The Advanced Media Network is proud to present live coverage of Nintendo’s Wii press conference in New York. The media briefing will be kicking off within the hour, and we’ll be updating this page throughout with the latest information on everything Wii.
Nintendo’s box-art for Wii
Note: All time stamps are in Eastern Standard Time
9:06: All of the press and online journalists have begun to flow into the auditorium, with plenty of TVs and playable Wii stations around the room. The live press conference will be beginning soon.
9:20: It has begun. Perrin Kaplan has come to the stage and says that the presentation will be around an hour. Then, journalists will get the rest of the morning and afternoon to test out the games for themselves. Now, Reggie Fils-Aime has come to the stage with a big applause from the crowd.
Entering the NY press conference.
9:22: Reggie has initially starts off his speech (which will include price, date, and launch title amount) with: “today marks our next plan step in driving this industry forward, a multi-step process of bringing innovation to the marketplace.” Reggie then explains: “But more importantly, today marks our next planned step in driving this industry forward.” He also mentions that the “next step in gaming is bringing gaming back to the masses.”
9:25: Reggie then mentions how the Nintendo DS has allowed Nintendo to expand the appeal of video games, “by changing the definition of what a video-game is.” Talked about is the example of the Touch Generations titles, as “supplementing your life instead of replacing it.” He also mentions the success of NEW Super Mario Bros. as selling over one million in 12 weeks (Represents 35% of all first party titles sold). The tough-gen DS titles have accounted for 39% respectively.
9:27: Moving on to the subject of the Wi-Fi Connection, Reggie mentions the 2 million unique users.
9:28: It is official. The Wii will go on sale November 19th. The worldwide debut happens in North America – the same place they debuted the DS. With over 25,000 points of distribution, the price will be $249.99, with one price, one configuration, and one color (Sleek White). This is a grand total of 4 million Wii consoles being available during the the 33 days between launch and December.
9:30: The box will include console, sensor bar, cables , one wii remote, one nunchuck. According to Reggie: “one central message for Wii; once you play it you’ll understand.” There will also be 40 demo units on display today with over two dozen games.
9:32: Eric Peterson is coming to the stage to demonstrate the Wii Bowling feature of Wii Sports. Peterson states that, “even if you never touched a game controller before, you’ll instantly be able to pick up a wii remote and start bowling strikes.”
5 titles confirmed for Wii Sports.
9:33: The bowling game within Wii Sports allows you to play with up to three of your friends (4 players total). The focus is then brought to Reggie, who confirms Wii boxing as part of the Wii Sports game package. As expected, the Wii Sports game will be bundled with every Wii in North America.
9:34: According to Reggie, “this means that Wii not only represents the best innovation in the industry, but the best value in the industry.” Reggie explains the “widest range of titles ever in the history of video-games,” referring the Wii.
9:35: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess will indeed be a Wii launch title. Excite Truck will also be at the system’s launch. Reggie exuberantly exclaims “if you would play Zelda today, for the rest of the 6 hours, you would barley scratch the game’s surface.”
9:37: Moving onto third-party releases, talked about are the 104 different titles at the Japanese press conference. As for third-party games available for play on the floor and during Wii’s launch, this includes Call of Duty 3, Trauma Center: Second Opinion, Need for Speed: Carbon, Madden NFL 07, Tony Hawk: Downhill Jam, Elebits, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz, Rayman: Raving Rabbids, Splinter Cell: Double Agent, Metal Slug, Blazing Angels, Far Cry, and many more.
9:39: We have the feeling that Metroid Prime: Corruption may not be a launch game. Details soon.
9:40: There will be 30 games available this year, with more than half of them being available available at launch for the Wii. Wii software will remain $49.99 for first-party games at least, with no mention of third-party MSRP pricing.
9:41: As for the Wii channels, they “can alter the relationship between everyone in the household and their tv screen. Not just virtual console, but a total effort to redefine who will use video games in the future.” Nintendo is trying to go for a universal appeal for the Wii as they did for the DS. When the Wii is connected to a TV and left in standby, it will have 12 Wii channels that are expandable. This includes the Wii Shop channel, the home of the Virtual Console for the system. Owners will be able to browse and download software within this channel. Also, Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong, The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario World, and Super Mario 64 have all been confirmed as Virtual Console titles for the Wii launch. There will be 30+ total legacy titles at launch, with 10 more each month. It will be 500 points for NES titles, 800 for SNES, and 1000 for N64 Virtual Console downloads (1 point is near equivalent to one $U.S. cent).
The Virtual Console game prices.
9:45: New pictures are available here.
9:46: The points can be obtained online or at retail, with 2000 points being $20. When a game is downloaded, it becomes its own channel on the Virtual Console menu.
The Wii Points card.
9:47: Bill Trinen from NOA is now up on the stage to demonstrate two other channels. There is no net connection for them. The Mii channel is a digital 3D characiture of friends, family – anyone you want to create. You’ll be able to make your own profile from scratch. Trinen is currently making Samuel L. Jackson in Mii mode, and after creation, the created characters is now hanging out with Iwata and Miyamoto on the screen.
It’s Samuel L. Jackson!
9:50: For the second part, Trinen talks about transportation. You will be able to transfer the Mii’s to your Wii remote, customizing your controller to have your favorite Mii’s. From here, you can bring them to other friends’ consoles for use in games such as Wii Sports. Plenty of options will be initially available with this system.
9:54: Moving onto the photo channel, Trinen explains the Wii’s capability to hold photos. They are all displayed in a really great menu system, with the SD card being taken straight out of the camera and being connected to the Wii. You can even do puzzles with your movies, allowing Wii owners to split a movie up into a bunch of pieces scattered together, and you’ll have to be putting them in the correct position (home-brew movies viewed and edited in real-time). All in all, the photo channel seems extremely fun and simple. It’s aimed at being an alternative to looking at pictures on your computer.
The menu system for Wii’s photo channel is quite snazzy.
9:56: Reggie has come back to the stage. He explains that when connected to the internet, users will have even more access with news and the weather channel. You can even leave people in your household messages with the Wii. Through Wii Connect24, you will be able to access game news and new game content even when you’re not using the Wii. Furthermore, the Wii internet channel allows usage of the Opera Browser to browse the web (Google, Yahoo etc.), by simply using the Wii remote. You will need to buy the browser using the Wii points. With the Wii, the TV screen replaces the PC screen. The presentation discusses a family looking at pictures of a resort, and then finding info about it using the internet channel online. The Wii channel system is available instantly, as soon as the system loads up. A Wii message board will also allow people to send messages and photos to other Wii owners, PCs, or cell-phones. You can leave messages on a calendar-based note system.
10:01: Nintendo explains that “once someone who sees all the other stuff about the Wii, like the channels and tries a game once, Nintendo’s mission is accomplished.” Explained further is the Wii console as the “latest means of growing the gaming audience.” Reggie then expresses that “Wii are intent on changing the way players connect to their games and any tv owner connects to the system.” Reggie says that the price point says “mass market” from day one.
Talk about archiving images!
10:04: The Q & A session has begun. Confirmed are prices for the included items with the launch package. The Wii remote will be $34.99, with the nunchuck also receiving a MSRP of $19.99. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for the GameCube will be released December 11th, while the Wii version will be out on launch day, November 19th.
As far as first-party titles are concerned, Wii Sports, Zelda, and Excite Truck will only be available at launch (all from Nintendo only). The Wii console will be Wi-Fi enabled, with the need of just a wireless router and will have support for ethernet cables through a peripheral. There will be no connection cost.
10:07: “Third party partners are being encouraged to price their content at an appropriate price, but a price that works for them.” Reggie then dodges a question of whether or not third-party titles will be $59.99. Again, a re-confirmation of 4 million consoles by December 31st as well. As for widescreen aspect ratio and graphical power, all of the first-party games will be wide-screen. Most if not all games will be wide-screen. Reggie: “We have a different paradigm for what turns on the consumer, our paradigm is about driving entertainment, access, and ease of application.”
The Wii will have multiple system channels.
10:09: Reggie then dodges a question of the graphical power of the Wii. “You’re gonna look at zelda and say wow,” he says. Regarding DS and Wii integration: “We are not announcing any specific details, but in the future you’ll hear much more about that.”
10:10: Confirmed: Metroid Prime 3: Corruption will be coming at 2007, not at launch. Also confirmed that Pokemon for Wii will be the first online multiplayer game. It will be launching in the Japan launch window (around early December). Nintendo is also considering in-game advertising, but nothing is official as of yet. Also, 2,000 Wii points will be $24 Canadian.
10:13: The Q & A seems like it is over.
Wii have a lot to play.
10:15: We will have hands-on game impressions as well as well as media/info from the official press kit shortly. In the meantime, check out our press conference photos. Stay tuned.
Press Kit Screenshots:
