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The Wii's casual appeal plays big in Wal-Mart and on Wall Street, but exercise games and Vitality Sensors don't go over as well with E3's hardcore gamer crowd. Nintendo hit the right balance this year, though — for every dancing game and sports compilation the company showed, it announced the return of multiple beloved franchises, with 2D platformers especially abundant.
Last year's biggest groaner, the Vitality Sensor, wasn't even name checked this year. Instead, we got the 3DS. I'll take that trade any day.
When in doubt, blame the Wi-Fi: Nintendo wasted little time (well, aside from a brief opening lecture from President Reggie Fils-Aime) in rolling out The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. Mario-creator Shigeru Miyamoto busted through a wall in the tradition of the Kool-Aid Man to deliver a live gameplay demo. Unfortunately, it didn't go over quite as planned — Miyamoto needed about 20 slingshot shots to finally kill a spider, and when he pulled out the bow and arrow Link spun in circles while looking at his shoes. Miyamoto pleaded Wi-Fi interference. The new whip weapon looked pretty fun, but control tweaks aside, I'm a bit worried about this Zelda isn't different enough.
Manage expectations: When Fils-Aime delivered the line, "Our goal is to provide new experiences for everyone," we knew what was coming: a sports game compilation (Mario-themed, at least) and another damn dancing game.
Put the gun down: News of a new GoldenEye 007 game starring Daniel Craig was exciting, if about eight years late — but then again, it's on the Wii. What was the last good shooter you played on Wii?
Best not-exactly-new IP: Deus Ex-creator Warren Spector showed off Epic Mickey, an action-platformer-RPG hybrid that lets you choose to create or destroy objects in the world via paint/paint thinner. How you balance those mechanics will act like a morality system. The most interesting part, though, was a Steamboat Willie-themed 'travel stage,' a black-and-white 2D-platformer level that makes me think that the other classic, Disney-themed levels could be quite cool.
Speaking of 2D platformers: Nintendo really catered to the old-time fans with a pair of 2D platformers, Kirby's Epic Yarn and Donkey Kong Country Returns. Despite a weak lead in from Fils-Aime ("Should Kirby stick to his knitting? Or spin a yarn that has never been spun before?") the fans were freaking out for Kirby's new style and car/UFO/giant-robot-morphin' moves. The crowd loved DK Country Returns (from acclaimed developer Retro) as well; both are due out by the end of the year.
Best hardware announcement of E3: 3DS, far and away. Sony is rushing into 3D for consoles before the technology is at the no-glasses stage, but Nintendo's already there, if only on a handheld. The 3DS might have more potential for interesting gameplay innovation than Kinect or Move at this point, and it'll be of the non-Yoga game variety, too. Can't wait to try the outward-facing 3D camera, either.
The slow-burn rumor that finally came true: A new Kid Icarus, subtitled Uprising. We've been hearing murmurs about a new episode in this long-dormant franchise for year, and here it is. While we only got to see 2D movies of the game in action, the visual improvement over regular DS games was obvious (assuming it's representative of the final product).
