E3 Day Two: Wii Motion Plus, 80GB PS3, Ubisoft Goes Girls, Lost Planet the Movie
Nintendo began the second day of E3 with a big presentation at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. The press conference got underway with gold medal winning snowboarder Shaun White trying his hand at his signature game SHAUN WHITE SNOWBOARDING, which utilizes the WII FIT balance board. A new game introducing new hardware is ANIMAL CROSSING: CITY FOLK for Wii, which will be the launch title for Wii Speak, a device that will allow players to communicate with other players around the globe. Other big titles coming to the Wii include STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS, RAYMAN RAVING RABBIDS TV PARTY and CALL OF DUTY: WORLD AT WAR. Closing the conference, Nintendo introduced WII MUSIC, which changes the way music games work, allowing players to make and record their own music videos.
On the Nintendo DS, GUITAR HERO ON TOUR will be joined by GUITAR HERO ON TOUR DECADES, which will allow players to share songs across titles. Moreover, the DS will also see SPORE CREATURES, POKEMON RANGER 2 and the big announcement of GRAND THEFT AUTO: CHINATOWN WARS.
Also on the hardware front, Nintendo announced a new add-on to the Wii Remote, which can detect the subtle wrist movements of the players. The game to launch this new device will be WII SPORTS RESORT, which features games such as the Frisbee toss, jet-ski and sword fight, and will launch in the spring.
Sony followed after at the Shrine announcing an 80 GB model of the PS3, which will sell for $399. Next up was RATCHET AND CLANK SIZE MATTERS PSP Entertainment Pack for $199.99. The bundle includes a silver PSP with the RATCHET AND CLANK game and UMD movie, download voucher and 1 GB memory stick. Sony has also reduced the price of some its classic titles such as CALL OF DUTY 3, NEED FOR SPEED: CARBON, NINJA GAIDEN SIGMA, and ASSASSIN'S CREED.
Ubisoft previewed RAYMAN RAVING RABBIDS TV PARTY and BROTHERS IN ARMS: HELL'S HIGHWAY before getting to their celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Tom Clancy game franchise, which has sold over 55 million units worldwide. The next title in the franchise, TOM CLANCY'S ENDWAR, will allow players to use their voice to control the entire game. In setting out in making FAR CRY 2, Ubisoft has set the high bar of advancing the first-person shooter game like ASSASSIN'S CREED did for RPG. To build on their big girl brands, IMAGINE and PETZ, Ubisoft will release the IMAGINE franchise on Wii and launch a plush toy collection based on PETZ. In addition, it will launch the new girl sports brand titled ENER-G, which will debut with titles ADVENTURE RIDERS, DANCE SQUAD and GYM ROCKETS. The next big title was the new PRINCE OF PERSIA, which is based on the ASSASSIN'S CREED game engine and designed with a new cel-shaded visual style. The conference closed with the trailer for the epic survival game I AM ALIVE, which feels like a cross between films CHILDREN OF MEN and I AM LEGEND.
Capcom kept the audience waiting, but for film fans it was worth the wait. The company announced that Avi and Ari Arad would be producing a screen version of LOST PLANET, which puts a reluctant hero in a frozen world where the fight for energy is bloody. X-MEN and WATCHMEN screenwriter David Hayter will adapt the game. Arad Productions, Seaside Ent. and Filosophia are producing with Warner Bros. handling worldwide distribution. Avi Arad hopes to have the tentpole sci-fi epic in theaters in 2011. The game's creator Keiji Inafune said his intention when creating the game was to make a title that would be a perfect game to be adapted into a Hollywood film.