Wii News From the Beginning to Now
Nintendo has become the master of releasing news information, especially for its newest console, the Wii. Rumors abound about an October 6th launch, as Nintendo sits back and watches the Wii come to the forefront of gaming news.
I thought it'd be interesting, then, to take a step back and to remember how we got to this point. The following is a comprehensive list of all the Nintendo Wii news, dating from 2004 to today.
· May 11th, 2004: News surfaces about the Gamecube’s successor, which for now is codenamed “Revolution”. The conference, however, is focused on Nintendo’s next console, the DS, along with the latest Gamecube and Gameboy Advance games.
· December 23rd 2004: The Japanese magazine “Shuukan Diamond”, a highly revered news source since 1913, reported that the Nintendo Revolution controller will not feature a D-Pad and the A and B button combo that has marked every Nintendo controller. It also reported that we would see the Revolution in the next E3 Expo.
· March 4th, 2005: Nintendo President Iwata states that their new console will be designed to attract non gamers, much like the DS. He says that this may alienate third party developers, or actually draw them closer to the console. He also states that the console will be revealed at the 2005 E3 Expo.
· March 10th, 2005: At the Game Developers Conference (GDC), Iwata announces that their next generation console will have Wi-Fi and be backwards compatible with Gamecube games.
· May 12th, 2005: Perrin Kaplan, Nintendo’s vice president of Corporate affairs, says that the Revolution will be a very sleek system, and would be no more than the thickness of three DVD cases. The system will also play standard DVD’s, bringing the Revolution into the mainstream of video game consoles. It is also announced that the controllers will be wireless.
· E3 2005 (May 17th-May 19th 2005): The Revolution is said to be up to three times more powerful than the Gamecube, will be able to play NES, SNES, and N64 games via its online catalog, the next Smash Bros. game is confirmed for the system’s launch, and a new Anima Crossing is confirmed.
· June 2005: Nintendo confirms that the Revolution will not support HD, a move that upset many Nintendo fans. The revolutionary controller begins to really spark people’s attention, especially since Nintendo is revealing nothing about it, other than saying that it will change the way we game.
· July 2005: Nintendo’s new philosophy begins to unfold. Miyamoto explains that the Revolution will be a console that “everyone can enjoy”, and that the focus is on the quality of the games, not the graphics. It is also noted that fewer buttons and analog sticks is a certainty.
· August 2005: Metroid Prime 3 is confirmed to be the end of the Metroid trilogy, bringing closure and promising to be the best of the series, taking advantage of the Revolution’s unique controller.
· September 15th, 2005: In what has become one of the watershed moments in Nintendo history, the Revolution’s controller was revealed. It came into full view in the first few seconds of the two minute teaser trailer, and it instantly had fans both excited with fervent anticipation, and disappointed with utter rage. Some praised Nintendo’s innovative path, others marked it the end of the company as we knew it. Either way, Nintendo was coming back into the spotlight in the video gaming world.
· September 2005: Iwata states that the Revolution will be weaker in the graphics department when compared to Sony’s PS3 and Microsoft’s Xbox 360, but is nevertheless confident about the new controller and its myriad of possibilities.
· October 2005: Probably the most significant news is that the DS’s Wi-Fi service, which was debuting in November 2005, would be the testing grounds for the Revolution’s Wi-Fi service. Therefore, the online service of the DS would provide us with an idea of what to expect from the Revolution’s online service.
· November 2005: Masahiro Sakurai is confirmed as the director and game designer of the next Super Smash Bros. game. The Revolution will also feature a controlling feature, whereby parents can monitor what there children play.
· December 2005: Ubisoft reveals that it’s making an ambitious first person shooter for the Revolution. Other third party developing companies begin praising the Revolution’s controller, such as EA. Meanwhile, Nintendo continues to tour the world, letting famous people and developers play the Revolution demos.
· January 2006: Iwata hints towards a pre-Thanksgiving launch date; several third party developers, such as Ubisoft, Capcom, and SEGA, talk about what game they’re going to develop for the Revolution.
· February 2006: It’s announced that Iwata will be delivering the keynote speech at the upcoming Game Developer’s Conference (GDC) on March 23rd, 2006 in San Jose, California.
· March 23rd, 2006: While GDC disappointed many Nintendo fans, there were some noteworthy news announced, probably the most since the Tokyo Game Show of last year. TurboGraphix-16 and Sega Genesis games will be available on the Nintendo Wii’s Virtual Console, which means popular titles such as Bonk and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 will be available. Other than that, Iwata continued to talk about the state of the video game market and the company’s innovative path.
· April 2006: Just a month before E3, and the video game world is buzzing with anticipation. Developers are announcing the games they are making for the Revolution, such as Spike (Dragonball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2), and a Bob Ross painting game by AGFRAG. E3 is looking more and more promising every day for Nintendo fans.
· April 27th, 2006: Nintendo also made a startling move by changing the console’s name to “Wii”. Many critics called Nintendo out on the seemingly feminine name change, such as the popular web-comic Penny-Arcade. Still, Nintendo defended it’s name change, saying that the name “Wii”, which would be a universal name understood by everyone around the world, represented Nintendo’s new mission to bring gamers and non gamers alike together.
· May 9th, 2006: To really get people riled up for E3, Nintendo releases some information on the Wii. The Pre-E3 Nintendo Conference, which started at 9:30am on the West Coast and 12:30 pm on the East Coast (and was aired live in the Nintendostore in New York City, which I was lucky enough to attend). For the first time, actual game footage of Wii games was shown. The following games were shown in a relatively brief video, though it was enough to satisfy Nintendo fans everywhere:
1. Mario Galaxy
2. Metroid Prime 3
3. Red Steel
4. Project H.A.M.M.E.R.
5. Wii Sports
6. WarioWare
7. DBZ Tenkaichi 2
8. Rayman: Raving Rabbids
9. Excite Truck
10. Disney & Pixar’s Cars
11. Sonic Wild fire
12. Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles
13. Disaster: Day of Crisis
14. Dragon Quest
15. Fire Emblem
In all, 27 games were promised at the Wii’s launch.
It was also revealed that the console’s online service would be on 24/7, and that Zelda: Twilight Princess would be released for both the Wii and the Gamecube. This last bit of information disappointed many, especially since Nintendo promised earlier that Twilight Princess would be a Gamecube only title.
· May 9th- May 11th, 2006: What else could Nintendo fans learn after an amazing Pre-E3 Conference? Aside from being able to play Mario Galaxy and the other Wii titles announced, fans sitting at home got a two minute trailer of the new Super Smash Bros game: Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Mario, Pikachu, Link, and Kirby transformed before our eyes into more sophisticated looking characters (though Kirby didn’t change too much), as they fought on new levels, performed new attacks, and even got their butts kicked by newcomers such as Meta Knight, Zero Suit Samus, and Pit from Kid Icarus. Critics argue that the series is digging deep for characters, but there are a myriad of untapped characters just waiting to fight. Best of all, however, was the introduction of Snake (the protagonist of the popular Metal Gear Solid series) at the end of the trailer. For fans of Metal Gear Solid and Smash Bros., it’s a match made in heaven. For those who have never played Metal Gear Solid, or don’t particularly care for it, it opens the doors for even more non Nintendo characters. The speculation on the character list begins!
Also noteworthy are the following facts: The final specs of the Wii were revealed, which includes four ports for Gamecube controllers, two slots for GC memory cards, 512 megabytes of internal flash memory, and a Virtual Console that will also make available indie games, whose budgets limit them from releasing they’re games on standard consoles. Developers continued to say what games they plan on making for the Wii, including a Resident Evil game by Capcom and another Trauma Center by Atlus. Also, a light gun reminiscent of the original Light Gun for the NES was revealed, which will undoubtedly be used for the next Duck Hunt.
· May 2006: The Nintendo Wii’s strong showing at E3 2006 landed it the “Best of Show” award by the Game Critics, who each year decide the best of show and other awards for E3. It was also announced that the company “Opera” would be behind the Web access for the Nintendo Wii.
· June 2006: Sega of Japan announces that it will be making a “Bleach” game for the Wii (Bleach is a popular anime in Japan). It was also revealed that some Virtual Console games would be priced under ten dollars, which is relatively inexpensive when compared to how much new games cost. Finally, six Wii launch titles were officially confirmed this month: Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz, Rayman: Raving Rabbids, and Red Steel. This six title launch, which will be added to as more news is released, looks much stronger than the Gamecube launch some five years ago.
· July 2006: More developers continue to show interest, including Blizzard, the makers of the popular PC MMORPG “World of Warcraft”. The biggest rumor, however, is an October 6th launch date. A mysterious Nintendo press release hinted to an October 6th release date but, given that we don’t even have a price tag on the console yet, this seems highly unlikely. Still, Nintendo has become the masters of creating news- even when there really isn’t any.
Analysis: From May 11th, 2004 to September 14th, 2005, all we really knew was that Nintendo’s new console would be 3x more powerful than the Gamecube, would be able to play old games, would have successors to popular Nintendo franchises, and would have a unique controller. Considering that Nintendo was focusing primarily on the DS and trying to resuscitate a dying Gamecube, we couldn’t really expect too much news for a new console. As it was, many were skeptical that Nintendo would even make another console, so knowing that a new console was on the horizon was good enough for many.
From September 15th, 2005, to May 8th, 2006, the Revolution (or Wii, as it was later renamed) news didn’t seem to come fast enough. While Red Steel images were printed in a magazine, many doubted that this was actual Nintendo Wii footage (however, it proved to be the real deal). GDC was disappointing for many, and with E3 almost two months away, the wait was unbearable. But Nintendo delivered at E3, winning Best of Show and earning the respect of its two main competitors, Microsoft and SONY.
But when will Nintendo reveal the launch date and price tag? If I had to guess, I would say in the next coming month, with the Tokyo Game Show being the absolute latest date Nintendo will reveal its release date and price.
Source: http://www.nintendorevolution.ca/07312006/10/nintendo_wii_timeline
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