Nintendo shows off Wii controller
Nintendo joined the E3 press conference parade with an event high on bright lights and suspense but low on news.
Many who attended the event, held in the same Kodak Theater where the Academy Awards take place, anticipated that Nintendo would unveil specific pricing and availability information for its forthcoming next-generation console, the puzzlingly named Wii.
That expectation was especially true after Sony said for the first time at its press conference that its PlayStation 3 would hit store shelves on November 17 in North America and would come in two models, a US$599 version with a 60GB hard drive and a US$499 model with a 20GB hard drive.
Instead, the highlight of Nintendo's press event was the first detailed demonstration of the Wii controller, a two-handed, motion-sensitive system that allows players to mimic actions onscreen with the movement of their hands. Thus, for example, users playing a tennis game will be able to serve by raising their controller above their head and swinging down. Similarly, fighting games will allow players to swing swords or shoot bows and arrows with hand movements.
Asked why Nintendo didn't release pricing and availability information for the Wii (the company said only that the product will be available in Q4 2006), Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo executive vice president for Sales and Marketing, told CNET News.com that the company isn't interested in diverting attention from the roster of 27 Wii games and the controller system it's showing at the Electronic Entertainment Expo.
"We want (E3) to be about the gaming experience," Fils-Aime said. "Price and availability information becomes a distraction from the playing experience."
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