Wii

A few weeks ago, Nintendo developed a partnership with the American Heart Association. The Wii Fit is one of Nintendo's most successful product/game combinations ever. All new Wiis are now packaged with Wii Sports Resort and Wii MotionPlus, along with an approval stamp from the AHA.

It seemed like the stage was perfectly set to trot back out with the Vitality Sensor Satoru Iwata unveiled at last year's E3 press conference.

So, what happened?

Instead of fitness, motion, and heart health, Nintendo's presser was full of retro games and the 3DS. We're not complaining; far … Read more

LOS ANGELES--After trying out both the Microsoft Kinect and Nintendo 3DS, we got to test-drive the third big hardware product of E3 2010, Sony's PlayStation Move. We've actually tried the Move before, at its original announcement during the Game Developers Conference earlier in 2010, but this was our chance to dive deeper into some of the launch games.

Of the three major motion-control peripherals for game consoles, the Wiimote, Kinect camera, and Move controller, it's Sony's device that looks the most garish. The black flashlight handle stick is topped with a ball that can change color, depending on its use in a particular game (the ball is actually soft to the touch, which always seems to surprise people), and it looks a lot more like game hardware than Nintendo's understated white controller or the Kinect's multimedia-looking Webcam.

Aside from that, we'd have to say that in terms of acting purely as a video game peripheral, the PlayStation Move is currently our favorite entry in the motion control competition. Kinect works well enough, but it's not always as responsive as you'd want, or at least that's how some of the games we tried felt. Plus, Kinect's opening game lineup is somewhat generic, with more proof-of-concept games than titles that would stand up without the Kinect tie-in. In fact, the Kinect's biggest strength has been largely unheralded--it's excellent ability to recognize and respond to voice commands, which is useful for home theater tasks.… Read more

LOS ANGELES--Can someone please tell me why we've spent the last two days rehashing the highlights of E3 2009?

If you were here for last year's video game mega-convention, you will recall that the big news from Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo was the true dawn of the motion control wars. Microsoft unveiled Project Natal, Sony showed off its prototype system, and Nintendo pulled back the wraps on some new improvements to the Wii Motion Plus.

All told, these innovations were going to take us to the next level of video game play, where it's all about gesture-based control and traditional button-based controllers became a thing of the past.

Flash forward to this week, though, and the highlights of the press conferences, at least Sony's and Microsoft's, seem someone familiar. Let's recap. At Microsoft's event on Monday, the biggest news was the formal unveiling of Kinect. This, of course, used to be known as Project Natal.

Microsoft announced that the device would be available November 4 and was able for the first time to name some actual games that will be Kinect-enabled. There will be 15 launch titles, including Ubisoft's Michael Jackson game, as well as six that were featured during the press event, Dance Central, a dancing game from Rock Band developer Harmonix; Kinect Sports, a game that offers soccer, bowling, track, and more; Kinect Joy Ride, a racing game; Kinect Adventures, a game for navigating down rivers and railroad tracks while trying to hit targets; Your Shape, an exercise game; and Kinectimals. However, the demo was very much like the one from a year earlier. … Read more

Recently, Nintendo's Satoru Iwata claimed that Apple was now the company's main competitor in the handheld gaming arms race, not Sony. This year's E3 seemed to confirm that observation, as Sony largely backburnered the PSP while Apple's recent WWDC was a veritable celebration of the iPhone 4 and its upcoming game partnerships, including FarmVille.

The landscape has changed drastically since the Nintendo DS launch back in 2004. That year, a smartphone basically consisted of a BlackBerry or a Palm Treo. iPods just received color screens and still couldn't play video. The PSP didn't exist. … Read more

LOS ANGELES--Streaming video game service OnLive, which will launch June 17 on Tuesday announced its initial lineup of 23 games here at E3.

Among those titles--from publishers including Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Take-Two, THQ, and Square Enix--but not Activision, notably--are hit games like Assassin's Creed, NBA 2K10, Dragon Age: Origins, Mass Effect 2, Borderlands, and others.

The initial list of publisher partners also includes Sega, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, and 2K Sports.

OnLive promises its users console-like speeds over broadband, as long as they have a fast enough Internet connection and are within a limited distance from a hub. The … Read more

What would you have said if someone told you pre-E3 that Microsoft would do its best to mimic Nintendo, whereas Nintendo would act like Microsoft? It certainly seemed like the companies flip-flopped at their respective E3 press conferences. Though the 360 spent a great deal of focus on motion control and the Kinect, Nintendo didn't breathe a word about health, motion, or the Wii Fit at its E3 briefing on Tuesday.

Instead, the company's games were the real focus, especially retro franchises: those folks hoping for years for a taste of old Nintendo games certainly had a field day. StarFox, F-Zero, and Pikmin remain undisclosed (Update: Though not discussed at the press briefing, StarFox 64 3D was announced for the 3DS), but Nintendo did unveil new Kirby, Donkey Kong, and Kid Icarus titles, along with detailed gameplay from the next Wii Zelda.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword: Demonstrated for nearly half an hour, the Nintendo flagship sequel will feature Wii MotionPlus support for more-accurate weapon and item actions. The rest of the story remains a mystery, but the game has a more cel-shaded look than Twilight Princess. It arrives in 2011.

Wii Sports Mix: In a very smart move, Nintendo is creating a Mario compilation sports game with what appear to be soccer, hockey, dodgeball, basketball, and volleyball. This could be a real surprise hit, and it's a nicer idea than infinite "Mario X" sports games.

Wii Party: Nintendo's "bridge" game, the next in the "Wii" series, features Miis in a game that looks a lot like an updated Mario Party. Board games, minigames, and group casual play seem like the focus. … Read more

Editor's note: We used Cover It Live for this event, so if you missed the live blog, you can still replay it in the embedded component below. Replaying the event will give you all the live updates along with commentary from our readers and CNET editors Daniel Terdiman and Josh Lowensohn. For those of you who just want the updates, we've included them in regular text here.

Welcome to CNET's live coverage of Nintendo's E3 2010 press conference.

We're live in Los Angeles, where the 3D version of the Nintendo DS is expected to be among the company's key announcements. (See our full list of predictions here.)

In addition to the live video feed (above), Daniel Terdiman and I will be providing play-by-play coverage using Cover It Live (below).… Read more

LOS ANGELES--Video game maker Ubisoft announced Monday that it expects to publish a game in time for holiday 2010 based on the life and performances of Michael Jackson.

According to a release from Ubisoft, which was timed to the E3 video game convention, the game, which doesn't yet have a name, will be available for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, Nintendo DS, and Sony PlayStation Portable. It will also be compatible with Kinect for Xbox and PlayStation Move.

Although it is planned for a holiday 2010 release, it's not clear if it will be one of the 15 … Read more

news analysis LOS ANGELES--If one thing was clear in the lead-up to the Xbox 360 E3 press conference, it was that hard-core gamers felt threatened by Microsoft's obvious move toward casual gaming with its forthcoming Kinect motion control system.

But while the company is indeed hoping Kinect and its ease of use and accessibility to just about anyone can help it capture a much larger audience, it also wants its longtime loyalists to know they haven't been forgotten.

That much was evident at the press conference, which took place here Monday morning. Before Kinect was ever mentioned, those in the audience were blasted with demos of purely hard-core titles like Call of Duty: Black Ops, Metal Gear Solid: Rising, Halo: Reach, and Gears of War 3. The new Call of Duty, from the developer Treyarch, rather than Infinity Ward, which made the record-breaking Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, will be released on November 9, while Halo: Reach is expected in September. … Read more