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Editorials   E3: Neal's Trip to the Nintendo Press Conference. A Lesson in Geekitude.
- By Neal Gittens [Associate Editor]

This morning, Nintendo unveiled to the public the details of its much anticipated games for the rest of this year and into the next, and as a first hand spectator, I can safely say that it was breathtaking.

As a member of the esteemed sports team, I am by definition asked to ascribe to you the details of the sports games shown. However, since in addition to being a sports team member, I am also a complete gaming geek, I will expand my range to include the entire range of the Nintendo showing. Mainly because, to attempt to repress my built up excitement right now would likely lead to my untimely death, which would put a major crimp in my ability to play Zelda tomorrow, which will definitely be a high point in my existence. (I may be a bit hyperbolic right now, but I have just witnessed some of the most incredible gaming footage of my life, so I consider it completely justified.)

OK, the show started with Peter McDougal, one of the big named higher-ups of Nintendo of America, welcoming everybody and running down the progress of the GBA and GameCube since their respective launches last year. After his progress report, he delved into the realm of upcoming games, and lead off with a big gun right off the bat, and showed a video trailer of Metroid Prime. To put it simply, I was stunned. To put it in less simple terms, I was shaking with anticipation and enjoyed bowel-looseningly beautiful shots of a game that has caused excitement across the board. Samus is back, and new perspective be damned, she is delivering the goods. Retro Studios’ first effort is turning out incredibly beautiful, and to see it in action is astounding. The first person display looks great, and the third person perspective for her ball form looks nice as well. The transition between the two is looking incredibly smooth as well. When Samus springs up out of her ball form, the camera smoothly pans in from the third person perspective into the first person. Wow. I could attempt to write more, but words escape me at this particular moment in time. I am on information overload, and will leave it to our colleagues at NShooters to give you the total rundown on this uncanny game.

Next of the big four shown was Starfox Adventures. Every time I have seen this game, it has looked better and better. This time was no exception. The game, as Metroid did, looks stellar. The in-game action runs as smooth as silk, and the cut scenes are gorgeous enough to drop most men to their knees. Again, to avoid writing endlessly about this game, I will leave it to the professionals at NShooters. To sum it up: This game will be well worth the (very extended) wait.

Up third was Super Mario Sunshine, which has previously existed only in video form. Many people have been critical of its visuals, saying that it doesn't move much beyond Mario 64, but to see it in motion is another story all together. It keeps the same general style as Mario 64, but with polished visuals, and to see it being played shows a whole plethora of new moves that have been added to Mario's repetoire. After the initial movie was shown to the crowd, and the rampant applause died down, Uncle Shiggy was called upon to demonstrate the game to the rabidly awaiting public. He appeared from the back of the room, playing on a Wavebird, much to the astonishment of the crowd. The game performed flawlessly as he strolled through the middle of the room, running, jumping, and blasting his water cannon on the screen.

A new usage for the water cannon was shown first in the movie, and then as Miyamoto-san continued to play. It can be used to shoot water downward as Mario jumps, acting as a type of jet-pack propulsion device. The water shot downward also will clean up the inky goo which is the reported main objective of the game. The goo itself was driven away by the water when it was sprayed, but would make a general mess of Mario when we would happen to wander through it. If he slid through it, he would leave a trail behind him of the inky goo when we reached clear ground again. The same would go for his footsteps. If he walked through it, he would leave inky footprints behind himself when he got back on clear land. This being the first extended look I got of the game, I was definitely more blown away than I expected to be. I hadn't gotten my hopes too high for this game, but after seeing it, I am now itching to play it tomorrow.

Batting cleanup for the Big 4 was Zelda, and when it hit the screen, it blasted the whole lineup out of the park. After such major criticism from the majority of the public for the better part of the last year, and Miyamoto's "wait and see" approach, this was definitely the most anticipated game of the entire Nintendo lineup. Having been a bit skeptical fom time to time, but still confident in Miyamoto's abilities and vision, I was chomping at the bit for it to be shown. The movie shown was yet another completely mind-numbing experience, and left me breathless. The fluid cel-shaded motion is absolutely flawless, and many gameplay elements were introduced. The biggest one in my mind was the fact that enemies will drop their weapons, which Link can then pick up and use himself. Quite cool.

Miyamoto also gave this one a demonstation to the public, and showed off a new tool, which looks similar to the hookshot in usage, but doesn't shoot straight outward in the same way as the hookshot. Miyamoto shot the grappling hook type device straight upwards and it had the same effect as throwing an actual grappling hook on a rope. Quite astounding. He also amused everyone there by not being able to locate a dropped enemy sword, which he needed to break down a mass of wooden planks covering the entrance to the next tunnel. It cut the demo a little shorter than it probably was supposed to, but he assured everyone that they would get a chance to play up to 5 boards of it for themselves at the actual show. Needless to say, those will not be demo kits that will lack attention.

Other games were shown in short video form. 1080: White Storm looked good, with shots of an avalanche following the rider, and crisp details like the clothing of the rider whipping in the wind. F-Zero looked nice as well, with intensely fast action.

I could ramble on and on, but will not. There will be no shortage of words written about the events of the following days, and any game you could possibly want to hear about, you will. So until myself and the NGenres team reports back in with more coverage, I shall digress.