Countdown to E3: Did Nintendo Keep Their E3 2010 Promises? (10 Days to Go)

Today our countdown moves on down to 10 days to go as we steadily get closer to the big day. Every year, the Big Three gaming companies make their promises about what is to come in the following months. But do they always fulfill these promises? Today we have come to analyze Nintendo’s E3 promises for 2010 and early 2011 and see just how close our favorite of the Three came to fulfilling all of their promises with the return of our Reggie head grading system.

Nintendo promised brand new handheld hardware and the return of classic Nintendo stars to the Wii and new 3DS. How much did they get right?

Skyward Sword in 2011

Nintendo kicked off E3 2010 with the grand entrance of Miyamoto and on-stage gameplay of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. It went fairly well(minus the wireless interference), and Miyamoto promised a 2011 release for the highly anticipated game.

Results: It’s unsure whether they have kept their promise or not. We have no release date for Skyward Sword, but Miyamoto is remaining firm on a 2011 release. The only thing that might possibly hold it back is another Twilight Princess situation with the upcoming Cafe.

Wii Exclusive NBA Jam

Next up in their presentation, Nintendo went over sports gaming on the Wii. The first brief topic in this discussion was a new NBA Jam game from EA. Reggie only mentioned the game briefly, but he did say that there was a Wii-exclusive version.

Results: NBA Jam eventually came out on the PS3 and XBox 360, thus making it not Wii exclusive. However, there was technically a was an exclusive Wii version. There typically is on any third-party Wii games. So, this promise’s result is pretty iffy and opinionated.

Mario Sports Mix in 2011

The second part of Nintendo’s sports topic was the return of their Mario Sports series. They showed a new trailer for Mario Sports Mix and promised a multitude of new sports and a 2011 release.

Results: Mario Sports Mix was released on February 7th, 2011. It included 4 Mario sports: basketball, volleyball, dodgeball, and hockey.

Wii Party for the Holidays

Nintendo unveiled its next Mii-centered game at E3 2010: Wii Party. The game presented a plethora for the whole family to enjoy, and promised a Holiday 2010 release.

Results: Wii Party hit the shelves on October 3. Games slated for “Holiday” release typically come out in November or December. So, while technically being wrong, it was better than expected.

Just Dance 2 in the Fall

Reggie announced the Wii’s return to the dance floor with the Wii-exclusive game Just Dance 2. It promised new songs, new dance moves, and a Fall release.

Results:Just Dance 2 was in stores on October 12 and offered all that it had promised.

New Golden Sun Game in Late 2010

Next up on Nintendo’s lineup of franchises was Golden Sun: Dark Dawn for the DS. Reggie promised a Holiday release for the anticipated handheld game.

Results:Golden Sun:Dark Dawn was released on November 29th for the DS.

Goldeneye Rebooted November 2010

Nintendo’s E3 2010 was a lineup of reboots and classics, and this game was both. Goldeneye originally hit the scene on the N64 in 1997. It was one of the first and most successful first person shooters of its time, possibly to date. So you can imagine the cheers of hardcore fans when Reggie announced its return to Wii in November.

Results: Goldeneye 007 was released to the public on November 2nd, 2010, and it was every bit as good as remembered.

Epic Mickey Incoming

Reggie invited game designer Warren Specter to introduce this game featuring everyone’s favorite mouse. It was promised that Epic Mickey would be Wii exclusive and would be out for the Holidays.

Results:Disney: Epic Mickey hit shelves on November 30th, 2010, exclusively for the Wii, and finally made Mickey the video game star he deserved to be.

New Kirby Game Weaved for the Fall

After being benched from consoles for 7 years, Nintendo decided to finally bring Kirby to the Wii in an all new way. They promised that this Epic Yarn would be a completely different kind of Kirby game when it was released in Fall 2010.

Results: Kirby’s Epic Yarn swung into stores on October 17th, 2010.

Dragon Quest a Month Out

After hyping the game’s popularity in Japan, Nintendo was confident enough to announce Dragon Quest IX‘s release on July 11, 2010.

Results: DQIX was released to an anticipation-filled Western audience right on time.

Retro Studios + Donkey Kong Country = Awesome

For their last console software announcement of the presentation, Nintendo announced Donkey Kong Country Returns from Retro Studios, developers of Metroid Prime. Reggie announced a late 2010 release.

Results: DKCR was available to gamers everywhere on November 21st, 2010.

3DS Fully Unveiled

Nintendo’s biggest announcement of E3 2010 came near the end when Iwata unveiled the Nintendo 3DS, complete with information about technical specs and new features. He stated that the 3DS would have a 3.5” 3D top screen, DS-esque bottom touch screen without 3D, 3D depth slider, slide pad, motion and gyro sensors, and an outer 3D camera among its technical features.

On the software feature front, Iwata announced that the 3DS would be able to download updates and would introduce new communication methods, but he did not elaborate. He also said that the 3DS could play movies and movie trailers in 3D depending on the availability of the content.

Results:The 3D screen, touch screen, 3D depth slider, slide pad, motion and gyro sensors, and an outer 3D camera are all in the retail version of the 3DS.

The communication methods mentioned by Iwata consist of the Streetpass and Spotpass. Streetpass communicates between 3DS systems, and Spotpass communicates between your 3DS system and a WiFi access point. Nintendo sent the music video for Ok Go’s White Knuckles to 3DSes, proving that the system is capable of playing videos. However, without the E-Shop online, there is no way to recieve any DLC. If this had been online, the 3DS would have gotten another Reggie head.

Kid Icarus: Uprising Coming Soon…

Nintendo’s major first-party for the 3DS, Project Sora, was announced to be Kid Icarus: Uprising. Gameplay shown included shooting, land, and flying battles, and ended with an unclear “Coming Soon”.

Results: While we do know that Kid Icarus is coming, we still have no definite release date. It is reported that it could be released anywhere from late June to late August. I’d hoped that it would actually be coming “soon”.

The 3DS and Third Parties

Nintendo concluded their main presentation with a rundown of their third-party support of the 3DS. Among the companies announced were:

• Activision
• Atlus
• AQ Interactive
• Bandai Namco Games
• Capcom
• EA
• Harmonix
• Hudson Entertainment
• Konami
• KT
• Level 5
• Majesco
• MMV
• Rocket
• Square Enix
• Sega
• Takara Tomy
• T2
• THQ
• Ubisoft
• Warner Brothers Games

After they showed the list of developers, a video was shown of developers of several of these major companies, detailing their visions for their individual games on the 3DS. Activision and Harmonix were making DJ Hero 3D. Level 5 was working on Professor Layton and the Mask of Miracle. Square Enix was developing an unknown Kingdom Hearts game. THQ was making a new Saint’s Row. Capcom announced a new Resident Evil, and Ubisoft announced Assassin’s Creed: Lost Legacy. Konami announced a Metal Gear Solid game for the 3DS. WB Games’ logo was shown on a slide alongside a Batman logo, thus announcing their development of an unspecified Batman game.

Results: So, overall, most of these games are still on. There are some, however, that have been scrapped or have not seen any news recently. Let’s go down the lineup:

• DJ Hero 3D: DJH3D, officially, is still on, but Activision has published that they are not making any music games this year. It’s not looking good for DJ Hero 3D.
• Professor Layton: Mask of Miracle was a launch title for the 3DS in Japan, and it is currently expected to hit stores in the States this year.
• Kingdom Hearts: This game’s been quiet. A trailer popped up circa January, but other than that, nothing.
• Saint’s Row: The 3DS game was expected to be a portable version of Saint’s Row: Drive By, an upcoming XBox Live and Playstation Network downloadable game. However, it seems that development has been cancelled. While the 3DS version has not been officially cancelled, I would not get too attatched.
• Madden and FIFA: Madden was a launch title; FIFA 2012 is expected this fall.
• Resident Evil: Since E3, two Resident Evil games have been announced. Resident Evil: Mercenaries will be out will be available June 28th. Resident Evil: Revelations is scheduled to be released in 2012.
• Assassin’s Creed: News about Lost Legacy has been slim and none since E3 2010.
• Batman: Honestly, there’s so many different possibilities and speculations about the Batman game that I don’t know where to begin.
• Metal Gear Solid: The MGS game for the 3DS is a remake of MGS3: Snake Eater, and is currently supposed to be released in November.

So, it seems fairly obvious that Nintendo is one of the best at keeping their promises. Some of their only slip-ups are games that either are being released later than hoped, or third-party games that Nintendo cannot control. So, what new promises will there be for Nintendo to make this year? You can only find out by staying tuned here at ZI for coverage leading up to the big day. And don’t forget that Alex is going to be there LIVE. Stay tuned.