Thoughts on Nintendo's Press Conference Today

Ever since Nintendo blew their E3 showing a few months back people have been complaining about Nintendo not catering to the hardcore audience, me included. Wii Music was the only thing in the front of peoples minds after that. A game that basically puts the controller in your hand and plays music on the screen while you wave it around. That, for a lot of us, was not the major title we were looking for.

Enter Nintendo's Fall Media Summit. It did everything their E3 showing should have done, plus more. The major announcement was for the new DS the DSi. It is a redesign of the current hardware, not a new format. The DSi will have larger screens, a camera on the front and one on the inside for video, and no more GBA slot yielding it 12% (correct me of that's the wrong number) slimmer than the current DS. There is a little person inside me that wants everything new and "techie" but as of now there doesn't seem to be enough new features to warrant an upgrade from my DS lite. The only thing that has peaked my interest is the introduction of a "Virtual Console" like system for the DS, which people have been requesting for a while. If this turns out to be successful, in the sense that you can download past game boy, game boy color, and game boy advance games on it then that might justify the purchase in itself. But again this all depends on how things play out, and the software that is released for it. I'd much rather have a new hand held altogether, with a new format of games. It seems like with this re design Nintendo is just trying to get the DS brand to print more money than the millions it already has.

On a sadder note, this looks like it could be the death of the Game Boy brand. The removal of the GBA slot from the current DS seems like Nintendo is throwing away it's last tie to the Game Boy. People can argue that this may not be the smartest move because of all the prestige that name can bring, but with the amount of money Nintendo is bringing on the DS alone, I think they have a new powerhouse brand on their hands. The DS brand is also trying to attract a much wider audience than the Game Boy ever was, so it makes sense that they should be separated brands.

Now, onto the important things, the games. It seems we have been appeased and can no longer question Nintendo's appeal to the hardcore gamer. Today they announced a slew of games that have me, along with every other Nintendo fan, very excited. Specifically the announcement of a new Punch Out!! game. This is a franchise that many loyal Nintendo fans have enjoyed on the NES and SNES which has been long overdue. The franchise hasn't been seen since the SNES days, and only the NES release of the game is currently available on the Virtual Console.

One last game that has every one's attention is Sin and Punishment 2. The first Sin and Punishment was never released in the US, until it showed up on the US Virtual Console last year. It is an "on rails" shooter that was developed by industry favorite Treasure. When the second game was announced last night in Japan, many American gamers were worried that it would not come to the states. During today's conference NOA (Nintendo of America) confirmed that due to the impressive sales of the first title on the VC they are bringing the second game to America.

There were also a bunch of DS announcements including Mario and Luigi RPG 3 and Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon, both of which I am very excited for. Below I have posted a screen shot from the new Punch Out!!, Sin and Punishment 2, and a comparison shot from GoNintendo of the DSi on the left and DSlite on the right.