E3 2007 Liveblog Archive

Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker will also use WFC, for the DS.

Guitar Hero III, on Wii will also use WFC.

Online "battle of the bands"

Exclusive Wireless Les Paul controller.

One more announcement...

Start your engines

MARIO KART WII ONLINE

1Q 08

Video shown, looks great.

Online MP battle mode!

"more racers, more fun -- how many? stay tuned"

Custom Wii Wheel, Debut's with Mario KArt Wii

The Wheel has the potential to level the track for beginners.

It comes packaged with MK software.

Mario Kart Wii in Q1 2008... online battle mode and variety of controls.

More media videos, talking about Wii Sports, how golf, bowling, is popular among all ages.

Non-game videos, like Brain Age for DS, more media talking.

Reggie back again - products aimed squarely at the "bulls eye"

Here comes non-game talk, along with it.. Mr. Iwata takes the stage.

30 years ago, he says there were not many gamers.

He wants everyone to find the same enjoyment he was having, so to do this, they needed to respond with new proposals and tangible products.

Nintendogs and Brain Age, worked on the DS and were appreciated by many people.

With Wii, Sports has been a success, causing people to sweat in their own living rooms.. It attracts many people who had never played before.

Iwata's looking a little gray. Wonder what his brain age is.

Iwata too, has had a paradigm shift in his own living room.

DS cookbook software in Japan makes him prepare dinner for his family on his days off.

He needs to focus 100% on his onion chopping, and forget his job at that time.

He says gamers fear that Nintendo has lost their passion for traditional games.

More importantly, he asks that those veterans need to remmeber, their very first day as gamers.

Picture of miyamoto playing mario world.

He's definitely aware of the "non-game" fears. A good tale of market expansion.

Today, Nintendo is seeing that it's not impossible to expand the gaming population.

Their next immediate challenge is: "To destroy the psychological barrier that separates veteran gamers from novice players"

Nintendo would like to make new proposals that their product be classified that "this game is for beginners, that one is for pros"

Games are for everyone.

Iwata talks about the zapper again - it erases the complexity of high barriers for casual players to overcome.

Nintendo continues to challenge themselves for new themes for games.

They seek titles in their immediate interests, and easily played by everyone.

At the same time, the contents of those games should be scalable - with enough sophistication and challenge for veteran players.

In a few minutes Miyamoto will show a new title. that meets that goal.

Playing together. I like what this man is saying.

Video - small family interview about the wii, and how much they use it.

MARIO GALAXY VIDEO

They got to play it, apparently. lots of video of things we havent seen yet, but it's focusing more on the family (Gah!)

What will it tale to get Galaxy in MY house?!

Talking about brain age on the DS, more and more stuff about the family mechanics that change around the Nintendo systems.

Reggie is back, and talking about Brain Age 2 in Japan.

It's in the US on Aug. 20

Mario Galaxy will release on NOV 12

This is the first "WORTHY SUCCESSOR" to Mario 64

He has a BEE OUTFIT.

MySims coming to Wii and DS, looks like animal crossing meets habbo.

OMG HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL! WOOOOOOO!

Hopefully you could tell that was sarcasm.

But hey, Raving Rabbids 2 is coming!

Vision Training game ("Flash Focus in the US") goes from visual tests to batting practise...

Ubisoft has a whole "Coach" series of games coming.

This all comes from the popularity of Wii Sports..

Vaulted from pure fun, to more beneficial.

Another Wii sports media montage.

Video of Conan O'brien playing the wii included.. More short youtube vids.

The last games they're featuring today... takes a big lead and "laps the field"

WiiFit

Its a freaking board you stand on.

You must balance on it, looks almost like a scale.. But there's yoga work outs and different moves you must do.

Push ups.

This is insane.

Hoola Hooping.

Note to self: cancel gym membership.

Headbutting soccerballs so people dont score.

DANCING!

BMI calculator, this is pretty sweet.

Wii Fit, with special balancing controller you stand on, do push-ups on... looks like a scale.

People taking stage, look to be demoing it now.

Miyamoto takes stage as well, with Trinen beside him to translate

"have you all been getting your sweat on latley"

"The one game I wanted to introduce was this game, WiiFit."

"When we first were thinking up the concept for Wii, this is what we thought: We thought the wii would be a device placed in the living room, as such, it needed to be relevant to everyone in the household"

3 fitness trainers are going to demonstrate the activities.

One legged stretch.

Miyamoto introduces Wii Fit.

The screen shows your centre of balance.. the calibration here is off, so it's flying everywhere on the screen.

Next is StepArobics

You match the timing of the icons and the music.

Blue icons determine side stepping, which increases difficulty.

Thirdly, is the sideways twist.

You twist your body to the left and right, but you must keep your centre of gravity in the blue zone. IT ensures that you're doing it correctly.

It'll be on the show floor for us to try.

Aerobics
Muscle Conditioning
Yoga Poses
Balance Games


40 activities in the game.

The device is called the "WiiBalance Board"

Board can measure your weight, your balance shifts, and they can use it as a new interface for games, which allow full body movement for control input.

It's wireless too, so you can use itanywhere in the room.

Wii Fit seemed to need a little work-there were several instances where the calibration was off.

One more important element of the software.. the idea of measurement.

Miyamoto is going to do a body check on Reggie.

No, not the hockey kind.

He's wearing heavy clothing.. making jokes about it.

Miyamoto chooses light.

"Should I give you my wallet?"

"You can give me your wallet any time, Reggie."

Miyamoto shows off the Wii Balance Board... it's wireless and can even be used for other games. Also contains a "body check" measurement that Reggie is doing. Looks like it's measuring his weight.

It shows how Reggie's gravity shifted during the the test.

He's 45/55% L/R

Does he maintain daily posture?

Reggie's BMI is 27.51

HE IS OVERWEIGHT.

"Just remember, muscle is heavier than fat!"

Miyamoto : "Good Excuse."

Miyamoto Vs Reggie: Soccer Headding Competition.

First to 20 wins.

Reggie Won.

Reggie's overweight, BMI 27. "Muscle is heavier than fat," Reggie says. "Good excuse," Miyamoto responds in English.

Reggie is happy - Nintendo still isnt satisfyed.

It's a remarkable time for a remarkable industry.. Lots of talent fueling the growth.

One more thing at work beyond creativity: Leadership.

This is Nintendo's moment to lead.

Event is over, signing off.

See ya at Sony in an hour or so.

On the way to see Sony now. General mood is slightly disappointed over the lack of new games of interest shown.

And we're off and on the shuttle to Sony's show up in Culver City at the Sony studios. Lots of fun stuff coming up today including playtime at the Barker Hangar. Stay tuned for Sony updates as we arrive...

Yeah, we're disappointed.. But I'm so excited for Wii Fit. We're on our way to the Sony conference. Maybe there'll be cool swag here at last?

I wonder if Wii Youtube Montage will be released this year. Clearly the hit of the show!

The tasty continues on the Sony backlots with drinks and foods.

Post-mini-quiches and ample mimosas we are second row at Sony's show, filled with mystery fog, spinny purple lights, giant giant screens, and a surprisingly small amount of seating. Plushy white carpet is comfy below our feet. A single glass pedestal sits on-stage, looking sort of short to be a podium and sort of tall to be a seat.

We've been told to turn off audio and video RF transmitters. No countdown yet.

Ten minutes to go.

Take your seats. Five minutes.

Two minutes and we are go.

The noisy video has begun!

Jack Tretton from Home to stage.

Jack Tretton presenting, seems really relaxed. "A few surprises" today. "Games, games, and more games."

Leading off with PS2. Still going strong, especially with GoW. Also with casual titles like Singstar.

Patapon looks pretty sweet! Sonic Rivals dropping frames like crazy.

Castlevania looks really impressive.

Talking about the strength of PS2, 140 games coming to PSP this year. Quick overview of PSP games... Socom, Wipeout Pulse, Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow, NBA08, God of War: Chains of Olympus, Silent Hill Origins, Patapon, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08, Sonic Rivals 2, Sims 2: Castaway, SWAT Target Liberty, Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions, Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles. Scattered applause.

Pretty sure that PSP video output demo zap staged-looked too hi res.

New PSP colours? I wish Nintendo would do the same with their Wii.

It's... Chewbacca.

New PSP is 33 percent lighter, slimmer, longer battery, can output high quality video. He is outputting video from Spiderman 2 on the big screen. Looks pretty nice. Can also output your games to the TV as well. Comes in black and in North America comes in new color ice silver. Sparkly. PSP entertainment pack w/ memory card, Jak, and Family Guy in November.

Seriously, what th heck?

(He's selling a special Star Wars PSP bundle.)

Phil Harrison is up to talk about the Playstation Network. Little dig at Microsoft about no limit to PSN game filesizes. More than 80 PSN games in development. First is a new title, echochrome. Very simplistic clean wire frame graphics. Really clever-looking.

Phil says a puzzle game called echochrome is coming. Looks spiffy, employing perspective shifts to move around effectively. They're learning!

I absolutely NEED this echochrome game. Serious Escher vibe. Too bad it will never be on WiiWare.

They're gabbing about other games now-I can't forget echochrome. I need a PSP now.

Whereas echochrome was a very simple escher-esque puzzle game, WipeoutHD, Pain, Warhawk and Socom Confrontation look much more involved.

Dean and Amy are in Phil's home on the wall!

Home is certainly feature-rich, but it still weirds me out graphically.

Phil's playing Motorstorm through the PS3 Home service. Any game can be launched through Home as a lobby.

Trailers for Call of Duty 4, Assassin's Creed, Kane & Lynch, RE5, Burnout Paradise, Madden 08, Harry Potter, Simpsons, Guitar Hero III

Continuing PS3 trailers... MoH Airborne, Rock Band.

Kojima-san on stage to present Metal Gear Solid 4. This is the last Metal Gear game and my last participation in the series, Kojima says. Stealth game but also elements in the battlefield. "I'm putting all my effort, all my skills into this game." Real-time trailer follows now. Looks really smooth. Early 2008 simultaneous worldwide release.

Moving on to the first-party PS3 titles. Ratchet and Clank Future; Tools of Destruction. Short trailer. Folklore, a "dark fairytale RPG." Heavenly Sword. NBA08. LittleBigPlanet. Still looks pretty neat. "play, create, share," Harrison says. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. A game from Suckerpunch, sandbox game called Infamous. All playable today after the conference.

Realtime Killzone being demoed live to wrap up the show. Looks good, but is it on the level of the older alleged "realtime" footage? Not really... but still graphically quite impressive. Some frame rate stuttering and somewhat long "saving" pauses mid-game.

I think we're finally done here... Jack's wrapping up.

And we're out.

Sony's demo room is insane... more free food and open bar with various demo stations.

Still can't stop thinking about echochrome. That game will haunt me all day, I think. That and Crush might get me to get a PSP.

On the shuttle from Sony's press conference back to the Fairmont and then to Barker Hangar where we'll see just what's on display. Later today we have interviews and meetings with THQ and Nintendo...

Well, we're here in the media center - it is totally swank.

In about half an hour we'll be hitting up THQ and then immediately after we'll be going to our Nintendo Interview (which we hope to have transcribed immediately afterward).

On the way to THQ meeting. The beach sure is pretty if you ignore the scads of blanket-heaped vagrants on it!

Just got out of THQ after trying De Blob and Drawn to Life... we'l have some impressions up later as there was no signal in the hotel basement. Now off to Nintendo...

Here we are for our interview... we'll try to have that transcribed by this evening and go get some playtime at Barker Hangar. Stay tuned for our continuing live coverage from E3 07!

Taking the swanky EA truck limo to Barker Hangar by an extreme stroke of luck.

It's no LACC.

And so, my life was complete.

Matt falls victim to my precise Wii Zapper aim. LIKE A BULLET TO THE HEEEAAART

Dean just ordered a well-done steak. I... I am just really not sure what to say.

In the hotel after a long day of E3 stuffs and bus rides. Ate an evening meal and rode past the Viceroy which is lit up with blue and green lights due to being rented out by Microsoft for something. Now off to the stupid Harry Potter movie because I am in the voiceless minority and life is a cruel mistress.

We are awake, and will be transcribing our interview shortly - expect some impressions and goodies to follow shortly after we get some food in our tummys.

Another morning, this one extended a little bit to allow our weary souls to recover from another long evening. Today we have our interview hitting the site as well as various impressions of some of the Wii and DS games that scattered the Barker Hangar. Later on today we'll have more playtime with the Barker Hangar games, a meeting with Atlus, and extended play sessions with Super Mario Galaxy, Wii Fit, Phantom Hourglass, and other first-party Nintendo titles. Stay tuned for the passion, the heartache, the triumph, the disappointment, and... the joy.

Brandon, playing Kororinpa: "I would be pretty unhappy if I were a completely spherical dog."

While we're finishing up our content from last night and preparing to head out, Amy and the rest of us try our hands at Kororinpa. There are rumblings of going to the Home of the Beef Bowl for lunch. I heard it was actually a bowl made entirely out of beef like a bread bowl but beefy. It's just the word on the street.

Back down the pier from eating and on the way to Nintendo playtime. The ocean is so big that it could eat me whole!

Here's the exterior of the Loews Santa Monica where Nintendo's doing their interviews and demos. We just got done with Nintendo's play session and we're on the way to Barker for some more hands-on. Got some good time in with Wii Fit, Flash Focus, Mario Galaxy, and Metroid Prime 3. More from the show floor!

Matt's checking out Dewy's Adventure from Konami, wherein you are Dewy and you must save other Dewy-esque creatures. It is controlled by tilting! Off to the background of this picture you can see some newbs getting owned at the woefully difficult Contra 4.

Just had our meeting with Atlus. Trauma Center: New Blood looks pretty cool and has a Wi-Fi score ranking, got a couple quirky Japanese fighting/rhythm games and they're giving out little pens that look like syringes. A little more playtime here and we're out to the Fairmont, dinner, and later the Microsoft C3 event.

Oh yeah, Kevin Pereira, Morgan Webb, and Olivia Munn are here broadcasting live from the hangar. It's a pretty big to-do over at the edge of the floor. Maybe you've caught a glimpse of us on TV today!

The stubby little Cokes they have in the media center are very stubby and little.

We're here in line at the C3 E3 Microsoft party at the Viceroy hotel. It starts in about a half an hour but people are starting to "queue up" already. How cool-citing!

We are rocking out at Microsoft's sweet party. Open bar will be the death of me!

We are still at the Microsoft party and there's some sort of weird interview going on next to us! This is some crazy stuff. P.S. Peter Moore is walking around talking to ladies

We're taking off from the Microsoft party at about 11:50 and heading back to the hotel after an enjoyable evening. We even met Peter Moore! More tomorrow.

We had a great time at the C3 event, with much thanks to Microsoft.

We ran into Peter Moore, and tons of other important people, such as Major Nelson.

Pictured left is Brandon and I with Peter Moore, moments before we told him we worked for a Nintendo site, to which he replied:

"Oh, so you drink our drinks and eat our food.. Go play our games or be on your way!"

We told him we would do so, but before departing he said: "Say hi to Reggie for me."

Good times tonight.

An entertaining morning today! We had a ton of play-time with Mario Galaxy which has gotten five times sweeter since last year, and some fun with Metroid and the upcoming Mario Strikers Charged. Went and checked out Spyro for the Wii behind closed doors over at Vivendi, too. Now for some food and then later to Konami and a meeting with Nyko! Stay tuned kiddies!

"Come on by, guys, and play some Yugioh with us! The number one trading card game in Ameri... the WORLD!"

Just shuffled some stuff around and went see Nyko and their Wii Party Station, a new and exciting way to hold chips. E3's all of a sudden just about over with a Konami meeting and a couple of hours left at Barker Hangar...

Wii Fit makes people look stupid.

And that about wraps it up for the E3 show proper! We're off to Japan Town for some delicious foods and a last evening out before we all head out tomorrow. Watch later on and in the upcoming days for more impressions, opinions, and the N-Depths you've grown to love from the site who brought you (probably) the only persistently live E3 2007 blog. Thanks for reading!

We are off to get delicious ramens in Little Tokyo!