Crusader Videos

For the Nintendo Crusader videos please visit:
http://www.youtube.com/group/NintendoCrusade

DS Headset

DS headset headed to stores next month

Earpiece-microphone combo to be used for voice chat in Pokemon games; online retailer pegs a $14.99 price point for new peripheral.

By Brendan Sinclair, GameSpot

Posted Mar 15, 2007 5:10 pm PT

The official Nintendo DS headset.

With next month's DS releases of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl supporting online voice chat between players, Nintendo today confirmed that it would produce a new headset for its portable system that would facilitate that feature.

While a Nintendo representative would only confirm the headset as being released roughly alongside the new Pokemon games, the online store of retailer GameStop has a product listing for the headset specifying an April 23 shipping date with a $14.99 price tag. Pokemon Diamond and Pearl are both expected to ship April 22.

Sony's PlayStation Portable Japan Shipments Trail DS

An article from Blooberg.com

By Pavel Alpeyev

March 14 (Bloomberg) -- Sony Corp., the world's biggest maker of game consoles, shipped 5 million PlayStation Portable machines in Japan by the end of January, lagging behind Nintendo Co.'s DS handheld devices by about three to one.

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.'s spokesman, Satoshi Fukuoka, gave the PSP shipment numbers in a phone interview today, confirming an earlier report by the Nikkei newspaper. Both the DS and PSP went on sale in Japan in December 2004.

Nintendo, the world's biggest maker of handheld players, has shipped 14.4 million DS units in Japan by the end of 2006, the Kyoto-based company said, giving its latest available figures.

Sony Chief Executive Officer Howard Stringer is facing declining profit for the group because of losses at the game unit on costs related to the PlayStation 3 and slower-than-expected PSP sales. The company is losing market share to Nintendo's DS, which attracts users with the help of a touch-sensitive screen and games that let them play Frisbee with virtual pets.

Wii sales in Japan totaled 1.69 million units as of Feb. 25, compared with 700,747 for PS3, according to Enterbrain Inc., a Tokyo-based research firm. Consumers are attracted to the Wii's price, at half that of the least-expensive PlayStation 3, and a wireless controller that can be swung like a bat or tennis racquet during play.

PlayStation 3 production snags created supply problems during the holiday shopping season, forcing Sony to concede market share to the Wii. Sony is relying on sales of Bravia TVs and Cyber-shot cameras to make up for losses at the game business.

Wider Loss

Tokyo-based Sony in January forecast losses at the games unit to exceed its October forecast of 200 billion yen ($1.7 billion) for the year ending March 31, because of price cuts to fend off the Wii. The loss will be less than 250 billion yen, Sony said.

The company cut the price of the PS3 in Japan after consumers there complained the player was too expensive compared with players from Nintendo and Microsoft Corp. The PlayStation 3 includes a Blu-ray DVD player that allows users to watch movies in a high-definition format, in addition to playing games.

Both the Wii and PlayStation 3 were introduced in November as competitors to Microsoft's Xbox 360, which was released in 2005. The Wii's $250 price tag compares with $499 and $599 for the PlayStation 3. The Xbox 360 sells for $299 and $399.

Spectrobes Press Release

For those of you who don't know what this is, it's a game similar in some aspects to pokemon. You find and raise creatures all the while traveling throughout the galaxy, this game is release and on the Nintendo DS platform.

The press release:

BURBANK, Calif. - March 13, 2007 - The wait has finally ended for one of the most anticipated original Nintendo DS video games ever. Spectrobes, the anime-inspired action roleplaying game from Disney Interactive Studios, is now available at retail stores worldwide. Already well known and eagerly awaited among its target audience, Spectrobes is poised to become a global phenomenon as players experience the engaging single-player story, tournaments, code input card system, and full-featured online community.

Utilizing all the features of the Nintendo DS, Spectrobes includes a compelling story that takes players to planets throughout the galaxy. Using the stylus, button controls, and microphone, players will experience gameplay that includes exploration, excavation, awakening, and battle. Extending beyond the single-player experience are a Wi-Fi feature that allows the player to download new content and access results online, and a local wireless feature that offers the opportunity to trade with or battle other Spectrobes players.

"The anticipation for Spectrobes has been overwhelming. The game's innovative features, compelling fiction and addictive gameplay have generated a tremendous amount of excitement among consumers of all ages," said Craig Relyea, Vice President of Marketing, Disney Interactive Studios. "Like KINGDOM HEARTS, we expect Spectrobes to be an important game franchise for the company for many years to come."

Spectrobes follows the story of two planetary patrol officers, Rallen and Jeena, who embark on missions as they travel throughout the Nanairo planetary system collecting mysterious fossilized creatures known as Spectrobes. The Spectrobes hold the key to defeating the merciless Krawl from achieving their goal of galactic domination. Players will search seven planets to find and acquire fossils and minerals. Once a fossil has been located, the player will delicately excavate the fossil from the ground using the stylus on the touch screen to access a variety of tools from different-sized drills to an acidic solvent that melts away debris. When dust particles cloud the specimen, players can clear the surface by blowing on the microphone.

Once fossils are obtained, they are awakened in Rallen's spaceship laboratory using an instrument that relies on the player's voice. Maintaining the correct volume and pitch will awaken fossils to become Spectrobes. (If players prefer to remain silent, they can carefully blow on the microphone, creating varying sounds that result in a more challenging but equally rewarding result.) As creatures are obtained and awakened, they'll be nurtured with minerals in an incubation room to evolve into stronger creatures. The player will then need to select two powerful Spectrobes to accompany Rallen into epic battles against the enemy Krawl.

Code Input Cards

Included in each Spectrobes game is a pack of four translucent lenticular code input cards, perfect for collecting and trading. Once players unlock the special ability in the game, they can fit a code input card over the Nintendo DS touch screen and use the stylus to consecutively tap numerical holes in the cards, unlocking new content, which includes creatures and minerals. Along with inclusion in game packages, additional trading cards will be available through various promotions.

Wireless Modes and Tournaments

Once awakened and trained, Spectrobes are powerful creatures that can be used by Rallen to not only battle against the Krawl, but also take on other players and their creatures locally via wireless gameplay. Players can trade content with others, enter a one-on-one battle with a friend, or participate in an organized tournament. Tournaments include 3 to 16 players with one player serving as the "matchmaker." The "matchmaker" determines how many rounds of battle will be required, pairs combatants, and determines final rankings based on reviewing each participant's results.

Downloadable Content and Online Community

Players can also earn the ability to download content such as creatures, custom parts, minerals, and videos through the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. By logging on each week, players will obtain and accrue points that can be traded in for content. Also, once connected to the Internet, the Nintendo DS will generate a personal Planetary Patrol badge number that can be synchronized to each player's profile page on the Spectrobes web site. Once connected to their game results, players' profiles will include information about their Spectrobes creatures, armor, and weapons. In addition, a leaderboard on the web site will track the top scores from several special sequence battles in the game, allowing players to show their success to a global audience. Players can also view their friends' profiles by accessing their created names. By completing specific accomplishments in the game, players can also earn "badges" to showcase on their online profile.

Developed by Kyoto, Japan-based Jupiter Corporation, Spectrobes is rated E for Everyone by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) and has a suggested retail price of $29.99.

For more information about Spectrobes, please visit: www.spectrobes.com.

About Jupiter Corporation

With headquarters in Kyoto, Japan, Jupiter Corporation designs and develops interactive entertainment software and publishes video game titles licensed by Nintendo. Jupiter's motto is "Let's Play! Let's Smile!" and they continue to push boundaries with innovation and creativity. For more information, please log on to: www.jupiter.co.jp/company.

About Disney Interactive Studios

Disney Interactive Studios is the interactive entertainment affiliate of The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS). Disney Interactive Studios self-publishes and distributes a broad portfolio of multi-platform video games and interactive entertainment worldwide. The company also licenses properties and works directly with other interactive game publishers to bring products for all ages to market. Disney Interactive Studios is based in Glendale, Calif., and has four internal game development studios around the world including Avalanche Software, Fall Line Studio, Propaganda Games, and Climax Racing. For more information, please log on to: www.disney.com/videogames.

Gamespy partners with Nintendo!

In a recent deal, gamespy has partnered with nintnedo to enhance online play! Since the release of Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection nintendo was on it's own. But now witha centralized hub, this could mean the end of friend codes and trouble getting on the server. As in the words of borat, Great Success

Source- Joystiq

Aonuma reflects on Zelda

The following is an article from gamespot.com

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess was almost the last-ever Zelda, Nintendo's manager of software development, Eiji Aonuma, said. Speaking through a translator, he told how the previous game, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, hadn't been hugely popular in Japan, although it had been reasonably well received in the West. One of the reasons for this was that the Japanese market in general was moving away from games, he said, and this was well publicised and known as "gamer drift."

So, to make a successful game that would appeal to this disenchanted audience and continue his beloved Zelda series, Aonuma said, "We needed a new style of gameplay to breathe life into the market."

Eiji Aonuma poses for photos before his talk.

Aonuma was speaking at the Game Developers Conference in a talk titled "The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Reflections in the Hourglass." The event was hugely popular, and before he started the talk, Aonuma posed for photos and signed autographs while a long line of attendees filtered in hunting for seats in the hall.

The company found that Wind Waker's cartoon-like graphics were alienating the lucrative teen audience in North America, who would look at games of that style and think they were for kids, he continued. With the Japanese market in the midst of the dreaded gamer drift, and the North American market much stronger, Nintendo decided to give the US what it wanted--a realistic Zelda. He said, "We had to make a game that met expectations of fans in North America. If it didn't, it could mean the end of the franchise."

The decision was also made for Link to have the ability to turn into a wolf. "This kind of disruptive breakthrough was just what we needed for the staff to change their way of thinking."

But still, the game needed something more, something to make it truly innovative. It was around this stage that Aonuma was talking to Nintendo senior managing director Shigeru Miyamoto, who told him something along the lines of, "It's as though the Revolution (later renamed the Wii) was designed just for Zelda! Why don't you try making a Zelda for the Revolution?" In the end, believes Aonuma, the kind of direct control offered by the Wii Remote was exactly what was needed to breathe life into the game.

So the decision was made to bring the game to the Wii. "Creating a launch title was a first for the Zelda franchise, and we had no idea what a challenge it would be," he told the audience.

The company also felt strongly that it did not want to disappoint all the GameCube owners who had been waiting patiently since the game's announcement back in 2002, so it decided to push the game back to 2006 to be able to release it on both formats.

Developers experimented with switching to a first-person session for Twilight Princess' combat sequences with Link's sword movements being controlled by moving the Wii remote. However, it soon became apparent that there was a fundamental problem with this idea. "Link is left-handed, so when a right-handed player swings the sword, it felt awkward...so we abandoned the idea." In the end, the problem was partly resolved by flipping the world laterally to make Link right-handed.

Aonuma said he realised that the game was a success when, "I saw some of our female employees swinging a sword to defeat a huge monster. Then I was convinced Zelda had been reborn."

He also filled in some gaps on the upcoming Nintendo DS version of the series--The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. There will be a Wi-Fi-enabled battle mode nicknamed Wi-Fi Hide and Seek. The game is a Pac-Man-style chase, with two players taking on red and blue versions of Link.

Players must pick up "force gems" to see the positions of the phantoms on the board. However, carrying these also has a penalty--they will slow the player down, making it easier for the player to be caught. The other controls the phantoms, using the stylus to move them around to chase Link and hopefully bring him down. Aonuma commented, "The more you play, the more you get to experience the other player's habits, so it's very addictive."

Super Paper Mario Gameplay Videos

Gamespot currently has 3 videos showcasing the gameplay of SPM. Videos may be viewed here:
http://www.gamespot.com/wii/rpg/superpapermario/media.html

Big Names "On-Track"

According to a recent interview with Beth Llewellyn, (Senior Director of Corporate Communications, Nintendo of America) Metroid Prime: Corruption, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and Super Mario Galaxy are all "On-Track" in 2007.

Game Developers Conference Recap

The G.D.C. is the game developers conference, this is where Zelda: Phantom Hourglass was announced last year just f.y.i. News from the conferenceL

*Nintendo showing off Pokemon Diamond/Pearl English version

Pokemone:Diamond/Pearl Hands-on (from gamespot)

Among the handful of games on display at the Nintendo booth at GDC 2007 is a time-limited demo of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl for the Nintendo DS. As has been tradition with the Pokémon series, the core gameplay will be identical between the two games, with the defining differences being which Pokémon you'll be able to catch and train. Nintendo and Game Freak seem to be taking a pretty
laissez-faire approach to its first set of traditional Pokémon games for the DS, and even though it had been a while since we'd gone hands-on with a Pokémon game, we briskly fell into the familiar rhythms of the franchise.

The demo started off in Jubilife City, where we controlled a prototypically fresh-faced Pokémon trainer, ready to explore the world and throw down in some Pokémon battles. While chatting with a few other Pokémon trainers, we were given a Pokémon watch, or Pokétch for short, which appeared as a digital watch face on the bottom screen of the DS, and iteven included a crude, monochrome LCD version of Pikachu in the corner. As we wandered around Jubilife City, we crossed paths with several other enthusiastic Pokémon trainers, and as is tradition, we found ourselves getting into some friendly Pokémon duels.

Based on what we saw, the game certainly looks a step up from the last Pokémon games for the Game Boy Advance. The characters and environments seen while exploring the world at large appeared with greater detail and richer, more vibrant colors. The combat also looks better, with greater animations and special attack effects. Our initial impression of the gameplay, though, didn't feel much different from any of the other core Pokémon games. We would pit our team of Pokémon against that of another trainer, and our Pokémon would take turns beating the snot out of each other until one of the teams was incapacitated. There was some DS touch-screen functionality in the battle menus, though we found that we could also just as easily use the D pad and face buttons on the DS.

This style of gameplay has served the series really well thus far, so the similarity of the action to past Pokémon games isn't inherently a bad thing. Of course, the real Pokémaniacs out there will be excited about all of the new breeds of Pokémon to be found in Diamond and Pearl. In our brief time with the game, we saw Lucario, Buizel, Mantyke, Mime Jr., and Chatot. This may sound like gibberish if you're not a Pokémon fan, but if you are, you're probably chomping at the bit to capture these new breeds.

Pokémon Diamond and Pearl also promise some level of interoperability with the forthcoming Pokémon Battle Revolution for the Wii, making the package that much more alluring for those with the Pokémon fever. You won't have to wait very long for your fix, either--Diamond and Pearl are set to arrive in North American stores April 22.

*Zelda:Phantom Hourglass

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass Multiplayer Hands-On (from gamespot)

One of the most popular games in Nintendo's booth at the 2007 Game Developers Conference is unsurprisingly a Zelda title. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass is the first game in Nintendo's flagship franchise to appear on the Nintendo DS, and it was on the show floor in playable form. Nintendo is keeping the single-player game under wraps at the moment, but it did lift the veil on the multiplayer component of Phantom Hourglass, and we played a few two-player matches.

The multiplayer game that was on display at the show involved Link running around a large maze collecting fragments of the Triforce called "force gems." One player is blue Link, and the other player is red Link. The game is played in three, two-minute rounds. During each round, one player controls Link by moving the stylus around the screen. This player can tap the force gems onscreen to pick them up. The object of the game is to deliver force gems to your color-coded base zone located on one end of the maze. The player with the most force gems at the end of the match is the winner. But it's not as easy as grabbing gems and dropping them off at your base because while you're gathering gems and running about, your opponent is doing everything possible to get in your way.


It's surprisingly easy and intuitive to control Link using the stylus.

The player who isn't controlling Link takes control of three enemy guards. This player can point to one of the enemy characters and draw lines on a map of the maze that appears on the lower screen. The guards will follow these lines, and if they get close to Link, they'll chop him with their swords. If Link gets hit, the players switch sides and the one who was controlling Link then controls the guards while the other player grabs force gems.

But there's more to account for than gems and guards. The maze is designed so that there are several light blue zones, which are safe zones. Link can enter these zones without fear of being attacked by the guards. Two of these zones are located at the top and bottom of the maze, and there's an underground passage that allows Link to quickly go from the bottom of the maze to the top. The guards can't use the passage, so if you're clever and quick enough, you can try to fake out your opponent using the safe zones on the map.

There are also power-ups scattered throughout the map. Each power-up is color coded to designate which of the two players can use it. Some of the power-ups Link can get include a shield that allows him to take an extra hit from a guard and a power-up that increases Link's running speed. The speed boost is especially good because when Link is carrying a force gem, he can't move very quickly. There are larger force gems that are worth more points, but they slow you down to a crawl and leave you vulnerable to attack. The power-ups for the guards are slightly different, but they're just as useful as the power-ups for Link. If you're playing as the guards, you can pick up speed boosts, items that increase your range of attack. You can also activate wind jets that block certain pathways.

Phantom Hourglass looks good on the bright screen of the DS Lite. The character designs are reminiscent of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, which is a good fit for the game. The level we saw was colorful and very green as you might expect from a Zelda game, but we spent most of our time looking at the overhead map screen rather than the action screen. When you're playing as Link, the action appears on the bottom screen of the DS, and when you're playing as the guards, the action appears on top with the map on the bottom. The action is zoomed in tight on Link, which looks good and makes it easy to control him, but it also means you'll often get surprised by enemies lurking around blind corners.

The multiplayer in The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass is local only at this point, with no announced plans for online play. There's a possibility of more multiplayer modes beyond the maze game, but Nintendo is keeping quiet about details at this point. On top of all that, there is still no announced release date for the game. As soon as we learn more, we'll be sure to let you know. So check back here often for more on The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass.

*Pokemon Battle Revolution details

Pokemon Battle Revolution details (from gamespot)

Pokemon Battle Revolution is the first online-multiplayer enabled game for the Wii.

Features

* This is the first Pokémon title in the hugely popular series made for Wii, and the first Wii game to feature Wi-Fi competition.
* This is also the first game to link Nintendo DSand Wii. When linked, players can use their DS units as controllers or import characters from Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl.
* Players can battle in full 3-D using the Pokémon they raised in Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl.

*Super Paper Mario

Super Paper Mario Hands-On (from gamespot)

Ever since Super Paper Mario was first unveiled in video form at the 2006 Electronic Entertainment Expo, there's been some haziness as to what, exactly, it is. Today we got our first hands-on time with the game at the Nintendo booth at the 2007 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, and now we have a very good idea of what Super Paper Mario is: awesome.

It doesn't get much better than a giant 8-bit Mario.

The past two Paper Mario games have largely been role-playing games infused with a lot of the trappings of a traditional Mario platformer. You'd have a party of characters, you'd walk around an overworld and chat with non-player characters, and when it came time for combat, you'd switch over to a separate, quasi-turn-based battle screen. Super Paper Mario essentially reverses the ratio, and will play like a platformer infused with RPG elements. From the short demo we were able to play, the basic action felt much like a traditional Mario game.

Holding the Wii Remote sideways, as you would when playing a NES game on the Virtual Console, we ran to the right and left, bopped goombas and koopa troopas (and some new, boxy, multilegged enemies), avoided Bullet Bills and Hammer Bros., smashed blocks, and collected coins. However, whenever we offed an enemy, we gained experience points, and any time we got hit by an enemy, we lost hit points. At one point we gained enough experience points to level up, which automatically replenished any lost hit points and boosted our other stats. Typical Mario power-ups had slightly different effects than you might expect, with fire flowers causing coins to rain down from the sky for a short period of time, and there was even a pill you could snag that would surround Mario with five or six tiny 8-bit Marios. They would autonomously attack any enemy that you encountered, but would die one by one after each attack. One of our favorite moments from our demo was when we collected a mega star, which caused us to transform in a screen-filling, 8-bit Mario sprite that would smash through anything and everything in his path. It was definitely reminiscent of New Super Mario Bros. for the DS, but it was done with more style here.

The name Paper Mario comes from the fact that all of the characters, and much of the world itself, appear to be crafted from paper cutouts, giving it all a very distinct 2D-cum-3D look and feel. The games generally play with the perspective of 2D sprites in a 3D environment, hiding paths in what appear to be flat backgrounds. Based on what we've seen, these kinds of ideas will play an even more prominent role in Super Paper Mario. Early on in our demo, we found ourselves standing next to a giant green warp pipe that was too tall for us to jump over, effectively blocking any further progress in the level. However, when we pressed the A button, the area of the screen immediately around Mario flipped, and we were essentially given a 3D view of the 2D environment we had been running through. In this altered perspective, the previously impassable warp pipe could just be sidestepped entirely. You can't stay in this perspective forever, though, as your hit points decrease every few seconds you're in the 3D realm. As soon as you return to the 2D view your HP begins to fill back up. The perspective change is pretty jarring the first time you do it, and we found that it wasn't ideal for attacking enemies, as it could be rough to gauge your distance from enemies. It's also totally mind-blowing, and we saw it used in a few clever ways, such as when we reached a massive crevasse that we couldn't jump across. Flipping to the 3D view, though, we found that the rolling hills that appeared as part of the background provided us with a comfortable walking path.

A quick tap of the A button will give you a whole new perspective.

Fans of past Paper Mario games will recall that you could do more damage if you executed an attack with some extra panache, and this remains true in Super Paper Mario. We found that if we shook the Wii Remote in midair during an attack, we could dish out extra damage, which was accompanied by a little fanfare. For the duration of our demo, a small, prismatic butterfly hovered over Mario's shoulder, and when we pointed the Wii Remote at the screen, it transformed into a spotlight. At the time we could just use it to spotlight enemies and learn about their strengths and weaknesses, though we were told that this feature would also be used to solve puzzles and suss out hidden doors later on.

The game promises a brand-new story as well, one that won't require prior Paper Mario experience. Though the Nintendo rep we talked to would neither confirm nor deny, we got the feeling that some favorite characters from the previous Paper Mario games might make an appearance. While we played only as Mario, we were told that Peach and Bowser would both be playable over the course of the game's eight chapters as well.

The game will sport a similarly endearing art style that has become synonymous with the Paper Mario name, though on the Wii it looks cleaner, smoother, and more detailed. Our time with Super Paper Mario left us with an overwhelmingly positive impression, and there seem to be few upcoming Wii titles that hold as much promise. Super Paper Mario is currently set to hit the US April 9.

*Pokemon: Wii

Pokemon Battle Revolution Hands-On (gamespot)

In addition to Mario and Link, another of Nintendo's big guns is making an appearance at the 2007 Game Developers Conference, in the form of Pokémon Battle Revolution for the Wii. The game is already out in Japan, but it won't hit North America until June 25. That's still a bit of a ways away, so we spent some time with the Japanese version of the game to find out just what to expect this summer.

Pokémon Battle Revolution is similar to Pokémon Colosseum for the GameCube. It lets you lead Pokémon into battle in glorious 3D with fully animated attacks. The characters are all huge, detailed, and very colorful, as are the trainers and the arena. Battle Revolution is the first online-enabled Wii game, so you'll be able to battle online, even against people with the Japanese version of the game. You can play using the Wii Remote, but you'll get the most out of the game if you use your Nintendo DS to control the action wirelessly, which can be done if you've got a copy of Pokémon Diamond or Pearl. What's more, you can send the Pokémon you've raised in the DS version to the Wii and use them in battles.

All this may sound a little confusing, but Nintendo has done a nice job of making it easy to control your Wii game with the DS. The interface was still in Japanese, but we didn't have any trouble at all using the touch screen to control the turn-based action. With just a few quick taps, you can pick your Pokémon, attack type, and target. After you and your opponent have given your orders, the Pokémon start fighting. Their attacks really come to life when you see them in 3D. We saw a flaming unicorn shoot fire from its mouth; Empoleon, a penguin, rode a large wave that did damage to two characters at once; and there were all sorts of colorful casting attacks. As you'd expect, when a Pokémon loses all of its health, it faints, and it's back to the pokéball for it.

Despite the name, Pokémon Battle Revolution doesn't feel all that revolutionary, but it does have the distinction of being the first Wii game that connects with the DS and is playable online. It might not convert any nonbelievers, but it looks as if there's enough new content here that Pokémon fans will eat it up.

*Dates
Article (gamespot)

North American gamers have been wondering when they would be able to properly take their Wiis online for some head-to-head action against other Wii owners. Today, Nintendo answered that question.

Pokemon Battle Revolution, which was previously released in Japan, is headed for the US and will use the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, Nintendo's online gaming service. Pikachu's debut on the Wii is set for June 25.

The game also marks the first US Wii game to incorporate connectivity with its handheld cousin, the DS. Gamers will be able to import characters from their DS copies of Pokemon Diamond or Pokemon Pearl (both of which will release April 25), and even use their DSes as controllers for the Wii version.

Nintendo also announced the release dates for several other Wii and DS titles through this summer. Among the noteworthy release dates are Super Paper Mario on April 9, Mario Party 8 on May 29, Big Brain Academy (Wii) on June 11, and the Nintendo DS Web Browser on June 24. A full list is below.

Wii
April 9 / Super Paper Mario
April / Prince of Persia Rival Swords
April / Bust-A-Move Bash
April / Bioncle Heroes
May 15 / Mortal Kombat: Armageddon
May 29 / Mario Party 8
May / Tamagotchi Party On
May / Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean at World's End
May / Escape from Bug Island
May / Spider-Man The Movie 3
June 11 / Big Brain Academy
June 25 / Pokemon Battle Revolution
June / Cosmic Family
Spring / Heatseeker
Q2 / Legend of the Dragon
Summer / Shrek the Third
Summer / Transformers the Game

Nintendo DS
April 22 / Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl
May / Pirates of the Caribbean 3
May / Dragon Ball Z: Harukanaru Densetsu
May / Pony Friends
May / Diner Dash
May / Touch the Dead
June 4 / Nintendo DS browser
June 4 / Planet Puzzle League
June 11 / Touchmaster DS
June / Zendoku
Spring / Naruto Ninja Council 3
Spring / Time Ace
Spring / Death Jr. and the Science Fair of Doom
Q2 / Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon
Summer / Shrek the Third
Summer / Transformers: Autobots
Summer / Transformers: Decepticons

Game Boy Advance
Summer / Shrek the Third

Miyamoto's Keynote Address breakdown


Event Summary by time, from reporters who were there:

10:40: Inside the hall, attendees are greeted by the obligatory gaming press conference thumping techno music. Five massive video screens dominate the space as a host of gaming journalists huddle over softly glowing laptops. Almost 10 minutes after the scheduled start time, people are still finding their seats as an announcement is made asking for cell phones to be turned off.

10:47: People are still finding seats. A certain game-blog staffer is running around with a video helmet haranguing anyone in range.

10:48: Staffers are still trying to find seats for attendees, squeezing as many people into the auditorium as possible. Mutterings in the crowd range from discussion of Sony's keynote to assessments of the week's various parties, with free beer, swag, and embargoed news being freely disseminated.

10:52: People continue to jostle for seating. Hopefully there aren't any fire marshals about...

10:55: The DS pictochats are almost as full as the auditorium as attendees are again asked to take their seats. The keynote is scheduled to end at 11:30 a.m., but that seems unlikely at this rate.

10:59: Still nothing happening. You can almost feel an epidemic of gluteal cramps begin to break out amongst the constantly shifting crowd. Still, Perhaps surprisingly, the crowd seems to be tolerating the delay in good spirits. Conversations about Mega Man, Mario, and other familiar franchises rise above the din.

11:00: Now the show starts.

11:01: GDC director Jamil Moledina takes the stage to introduce Shigeru Miyamoto, talking about the creator's "quarter century of disruptively contagious hits."

11:02: Miyamoto takes the stage to a round of applause and cheers. He's wearing a link pin on his lapel.

11:03: Speaking through a translator, Miyamoto says he will use the Wii's photo channel to give his presentation.

11:04: Miyamoto begins talking about his 25 years designing video games, referencing games like Donkey Kong and Pac-Man as the games people talked about.

11:05: He shows a picture of the stereotypical child gamer, eyes glazed, jaw slack, and calls it "disturbing."

11:06: He brings up the top-selling games of 1998, pointing to Nintendo's GoldenEye at the top of the charts and saying that the gamer image was still generally neutral. But by 2004, he said something had changed.

11:07: With Grand Theft Auto and Halo 2 on the top of the charts, Miyamoto said he was getting new questions from reporters, questions about what effects games had on people. Even though sales went up, he said the reputation of the industry went down.

11:08: Miyamoto expressed his concern about games becoming stagnant as everyone tried to do the one type of game that was successful, and then brings up his creative vision, and "The Nintendo Difference."

11:09: The three elements of Nintendo's corporate vision are next. Up first is the expanded audience. Miyamoto says he has his own way of gauging a product's potential success with an expanded audience. He calls it "the Wife-o-meter," and shows a graphic of it. It measures one variable: The interest of his own wife.

11:10: He says that we may remember the first time we played Pac-Man or Super Mario Bros. as important moments in our lives. However, they were not important moments for his wife.

11:11: Not even Tetris attracted Miyamoto's wife, but she took some interest in their daughter's experience with Ocarina of Time. Animal Crossing scored even better on the Wife-o-meter, convincing her to actually pick up the controller, but Miyamoto still strived to drive the meter higher.

11:13: Now he talks about pets. While his wife is a cat person, Miyamoto prefers dogs. He references the Wii Everybody Votes Channel poll on the subject to show that more than 60 percent of the voting population agrees with him.

11:14: After an extended detour and pictures of his dog, Pick, Miyamoto gets back to the point. He talks about showing Nintendogs to his wife, and how she started looking at games from a different perspective.

11:15: For Valentine's Day, Miyamoto said he came home from work expecting her to be asleep, but instead found her playing the Wii. She had stayed up casting votes on the Everybody Votes channel.

11:16: Miyamoto was shocked, saying it meant she had downloaded the channel herself. He said it would have been less surprising to find Donkey Kong ransacking his house.

11:17: Now he shows a picture of the second installment of Brain Age, and how she's embraced the game completely. Miyamoto says she's turned into a hardcore gamer and shows off her Mii, which she uses to play Wii Sports. Apparently she's made Miis for the whole family, extended relatives, and everyone in the neighborhood. He calls it her first step in game design, filling the Wife-o-meter completely.

11:18: The second key element of the Nintendo vision is balance.

11:19: At Nintendo, Miyamoto says teams working together work in the same building to emphasize teamwork. He talks about his collegiate education in industrial design, and how he's used that knowledge to help design every Nintendo controller from the NES to the Wii remote.

11:20: But he doesn't want people to think that he created the controllers solo. "It doesn't work that way at Nintendo," he says, "It's a group collaboration."

11:21: As for the Wii, he described it as the most intense creation process ever. One team was dedicated to developing new games. A second team wanted to preserve the company's classic franchises. A third team was dedicated to helping third parties work with the new controller.

11:22: In the process of designing the controllers, they designed numerous prototypes. Miyamoto shows images of a few of them, some showing the roots of older gaming controllers, some looking more like standard TV remotes. One prototype appeared to simply be a giant button with a Mario star shape on it.

11:23: Miyamoto says the final version of the Wii controller is the result of a true collaboration between different teams.

11:24: As a controller, Miyamoto says the Wii remote does a lot of what he's dreamed of for years.

11:25: He stresses the importance of providing game creators with the chance to make new kinds of entertainment that couldn't be realized with the way things were.

11:26: Miyamoto says Nintendo's viewpoint of progress goes beyond game hardware. He shows a picture of a museum in Kyoto for a Japanese game that blends playing cards and poetry. Nintendo is one company that makes said cards, and Miyamoto says he was asked to design the exhibits for the museum.

11:28: He said the project was enjoyable to work on because it wasn't technically a game, so they didn't have to worry about details like how it would end. But he said it was important because it bridged the gap between generations. Typically the poems are only of interest to the elderly, but the interactive elements have helped draw younger people into the traditional art.

11:30: Now he brings up the last element of Nintendo's corporate vision: risk. He says Nintendo employees are encouraged to do things differently from everyone else. He brings up the DS and Touch Generations titles, saying some may be good for the soul, and some may be good for the brain, but the ultimate goal is fun.

11:32: He says none of the company's past risks hold a candle to the Wii, however. He calls the GameCube a step towards the Wii with the emphasis on the big green A button on the controller, but said it was ultimately still too complex an interface for non-gamers. To really break through, he said they had to do more, but they were still challenged in developing the Wii Remote.

11:33: Miyamoto talks about meeting with his producers and think not about what functionalities would be lost by the Wii Remote's design, but what would be gained. He says didn't know the risk was going to pay off until last spring at E3 when he saw the long lines of people waiting to play the Wii and their happy faces as they left.

11:34: He moves from the corporate vision to his own personal vision.

11:35: In interviews, Miyamoto says he's often asked about where he got ideas from, or why he designed a certain level in a certain way. But he says that the harder people look at the particulars of his games, the further they get from the actual answer.

11:36: "When I'm creating a game, what I always try to envision is the core element of fun within a game," he tells the crowd. "And to do that, I imagine one thing, and that's the face of the player as they play the game."

11:37: He talks about watching people play the DS for the first time and shows clips of Japanese consumers' first reactions to the system.

11:38: Miyamoto points out that it wasn't just hte person playing each game that was happy, but the people watching (including the attendees in the auditorium) were happy and smiling as well.

11:39: Miyamoto talks about all the emotions that can be triggered by gameplay, and while he always wants them to walk away happy, he says all that's important is what "you" (the developers in the crowd) want the players to feel. However, Miyamoto again mentions that his personal taste is to always make that experience a positive one.

11:40: He says that developers sometimes get tunnel vision when creating a game, and says that they have to force themselves to create from the consumer's viewpoint.

11:41: That's why Miyamoto says he's willing to take a risk, delay a game, or change a key spec late in development. "In any case, I believe that my vision of a happy player's face--the one I try to imagine in every project--is also a good match for Nintendo."

11:42: He says that positive focus is what will appeal to expanded markets, and brings up Wii Play. Even though Wii Play isn't a core gamer's game, Miyamoto says traditional gamers are enjoying it because it's something they can play with non-gaming friends.

11:43: Miyamoto says he often makes games so that players themselves are encouraged to become more creative. At the core of that is communication.

11:44: Great games don't necessarily need to include communication (Solitaire, Pac-Man), Miyamoto says. He brings up Zelda, saying his first prototype of the game didn't go over well in Japan. People were confused, they couldn't solve the puzzles, and asked for simple routes through the dungeons. "I ignored them," Miyamoto said.

11:45: Instead, he dropped gamers into the world without even a sword, so that they would be forced to think about what they had to do. Other puzzles also inspired gamers to ask their friends for help and compare notes on the game.

11:46: He said in that sense, Zelda laid the groundwork for Animal Crossing.

11:47: The next aspect of game design he talks about is prioritization. He says all developers have the same complaint: "not enough." There's not enough people, not enough budget, or not enough time. As a developer, he shares those complaints, but has to cope with them anyway.

11:49: He talks about Wii Sports, and how it has only one stadium, no fielding, no ability to lay a bunt, and three-inning games. Not even the characters are realistic, Miyamoto says. They were based on traditional Japanese wooden dolls.

11:50: Despite all the unrealistic elements, Miyamoto said they prioritized pitching and hitting in order to make the game seem realistic regardless.

11:51: At one point in development, they tried to use Mario characters in place of the wooden doll-styled characters, but found that people liked the non-Mario style better.

11:52: Miyamoto says he's a baseball fan himself and hopes to play a more realistic baseball game on the Wii eventually, but says people are already enjoying Wii Sports baseball in its own form of realism.

11:53: Now Miyamoto is talking about tenacity. Referring to Wii Sports baseball again, he talks about how the idea for it had been something he wanted for a long time, and it was just a matter of waiting.

11:54: He brings up the Famicom disk drive and a simple face-creation utility Nintendo developed for it.

11:55: He changes the character's eye, hair style, and face shape in a way fairly reminiscent of the Mii. The utility was intended to come with an animation program. Miyamoto liked it, but the internal feedback was confusion over how it could be a game, and the product was shelved.

11:57: He revisited the idea in another form with the Nintendo 64 disk drive, and showed a 3D character editor made for the system with a wide variety of clothing options for characters. Miyamoto thought nobody at Nintendo could resist that idea, but again the project never reached fruition.

11:59: He tried to bring the idea back yet again with Stage Debut, a GameCube game that was intended to use the Game Boy e-Reader and a camera attachment. It featured a digital Miyamoto dancing with Pikmin characters as the crowd laughed.

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