Nintendo president and COO Reggie Fils-Aime talks about the company's latest iteration of its motion-sensitive controller, the Wii Motion Plus, at its E3 press briefing in Tuesday in Los Angeles.
(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET Networks)LOS ANGELES--Although the video games industry has begun to take some hits--suggesting it may not be recession-proof after all--Nintendo has managed to maintain a solid financial performance.
Its sales are up 19 percent year-over-year, according to the company, which would be impressive in any year, but is particularly so in the current economic climate.
At E3 here this week, Nintendo made a few bold moves, but tended to play it relatively safe. It unveiled a new version of its mega-hit exercise game, "Wii Fit Plus," and showed off the next-generation of its motion-sensitive controller, the Wii Motion Plus.
Nintendo President and COO Reggie Fils-Aime
(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET)Overall, however, there was the impression that the company was sitting on its lead. For while Microsoft has had some very impressive sales numbers and Sony has picked up its pace over its early PlayStation 3 stumbles, Nintendo's Wii has managed to stay on top of the sales charts. Similarly, the Nintendo DS has also had sky-high sales, and continues to defy expectations, more than four years after its launch.
At E3, CNET News' Daniel Terdiman had a chance to speak with about the video game industry as a whole, and about how Nintendo plans to go after the few demographics it hasn't already captured with the Wii and the DS.
Q: What's your feeling about where the video game industry is right now?
Reggie Fils-Aime: The video games industry is not just at the center of the entertainment industry, but is driving the entertainment industry, not only economically, but from a cultural impact standpoint. Having said that, consumers are having to make tough economic choices today. Nintendo's in a very fortunate place. The industry through April is down about 4 percent, but we're up about 19 percent. So consumers are voting for us with their wallets, which is a great place to be, especially when so much of our best content will be coming in the second half of the year.
Can Nintendo sustain that performance if the economy worsens?
Fils-Aime: Consumers are looking for ways to entertain themselves. In tough economic times, certain parts of the entertainment business have always done well. Whether or not the industry or Nintendo can sustain where we are really comes down to the experiences we're offering. And based on E3 and the smiles I see from people playing Wii Sports Resort, or Zelda DS, or Mario vs. Donkey Kong, I believe that as long as we continue to bring great, innovative entertainment, consumers will continue to choose us.
Speaking of Donkey Kong, I was thinking about the attempt at E3 on the world-record Donkey Kong score, and about how well the game and other classics like Pac-Man and Frogger and others from that era have held up. Are there current games that 20 or 30 years people will still be playing and appreciating?
Fils-Aime: It would be wonderful to see. If you look at something like Super Mario 64, that was a launch title for DS, 53 months ago, and continues to sell exceptionally well, as does Super Mario Galaxy for Wii. I do think there will be some key titles that folks will look back on 10 or 20 years from now, and say, "Boy, I would have loved to be a gamer when these games were launched."
Was there a design philosophy in the 1980s that designers could learn from today?
Fils-Aime: I think actually (Nintendo president and CEO Satoru Iwata) touched on this during our press conference. He talked about games like Donkey Kong or Space Invaders presenting an incredible challenge but also being inviting at the same time. And that duality is something that is really tough to do from a game design standpoint, and as we think about Wii Sports Resort, or Super Mario Galaxy 2, we're also trying to find that great balance.
Nintendo is currently selling both the DS Lite and the DSi. Is that not confusing to some consumers?
Fils-Aime: I don't think so, because a consumer walking in the door is going to be compelled by the plethora of great titles for DS. Then it's going to come down to, "Do I want a DS Lite or a DSi?" The first thing they'll see is that there's a price difference, so that will drive people one way or the other. The other thing they'll say is, "How important is it to me to download games. How important are the two cameras. And as we showed yesterday, with a million DSis sold in two months, and 400,000 DS Lites. And I think consumers are making their choice based on a number of factors. We have some who are saying, "I want pink." To little 8-, 9-, 10-year-old girls, features don't matter, It's, "I want the pink one." And having that available just for DS Lite is driving it that way.
Do you think all the innovation we're seeing in accessories for Wii, Xbox, and PS3 is making a rush to the next generation of consoles unnecessary?
Fils-Aime: We certainly believe there's a lot more Wii volume to be done, and a lot more games for the Wii. And that's not just what we've been able to do with accessories like the Balance Board, or future accessories like the Vitality Sensor. It's also what we're able to do with Wii Motion Plus, from an archery standpoint, or what we're doing with ping-pong, in putting this big spin and curve on the ball. Who would have thought that possible three or four years ago? Nintendo's driving a focus on innovation that maybe wasn't in our industry four or five years ago. I think that's where the major difference is.
One of the things that has driven the mystique of the Wii has been how hard it has been to buy one. But now it's available anywhere, anytime. Does that take away the mystique?
Fils-Aime: I don't think so. From the start, we wanted to reach out to people who did not consider themselves gamers. The only way to reach them is for the product to be readily available, because they won't sleep out in front of a store to buy a Wii. We had to get to the point of having massive availability. We're selling 300,000 or 400,000 units a month, 30 months after launch, and that's never been done before. We've blown past the PlayStation 2 sales rate after 30 months.
How did you solve the availability issue?
Fils-Aime: We've been manufacturing it at a rate that's never been seen before.
But why were there still shortages last holiday season?
Fils-Aime: The fact is, we've been producing at this rate for a year. It's taken us that long to satisfy all of that pent up demand. Now we can do some outreach to people who in the past were saying, "I might be interested in the Wii, but I'm not going to go sleep out in front of a retailer."
With their announced new motion-sensitive control systems, Sony and Microsoft seem to be planning to aggressively go after the elusive mainstream audience. But perception-wise, at least, Nintendo maybe has the opposite problem: You've got the mainstream. How do you reach that core gamer?
Fils-Aime: We have near-term, mid-term and long-term opportunities. The near-term opportunity is the consumer who owns an PS3 or an Xbox 360 and has been bad-mouthing Wii to their friends. We can reach that consumer with games like The Conduit or Tiger Woods with Wii Motion Plus. The mid-term opportunity is the more mainstream consumer who saw Wii at a friend's house but just needs a little extra incentive to get into our game. That's what Wii Motion Plus and Wii Fit Plus and new Super Mario Bros. Wii will hopefully achieve. And the long-term opportunity is that person who currently says, "I don't play video games and I have no interest in playing video games."
What about the Halo audience?
Fils-Aime: We think we win over the Halo audience with something like The Conduit, a multi-player, online, shooting experience, or Dead Space Extraction. And you know what? Once those people buy into Wii, they'll go buy Mario Kart or Wii Fit Plus. We're not going to be satisfied just picking up that existing gamer. We have to reach beyond and get that consumer who doesn't game. That's the only way we'll be able to continue growing as a company and as an industry.
That's not an unlimited audience, right?
Fils-Aime: It's not. And actually the challenge increases the further you dip into this group. Two years ago, theoretically, there were ten consumers who said, "I would never play video games." We picked them off one at a time with Wii Fit or Brain Age 2. Now maybe there's five left, but now the bar is substantially higher for how to get them. Which is why we're looking to push the envelope with something like the Vitality Sensor, and why we have to make current gamers say, "Huh? What is that?" But that's exactly the type of reaction we got a couple of years ago when we first talked about "Wii Fit," and look where we are now.
You just announced the multi-player Super Mario Bros. Wii. How important is that for broadening your Mario audience?
Fils-Aime: I think Super Mario Bros. Wii will first appeal to the traditional Mario fan. But I think we'll also appeal to the consumer who first bought a Wii to play Wii Fit or Wii Fit Plus, who maybe has felt that platforming games are a little too challenging. We'll get that consumer because it's Mario, and because they can play with other people, whether competitively or cooperatively. That's exactly what happened when we launched Super Mario Bros. DS. Initially it was the Nintendo fan. But the only way it's been able to stay in the top ten month after month is because we've reached beyond the Nintendo fan into the brand-new consumer who's picked up a DS for the first time.
Can you talk about what you saw from Microsoft and Sony when it comes to the motion-sensitive controllers. It will be a sort of a new arms race.
Fils-Aime: The only thing I'll say is a rhetorical question. Is it fun? If it's fun, then I tip my hat and say, "Well done." But what's happening sounds to me a lot like, "Who's got the prettiest picture. Who's got high-definition. Who has the best processing power?" It sounds like technology, when the consumer wants to be entertained. Our focus is how do we take active play and make it entertainment. And that's what we're going to continue to focus on. And I think we've done a great job with Wii Motion Plus, and the Balance Board. And we're going to continue to push the envelope in ways to make it more fun.
The appearance by Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr at the Microsoft Xbox E3 press briefing on Monday caught the world by surprise, and turned into a perfect way to formally introduce 'Beatles: Rock Band.'
(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET)LOS ANGELES--If you were among the thousands of people at Microsoft's E3 press briefing on Monday, it's a pretty sure bet that the appearance on-stage there of Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and Yoko Ono was one of the most unexpected things imaginable.
But if you think about it, the very existence of the game that led to their showing up during the Xbox press briefing, Harmonix and MTV Games' "Beatles: Rock Band," is even more surprising. After all, the Beatles have, over the years, maintained a stranglehold over control of their music. For example the Beatles are still the holy grail that iTunes has not yet been able to corral.
The game will be released on September 9 (09.09.09) on the Xbox 360, the PlayStation 3, and the Wii.
So how did the game come to pass?
Since the two remaining Beatles weren't able to come to the phone for this article, I decided to stop by the Harmonix booth at E3 and ask the game's lead designer, Chris Foster, for the skinny behind what has got to be one of the biggest coups in video gaming history.
Foster said the story begins a couple of years ago, when MTV President Van Toffler ran into Dhani Harrison, son of the late Beatles guitarist George Harrison, in some random social setting.
"It was just sort of through happenstance," Foster said. "Dhani was a big 'Rock Band' fan, and there was this sort of, 'Wouldn't it be nice if...but it'll never happen.'"
But being a "Rock Band" fan, Dhani Harrison took his idea to Harmonix CEO and co-founder Alex Rigopulos and began a conversation about what a Beatles version of "Rock Band" could be. Foster said that the idea seemed like a huge challenge, but, deciding to pursue it, Harrison began evangelizing the idea to Apple Corps, the Beatles' U.K. publisher, and its shareholders, particularly McCartney, Starr, and Ono.
"So then, from that point, it was just sort of getting them familiar with ('Rock Band')," Foster said, "and getting them understanding what the game could be like."
By now, the discussions were far enough along that Harmonix put together a simple demo of the kind of music and conceptual art that could be used in the game, Foster said.
And, amazingly, inexplicably, it worked.
Creative partners
"At that point," Foster recalled, things "moved to (the Beatles) being creative partners" in the project. One of the most vital things to happen at that point was the introduction of music producer Giles Martin to the "Rock Band" project. Martin, the son of the Beatles' original producer, George Martin, helped Cirque du Soleil put together its Beatles show, "Love."
That was crucial, Foster said, because Martin was able to help solve one of the most important problems any Beatles "Rock Band" game would have, adding multitrack capabilities.
"We needed multitrack," Foster said, "because in 'Rock Band,' (players) need to get (individual) feedback about whether they're playing well or not. So with all those pieces in place, we were able to do a demo of what the music (in the game) would be like."
As things progressed, the developers knew that to make the game feel authentic, they'd have to offer players real Beatles venues to play in. So they worked to add famous Beatles locations like Liverpool's famous Cavern Club, the Ed Sullivan theater, Shea Stadium, the Budokan in Tokyo, and the rooftop at Apple Corps.
Then, Foster said, the development team came up with the idea for adding psychedelic dreamscape visions to the game. The game's trailer (see below) does a great job of demonstrating that element, as do some of the best pieces of Cirque du Soleil's "Love."
'We respected them and their music'
To Foster, the chief reason that the improbable game ever came together at all is that "they liked that we respected them and respected their music. I don't want to put words in their mouths, but what was important to us was that we respected them."
That's one reason that the development team made sure to include venues where the Beatles had actually played famous shows. "We weren't shoving them into live venues that didn't make sense," he said.
Another important factor was the developers' adding the ability to include vocal harmonies as part of game play.
"Their music is so much about harmonies," he said. Adding vocal harmonies was something that had never been done in "Rock Band" before, but it was considered vital to accurately representing the Beatles' music in the game.
And that also presented the developers with a hurdle they had to clear.
"The challenge (was) making it so vocal harmonies were fun and challenging, but really accessible, and finding a way to put that in the game, without overwhelming" players, Foster said. "(We didn't want to make them) feel like they failed to sing like the Beatles."
Foster acknowledged that contracting with the Beatles was a huge win for Harmonix, especially when it's been clear for some time that "lots of people were thinking about doing it."
The game is already being anxiously awaited by players, developers, and industry executives alike, and for both game play and business reasons.
"Clearly, (the Beatles) saw an opportunity of reintroducing their music to the current music-loving consumer and it makes perfect sense for them as they try and manage their brand," said Nintendo President and COO Reggie Fils-Aime. "So I think it makes a lot of sense and, candidly, what the music industry is finding is that the games industry is a great way to drive music sales."
And for Microsoft, having McCartney, Starr, and Ono take the stage at the Xbox press briefing at the University of Southern California's Galen Center was a gigantic victory. A Microsoft spokesperson said that the appearance came about because the company is always talking to its publisher partners, including, in this case, MTV Games. And that as "Beatles: Rock Band" progressed, the Beatles decided that the Xbox press briefing would be a very appropriate place to announce the game.
Note to Sony and Nintendo: Work harder at finessing those publisher partner contacts, and next time, maybe the stars will pick your E3 briefing.
To Foster, a big part of what makes the game seem authentic was that the designers concentrated on "telling the Beatles' story" but still finding a way to do so in the context of a "Rock Band" game that fans of both the band and the game franchise would appreciate and recognize. And also because the game will appeal to even the youngest Beatles fans.
He explained that the Harmonix team liked the idea of bringing new, younger audiences to the Beatles for the first time. But reality soon disabused them of that notion.
"The (Beatles') music is like the air we breathe," Foster said, "and it catches every generation...It's sort of presumptuous to think you can introduce the Beatles to anyone."
Eidos' highly anticipated Batman: Arkham Asylum is due to hit stores on August 25. The action title, which will be available on PS3, Xbox 360, and PCs, follows the caped crusader as he takes on the likes of Joker, Poison Ivy, and other supervillains. Several new screenshots surfaced at E3 2009.
Additional reading: Dan Ackerman's take on Batman: Arkham Asylum.
The original God of War helped spur sales of the PS2. Now Sony's hoping God of War 3, the first version of the franchise to hit the PS3, will deliver a sales jolt to that console. Some new screenshots and a rather gory trailer showed up at this year's E3. (Note: The latter half of the screenshots in the slideshow originally appeared in February.)
Additional reading: Dan Ackerman's take on God of War 3.
The new motion-control system from Sony was announced at E3 on the heels of similar new technology from both Microsoft and Nintendo.
(Credit: Gamespot)LOS ANGELES--Forget the console wars. We're in the motion-sensitive controller wars.
That much became clear Tuesday when, following on Monday's announcement by Microsoft that it was working on Project Natal, an impressive and complex full-body, hands-free motion-sensitive control system, both Nintendo and Sony revealed plans for new, advanced systems of their own.
Of course, Microsoft is the only real newcomer to this party. After all, Sony introduced the Eye Toy, a system that incorporated users' body movements into some games, years ago, and Nintendo's Wii vaulted to huge popularity on the strength of the innovative controls of its now-famous Wii-mote.
But over the last two days here at E3--the video game industry's most watched trade show--we've seen the three major video game hardware makers each up the ante in the race to provide consumers with much more intuitive ways to play games. And it's abundantly clear that what's really going on here is an aggressive play by each of the three companies to make their offerings more palatable to mainstream audiences, people who have traditionally not considered themselves gamers.
Microsoft's Project Natal is a hands-free, full-body sensing control system that can be used to play games, watch movies, do virtual painting, and much more. It appears to be easy to use, and quick to get going on. It's not known yet how much it will cost, or whether it will be bundled with the Xbox or sold as an accessory.
Nintendo's newly announced improvements to Wii Motion Plus (see video below) is the most incremental of the three new systems. It takes the successful Wii-mote and adds a physical feedback system that lets users feel what they're doing, and it also allows for rotational motion in 3D space, such as spinning a skydiver's body around, which someone could do in "Wii Sports Resort," one of the games that Nintendo said would benefit from the new control system.
And Sony's new system is a set of wands with glowing orbs on top, that allow one-to-one motion like Nintendo's original Wii-mote, and which also give tangible physical feedback like the new Nintendo system.
With its massive success with the Wii, Nintendo would seem to have a leg up over its competitors. That's only because it doesn't have to work very hard to market its motion-sensitive control regimen at this point: everyone knows that the Wii controller is simple, easy to use, and responds to users' hand and arm gestures.
On the other hand, Nintendo's new technology also represents the smallest incremental change, meaning that it will actually be more difficult to convince would-be customers that its new offering is much different than what it had before.
By comparison, both Sony and Microsoft are offering something entirely new, and will certainly have little trouble building marketing campaigns around them once they're ready to go on sale. The answer to the question of when those technologies actually will go on sale is not yet known, and it's certainly a big question. Whoever is last to this game will probably have a hard time selling their technology as new and innovative.
Based on this new arms race, however, it's clear there is exactly one guaranteed winner: consumers. Until now, people who wanted a true motion-sensitive controller had only one choice: the Wii. Now--or rather, when the technology hits the market--people who are considering buying a video game console will be able to choose whichever system they want. Their choice, in the end, may well be able to come down to which games are on offer.
And one would have to expect, since it's very obvious that all three companies are now going after the truly mainstream audience, that all three will be pushing their developer partners hard to come up with more casual gaming experiences, and fast.
I really liked what I saw from all three companies, even though all three technologies are somewhat different.
I actually think that Microsoft's Project Natal (see video below) is the biggest leap forward, and offers consumers the widest user experience. And given that Microsoft has been making huge strides in developing its Xbox Live service in such a way that there are plenty of things for casual gamers, or even non-gamers, to do, I suspect that Natal will end up being a real winner for the Xbox platform.
That said, the Xbox is also seen in the wider world, I think, as a much harder-core gaming console, as is the PS3. So, it was crucial for both Sony and Microsoft to come up with something for the casual gamer, and now. Whether they can change the perception of their consoles as geared to the hard-core is something I think will take some time. On the other hand, both companies are surely willing to throw a lot of marketing dollars at the problem, so I have faith those non-gamers out there will be seeing a lot of advertising geared at them.
Nintendo, meanwhile, has the opposite problem: it has to find a way to convince core gamers it has something to offer them. So I would imagine the company will be pushing its developer partners to incorporate its latest technology into more games geared to the "Halo" set.
Everyone wants to know about winners and losers, and I don't think we have any losers here. Whether we can crown winners yet is also unclear. I would have to say it's too early for that. But my sense is that there is plenty to be excited about here. And one thing that strikes me is that the technological innovations we've now seen from all three companies suggests that we're not about to see the next generation of consoles any time soon.
And why would we? With the new technology each company keeps putting out, we've already got three new systems, and we don't need to spend several hundred more dollars to get there.
LOS ANGELES--About halfway through a closed-door demo I was in this afternoon of Microsoft's just-announced full-body motion-sensitive control system, Project Natal, another reporter told our host that he was skeptical of what he was seeing.
A minute later, after taking the virtual controls himself of the game "Burnout Paradise" and giving Natal a test, the reporter walked back over to where I was standing and when I asked him if he was still skeptical, he gave me a chastened look and said, "It's interesting."
In other words, he was won over.
Project Natal, as you probably know by now, was Microsoft's big announcement at its E3 press briefing here. It has gotten a lot of attention because of its promise to make it possible to incorporate all kinds of hands-free control into a wide variety of games: racing games, painting games, shooting games, sports games and so on.
(Credit:
Daniel Terdiman/CNET Networks)
But until now, I hadn't seen the technology close up. I was part of a small group that got the demonstration deep inside Microsoft's cavernous E3 booth. We were allowed to ask whatever we wanted, but we weren't able to take video or photos of the technology.
One thing that came out of the presentation: Tsunoda said unequivocally that the software behind Natal was developed entirely in-house at Microsoft. But he wouldn't address the question of where the hardware came from, or specifically, if it came from 3DV Systems, a company that has been working on this kind of technology, and which Microsoft recently acquired.
Having seen the 3DV technology a couple of years ago, I can say that what Microsoft is showing today is very much the same but with a much more user-friendly front end. In other words, I would bet that 3DV is the source of that hardware.
Here's my quick impression: Natal is for real, and it may well change the way people experience video games, as well as anything else that is run through an Xbox 360.
Tsunoda began our demonstration by explaining the problem Microsoft had set out to solve: To make the gaming experience fun for everyone, while not alienating the core Xbox 360 fans.
"The control system is simple," Tsunoda said of Natal. "People can just jump in and have fun. (But there's) an extra layer of fidelity for core gamers."
Project Natal (see video below) is designed to be a one-to-one avatar control system, Tsunoda said. Wherever you move your hands, your body or your legs, the system captures it and mirrors it on the screen and in whatever game you're playing. "No (other) controller in the world allows you to control your whole body," he said. "Every part of the body is in play."
One interesting thing that came up in the demo is that when a woman stepped up to use it, the system recognized she was female and represented her on-screen as a female avatar with long hair. Tsunoda said that ideally, Natal will recognize users and be able to grab their existing Xbox avatars, but that in such a demo environment, it simply represented her the best way it could, given what it could see of her skeletal structure.
Another interesting point was the way Natal recognizes people's skeletal structure and analyzes how we move. Tsunoda made the point that Natal will continue to work even if someone walks in front of a player because it knows how the human body works. So, if a player had his or her arms blocked, but Natal's cameras could still see part of their arm, it can fill in the rest based on algorithms that tell it how that arm should look.
And it's the software, Tsunoda said, that's the "magic" behind Natal, and that allows the technology to "extract the human skeleton."
Natal is designed to work whether someone is standing up or sitting down, and can recognize users very quickly. We saw that in action when, one-by-one, we were invited to step up and play either a kickball game or a driving game. With a couple of exceptions where the player didn't stand in the right place, Natal did seem to almost instantly recognize that a new person was playing and, then, respond to their movements.
This may have been most impressive during game play of the racing game, "Burnout Paradise," when it was clear that Natal was doing a fine job of translating the player's hand movements--mimicking holding and turning a steering wheel--into moving the car on-screen.
Tsunoda said the technology behind Natal includes an RGB camera, an infrared camea, a multi-array microphone and a depth map. These features allow the system to track a player in 3D space, as well as to capture spoken commands from multiple people, none of whom have to wear a headset.
Asked how Natal differs from the many other motion-control cameras that have come along over the years, Tsunoda simply said that nothing that has ever come along before has been able to instantly work when a new player steps up in front of it, or when the lighting conditions change, or when someone else steps in front of a player.
"Ours, you can play any way you want," he said. "This just works the way you want it to."
Clearly, Microsoft is banking heavily on software developers--who are just now getting development kits--being able to utilize Natal in their games in such a way that players don't have to do any kind of configuration or tinkering in order to get it to work. Absent that instant-workability, the system loses a lot of its allure. But Tsunoda was insistent that that is Natal's value proposition and that developers will have no trouble making it work that way in their games.
If that's true, then it would seem that Microsoft has a real winner on its hands. As I wrote Monday, any success depends, though, entirely on price point, and how users get their hands on it. But right now, having seen Natal close up, I have to say I'm a believer.
Steve Wiebe, the star of the documentary, 'King of Kong: Fistful of quarters,' working to try, once again, to break the all-time 'Donkey Kong' world record.
(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET Networks)LOS ANGELES--Steve Wiebe is at it again.
The star of the documentary, "King of Kong: Fistful of quarters," Wiebe's past attempts--and failures--to break the "Donkey Kong" world record have been well documented and discussed.
But now, here at E3, Wiebe is taking another shot at the record--currently 1,047,200 points, and held by the other star of the documentary, Billy Mitchell--courtesy of the TV network G4, which, even as I write this, is hosting Wiebe's record pursuit on its stage at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
Already today--while most of the E3 world was focused on the big Nintendo and Sony press conferences--Wiebe had taken at least two shots at the record, and with one, had gotten close: He'd topped 923,000. But both times, he'd come up short.
So now, with a couple hundred people watching and rooting him on, with shouts of "Let's go, Steve!" ringing out, Wiebe got going.
As long as you are at least somewhat familiar with the game, even if you haven't played "Donkey Kong" for years, the music it makes when it starts is oh-so-familiar. It's simple, '80s-era digital music, nothing fancy. Yet it sticks in your mind--forever.
Wiebe began his third attempt and he was doing well, playing flawlessly--at least to this amateur observer--and racking up the points. Around me, murmurs of wonderment were flying fast and furious.
"I didn't even know how to do that," one audience member said.
"This is the (level) that always kills me," another said.
Watching Wiebe play "Donkey Kong" is a study in calm. His technique, at least what I could see of it by watching his body language and a live video of the game being displayed on screens all around him, is smooth, calm, relaxed, and patient. He seems to know exactly what he's doing and what's coming at all times. Which, I guess, makes sense for someone who is good enough at the game to have a legitimate shot at breaking the all-time world record.
Every now and then, for example, the G4 crew point their cameras at a section of the audience, encouraging them to break out in a big cheer, which they do. These sudden, loud bursts of applause and yelling don't even seem to faze Wiebe.
"He makes this look really easy," an audience member said.
Within about 20 minutes, Wiebe has broken 100,000 points, a very impressive number for an amateur "Donkey Kong" player like me. But then you realize that it's only a tenth of the record score and that he could be at this for three hours, at least.
Watching Wiebe play, I was struck by how well "Donkey Kong" has held up over time, especially having just come from the Sony press conference, where I saw games with graphics and game play that the folks at Nintendo couldn't even have dreamed of back when they were making "Donkey Kong."
At least a couple hundred people watched as Wiebe pursued the world record score.
(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET)But the game, as well as others from its era--games like "Pac Man," "Frogger," "Dig Dug," "Space Invaders," and others--are still considered classics and seem to be regularly re-issued by their original publishers, or others. I wonder if the same will be true of today's games in 20 or 30 years.
Suddenly, the video screens showing Wiebe's play went haywire. Clearly, there's a glitch. Is this the end of the attempt?
It turns out that the power was inadvertently lost to the "Donkey Kong" machine, ending that attempt. But again, Wiebe looks imperturbable. It's probably good that he was only 100,000 points or so into the game. I wonder if he would have been so calm if the power had gone at 900,000 points.
Actually, though, he wanders over to talk to some of the G4 folks, and I hear him say to one of the nearby spectators, "The pace wasn't very good anyway." Which means that maybe, just maybe, he kicked the power loose. OK, I'm kidding.
After 5 or 10 minutes, the power is back on, and Wiebe takes his seat again. The machine turns back on, play is pressed, and once again, we hear that familiar "Donkey Kong" music.
And then, just like that, he's back up to 100,000 points.
I wanted to see what happened, and whether he'd break the record. But E3 is a busy event for me, and I had to leave. I guess to find out whether he made it or not, you'll have to turn to G4. But hopefully, I'll be able to update this story later with the final results. Stay tuned.
Updated at 5:38 p.m.: Wiebe is now at 903,000, but has just one life left. And he just cleared level 19.
Updated at 5:42 p.m.: He's at 929,600 now.
Updated at 5:54 p.m.: Wiebe passed another level but died almost immediately after, with a final score of 989,400.
With E3 returning to its old, bigger-is-better format, there seemed to be more at stake at this year's show. Could Nintendo provide enough compelling news to hold onto its lead? Would Microsoft trot out something to create new enthusiasm for its Xbox 360 platform? And could Sony reveal anything that might give it some much-needed momentum?
Alas, as it goes most of the time at E3, none of the companies truly hit it out of the park and a lot of what was announced was already leaked to greater or lesser degrees before the show started. However, that doesn't mean we can't try to objectively determine which companies did themselves some good--and which companies may not have.
Here's a quick recap of the news conferences from each camp and my quick assessments. But nevermind what I say, feel free to add your own comments--and try to be objective.
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A new PlayStation Portable is expected to be announced at E3 Tuesday.
(Credit: Jennifer Guevin/CNET)LOS ANGELES--Question: if everybody already knows what you're going to announce at a press conference, can you still surprise people?
Microsoft proved on Monday that the answer is yes; everyone knew that the company would be releasing some kind of motion-sensitive control system, yet no one was prepared for how polished the product, Project Natal, actually turned out to be.
Now, Sony is getting ready for its own moment in the spotlight at E3 here, and the pressure, as always, is on. Almost certain is a newly redesigned PlayStation Portable, or PSP Go, as it's being called. And there's also been talk of Sony having some kind of new motion-sensitive controller, as well.
For more on what Sony actually does announce, stay tuned to this page. We're live-blogging Sony's press briefing, which started shortly after 11 a.m. Pacific. Sister site Gamespot has posted video from the live stream of the Sony keynote here.
11:14 a.m.: Sony Computer Entertainment America President and CEO Jack Tretton begins by joking, "given this industry's ability to keep secrets, I was worried there wouldn't be any reason to come to this press conference."
11:16 a.m.: Tretton, in his introduction, touts the strength of the entire PlayStation platform--PS3, PS2, and PlayStation Portable--and said that 30 percent of the industry's sales in 2008 were from Sony's combined platforms.
11:19 a.m.: He adds that with the PS2 selling for $99, it continues to be the Sony standard bearer. There are currently more than 2,000 games for the PS2, and will be an additional 100-plus new games this year.
As for the PS3, there have been 22 million units sold globally so far, and Sony predicts sales of 13 million more in fiscal 2010.
Evan Wells shows off Uncharted 2
(Credit: Gamespot)11:21 a.m.: One of the biggest games coming to PS3, Tretton says, is Naughty Dog's "Uncharted 2: Among Thieves." Starting tonight, the game will go into open beta. The game is one of 35 titles that will be exclusive for PS3 this year, Tretton added. Another he touted excitedly, and which got a loud reception from the audience, is InFamous. One thing is clear from that audience reception: Sony has its own passionate fans, much like Nintendo does.
Evan Wells from Naughty Dog comes onstage to show a demo of "Uncharted 2: Among Thieves."
An ear-splitting demo of "Uncharted 2" gets very loud, excited applause.
11:27 a.m.: Next up, Zipper Interactive comes up to show off its forthcoming PS3 game, "MAG," which can support 256 simultaneous players, including people playing remotely.
Jack Tretton introduces Mag
(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET)11:37 a.m.: Tretton is back on stage, talking about the functionality of the PSP. Last year, he says, Sony sold 15 million PSPs, pushing the device to more than 50 million units sold in its lifetime.
He says there are a series of hot games coming to the PSP, including "City of Final Fantasy" on August 25, and "Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines" on November 10. Sony is also working with Disney to introduce a Hannah Montana bundle, complete with a colored PSP. It will be available this July.
Next up, Kaz Hirai (CEO of Sony's Networked Products and Services Group) comes on stage to introduce the much-anticipated the PSP Go, also known, he joked, "as the worst-kept secret" in the video game business. (Watch video of Kaz Hirai introducing the PSP Go on CNET TV.)
"The PSP Go is 50 percent smaller" than the existing PSP.
Kaz Hirai introduces PSP Go
(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET)
PSP Go from the back
(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET)11:41 a.m.: The PSP Go, Hirai says, will feature 16 gigabytes of internal Flash memory; built-in Wi-Fi; integrated Bluetooth and a new system, Media Go, which will be the application used on the PSP Go to access the PlayStation Store.
PSP Go has slideout controls
(Credit: Gamespot)The PSP Go will be available on October 1, simultaneously in North America and Europe. It will cost $249.99. Hirai says "All PSP titles going forward will be digitally distributed on the PlayStation store, as well as at retail on (the UMD format).
11:42 a.m.: He also says that Sony's video service will be available natively on the PSP Go, making it easier than ever to download video to the device.
11:43 a.m.: Video content will be available from leading providers like Showtime, G4, E, Starz, and others. One big game that will be available on the PSP, will be "Gran Turismo."
11:50 a.m.: Hirai says "Gran Turismo" will be released for PSP on October 1.
Resident Evil comes to PSP with the Go
(Credit: Gamespot)11:51 a.m.: Next up, Hideo Kojima from Kojima Productions comes onstage to introduce "Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker" for the PSP.
11:52 a.m.: Kojima says the new game takes place 10 years after the events of "Metal Gear Solid 3." So it takes place in the 1970s.
11:59 a.m.: After a rousing video demonstration of the new "Metal Gear Solid" PSP game, Hirai thanks the audience and brings Tretton back on-stage. Tretton then introduces "Resident Evil: Portable," the latest title in a long-standing franchise. It will be available next year, and will be the first time the franchise will be available on PSP. Tretton says "Little Big Planet," "Hannah Montana," "Harry Potter," and a few other franchises will also be coming to PSP for the first time.
The PSP Go will also come in lavender
(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET)12:05 p.m.: Tretton says the PlayStation Network now has more than 24 million users who have collectively downloaded more than 475 million pieces of content. There are more than 200 titles available on the PlayStation store, 90 of which are exclusive.
He also says Sony is bringing almost 50 PlayStation 1 classic games to the PlayStation store this year, including "Final Fantasy VII," which is available as of today.
12:06 p.m.: Next up, Tretton talks about Sony Home, the company's online virtual world. He says Home now has more than 6.5 million users worldwide, and that the service is adding more than 100 virtual items each month.
Assassin's Creed demo
(Credit: Gamespot)12:08 p.m.: Now, Tretton rolls a video to show the audience "what's on tap for PlayStation 3 this year." It includes clips from "Uncharted 2," "Infamous," "Madden NFL 10," "Final Fantasy XIII," "MAG," "Overlord II," "Batman: Arkham Asylum," "Brutal Legend," "Ninja Gaiden 2," "Mafia 2," "Karaoke Revolution," "Heavy Rain," "Battlefield 1943," "Hustle Kings," "Trash Panic," "Critter Crunch," "Tekken 6," "Red Faction Guerrilla," "Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10," "Dark Void," "G-Force" (The guinea pig movie, not Gatchaman), "Planet 51," "Gravity Crash," and others.
12:13 p.m.: But perhaps the biggest cheer of all came when "God of War II" came up on the video screen.
12:15 p.m.: Tretton announces a new PS3 exclusive: "Agent," from Rockstar Games, the creator of the "Grand Theft Auto" franchise. And then it was time to introduce "Assassin's Creed II."
12:21 p.m.: A long video played, showcasing the game's beautiful graphics and its innovative new weapons. The game will be available this holiday.
12:22 p.m.: Tretton then introduced a video showing some tidbits from Square Enix's forthcoming "Final Fantasy XIII."
Final Fantasy XIII demo
(Credit: Gamespot)
Final Fantasy XIV
(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET)
Final Fantasy XIV demo at E3
(Credit: Gamespot)12:26 p.m.: After the video, Tretton elicits shouts from around the Shrine Auditorium of "what?" when he announced that Square Enix would be releasing "Final Fantasy XIV" exclusively for the PS3 in 2010. He then introduces a video of "Final Fantasy XIV" and adds, jokingly, "So there's one that didn't leak out, huh?"
Then Tretton moved on to motion-control, and said "We're working to create an experience that's much closer to real life than anything you've experienced."
12:35 p.m.: Two demonstrators come up on stage to show how the system--still very much a prototype, they said--works. The controller can be used to direct game play including the wielding of swords, shooting darts, or in a first-person shooter mode. It can also be used to write with a high level of precision, and to paint as if with a paintbrush, or a spraypaint can.
It can also be used for subtle touch, such as carefully trying to knock over a series of dominoes.
12:39 p.m.: The controller has a real one-to-one relationship between the person wielding it and what is seen on-screen. And it also offers tension-based control, such as pulling back the string on a bow to shoot an arrow.
Sony shows off motion-sensor controls where a real person controls the avatar of a knight.
(Credit: Gamespot)
ModNation Racers
(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET)12:40 p.m.: With this system, Sony quickly joined Nintendo and Microsoft with an advanced motion-control system, and set off an arms race with this technology. Tretton says the system should be launched in spring of 2010.
12:42 p.m.: Then, touting the success of "Little Big Planet" on the PS3, and the fact that it's coming to PSP, Tretton announces that an entirely new "play, create, share" franchise would be coming to PS3: "ModNation Racers." (Watch the video of ModNation Racers' introduction on CNET TV.)
12:49 p.m.: The game features a wide range of creation tools, a high degree of physical realism and a lot of real-time physics. It also allows players to quickly add physical features to a racetrack, such as trees, water, even little sheep. All of that happens simply by dragging a pointer along the screen where players want to add the features.
And that means that players can build fully playable race tracks from scratch in a matter of minutes.
ModNation Racers will be released in 2010.
ModNation Racers demo
(Credit: Gamespot)12:57 p.m.: Tretton then introduces another PS3 exclusive, "The Last Guardian," a beautiful-looking game from Masashi Kudo.
Next up, a video from "Gran Turismo 5," for the PS3, the latest iteration of the venerable franchise, and by the looks of the promo video, a very full-featured racing game.
Tretton says the game will be exclusive to PS3.
1:00 p.m.: Another big crowd-pleaser is next, a demo of "God of War III."
1:03 p.m.: A long video of "God of War III" showcases its impressive graphics and it seems the many passionate fans of the franchise will be impressed when the game is released.
God of War III gets introduced at E3
(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET)1:06 p.m.: "God of War III" is scheduled for release in the spring of 2010. In the meantime, the full demo and an additional 20 minutes of game play are available on the E3 show floor.
1:07 p.m.: And that's going to do it for Sony's presentation.
Johnny Chung Lee, the former Carnegie Mellon researcher known for finding creative ways to adapt the Wiimote, has revealed himself as one of the minions behind Project Natal, Microsoft's effort to add motion-sensing capabilities into the Xbox 360.
Lee, who is now a researcher at Microsoft, said in a blog posting that he has been working on the motion-sensing project.
"Now, I should preface by saying I don't deserve credit for anything that you saw at E3," Lee said in the blog, which he posted on Monday night. "A large team of very smart, very hard-working people were involved in building the demos you saw on stage. The part I am working on has much more to do with making sure this can transition from the E3 stage to your living room - for which there is an even larger team of very smart, very hard-working people involved."
Microsoft demoed Project Natal on Monday as part of its press conference at the E3 trade show. The technology allows a person to act as their own remote, with a depth-sensing camera capturing their motion, and software then translating it into actions.
Lee notes that he can't reveal anything beyond what Microsoft shared, but does talk a little about the technology that underlies Natal.
"The 3D sensor itself is a pretty incredible piece of equipment providing detailed 3D information about the environment similar to very expensive laser range finding systems but at a tiny fraction of the cost," Lee wrote. "Depth cameras provide you with a point cloud of the surface of objects that is fairly insensitive to various lighting conditions allowing you to do things that are simply impossible with a normal camera."
The hard work, he said, is then converting that cloud of points into human actions, something which requires some pretty sophisticated algorithms. That said, the work could lead in some even cooler directions.
"At times, working on this project has felt like a miniature 'Manhattan project' with developers and researchers from around the world to coming together to make this happen," Lee wrote. "We would all love to one day have our own personal holodeck. This is a pretty measurable step in that direction."
Before joining Microsoft, Lee gained attention for his projects using the sensor bar and remote of the Nintendo Wii to work as head-tracking devices, a multitouch user interface and more.
Lee has continued showing off his Wiimote projects since joining Microsoft, presenting at this year's Mix09 event in Las Vegas. (There's a video below, but it requires Silverlight.)
Update 2:25 p.m. I had a chance to chat with Lee briefly by phone.
For his part, Lee said he thinks Microsoft doesn't get the credit it deserves in the consumer arena.
"It's sort of a bummer that Microsoft gets kinds of a bad rap," Lee said. "It's a lot of very ambitious groups trying to do big things. Not everything makes it out the door."
Lee, who works in an applied science group that sits between the research and product arms at Microsoft, says that the company is working on some very cool stuff, though he could not go into a lot of details.
"I played a little bit with the depth cameras before Microsoft," he said. "The technology I have been able to play with since coming to Microsoft is a lot better."
