Seeing The Hylia's Mike "TSA" Damiani take the stage to demonstrate The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass brought a smile to our faces, but there wasn't anything demonstrated that we haven't already seen in previews or import impressions. Though casual titles made an appearance, the only items that perked our brows were Vision Training's US localization and hints of Cooking Navi receiving the same treatment. Disappointment-ton? That's what it looks to be, so far.
JC Fletcher: The best part of the DS coverage, I thought, was when Iwata started talking about Cooking Navi. But it turns out not to have been an announcement; he just really likes Cooking Navi.
The whole DS presentation was like that: underwhelming. Reggie mentioned Brain Age 2 for a fraction of the time he should have spent talking about it. Nintendo really undersells that here. Even when he said that it outsold Brain Age in Japan, that's not telling the story. It outsold most things in Japan. It was enormous, and it was just a footnote over here. Baffling.
Meanwhile, an unproven nongame is the focus of Nintendo's Wii presentation and massive hype. Not really presenting a unified front, are they?
David Hinkle: Things didn't go so well for Nintendo during the keynote and especially for DS fans. They focused heavily on the Wii, which sucks for us because we wanted to see more. Phantom Hourglass? There are plenty of videos of that game already, seeing as how it was already released in Japan.
Aside from that, no new colors for us. No software outside of a small mention of Brain Age 2. And Vision Training coming to the U.S. was good news, but what about Cooking Navi? Overall, I concur with my colleagues. I was underwhelmed.
Alisha Karabinus: Sorry, guys, better late than never. While you were all sweating out and waiting for DS announcements that didn't come, I was suffering at the dentist. So even if you're underwhelmed by the keynote, I promise you had a better time than I did!
As a serious DS devotee, I am disappointed at the lack of DS news. Brain Age 2, Phantom Hourglass ... these are great, and I will buy them both and hug them and squeeze them and all, but where's the new stuff? Just because the DS outsells everything but food doesn't mean we only want to hear about the Wii. That tide can turn. Throw us a bone here, guys! Where are our colors? Where are our new games? Where's my Cooking Navi? As a cooking enthusiast, I have lusted over that forever and it only gets namedropped? Lame. But hey, it's a Nintendo keynote, so frankly, I can't say I expected anything else. Reggie and co. are great to watch when they're doing their thing, but the information is often a little thin. Maybe we'll see some cool DS announcements over the rest of the show. Maybe.
[Update: Added statements from Latey McTardypants (Alisha).]
_thumbnail.jpg "Prince of Persia: The Fallen King")
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-11-2007 @ 2:03PM
Saphion said...
Deeply dissapointed by the lack of DS goodness. I'd have thought New Super Mario Bros. 2 would have appeared for certain, along with Elite Beat Agents 2.
But not announcing anything new for the DS... ugh. I'm so annoyed right now.
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7-11-2007 @ 2:14PM
Herby said...
I personally think we'll see a little more than just this. The Smash Bros trailer last year was shown well after their actual presentation remember - and there are a ton of games coming out this year that will finally see some hands on previews (I'm dying to see how Chibi Robo DS turns out).
I do wonder why he mentions in every speach how much he loves Cooking Navi yet we never see a US release.
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7-11-2007 @ 3:28PM
Jeff said...
I agree with Herby.
Reggie said that this was a new time for video games. And I think Nintendo is treating their E3 keynote as more of a forum to show off their overall strategy, rather than show trailers and announce new games. They want to continue to grab headlines in the mainstream media outlets like CNN. And I think that showing new devices like the zapper and the balance board is their way of keeping their current momentum going.
I believe that the game announcements and trailers will come, just not here at their keynote.
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7-11-2007 @ 4:11PM
Nushio said...
Nothing new was mentioned for the DS.
I expected a new color, Enamel Navy, but it seems its just a dream.
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7-11-2007 @ 4:28PM
Alisha Karabinus said...
We're already seeing huge amounts of media, though, and I'm undisappointed as quickly as I was disappointed! Nintendo always comes through in the end. :)
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7-11-2007 @ 5:52PM
PP said...
Although the presentation was in fact weak compared to what they show at japanese events, there are some great games coming our way.
At gonintendo.com it leaked this list for european releases: watch out for Mario Party DS and Advance Wars 2 DS...... YAY!!
Nintendo DS Software Release Date
Elite Beat Agents (Nintendo) 13th July 2007
Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl (Nintendo) 27thJuly 2007
Freshly Picked - Tingle’s Rosy Rupeeland (Nintendo) 14th September 2007
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (Nintendo) 19 October 2007
Donkey Kong Jungle Climber (Nintendo) October 2007
Naruto DS (Nintendo) October 2007
English Training 2 (tentative title) (Nintendo) October 2007
Mario Party DS (Nintendo) Q4 2007
Vision Training (tentative title) (Nintendo)
(US title: Flash Focus: Vision Training in Minutes a Day) Q4 2007
Advance Wars 2 (Nintendo) Q4 2007
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7-11-2007 @ 8:16PM
Mr Khan said...
Nintendo's probably just growing a bit complacent about the DS to the point where its goodness doesn't need much more harping
That's probably why Wii got the focus
Balance Board ftw
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