E3 06: Walled-off Wiis draw crowds at Nintendo booth

  • By Brendan Sinclair, Tim Surette, GameSpot
  • Posted May 10, 2006 3:42 pm PT

Attendees can fill up on DS Lite or wait in a lengthy line to see the Wii; playable Wii games include Super Mario Galaxy, Zelda, Wii Sports.

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

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LOS ANGELES--Nintendo is showing dozens of Wii games to attendees of the Electronic Entertainment Expo this year, but they're not making it easy on them.

Much like last year, the front end of Nintendo's E3 booth this year is dominated by the redesigned Nintendo DS Lite. The Game Boy Advance and GameCube are nowhere to be found, with a slew of first- and third-party DS games, including the new DS Pokemon, taking up all the kiosk spaces in the openly accessible front portion of the booth.

Red Steel

The Wii controls a sword! The Wii controls a gun!

All of the Wii games are walled off in the back half of the booth, and anyone who wants to see the Wii needs to wait in a line that will be very familiar to anyone who lost half a day of the Expo just to check out Zelda: Twilight Princess last year.

Before the show even opened this morning, the line of people with exhibitor badges waiting to see the Wii was snaking around the perimeter of the booth. There's a sign warning attendees that the wait in line is an hour from that point, but it serves as little deterrence. The Nintendo faithful are lined up to that sign, out of the booth entirely, down the aisle, and then around the back of the publisher's exhibit space.

Helping them to pass the time are a number of monitors along the wall of the booth that show people who talk to and interact with the attendees, waving to them, explaining the uses of the Wii controller and the like.

GameSpot News got a peek behind the Wii wall, where dozens of Wii systems were set up. Visitors were steered toward an elevated platform, where four Nintendo employees were using the Wii. Two were playing tennis against each other, one was playing Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, and another was playing Wii Music Maestro.

After passing by a display case that showed off the hardware, several games were set up in well-equipped alcoves. Further along, the more accessible stations were lined up along the circumference of the inner chamber in Nintendo's booth.

Watching gamers side by side playing with Nintendo's next-gen console is quite unlike it would be on any other system. People are swinging the controller back and forth, holding it sideways, shaking it around, mocking football tosses, and swinging it side to side like a maestro's baton. Because of these active movements, Nintendo is slowly letting people in to avoid crowds that could hinder the free movements.

Want to see just what it was like to enter the Wii portion of Nintendo's booth? Watch GameSpot News' journey into the center of Nintendo's booth to get some hands-on time with the system.

The playable Wii games at E3 are listed below:

Red Steel
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Super Mario Galaxy
WarioWare: Smooth Moves
Wii Sports (including Golf, Tennis, and Baseball)
Project H.A.M.M.E.R.
Madden
Excite Truck
Wii Music Orchestra
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2
Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam
Sonic Wild Fire (working title)
Sonic the Hedgehog (on the Virtual Console)
Elebits
SD Gundam
Necro Nesia
Final Furlong
Bomberman Land
SpongeBob SquarePants: Creature from the Krusty Krab
Super Monkeyball Banana Blitz
Several Wii controller demos

130 Comments

  • dudesyeah

    Posted Sep 4, 2008 7:02 pm PT

    snore... I was looking for E3 08

  • omnifury

    Posted Apr 25, 2008 9:11 pm PT

    super sweet

  • ToaInikaJaller

    Posted Mar 9, 2007 9:22 pm PT

    damn, no brawl

  • gigabrowser12

    Posted Feb 4, 2007 12:54 pm PT

    old news old news!

  • jakeboudville

    Posted Aug 25, 2006 5:43 am PT

    cool

  • --MasterLink--

    Posted Jun 6, 2006 5:34 pm PT

    Sweet.

  • Xneoslasher

    Posted May 26, 2006 3:04 pm PT

    Super smash bros brawl is awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Bluestorm-Kalas

    Posted May 21, 2006 9:18 am PT

    red steel looks sweet

  • Kwiksilva

    Posted May 17, 2006 7:10 am PT

    Great games but 1 of my favorites all time would be super smash brothers and i cant wait to see the new 1

  • roy_008

    Posted May 16, 2006 10:19 pm PT

    This is how game consoles are supposed to be made. Back it up with high quality softwares. Perfect!

  • Schillinger

    Posted May 12, 2006 4:44 am PT

    Wow, that's a long line of soon to be disappointed people!

  • Zerofitz

    Posted May 11, 2006 5:56 pm PT

    I want a Nintendo Wii! So awesome!

  • Apocalypse33

    Posted May 11, 2006 3:38 pm PT

    ME necesito SSB 3!

  • flying_tiger

    Posted May 11, 2006 12:25 pm PT

    hahahhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
    watching people play the wii is fun enough for me

  • PICHASJAVIER04

    Posted May 11, 2006 10:41 am PT

    i see nintendo showing 3 diff color controllers but ummm i dont see the i pod glossy white dang

  • wired009

    Posted May 11, 2006 10:14 am PT

    Is it just me or does the Wii seem to have the most playable titles at E3? That seems embarrassing for Sony and especially MS. The big boys need to watch out or they may find themselves being bum rushed by Nintendo's Wii.

  • mariokart64fan

    Posted May 11, 2006 9:30 am PT

    theres 3 games inside the wii sports title (tennis , golf and somthing else its 25 games actually 2 less then they said but the list overall on this site is 63 so it has a big number of games already in development

  • panosl

    Posted May 11, 2006 9:29 am PT

    GO Ninty! GO!!

  • Tailscoolio

    Posted May 11, 2006 9:25 am PT

    Yes ssb is gonna be great, but realistically why do so many people like Wario?

  • DarkWolfDragon

    Posted May 11, 2006 9:25 am PT

    i can't wait to get my hands on a wii console, i think nintendo did a excelent job.

  • BlazeDragon132

    Posted May 11, 2006 9:22 am PT

    lol at Game NOOB, but seriously. Wii has a good line-up, I hope they annouce a pokemon stadium game just because it would be fun throwing a ball and the microphone could do attacks. Great, Great LIne-Up. Hope Pokemon and Star Fox get added.

  • Luffie

    Posted May 11, 2006 9:19 am PT

    eeh why is solid snake there?
    i mean wii is cool an ssb rulez but why does snake has to be there
    (i guess couse Sony failed to make ps3 as they said it they made a compremise with Nintendo )
    well gotta try Wario first and then Snake

  • landau492

    Posted May 11, 2006 9:15 am PT

    wii sux

  • DFTricks

    Posted May 11, 2006 8:51 am PT

    TAKE THAT SONY AND MICROSOFT

  • ChoadS

    Posted May 11, 2006 8:16 am PT

    Nintendo has got my attention I think I am going to have to pickup a Wii. I think an Xbox 360 and a Wii is the best console combo.

  • Bengameaholic

    Posted May 11, 2006 7:29 am PT

    Wii should all get this console!

  • Big-Ben7

    Posted May 11, 2006 7:25 am PT

    Nintendo is ROCKing the house!!!! all I can say is...... Wii..!!!!!!!!

  • BlackVV

    Posted May 11, 2006 7:09 am PT

    I want more info on Necro Nesia - why are all the best titles always the least known about? LOL.

  • Sonic_Freak87

    Posted May 11, 2006 5:52 am PT

    woohoo, go nintendo. totally stealing the show early, microsoft already unveiled halo 3 from the looks of it and that was it's biggest thing in my opinon. but i'm sure nintendo will show off ssb3 towards the end of the week, remember last year when miyamoto walked out with the wii towards the end of the week?

  • chrisdojo

    Posted May 11, 2006 5:45 am PT

    dang nintendo. you rule!

  • HavQ-san

    Posted May 11, 2006 5:12 am PT

    Of course there's a ssb!! COOL!! And samus whitout her armor!! AND WAAARIIIOOOOO!!!!! WWOOOOOOOOT WITH HIS FART ATTAAAACK!!!!

  • Jedi_Osborn

    Posted May 11, 2006 4:37 am PT

    nintendo is stealing the show from sony in a big wii, I mean way.

  • KiLLer_ba

    Posted May 11, 2006 1:57 am PT

    Awesome Nintendo Line up

  • MrPuzzlez

    Posted May 11, 2006 1:27 am PT

    SSB: Brawl is going to have SNAAAAAAAAAAAKE!!!!

  • manly_eagle86

    Posted May 11, 2006 12:40 am PT

    Apparantly Twilight Princess is releasing on GC and Wii at the Wii launch.

    I love the virtual console controller, has a bit of a SNES/PS controller look to it. I cant wait to play all the good old N64 games like Perfect Dark and Banjo Kazooie on the virtual console (my N64 controllers are stuffed). The gun attachment also looks great... chills go down my spine everytime i see it.

    I wonder how many characters will feature in SSB, if they are doing multi-platform characters, perhaps master chief will feature in it or a future SSB, or am i just dreaming?

  • marc_man3001

    Posted May 11, 2006 12:35 am PT

    Nice line-up w2g nintendo

  • drgribb

    Posted May 10, 2006 11:56 pm PT

    The music orchestra game sounds like a pretty cool idea... wait a sec... that would be perfect for a new Windwaker game! Maybe the conductor's baton is in twilight princess?

  • Lupus64

    Posted May 10, 2006 11:49 pm PT

    No SSB:B, but I'd still give one of my kidneys to actually be there playing the games!

  • zombyloco

    Posted May 10, 2006 10:56 pm PT

    We want Ninja Gaiden Wii that would be sooooooo cool, hahahahhaa

  • lozandier

    Posted May 10, 2006 10:38 pm PT

    Wii Surprise Me But My Real Worry is How THe VItual Console Sonic Hedgehog compares to the newly Annonced 360 Arcade Sonic Called Sonic High Speed and how EA Sport Games Compare. The Graphics are par right now, but it worries me how good it can be in almost Max Power but; after Seeing Halo 3 Trailer that was Realtime, Evertything I've seen after that looks bland in comparision...

    I can't wait to see how good Metroid Prime 3 will be (Did they change Twilight Princess to a Wii Game? Somebody posted it one of the "wii" games They will buy at launch; I thought it just had wii Controller Capabilities...)

  • 2TrickedOut

    Posted May 10, 2006 10:26 pm PT

    I hope the Wii dosen't end up like the gamecube only a few decent games and now nothing new for it. Its a great sytem for younger players.

  • T1Sephiroth

    Posted May 10, 2006 10:26 pm PT

    Legen of Zelda: The Twilight Princess, Super Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime 3, Red Steel, Project Hammer, Crisis: Day of Disaster, Sonic WildFire, Excite Truck - WOW!!!!!!! I'm getting em ALL at launch. BEST - LAUNCH - LINEUP - EVER!!!

  • T1Sephiroth

    Posted May 10, 2006 10:15 pm PT

    SMASH BROS. WAS ANNOUNCED! IT HAS SOLID SNAKE IN IT!!!! GO LOOK AROUND GAMESPOT, THERES A TRILOR AND PICS!!! WOO HOO!! THANK YOU NINTENDO! Muahahhahahha.

  • Zonelezz

    Posted May 10, 2006 9:58 pm PT

    awsome! no.. smash bros?

  • mojo-jojo23

    Posted May 10, 2006 9:40 pm PT

    what about the other colors they had last year like the red and the green i was lookin foward to

  • tman978

    Posted May 10, 2006 9:01 pm PT

    Cool a Zapper replacement

  • Blacksamurai87

    Posted May 10, 2006 8:53 pm PT

    So sorry that EVERY OTHER GAME FOR THE WII IS KICKASS!!! I can wait for SSBB, just look at what we'll have our hands on for the Wii launch. And watch the SSBB video. It still shakes me, and startles me. I can't go to sleep. Let's all thank Nintendo for some truly amazing games they have in store for us. *A BIG Clap for NCL and NOA*!!!

  • cesarotromundo

    Posted May 10, 2006 8:52 pm PT

    you saw those colors? they r freaking awesome!

  • FuguNabe

    Posted May 10, 2006 8:51 pm PT

    Oh, man... I wish I was there too.... I'll probably die of excitement in line...... lol

  • NeoJedi

    Posted May 10, 2006 8:21 pm PT

    Man that must be fun... just watching the video of Tim playing a game made me want to play it too.

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