Nintendo will release a sequel to Wii
Sports next year that comes with an accessory to make the radical Wii Remote
controller more precise and accurate.
Wii Sports Resort, the highly anticipated
sequel to Wii's "killer app", was announced today at a Nintendo press
conference in Los Angeles to coincide with the start of this week's Electronic
Entertainment Expo.
The game has a beach theme and includes
activities like Frisbee-throwing, fencing and jet ski racing.
The game will be released early next year
in Australia and come bundled with a "Wii MotionPlus" accessory that
plugs into the bottom of the Wii Remote (and a new protective rubber cover to help
save your big-screen television from potential grief).
President and CEO of Nintendo of America,
Reggie Fils-Aime says MotionPlus makes the Wii Remote controller "more
precise, more responsive, and more intense". "Wii MotionPlus renders every slight
shift of your arm into the gameplay."
In demonstrations of Wii Sports Resort, the
new addition to the Wii Remote seems to very accurately and simultaneously map your exact
movements in 3D space, such as the way a user hurls a Frisbee.
Always the showman, acclaimed games designer
Shigeru Miyamoto entered the stage at Hollywood's Kodak Theatre playing jazz on
a saxophone using the Wii Remote to demonstrate another upcoming title for the
popular console - Wii Music.
Miyamoto says Wii Music, just like its predecessors
Wii Sports, Play and Fit, is "something everyone can enjoy in the living
room alongside each other".
Players do not need to follow notes or play
in strict rhythm like other music games on the market such as Guitar Hero, but
simply have to imitate the actions of playing each instrument, with the game then
producing an appropriate note to match the song.
No release date was mentioned, but users will
be able to play over 50 different instruments, including piano, drums,
saxophone, violin and guitar, as well as percussion instruments like bass
drums.
A separate complete drum simulator is also
included in Wii Music that includes lessons. Miyamoto promises that anyone will
be able to learn how to play the drums in just a few weeks. In this drumming mode,
players use the Wii Remote and a Nunchuk as the drum sticks, and Wii
Fit's Balance Board as the foot pedal for a bass drum.
An on-stage demonstration of how up to four
friends and family can play in a band together used the familiar and timeless Mario
theme. Solo players can also record videos of their performances, laying
together up to six tracks from different instruments.
Nintendo also announced a new version of
Animal Crossing, due for release on Wii before Christmas.
Animal Crossing City Folk will utilise a
"community microphone" called WiiSpeak that lets an entire room full
of people converse with faraway friends as they visit each other's customised
towns online and enjoy competitions like fishing tournaments.
Wii owners will also be able to enjoy
head-to-head lightsaber duels before Christmas via Star Wars: The Clone
Wars. Other upcoming Wii games shown included
Call of Duty World at War, Rayman Raving Rabbits TV Party, and Ubisoft's Shaun
White Snowboarding, which utilises the Balance Board peripheral.
The biggest announcement for the handheld
Nintendo DS at today's event was a new Grand Theft Auto game called Chinatown
Wars. The game is set in modern-day Liberty City (the home of GTA IV) and will be
released before Christmas.
Other upcoming DS games demonstrated
included Spore Creatures, a handheld version of Wii Wright's upcoming opus that
focuses on creating and sharing creatures, and a new version of Guitar Hero: On
Tour.