E3: The Nintendo Conference 2006

Nintendo showed its strength with a slick presentation that unveiled the final mysteries of Wii and finally delivered on long-promised software. Full report and all sorts of photo joy.

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An early trip to Hollywood's Kodak Theatre, home of the Academy Awards, was on the agenda this morning, with many questions on our minds but just one topic: Wii. Nintendo succeeded in impressing, persuading, and of course disrupting the media, gathered in the spectacular and exclusive venue.

Before anything else, Shigeru Miyamoto walked onto the stage in a posh suit and bow tie, unsurprisingly picking up applause effortlessly along the way. Suddenly he began conducting an orchestra to the theme of Zelda - a virtual orchestra in a Wii videogame, using nothing more than the Wii controller to enthusiastically pump out the music. The sight of Miyamoto opening the event in such a brilliant setting was a pleasing kick off to the proceedings.

Miyamoto conducts a virtual orchestra using Wii

Enter Reggie in his third Nintendo E3 appearance, who was about to prove he's smarter every year. "You came to LA this week to peek into the future. But, if all you want this week is next generation, you're in the wrong place. The next leap is not about what you see - because what you see, is not always what you get." He sealed this opening with the slogan for the event: "Playing is believing".

A video was fired up showing off Wii players and its games in the style of the TGS teaser, this time including a game of table tennis doubles, some golf, more orchestral conduction, and some racing with the controller held horizontally and steered like a driving wheel.

Rather surprisingly, the sequence wasted no time in rolling out Nintendo's really big stuff. The mythical next iteration of Super Mario appeared in the sequence, by way of in-game footage mixed with the TV's-eye view of Wii players playing. As you can expect, this no-nonsense early jump into the deep end won a reaction from the audience.

Reggie's strategy for the conference seemed to work again

The sequence went on to show Metroid Prime 3, WarioWare, baseball, gritty FPS action in Ubisoft's Red Steel, and also a little Zelda: Twilight Princess - Wii style - with bow-and-arrow, fishing and swordplay all accounted for. Glamour shots of the intensely sleek hardware were spliced in for good measure, and the overall video was pretty and convincing. Yet, things at this Nintendo event were only just kicking off. The Wii logo sealed the video and was met with reassuring cheers. So far, so good.

Super Mario Galaxy was unveiled at long last

Reggie's crescendo of a presentation continued: "Two years ago we pulled the curtain back on Nintendo DS, and many said, 'huh?'; last year at E3 we un-caged Nintendogs; nine months ago we revealed how Wii from Nintendo will change game control forever, and many people said, "we'll see." Well, fair enough, because today, you will see, and tomorrow, you'll start to feel."

Reggie, engaging the audience with some of the cleanest, smartest and possibly most genuine rhetoric anywhere in the industry this week, ultimately began with some familiar points. "Do you know anyone who's never watched TV? Never seen a movie or read a book? Of course not... do you know someone, maybe even in your own family, who's never played a videogame? Today, change begins here with a new console, just as it already has with a new handheld."

Now in his third year at E3 with Nintendo, the VP of Sales and Marketing (and also somewhat underrated company visionary) then sought to answer questions for the audience - why so different, what are the launch details, what's with this thing's name, and how developer support. "Nintendo's way is to challenge conventional thinking, not just for the sake of doing things differently, but to do things better", he said. "The graveyard of any industry is filled with the headstones of companies who decided to keep doing things the same old way... ultimately it's fatal."

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