. Fils-Aime said that gamers would find 140 more DS titles on shelves this year in the US, and 100 more Wii games. "The development community realises the opportunity," he declared, generously devoting lots of time to talking up games like WWE Smackdown and EA's MySims Wii/DS product.

Another old-days claim that rings truer in the Wii/DS era is Nintendo's professed dedication to online. Fils-Aime pointed out that, when asked when Nintendo might get serious about it, he could simply say that perhaps they already have. He pointed to 5.5 million people hooking up to online service the Wi-Fi Connection as proof, with 230 million total gameplay sessions, 5.6 million downloads from Virtual Console, and Wii Software (WiiWare in the US) downloadable games on the horizon for 2008. Pokémon and Mario Strikers already offer internet multiplay through Wii, while the DS is swimming in WFC titles, and Madden and FIFA will give sports fans an online workout later this year too.

Fils-Aime also introduced a new Wii Channel - "Check Mii Out" (working title) - where you can exercise your love for those cute little Miis by voting on the quality of other people's, searching popular ones, and taking part in competitions to design ones that look like celebrities, among other things. It's set to launch this year.

Both Fils-Aime and Iwata fully believe that Nintendo can win this generation on every front. In terms of expanding the market, Fils-Aime said the proof was already there, with Nintendo gaining 3 percent more than the 6 percent industry average growth in the 18-24 demographic in recent years, with people over 25 accounting for a third of all revenues. "This is where potential lives," he said, flanked by images of old people giggling along to DS games. Brain Age had already sold 15 million units around the world; "but can this thing thing grow?" he asked himself. "We and other people think so." A vision training game (Flash Focus: Vision Training in Minutes a Day) is already out in Japan, and will be out in the US on 15th October, and games from third parties like Ubisoft's My Word Coach and My Life Coach titles will feed into the expansion already evident, he said. As, it seems obvious, will the headline-grabbing Wii Fit.

Brain Age is just the latest in a line of games to appeal to the mass market, which picked up new additions during Nintendo's E3 conference.

Eventually Satoru Iwata, Nintendo president, took to the stage, and made a stark pledge that spoke more to gamers who grew up with the likes of Mario and Donkey Kong than the Johnny Come Latelies. "Today we are seeing it is not impossible to expand the gaming population. Our next immediate challenge is this: to destroy the psychological barrier that separates veteran gamers from novice gamers," he said, to nods all round. "We must accept that games are for everyone." The Zapper, Mario Kart's Wii Wheel and things like the Balance Board, whose functionality will doubtless lead to other balance-based games, are proof of this in his view.

But it was left to Reggie Fils-Aime to close out the conference, and he did so with a boldness that would have seemed absurd even two years ago. "This is Nintendo's moment to lead," he declared, but the company is "far from satisfied". "Our primary target is much wider. There are 24 hours in every day, and only a small amount of time is available for leisure entertainment. Minute by minute, we intend to steal more of that time for videogames."

"[Games] are the ultimate interactive experience. The future should belong to all of us. And when that day comes - that videogames are accepted as the pre-eminent form of leisure entertainment by the greatest number of people over the greatest part of the world, then we might also be happy."

"And we might also be satisfied."

US release dates of note in the press pack

• Battalion Wars (Wii) - 29th October
• Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day (DS) - 20th August
• Chibi-Robo: Park Patrol (DS) - 2nd October
• Contra 4 (DS) - Autumn
• DK Jungle Climber (DS) - 10th September
• Donkey Kong Barrel Blast (Wii) - 8th October
• Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker (DS) - November
• Endless Ocean (Wii) - 29th October
• Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings (DS) - November
• Fire Emblem (Wii) - 5th November
• Flash Focus: Vision Training in Minutes a Day (DS) - 15th October
• The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS) - 1st October
• Mario Kart Wii (working title, Wii) - "Early 2008"
• Mario Party DS (DS) - 19th November
• Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Wii) - 27th August
• NiGHTS: Journey into Dreams (Wii) - Autumn
• Nintendo Crossword (DS) - TBA
• Nintendo Magic (working title, DS) - 26th November
• Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations (DS) - September
• Professor Layton and the Curious Village (DS) - 3rd December
• Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords (Wii) - Autumn
• Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles (Wii) - November
• Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) - 12th November
• Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii) - 3rd December
• Tomb Raider: Anniversary (Wii) - November
• Wii Fit (Wii) - TBA