Nintendo at E3 2010: Lots of familiar faces

Attending the Nintendo press conference at this year's E3 gave me a serious case of the warm and fuzzies. There were a lot of familiar faces amongst the many titles the company unveiled, each one more nostalgic than the last, but it was the new kid on the block that got the most attention from the crowd.

Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

The presser opened with a bang: the unveiling of a new Zelda game for the Wii. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword will allow players to use their Wii controller as a sword and shield. Senior Managing Director, and Zelda creator, Shigeru Miyamoto made a dramatic entrance to enthusiastic applause to demonstrate the game. Or, at least, he tried to. Miyamoto, speaking through a translator, had some difficulty getting the controls to work at one point in the demonstration, leading his translator to jokingly blame it on wireless interference and ask the crowd to turn off their Wi-Fi.

When the controls did work, however, Miyamoto was able to show off Link's new arsenal. Besides the sword and shield, he has a slingshot, a bow, a whip, a beetle that can he can control in the air to get a view of the environment and pick up items, and bombs that can be thrown like bowling balls with an underhanded toss of the Wii controller.

Despite the technical difficulties, Skyward Sword looks like it has the potential to make a lot of Zelda fans happy when it comes out sometime next year.

Goldeneye

Besides the return of Zelda, Nintendo fulfilled the dreams of many a gamer by announcing a reboot of one its most popular, and genre-defining, titles. Due out this November, the new Goldeneye aims to bring back all the things people loved about the original -- with one exception. This time around, it's the Daniel Craig version of Bond who'll save the day, not Pierce Brosnan.

A monkey, an angel, and a mouse

As if Zelda and Goldeneye weren't enough, Nintendo also revealed that it has a new Donkey Kong game in the works, as well as a new, 3D Kid Icarus title. General Manager and Creative Director Warren Spector came out to demonstrate Epic Mickey, a game that he says honors 80 years of Disney. While some faces in the game might be instantly recognizable, such as Captain Hook's first mate Smee, others will be more obscure. The fun comes in trying to identify them all.

During the demo, Spector showed how the game's core mechanic works. Using paint and thinner, players can destroy or remodel the world as they see fit. Playstyle matters, Spector says, and the game's goal is to craft a unique experience based on how the player interacts with it.

Nintendo 3DS

Nintendo wrapped up the conference with its biggest reveal: the 3DS. This upgraded version of the DS, says Nintendo of America's president, Reggie Fils-Aime, is a solution that lets you take 3D with you wherever you go, with content available first day on the market, without the need for 3D glasses.

The Nintendo 3DS features a 3.5 widescreen display, a 3D depth slider that allows you to adjust the 3D effect or remove it entirely, a touch screen along the bottom of the screen, and two camera lenses that allow you to take and view digital 3D pictures.

Nintendo is also promising movies in 3D, although no titles have been announced yet.