E3 2011 Nintendo Thoughts

As you probably know, E3 has just concluded and there is a lot of post-show news buzz going around regarding what was announced. I know I have other updates to blog about but I wanted to get my thoughts out while this E3 talk is still relevant. I'm only going to focus on Nintendo because it's the only press conference I watched attentively and fully, and it's the one of the big three that I know the most about.

The Legend of Zelda: 25th Anniversary

Nintendo started off strong with a live orchestra and all news relating to Zelda's big 25th, led by the one-and-only Shigeru Miyamoto. The games discussed were both well known about before: Skyward Sword and Ocarina of Time 3D. What we learned was that Skyward Sword would ship with a limited edition golden Wiimote and that the first Club Nintendo members who register Ocarina of Time 3D would get a never-released soundtrack for free. In addition to the Nintendo 3DS update that went live the night before the press conference, Miyamoto-san announced that Link's Awakening DX would be available worldwide on the eShop Virtual Console by the end of the day. Miyamoto-san also announced that there would be orchestral concerts around the world commemorating the anniversary starting this fall. This Zelda portion of the show was short and concise but shed some light on Nintendo's plan to celebrate the Zelda series' 25th milestone.

Games!

Nintendo announced a stellar line-up of 3DS games releasing before the end of the year. I found myself adding almost all of them to my "must buy" list during the show. A lot of them were announced at last year's E3 but were discussed in more detail. These games include Mario Kart, Star Fox 64 3D, Kid Icarus: Uprising, and Super Mario. There were also some subtle announcements of known games, like Animal Crossing and Paper Mario. The big surprise for the 3DS though was the trailer for Luigi's Mansion 2, a sequel to the GameCube launch title. Although the 3DS is Nintendo's current handheld focus, they also quietly announced Kirby Mass Attack and Professor Layton and the Last Specter for the DS.

On the Wii side of things it was fairly quiet. Wii Play: Motion will be releasing this month and Skyward Sword will be out this Holiday season. Also announced were the long awaited Kirby Wii title, a console outing of Rhythm Heaven, and the possibly dreaded Mario Party 9.

All these titles and more can be viewed temporarily on Nintendo's annual E3 page. Trailers for these games can be viewed on the site as well, and trailers for the 3DS games can be downloaded on the eShop and viewed in 3D on the system!

Wii U

Nintendo's big reveal this year was the brand new console, the Wii U. Rumors have been going around for the past few weeks about it being more powerful than the PS3 and 360, having a touch screen in the controller, and more. Nintendo confirmed a lot of speculation and focused mostly on the new controller, which is like a Classic Controller with a tablet, mic, gyro sensors, and camera built in. Some were confused about the whole thing, wondering if the controller was just an add-on to the Wii or what. Nintendo has confirmed that the Wii U will be a stand-alone HD console and will be backward compatible with Wii games and Wii Remotes. The new controller will also not be sole separately, giving the impression that the system is only compatible with one and the other players would use Wii Remotes.

During the reveal, I definitely had mixed feelings. I was excited for some new Nintendo innovation but I was a little skeptical (as I can assume many were) about how successful it would be. As the press conference continued, I began to understand what it could do and became comfortable with this new addition to the Nintendo family. I would definitely like to have one at some point, but probably won't be getting one at launch. One thing I'd like to see is a "DS Player" that allows you to play DS games on the system using the controller as a touch screen and TV as the top screen. The SNES, N64, and GameCube all had Game Boy playing capabilities, and I always thought it would be nice to play DS games on the big screen. I'm sure Nintendo, as well as third parties, will come up with some amazing uses of the technology.

On the show floor, Nintendo had several tech demos showing off the Wii U's capabilities. There were play style demos as well as a beautiful HD Zelda demo. Since the system won't be released until at least mid-2012, no concrete titles were shown or announced during the reveal. Iwata-san semi-announced a new Super Smash Bros. that would be released and linked between the 3DS and Wii U, but development of the game hasn't even started yet. After the press conference at a Nintendo roundtable discussion, Miyamoto-san also announced that Pikmin 3 would be released on the Wii U. Nintendo still has time to convince the public that they want this new console, so we'll just have to wait and see what's in store for us.

PAX East Recap: Conclusion

[Here's the last post of my PAX East series. Hope you enjoyed it!]

Conclusion

Leaving the convention center I still felt that I had missed doing some things, but all in all I was satisfied. Although we didn't partake in any of the console or PC games in the freeplay rooms and didn't stop by a lot of the booths, we did have a great time overall. It seems that we spent a lot of time at the Nintendo and Pokémon booths and the handheld lounge, but I was able to attend the majority of the panels I wanted to. We also were able to accomplish our main goals like play the 3DS, get a bunch of people on our C-Gear, and talk with some industry folk.

One thing I would have liked to do is network with more people. During the weekend I only talked with people I had already met and didn't put the effort into talking with new people. I rushed to put together some shoddy business cards on Wednesday night for the Made in MA party on Thursday night, but I only ended up giving one away at PAX and getting one in return. Next year I want to purchase real cards rather than procrastinating and making some cheap ones at home and I'd like to actually do some serious networking.

As for things I learned this year, I think getting in line early is a key thing to know. We assumed that we could show up 15-30 minutes early to a panel and be able to get a seat. It turned out that we had to wait an hour or more and were just able to get in. Having 65,000 people trying to attend 4 or 5 panels running at the same time can cause some traffic. Looking at the schedule ahead of time and planning what panels you want to see is a great thing to do. Ultimately, you need at least 2 hours between panels if you want to see it all and not have to leave halfway through to get in line for the next.

Along the lines of making plans ahead of time, looking at the expo map and getting oriented early is important. Although we glanced at the map beforehand, we were really confused all day Friday because the map didn't properly reflect the layout of the convention center. If we had stopped and studied the map a little better I think we would have been oriented better. What we did right was make a mental list of the booths we wanted to see in the expo hall which prevented wandering and getting lost. It also gave us a goal of where to go when, when to get in line for panels, when to eat, etc.

And on the topic of eating, don't plan on eating at the convention center. It's not that there isn't food, it's that it's unsurprisingly expensive. We learned not to buy $3.00 bags of chips and brought our own, but we could have prepared and brought sandwiches or something instead of spending $10-$15 a day on food. I mean, it was delicious food, but we could have saved a lot of money by bringing more snacks.

So, having learned these lessons we should be able to plan better for next year! As my second PAX East experience it wasn't as good as the first but I learned more about playing the convention game. To summarize, this is what we should do next year:

• Make a panel schedule; allow wait-in-line time
• Learn convention hall layout/map
• Make an expo hall schedule
• Bring food! Don't buy!
• Try out new things (console freeplay, tournaments, etc.)
• Network with industry people
• Have fun!

And to conclude, here are some weekend Pokémon stats:

-Number of Pokéwalker Steps:

• Day 1: 11,792 Steps
• Day 2: 10,403 Steps
• Day 3: 8,658 Steps
• Total: 30,853 Steps (About 15.42 miles of walking)

-Number of people encountered on the C-Gear: 365*

*Includes multiple encounters with the same people

PAX East Recap: Day 3

[Where did this month go? Regardless, here's a new blog post.]

Day 3: 3/13/11

Last day of PAX East means do everything you wanted to do this weekend that you didn't get a chance to do before it's over. Luckily for us, there was only one panel we wanted to see on Sunday and it didn't start until 4:30PM. So, we hit the expo floor one last time to play some games. First up was Dance Central at the Kinect booth. I did not partake in either dancing nor Kinect-ing, but Melissa and Amanda played and got free t-shirts. The guy staffing the booth looked as if he had been dancing all weekend and he seemed to know all the moves for every song (poor guy).

Next we hit up the Nintendo booth one final time. This time I stayed in the booth area to try a few 3DS games, including Kid Icarus: Uprising, Street Fighter IV 3D, Pilotwings, and the built-in AR (Augmented Reality) game. Playing the AR game made me want the 3DS slightly more, but not enough to spend $250 on it. Unlike the previous two days, there were actually free 3DS beanies given away on Sunday which was a neat surprise. Of course, we also strolled around the Pokémon booth to take a final look and snap some photos.

The two other games that I played were Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes HD and Monday Night Combat. I had played Monday Night Combat last year and thought it was great, but I still hadn't purchased it a year later. I think the next time Steam puts it on sale I'll pick it up. I hadn't played Clash of Heroes before but I knew Capybara Games worked on it and the previous DS title of the same name. It's a pretty awesome game and lots of fun but not the type that I usually play. I am, however, looking forward to picking up the Capy-published Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP for the iPod Touch later this month.

As we have learned so far, when we have free time we play Pokémon in the handheld lounge. Sunday was no exception. After wandering around the expo hall we headed back to our beanbag hideaway. We hung around here for a little bit and then got in line for "Start Your Own Damned Company" panel with Chris, Ichiro, Eitan, and Scott from before and a new addition of Damian Isla from Moonshot Games. This panel was similar to yesterday's "Just Because You Have an Idea..." panel except it was directed towards starting an indie video game company. Like Scott's talk on Friday, this one helped me decide that I want to stick towards the art of game design rather than the business side of it.

And with that, our PAX East weekend was over. What? So soon? Yup, unfortunately the time had come for us to head home. Leaving the Cat Theatre after our last panel we took one last walk around the expo hall, took some final pictures, and headed home.

(Next up, a conclusion!)

PAX East Recap: Day 2

[Oops, lost track of time and missed my "write a new blog post every day" plan. Anyways, here's day 2 of PAX East.]

Day 2: 3/12/11

Saturday was another pretty early morning, since the first panel we wanted to go to was at 10:30AM. We got to the convention center around 9:00AM and got in line at the Wyvern Theatre for "Just Because You Have an Idea, You Are Not a Game Designer." The panelists here were Ichiro Lambe of Dejobaan Games, Chris Oltyan of Dire Wolf Digital, Eitan Glinert of Fire Hose Games, and Scott Macmillan of Macguffin Games (once again). This panel, similar to "I HAVE A GREAT IDEA FOR A GAME!!" from last year's PAX East, consisted of the panelists answering audience-submitted questions and arguing with each other about the right answer. They agreed that having ideas is different from being an actual game designer and that if you want to be a game designer you should go home and actually make games. This panel was not only informative but also very humorous as always.

With little time between the end of the first panel and the start of our next panel, we decided to get in line early and play Pokémon Black & White to pass the time. Next up was "Geek Parenting," a panel about raising kids as a geek parent when your child may or may not share your hobbies and interests. I know, I'm not a parent yet and probably won't be for a while, but it seemed like an interesting panel since me being a geek parent in the future is certain. Although it was fun and interesting (even though we didn't win any of the free stuff they gave away) I had hoped that it would be more about tips for raising your child with geeky-ness rather than just "I play games with my kid sometimes."

Like the day before, we spent some time in the handheld lounge playing Pokémon to pass the time. Since the next event we planned to see was the Saturday night concerts at 8:30PM we spent a decent amount of time relaxing on the bean bags and making progress in Pokémon Black & White. The large number of people playing Pokémon in the lounge was very conducive to using the Entralink function and getting lots of Passing Survey results in Black & White. While we did spend 1 or 2 hours out of 4 free hours we had in the handheld lounge, we felt the need to walk around.

We went back to the expo hall for a bit and ended up wandering back to the Nintendo and Pokémon booths again (big surprise!). I wanted to try another 3DS game, so we got in line and played once more. This time I tried LEGO Star Wars, again, not knowing that I could have tried others during the same visit. I also played the Pokémon TCG Online demo again and I was surprised at how addicted I had become. While in the expo hall we bumped into a few friends and also were forced to buy a beanie from the Mega 64 guys... Good times!

As we walked around and checked updates on the PAX East Twitter page, we figured it wasn't really worth waiting 3 hours in line for the concert, especially if we had to leave halfway through to go home. Luckily, the concert was to be broadcast on TV's around the expo hall and on a projector in a special room. Unluckily, the Omegathon contest of giant Jenga took up most of the time we were there and we could only catch 15 minutes of the music... The time we would have spent waiting in line was put to other uses, though. After eating dinner at the food court we spent some time watching people play Dance Central. The two people that were up when we stopped by were pretty good, but the best dance we saw was by the Minecraft Creeper that got up after them. So, although we missed most of the concert we were able to make good use of our time and have fun before having to go home.

Day 2 is over! How's that happen? We didn't have much planned for the last day of PAX East so we tried to make good use of our final hours of the convention. Day 3 was full of actual game playing on the expo floor, more Pokémon in the handheld lounge, and the end of PAX East 2011!

(Next up, Day 3!)

PAX East Recap: Day 1

[Well, it looks like I ended up being late with this after all. Luckily, I remembered to take notes each day so that writing this post would be easier, more accurate, and more detailed than last year's post. Day 1 is looking to be pretty long so I'm going to split this post into four separate ones (Days 1, 2, and 3 and a conclusion).]

Having already gone to PAX East once before, I sort of knew what to expect and how to prepare for a full weekend of pure video game convention. The Conventionist app for iPhone/iPod Touch was pretty helpful for finding out where and when panels were being held and for a portable mini-map of the convention center. Looking at the schedule ahead of time and planning before the convention really helped us figure out what we really wanted to do and when we would be doing them.

Day 1: 03/11/11

The first day of PAX East started really early. We got up at around 6:30AM and got into Boston around 7:00AM. By the time we got to the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center there was already a mega line out front. We waiting briefly outside in the dense fog until the doors opened at 8:00AM, at which point we funneled into the convention center and got in line for the 10:30AM keynote.

The keynote itself didn't actually start until around 11:00AM, but we enjoyed playing Pokémon during the time waiting in line. This year's speaker was Jane McGonigal, who's presentation was "a death-defying, life-changing, epic monster keynote." The main message of the keynote was that playing video games helps us achieve real-world goals, changes how we think (for the better), and makes us affect the people around us positively. Jane's point of view is that if more people played video games for an

hour or day we could change the world for the better. The keynote was very interesting and uplifting, especially since games are being more widely accepted into popular culture.

After the keynote we walked down to the main expo hall to see what there was to see. We did a preliminary walk around to the Pokémon and Nintendo booths to see what was being offered, but didn't check out much else then. At the Pokémon booth, the new Pokémon TCG Online game was the only thing being displayed, and there was no free swag to our dismay. At the Nintendo booth, there were several Nintendo 3DS systems with various games being demoed and free Pokémon Black & White pins being given out on the side. We waited in line and demoed a few games (I tried out Dead or Alive) and then left. I didn't find out until Sunday that we had the ability to wander inside the booth a little bit, demo a few games, and then leave. We made up for it later in the weekend, though.

At this point, around 2:00PM, we were pretty hungry and we headed to the food court. Of course, all of the food was really expensive, but it was good enough to almost be worth it. We spent $17 and got nachos, a burger, a hotdog, and a bag of chips. I've had better burgers but the nachos were tasty. We learned to never buy $3 bags of chips again and brought our own from home on Saturday.

After hanging out in the handheld lounge for a bit, we got in line for our next panel. This panel was Scott Macmillan's "Death of an Indie Studio" in the Wyvern Theatre. Scott talked a little about the history of his late indie company, Macguffin Games, and also gave advice about dos and don'ts when starting and leading an indie studio. The most important lesson I took away from it was that art and business are two separate poles on the spectrum of making games, and that I would like to focus on the art side of the spectrum in my career (I am not a business-oriented person). It was very informative and gave me more insight into what it takes to start an indie game company.

Leaving the Wyvern Theatre we headed back to the expo hall to spend some time before the final panel of the day. We revisited the Nintendo and Pokémon booths but spent more time at the Pokémon booth this time. I played the Pokémon TCG Online game for a while, but ultimately lost against the computer player. It had been years since I tried playing the card game and the automated online version encouraged me to get back into it. Once the beta opens online, I'm going to be all over it! In the expo hall we also walked by the Boston Indie Showcase booth, to check out Snapshot, Smuggle Truck, and Blinding Silence, two of which are by current and former WPI IMGD majors. All of the games looked great and you should definitely pick up Smuggle Truck to see the level I created for their level design contest. :)

The last panel of the day was called "Game Design is Mind Control." I was anticipating it being about game design elements that tap into the mind of players in order to elicit some sort of play style or reaction but it was more general and very informal. It was an entertaining panel, especially at the end when the two panelists auctioned off a dollar with two rules: 1) The winner pays his bid and gets the dollar; 2) the second place bidder pays his bid but gets nothing. In the end, the dollar sold for about $4; the second place bidder admitted that he kept bidding because he "didn't want to spend money." It was an interesting experiment to see what illogical things people will do in a game space given a certain set of rules.

Our day ended with a trip to the handheld lounge again where we went to wait for our ride home. We found some beanbags near a set of outlets to charge our electronics and used surrounding beanbags to make a mini fort. Right before we left we met up with a friend from school and he seized control of our construction.

The first day of PAX East was great. We were able to scout out the expo hall a little bit and get familiar with the convention center as a whole. The map was a little confusing and we were pretty disoriented at first, but by the end of the first day we knew our way around pretty well. Even though we planned what we wanted to see we still had to cut some panels out of our schedule due to long lines. We learned our lesson on Friday which helped us decide our schedule for Saturday and Sunday. Friday, just like all of PAX, went by pretty fast but there were still two days left!

(Next up, Day 2!)

PAX East (Just a tad bit late...)

Yeah, so I totally didn't post at all about PAX East during PAX East. It happened almost a month ago... My bad. Instead of relying on my awful short-term memory and trying to remember everything that happened and put them all in a loooooong post, I'm just going to put up links to my Facebook photo albums for all three days and give you a highlight-reel list of things that were awesome. Then I will try to regularly update my blog. Well, I'll get dinner first and then proceed to regularly update my blog.

PAX East was probably the best thing I have ever attended. Ever. There were so many people that all came together for one reason: Because they love video games. Or because they are the parent of someone who loves video games. Or because they were dragged to the event by their significant other who loves video games. But you get the point. Although I won't be able to make it to PAX Prime in September, I will most definitely be attending the next PAX East.

Photos!

> Day 1

> Day 2

> Day 3

Highlights!

> Hung out with fellow WPI mates. Also got to show my sister the wonders of the video game culture that she could only dream about.

> POKéWALKERS! EVERYWHERE! I got between 30-40 people each day, most of them unique encounters. Lots of good items and lots of watts.

> Tried out Picross 3D, WarioWare D.I.Y., and the DSi XL at the Nintendo Booth. I might get Picross 3D (because I loved Picross DS), slightly less might get WarioWare because of the shear depth, and the XL was actually pretty nice.

> Team Fortress 2 Tournament! We won the first round and then were destroyed in the second round...

> Mario Kart DS Tournament! I won first place! It was great.

> Swag! Lots of swag, including 2 Pokémon HeartGold & SoulSilver drawstring bags (he gave me an extra one on accident).

> Networking and talks/panels: Said hi to Ichiro Lambe from Dejobaan Games. The I HAVE A GREAT IDEA FOR A GAME panel he was on, along with Darius Kazemi (both WPI grads!), was hilarious and very informative. I also enjoyed the Memes and Microcultures talk (seeing as how I'm going to be in Japan in a few months).

> Video Game Orchestra was fantastic, although I had to leave halfway through. Their performance of the Wind Garden theme from Super Mario Galaxy was amazing.

I think that's about it. But, again, I have a terrible short-term memory and only remember the overall experience rather than specific instances. Maybe we should make games that focus less on super-realistic graphics and more on the player's experience... But that's a topic for another post. ;)