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Nintendo Wii Press Conference

Nintendo’s press conference started with Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto appearing on stage in a tuxedo with the new Wii controller in hand and an animated orchestra on the big screen behind him.
Then using the Wii controller as a conductor’s wand, Miyamoto controlled the music’s speed, tempo and maybe more.
Next a driving game appeared on the screen and another player held the Wii’s controller horizontally and treated it as if it were a steering wheel to control the car.
Then Miyamoto showed off using the controller in a sword fighting match.
After the short montage, Nintendo’s Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Reggie Fils-Aime, came out onto the stage to deliver a few quotes about Nintendo’s strategy for their next console.

“If you came for Next Gen, then you came to the wrong place”
“It’s not about looks, it’s about feel.”
“It’s no longer confined to the few, it’s about everyone.”
“The next leap is not about what you see because what you see is not always what you get.”
“The next leap is about playing, because playing is believing.”

After these quotes, a video played showing several different ways to use the remote.

After the video, Reggie reappeared to push the message that the Wii is the “Next Leap in Gaming”.

He addresses the skepticism about the Wii by reminding everyone of the skepticism that surrounded the DS and Nintendogs when they were announced but were huge successes once released.
He also states that the goal of Nintendo is to grow the industry and become a true mass media.

Games for everyone.
They want to make games that are easy to get into that anyone will want to play both young and old, but will still captivate the hard core gamers.
Nintendo wants games to be as common as watching TV.

Next, he thanked everyone who sent them nice comments about the new name change…all two of them he joked.

Lexus, Ikea, Google all sound like poor names at first but are now some of the most well respected and successful brands around.
The Wii stands for what it sounds like.

Next a montage of upcoming game videos was shown, the last of which was Zelda: The Twilight Princess.

It will come out in two different versions on the same day, with the other being for the GameCube.

A demonstration of the game on the Wii is then given showing off some new features of the controller.
First the controller’s pointer will be used to navigate menus.
The nun chuck analog stick is used to move the player around while the Z button will be used as the familiar attack button.
To perform a down thrusting stab with link the player will just have to raise and lower his nun chuck hand in a quick stabbing motion.
It is revealed that each part of the controller, (nun chuck and remote) has their own separate motion detectors allowing gameplay where each one can move something independently on the screen.
They also showed off how Link can use a bow.

Aim with the remote and then pull it back away from the screen to pull the bow taught.
A new feature of the remote was then revealed.

You’ll be able to hear the bow string as it’s pulled tight.
When released, you will hear the arrow rush from your hand and then hit your target on the TV.

After the Zelda demonstration another video of first party Nintendo games was shown three of which are new franchises:

Next the creators of Ubi Soft’s new game: Redsteel came on stage to give a playable demonstration.

Redsteel is a first person action game that takes place in US and Japan.
It will showcase different types of guns and Katana swords as its main weapons.
The controls are intuitive.
You’ll use the nun chuck attachment to move your character and fire your gun.
The remote will be used to look around and aim your weapon
You can even tilt your weapon in any direction so you can play “gansta-style” if you want.
There are also a variety of destructible environments as explosions shattered different buildings and structures.
The game will introduce the “Free Shot” feature which will allow you to pause time and “tag” the weak spots of enemies for disarming, killing or forcing a submission.

When the game un-pauses, your character will automatically fire off the set up shots.

The left hand will be used to block and the right will be used to slash in any direction.

After the demo, Nintendo’s Senior Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Communication, George Harrison comes out to talk about the DS.

He first refutes Sony’s sales figures of the PSP by claiming that the DS’s actual sell through to consumers is 16 million units, while the PSP’s sell through to consumer, is millions less.
He also points out the successes of the DS thanks to:

Nintendogs selling 6 million units in five months.
The three Brain Age games in Japan selling over 5 Million units with over a third of those to new gamers over 35.
The introduction of their Wi-Fi network which has seen 1.3 million distinct users.

Keeping to the theme of attracting new gamers he introduces a new family of games called “Touch Generations”. These include:

Next he shows a demo of the New Super Mario Bros. and mentions some other popular franchises coming to the DS: