9:02 a.m.: Lights dim. Show is about to begin. Bozon is crying like a little girl and clutching his hands.
"These videogamers are all alike..." says an opening. Didn't catch it all, but we think the point is to show how different Wii is. Montage of stuff. Fan-made Mario video. Someone talking about N65. News person chats about DS. DS scrolls on two screens to the left and right of the center. Montage continues. Newspaper articles. Basically, the whole thing is showcasing how all the media whoring DS and Wii have received. The piece is well-edited, we'll give them that. Nintendo fans in the auditorium applaud.
"My name is Reggie, and I am happy," says Reggie. "To us, today is more than a press conference and a business meeting. We see today as a celebration. And by that, I don't mean just a celebration for Nintendo, but for all of us. Because we think this E3 marks a turning point..." Mor
9:07 a.m.: 18-24 audience has more than doubled. Reggie calls this type of growth "unprecedented."
Talking female gamers. For everybody except Nintendo, it's an 80/20 split, 80% being men, of course. For Nintendo, though, it's 67% men and 33% women. "This, too, is driving Nintendo's business. In fact, the Nintendo DS may be the beacon that's lighting the way to the future of the entire gaming industry."
9:15 a.m. Says developers are taking notice. Between now and the holidays, NA players can expect another 140 titles for the DS and another 100 games for Wii.
9:20 a.m. Introduces the Wii zapper. Sweet new gun mode. Nunchuk rests on back. Wii remote up front. Quasi-shotgun design. Works with Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles. Will package Wii Zapper this year along with a new Nintendo game made for the device. Retail price: $19.99.
9:25 a.m.: Talks about Soulcalibur Legends for Wii, WWE for Wii and Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword for DS. Talks about Square Enix's Dragon Quest Swords. "You'll be playing this new Dragon Quest early next year," he says.
Now mentions Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games. Shows footage of Mario and Sonic sprinting. Looks good.
Leads into Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Mentions the different controller options. "The Smash comunnity is stoked, but when? Not next year. Not next spring. I can announce today that Smash Bros. Brawl will launch in the Americas on December 3."
9:28 a.m.: Well, maybe not so much in regard to new video footage. Reggie is back on stage. He invites "Mike" and Bill Trinen to the stage to demonstrate The Legend of Zelda: Phantam Hourglass. Now we can stop whining.
9:31 a.m. Metroid Prime 3 demo! We are in love.
9:38 a.m.: WiiWare. Says it'll begin next year. "And today, I can announce a new channel. One devotes specifically to the phenomenon known as Miis. Called Check Mii Out, it's all about creating and showing off Miis. There will be contests based on this functionality, etc."
9:40 a.m.: Square's DQM: Joker will go online with Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.
Guitar Hero 3 Legends of Wii means that "you can now walk into the Wii hours," says Reggie.
"All of this should at least suggest that we're serious about letting you show your stuff online."
Mario Kart for Wii goes online in the first quarter of next year! "This is not your father's Mario Kart." Online multiplayer battle mode, too. "We also think more racers means more fun. How many more? Well, stay tuned."
Shows off custom Wii wheel that will debut with Mario Kart for Wii. Pretty awesome? Yes.
9:55 a.m.: Reggie's back. Brain Age 2 will be here on August 2. Now he's talking about Super Mario Galaxy. "In one sense, this is the first worthy successor to Super Mario 64, with varying degrees of gravity and the odd sensation of running upside-down on a planet. We believe this sets the new gold standard. " Mario is dressed like a bumblebee and flying around in gameplay footage. Sweet. Some of the levels shown remind us of the bonus stages from Sunshine, which were cool. Sunshine hits November 12 in the US. Awesome.
10:00 a.m.: Where is Miyamoto? Show us this crazy new game. (Can't stop thinking about Mario in the bee costume. This will haunt our dreams until we play Galaxy.)
"The last game we're featuring today takes our big league in audience expansion and effectively laps the field."
Wii Fit is introduced.
It's a scale-like device. Have to balance in the different zones. Holy sweet Jebus, yes, this is pretty much exactly what Nintendo needed! People are doing push-ups on the device. Yoga. Dancing. This is so rockin'! This single game will sell 200 billion copies. Soccer demo. You have to lean forward and head-butt balls as they fly toward you. Dancing game.
Body mass index shown for the game. It measures all sorts of data, obviously.
Thsi is going to rule the mainstream. Expect to read a ga-trillion articles about this in the media over the next six months. There are more than 40 activities in the game. Big round of applause for the demo.
10:17 a.m.: Show is over.