Game Informer Magazine claims it has confirmed, through multiple sources, that Nintendo is set to announce the successor to the Wii before or during this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo. With Wii sales beginning to taper off and a rumored price drop to $150 for the motion control marvel, the current console is looking a tad long in the tooth. Few details were known regarding control schemes but smart money’s on the next Nintendo system sporting some form of motion control. If there’s additional support for traditional control schemes, well, the more the merrier. For now, Game Informer states that the console is most definitely going to be an HD console capable of spitting out 1080p like the Playstation 3 or Xbox 360. Whether the system is more powerful as current-gen consoles is still unknown. Reportedly, Nintendo has been making the rounds to developers in order to entice them, garner third party support, and give plenty of lead time for development before the rumored 2012 launch. Will this just be a Wii in HD? Or does Nintendo have something more clever up its sleeve? Only time will tell. All we hope is that this doesn’t mean The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword gets pushed back for the next console ala Twilight Princess. Nintendo, don’t do this to us!

Nintendo Games

The first-party offerings kept coming and coming. Gone were the Wii Musics and Wii Plays of the world and, in their place, Nintendo strutted out the hardcore titles center stage.

The Legend of Zelda – Skyward Sword
Zelda creator and Videogame Godfather, Shigeru Miyamoto started off the event and demonstrated the next Legend of Zelda. Skyward Sword is the first entry in the series since 2006′s Twilight Princess and the first completely developed specifically for the Wii. Skyward Sword utilizes the Wii Motion Plus add-on, providing a closer 1-to-1 representation of Link’s swordplay. The on-stage demo suffered from a few technical hiccups, but E3 attendees vouched for the game as being free of issues. No specific date was given but Nintendo assured fans to expect the game sometime in 2011.

Mario Sports Mix
Mario and his Mushroom Kingdom cohorts have made their way into all manner of sports titles including basketball, baseball, golf, and tennis. Mario Sports Mix is a collection of other sports titles that might not stand on their own as a full game and have thus been put together in one collection. Ice & beach hockey, volleyball, and more are all given the Nintendo remix treatment incudling power-ups and other arcade gameplay breathe new life into these games. Coming in 2011.

Donkey Kong Country Returns
Since closing the book on its Metroid Prime trilogy, Austin developer Retro Studios has gone silent regarding its next creation. Fans of the Donkey Kong Country series from the Super Nintendo days were, no doubt, elated to see Retro is leaving Samus behind in favor of Nintendo’s trademark ape. There’s plenty of vine-swinging, barrel shooting, and banana hoarding abound in what’s sure to become Retro’s next masterpiece. After the way Retro handled Metroid, it’s exciting to see them take a chance on a platformer. Luckily, we won’t have to wait very long. Donkey Kong Country Returns drops during the Holiday Season of 2010.

Kirby’s Epic Yarn
Elements of LittleBigPlanet’s tape-and-string aesthetic combined with Nintendo’s trademark charm make up the first official Wii outing for Kirby. Masahiro Sakurai, creator of Super Smash Bros, created a new company known as Sora. This is the studio’s first release. Gameplay is a mix of platforming and fabric-based mechanics. Kirby is composed of yarn, the word is made up of felt and other fabrics. The art design is incredibly unique and the gameplay looks to offer some clever twists. Nintendo did an amazing job keeping this under the radar, Kirby’s Epic Yarn launches this holiday season.

Third Party Games

Many have argued that third party games don’t succeed on Nintendo platforms. It’s hard to argue third parties haven’t had a hard time on Wii but there’s certainly an audience. While this E3 didn’t exactly buck this trend, Nintendo did manage to put a few third party games into the spotlight.

Goldeneye
Fond memories of the split-screen multiplayer of days gone by came flooding back as Nintendo and Activision showed off a debut trailer for the Wii-exclusive Goldeneye. The game looks to be a re-imagining of the original Nintendo64 classic with added features such as online multiplayer (along with classic split-screen) and the delightfully British Daniel Craig. Goldeneye ships in the last half of 2010.

Epic Mickey
Bold, bizarre, and above all, brave in its use of the Disney license, Epic Mickey took the stage for a hands-on demo. The producers showed off some of the game’s mechanics including the paint mechanics. Players can choose between painting the world to overcome obstacles, or use paint thinner to eliminate them. The tone of the game is a strange change for Disney. It’s exciting to see them breathing new life into a character who’s more than 80 years old. The demo concluded with a 2-D platforming section. Much of the game is a third-person action/platformer but the producers showed off the Steamboat Willie level, a throwback to Mickey’s first cartoon. The art-style changed to the old black and white to mimic Mickey’s inaugural outing. The creators are set to debut Epic Mickey sometime later this year.

Nintendo 3DS

Hardware is always a show-stopper at E3 and Nintendo knows this. Smoke and fog flooded the Nintendo stage as the Nintendo 3DS, atop a rising pedestal, made its debut. Nintendo President Satoru Iwata unveiled the company’s next portable device. The Nintendo 3DS is the next evolution for the Nintendo DS line. It’s not an upgraded version ala the DSi. Instead, the 3DS is a completely new device with design characteristics similar to its predecessor. The device has two screens, the bottom is touch-sensitive. The top screen, however, is wider and employs a new kind of 3D technology. Without the use of glasses, Nintendo 3DS creates a 3D effect giving added depth and dimension to the next generation of handheld gaming. Unfortunately, Nintendo did not divulge a final release date or price but all will be known before the end of the company’s fiscal year, March 2011.

The device also sported three cameras, one on the inside for self-portraits and two lenses on the outside for 3D photographs. Yes, with the 3DS players can take their own pictures and have them project in 3D.

Other changes to the hardware include an analog stick-like device Nintendo called a “Slide Pad” above the directional pad. While Nintendo was mum on specifics, but the system is also more powerful than the original DS. Also included in the system are an accelerometer and gyroscope to implement some motion-controlled gaming. A slider along the top-screen increased or decreased the severity  of the 3D effect. Lastly, Nintendo gave some cryptic details on the added wifi features which seem to be looking for connections even while the system is closed. The implications of this are, as of now, only theoretical until developers get their hands on the device and find exciting ways to implement this technology into their games.

Games

A new system is nothing without some games to show it off. Nintendo’s big reveal was a love-letter to nostalgic fans as they unveiled Kid Icarus: Uprising. Kid Icarus hasn’t seen a game of his own in over twenty years despite making an appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Gameplay is a mix of aerial combat along with third-person action/adventure platforming.

Other games announced included:

• Dj Hero 3D
• Nintendogs + Cats
• 3D Remakes of Star Fox 64 and The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time
• Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater “The Naked Sample”
• Resident Evil Revelations
• Mario Kart
• Animal Crossing
• Paper Mario
• Pilot Wings Resort
• Super Street Fighter IV

and many many more.

Nintendo listened to fans who felt somewhat unloved by the company’s new-found affinity for the casual gamer. The company proved it’s still capable of delivering a mix of hardcore nostalgia alongside games that cater to any taste. Kirby’s Epic Yarn was quite a surprise. A game that’s infectiously cute yet still looks grounded in tried-and-true mechanics. With all of the games announced combined with the one-two punch of new hardware, Nintendo set the bar incredibly high this year.

Miss the event? Watch it here courtesy of G4.

Source: Kotaku

The oft-neglected entry in the Legend of Zelda franchise, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, has been given a 3D makeover. Fan and home-development maverick, Michael Johnston has recreated the side-scrolling adventure through the first-person perspective.

Combining 8-bit graphics and textures with an FPS is not only genius- it’s vicious. The game is harder than the original Zelda II and that’s saying something. Tread lightly, adventurers. Get in while you can before Nintendo shuts this down!

Source: Joystiq

No longer on a 2-D plane, the puzzles now have the added challenge of depth as players will chip away at a block of cubes, following the same rules of logic, to create little figures. It might sound confusing but thanks to a hefty tutorial the game is accessible and once you get sucked in there’s no going back. The game is more difficult than the original Picross in that some players may have a hard time wrapping their heads around the more third-dimension-centric aspects of the gameplay. The game lends a hand by providing sliders in order to cut into the objects in order to get a handle on the cubes. However, this proved to be one of the more difficult mechanics of the game to understand. By following the clues, being sure not to eliminate the wrong blocks, and completing puzzles, players are rewarded by a robot, dog, magnifying glass, and all manner of everyday objects. Speaking of puzzles, Picross 3D offers more than 300 and at $19.99 it’s easy to recommend the game as a great value that’s sure to occupy a lot of time.

The art style has taken a bizarre, pastel-focused turn that looks a bit cheap and juvenile. But, with gameplay mechanics as good as this, the game could have been in black and white and I really wouldn’t have cared. (In fact, Mario Picross came out on the Gameboy in black and white and it was just as much fun.) Customizable background images and music make the aesthetics a tad more tolerable but it’s worth mentioning Nintendo didn’t have to make the game look like a budget title.

The sliders that let you cut-into the blocks and examine the inside of the figures was a constant source of annoyance during the more difficult puzzles. Nintendo was smart enough to make players hold a button to chip away at a cube or mark it as safe. However, no such attention was paid to the sliders which often activated as I was trying to rotate the object rather than cut into it. I wish I could have held a button to activate it as I did with other elements.

I mentioned before that Picross 3D has a lengthy tutorial. It holds your hand perhaps a bit longer than it should. I appreciate the steady pace but it would have been nice to have the ability to skip ahead to more difficult levels. As it is, players have to progress through more than 100 Easy difficulty puzzles before getting a chance to take a crack at the Medium and Hard tiers.

Despite any minor problems I had with the game from an art-style or progression standpoint, these issues pale in comparison to the truly addictive nature of Picross 3D. The game is fun and has the uncanny ability to make you travel through time, unaware of how many hours are passing, as you keep tapping and saying “just one more.”

Image courtesy of Joystiq

Below is a video of a DSiWare game which uses the system’s cameras to simulate head-tracking and create a 3D effect. Note, this isn’t the 3DS but could be a close representation of the kinds of ideas we’ll be seeing soon.

Feast your eyes on the new trailer from Team Ninja, showcasing the game’s unique mechanics, controls, and some of the nostalgia-inducing gameplay.

While I played the most recent entry in the series, The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, I was constantly struck by a nagging sensation of deja vu. As I rode the rails across the Kingdom of Hyrule, I felt as if I’d played the game before. I conquered a series of elemental-themed temples, obtained a boomerang, bow, amongst other weapons. The sights, sounds, gameplay, items, and characters were all long-standing staples of the series. It was the third game to follow the visual style introduced in The Legend of Zelda: The Windwaker. This “been-there done-that” feeling often made me lose the drive to continue. There is, however, an upside to this pattern.

By importing many of the same assets from Spirit Tracks’ DS-predecessor, Phantom Hourglass, it allowed Nintendo to release a sequel in less time. It would be worse if Spirit Tracks were a bad game. However, the game is good despite feeling so familiar which is a testament to the quality of the core design. There’s a level of refinement that’s occurred as Nintendo has found a set of crucial elements needed to make a game feel like The Legend of Zelda. Puzzles have a style all their own while the combat and controls feel much tighter. The end result is a polished game full of classic Nintendo tropes. While I feel Spirit Tracks is a good game, I’m disappointed it doesn’t do much to move the series forward. While the puzzles are fun, they’re easily bested by series veterans who are wise to their trickery. Change is a difficult thing for any series, especially one as venerable and beloved as The Legend of Zelda. However, Nintendo has done it before.

When Nintendo made the bold choice to create the cartoonish visual style of Windwaker, many fans cried foul, pleading for a more adult design. It’s a fine line Nintendo must walk between sticking to its own conventions and propelling the franchise into uncharted territory. Majora’s Mask made a similarly daring shift in the creation of the game when it departed from Ocarina of Time’s design by introducing the mask mechanics as well as the three-day cycle. Like Spirit Tracks, Majora’s Mask borrowed many assets from the game that came directly before it. However, it introduced enough new elements to feel fresh. During the NES days, Zelda II: The Aventure of Link defied expectations and followed up Link’s first adventure with a side-scrolling perspective for combat and exploration. The touch-centric controls of Phantom Hourglass took the series’ classic top-down design and introduced a new way to play. While the series has seen some changes over its twenty-year lifespan, the most obvious being the jump into three dimensions, it has since begun to feel stale. Recently, President of Nintendo Saturo Iwata mentioned the upcoming 2010 release for the series’ next Wii entry. With the release approaching it’s given rise to some concerns.

Nintendo needs to mix things up and Wii Motion Plus is not enough. While Nintendo has confirmed the next Zelda will utilize the company’s Wii Motion Plus peripheral, there will hopefully be more to the experience than what we’ve seen from the last few entries in the series. Nintendo will hopefully make more bold choices and give the franchise a much-needed push in the right direction. As I said before, it’s a difficult task for Nintendo. If they change too much, some fans will be upset that they’ve muddled with the series they love so much. Others will see it as another missed opportunity to reinvigorate the franchise. When it comes to Wii sequels, Nintendo has had a mixed track-record this generation. Animal Crossing: City Folk was, for many fans, a disappointment as it felt too much like the previous games. While Nintendo added voice chat support and some minor online features, the potential had clearly not been met. While 2010 is already shaping up to be another great year for Nintendo with the next Metroid title, amongst others, for Link’s next Wii incarnation, fans can only hope Nintendo will push the boundaries of what it means to play a Legend of Zelda game.