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Bookmark this page and plan to press REFRESH a lot. We’re Live Bloggin’ Nintendo’s E3 press conference. It starts at 9:00 a.m. Pacific time (Noon Eastern time), Tuesday, July 15, 2008.

While you are waiting, make sure you check out the rest of our E3 2008 coverage.

8:55 am (PT) Tuesday, July 15, 2008 - Things are about to get started, so it’s time for those last minute predictions. Will we see the oft-rumored Animal Crossing Wii or a Kid Icarus game? Will third parties have any real Wii presence? Will Reggie do anything ridiculous? Bet on that last one.

9:04 am - The Kodak theater is awash in the warm glow of anticipation. I’m wondering if the big N is going to gloat about its mainstream success as much as it did last year?

9:06 am - It begins. It looks like we’re starting quite similar to last year, with large screens showing people enjoying the Wii.

9:07 - Cammie Dunaway is onstage now, she apparently broke her wrist snowboarding. That’s no fun.

9:11 - Introducing pro snowboarder Shaun White, he’s demoing a snowboarding title on the balance board. Game will be out this fall.

9:14 - Satoru Owata has just taken the stage, he’s talking about his first E3 as Nintendo’s president in 2003. Wii haters can basically kiss his butt at this point.

9:15 - he’s talking about how the company has changed the paradigm with casual games and bridge games.

9:17 - Internal teams that work on Mario and Zelda games are at work at new games. That was… cryptic.

9:18 - Pictures of old people, women, children playing games. Games are no longer just a holiday item.

9:20 - Owata: Nintendo wants to “break the psychological barrier” surrounding games. Lofty.

9:23 - Nintendo is the pioneer in forming new paradigms - I think it’s announcement time!

9:24 - Katsuya Eguchi is onscreen, talking about Animal Crossing, the community aspects of the title

9:24 - Animal Crossing: CityFolk is announced, video is demonstrating the game. It’s set in a city with auction sites, a “happy room academy”, a fashion designer, beauty salon

9:26 - You can send letters with pics to other players in the game and via wii message board. There’s also microphone support - Wiispeak - players can communicate in realtime within the game.

9:27 - Focus on game is in creating your own world, communicating with each other.

9:29 - It’s Reggie time! Reggie is onstage talking about Animal Crossing and how the company is pleased with the massive sales (10 million for Wii, 20 million for DS, according to May NPDs)

9:31 - Reggie: by this holiday, total DS worldwide sales to exceed 100 million systems, total US software sales are up 29% from last year.

9:32 - Reggie: “there seems to be an unlimited number of people out there waiting to get into our game”

9:34 - Another quotable: “when those June NPD numbers are released on Thursday, we wont be surprised if the wii is the best selling console in north America”

9:34 - 19 third party games have exceeded 400,000 copies in sales… and that was the bit about third party support. Reggie’s claiming that Wii is great for core, casual, and “new paradigms” in games. 3 new games to be highlighted.

9:36 - Star Wars: The Clone Wars trailer, showing motion controlled lightsaber battles

9:37 - Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party trailer, a party game, looks family friendly, showing kids playing it, giggling.

9:38 - Call of Duty: World At War trailer, targeted more to the core gamer, has co-op mode.

9:40 - Cammie Dunaway is back onstage to talk about portable games (and their success). In 2005, 30% of handheld game recipients were female, that’s gone up to almost half in the last year.

9:41 - Guitar Hero: On Tour Decades and Spore are on their way for the DS - trailers and interviews. GH will have songsharing between versions of the game

9:42 - Spore Creatures interview - “hitting on core elements - layer creativity and sharing” has the creature creator at its center.

9:44 - Pokemon Rangers due on November 10th of this year

9:45 - Big core gamer announcement: custom version of Grand Theft Auto - Chinatown Wars is coming to DS this fall! Grand Theft Auto on DS - that’s huge!

9:46 - Nintendo is testing the DS for PDA-like uses and connectivity features - example using the DS at a baseball park to order food, compete in trivia with other fans.

9:47 - using DS as cookbook, software (Cooking Navi) coming this November in the US

9:47 - Reggie is back to build on the idea of the DS as a new device, demonstrating the Wii Remote’s “Wii Motion Plus” advancement

9:49 - Wii Sports Resort announced - Wii Motion plus remote will be packed in with the game - showing off three of the new activities:

9:49 - Disc Dog activity, Cammie is demoing the frisbee/Nintendogs looking minigame. Reggie is showing off a jet-skiing game, he looks pretty funny, game looks like a Mii-enhanced Waverace.

9:52 - Fencing looks interesting as well, like Wii Boxing with much more precision.

9:54 - Cammie and Reggie are dueling - Reggie wins, calls himself “The Regginator”

9:54 - Cammie wins a round, Reggie calls her the “Caminator”

9:55 - Wii Sports Resort launches globally next spring.

9:55 - big announcement, there’s smoke and lights onstage… ahh, it’s the Wii Music title. Someone is drumming furiously, interface looks simple, interesting. Balance board used as a pedal, Wii-mote and nunchuk as the sticks

9:56 - Miyamoto is onstage, playing the sax on a Wii-mote. They’re jamming.

9:57 - Miyamoto:  “I’d like to introduce you to Wii Music” the game has been in development for a long time, since the original Wii Sports and such. Great social experience, it’ll be a different style of music game than the norm - they designed the game for everyone.

10:00 - No complex notes or charts to follow, just use your body and press the buttons with relatively forgiving timing - looks very easy, newbie-friendly.

10:01 - over 50 different instruments will be available, including piano, violin, guitar, percussion instruments,

10:03 - Demonstrating the drums, using the Wii balance board - mode includes lessons - you can learn the drums in a few weeks.

10:05 - game will also record videos of your performances. You can make unique music videos. They’re going to play a song for us now, how nice.

10:06 - Denise Kaigler is on the marimba, wind section is the teehouse team. Bands have six parts, demonstrating group play, with the Mario theme. It sounds… wacky.

10:07 - Reggie and Cammie just returned to the stage - basically recapping. Snowboarding, Animal Crossing, Motion Plus, etc.

10:09 - ”Nintendo simply brings more smiles to more faces.”

10:09 - Oh, Reggie just busted out the “fad” myth. No fads here.

10:10 - Reggie just closed down the party. And that’s it for us - check back later for a full recap of the event and the biggest announcements!

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