Nintendo E3 Conference Snippets

As-well as Microsoft and Sony having E3 conferences revealing some nuggets of information, Nintendo also had there own little shin dig on Wednesday at the Civic Auditorium (Santa Monica). Even though this news is probably old hat now I thought it was only fair to extract some facts and information from the conference.

Of special interest was the announcement of Wii Fit with custom hardware (Wii Balance Board) and as anticipated release dates for some high profile first party titles were also revealed. However the dates listed were for the US only and European dates are yet to be announced.

Nintendo platforms have experienced a 69% growth this year.

The Nintendo DS has now doubled its sales percentage of all videogame consoles sold from 12% to 23%!

Nintendo's strategy of targeting the female demographic seems to be working as they have now achieved a 67 / 33 split for male to female gamers whereas it was stated this is usually 80 / 20.

The Nintendo DS has now sold over 40 million units worldwide and there will be 140 more new titles to appear this year.

Wii Fit was announced for the Nintendo Wii and features a new bit of hardware which is similar to a step aerobics platform known as the Wii Balance Board. The platform can measure weight distribution and calculate your BMI (Body Mass Index). The "game" covers different genres of activities such as aerobics, yoga, muscle conditioning and balance games. A price and release date has yet to be announced.

The Wii Zapper was announced which is basically a light gun incorporating both the Wii remote and Nunchuk and will be compatible with forthcoming games like Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles and Medal of Honour. The Zapper will be bundled with first party Nintendo software or sold separately for 19.99 USD.

A new channel is coming to the Wii called Check Mii Out. In the new channel you will be able to vote on Mii's and search for popular Mii's.

In terms of online statistics it was stated that 5.5 million players have used the Nintendo Wi-Fi connection with 230 gameplay sessions and the Wii Virtual console has had 5.6 million downloads.

Super Mario Galaxy will be released in US on November 12th.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl will be released in US on December 3rd.

Mario Kart Wii was announced and will feature online play. The game is scheduled to be released globally in quarter 1 2008. A custom steering wheel will also debut alongside the release of the game.