At Nintendo’s E3 press event, Zelda and goofy cartoon games

Reminding an audience of video-game insiders of the importance of hits, Nintendo kicked off a press event at the E3 trade show with a demo of the next installment of its Legend of Zelda blockbuster series.

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The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword for the Wii comes out in 2011, about five year after the debut of the last Zelda title for the console. It has clever puzzles and cute game play in the action-adventure style. You swing a sword using the Wii MotionPlus controller—a signature feature of the popular, inexpensive gaming device—and protect yourself with a shield using a nunchuk attachment.

It’s a safe but expected game for Nintendo, which can dust off a billion-dollar franchise any time it wants to and introduce a new spellbinding version for its dedicated hardcore fans as well as mass-market gamers.

There was a lot of wireless interference on stage when Nintendo senior design director Shigeru Miyamoto showed it off on stage. Clearly, the Wii has its some limitations in accuracy of detecting your motion, leaving an opening for Microsoft and Sony with their new motion-sensing systems. Even so, the Zelda game and just about every other game announced got huge applause from the crowd. I tried it out after the press event and the slicing and dicing with the sword worked great.

Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America, said that Nintendo’s purpose is never to advocate technology for technology’s sake. Rather, it uses technology to deliver the best possible game experience to users, and that’s why its games are different.

Nintendo also promised to launch another GoldenEye 007 game based on the James Bond franchise. It arrives in stores this holiday on the Wii. That’s a bit of a surprise, since Nintendo hasn’t dropped hints about it (on purpose) yet. GoldenEye was one of the most popular video games in history when it debuted in 1997 as a first-person shooter.

Fils-Aime said that Wii game sales have been bigger than any other console in the 44 months that the game console has been on the market. Mario Kart Wii has sold 22 million copies and New Super Mario Bros. has sold 14 million units. About 177 Mii characters—online avatars used on the Wii console—have been created around the world.

New cartoon-style games coming are Mario Sports Mix, Wii Party, DragonQuest, Kirby and Just Dance 2. It is launching Golden Sun Dark Dawn for the Nintendo DS.

Warren Spector, head of Junction Point Studios at Disney, also came on stage to show off Disney Epic Mickey, which is a reinterpretation of Mickey Mouse’s mischievous character. It’s exclusive for the Wii and coming out this holiday.

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The hardcore game Metroid Other M, originally slated for May, will now come out on the Wii on Aug. 31. Retro Studios is making a new Donkey Kong title for the Wii.