E3 Recap Part 1 - Nintendo takes the Gold - Still meh

And that's why were replacing it.

Another year, another E3. For months gamers speculate what will be said at the Electronic Entertainment Expo. And every year some people leave totally hyped, and some feel like they've been let down. And for the second straight year, I'm very much leaning to the latter of the two.

Lets start off this recap with what made the real waves:

... We knew what was coming.

And you thought 'Wii' was a silly name; this year at E3, Nintendo unveiled their next console, the Wii U. Wow, that might be the worse name for a console ever. I can hear it now: trying to walk around the local Gamestop with children just yelling out "WIIU WIIU WIIU WIIU WIIU!" like a broken siren or a bad Kung Pow imitation.

"WIIU WIIU WIIU WIIU WII!"

Wii-U?

The concept itself is interesting, even if they left it's info as vague as possible. They never brought up how powerful it was, and never even showed any real games for the system. Sure, there were some impressive looking tech demos, but after all the hype surrounding a system that has had four or five code names already, not only did they settle on the silliest option, but they just left us with promises and trailers of recycled games.

The only thing we really know about the Wii U is the controller. It looks like a rather large handheld device. Almost like a tablet PC, with buttons. Apparently it has everything imaginable on it: camera, speakers, mic (sounds like a DSi to me). On top of that the screen is obviously pretty high def, and it's (of course) a touch screen.

To their credit, Nintendo isn't one to make empty promises. Without a doubt, their biggest announcement didn't have a trailer or even an image. Apparently a new Smash Brothers game is in pre-development and it will be playable on both the 3DS and the Wii U, a technique that Sony is also kind of implementing (more on that later).

Looks like Zelda is getting screwed over again.

Rumors were that this new Nintendo console would me more powerful than the PS3. But that was left to be seen at this presentation. The Wii U was underwhelming because of how early in development it seems to be. The true star of Nintendo's press conference was the 3DS.

The 3DS has been a brutal failure up until now. With a weak game roster at launch it was the most hyped flop in recent gaming history. But at E3, Nintendo came to play with a huge list of games that are headed to the handheld. By this holiday season, the 3DS is looking at a pretty stacked roster of first party Nintendo games like Super Mario, Mario Kart, Star Fox, and Kid Icarus to name a few.

The other big news from the 'big N' is that they're finally addressing their lack of third party support for their systems. For years, Nintendo has relied primarily (and secondarily) on their first party titles, leaving their consumers with just a handful of quality titles to look forward to each year. Of course they would get third party games, but the norm was that these games would have Xbox 360 and PS3 counterparts that would be superior not only in the graphics department, but in the gameplay department as well.

We can't confirm that the gameplay issues are being addressed, but in the few clips we did see at E3, it does seem like Nintendo has caught up graphically for the time being. I say it like that, because I do expect both competing companies to announce new consoles in the next two years, once again leaving Nintendo in the dust in the sheer power department. But for now, Nintendo can rejoice.

Nintendo did "win" E3 this year. But it wasn't much of a landslide victory like most predicted. If it wasn't for all the first party titles for the 3DS I would almost give the nod to Sony. The Wii U underdelivered for now, but I expect big announcements for it in the coming year.