Nintendo Previews

Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator of Final Fantasy, and some consider the father of the JRPG, is on to his next project, The Last Story. My first thoughts of the game are based around the title. What exactly is Sakaguchi's fascination with titles that speak of the finality of his games? How could there be a Final Fantasy sequel when it was final? If there is another the Last Story, how can it be the last one?

Skylanders was a game that nobody really saw becoming a success. Plastic toys you put on a cylinder base to make them come alive on your television screen? Adults didn't get it but the kids did. Some see the release of Skylanders as the start to a next generation toy market. Activision is hoping to continue the magic and with the release of Skylanders Giants. The villainous Chaos is back from the first Skylanders and he is desperate to still take over all of Skylands. Fortunately there are the Skylanders standing in his way to stop him.

The sequel to Darksiders is well underway and more was shown off from the upcoming title at Comicon 2012. Since the original title was released, Vigil Games has a much clearer direction on where they want to take the sequel and the franchise. They have admitted that the direction of the first title wasn't really clear until they got towards the end of the development cycle. Usually this indicates major issues but for some reason it all clicked in the original Darksiders.

The reveal of Luigi's Mansion 2 at Nintendo's press conference took me by surprise. I did not expect Nintendo to come revisit the idea of Luigi as a ghost buster, but I was happy to see it. I enjoyed the gameplay of the original, and it showed off the power of the GameCube and its new controller quite well.

I've seen many comments around the web worrying about the comfort of Nintendo's new controller. Looking at the pictures, I can understand the concern. On the other hand, considering Nintendo's track record, perhaps gamers should give Nintendo the benefit of the doubt. We have had extensive hands on play with Wii U, and I can tell you that the concerns are unfounded. For detailed information about the controller's features and functions, check out our other preview here.

We came, we saw, and we played Nintendo's follow up to the Wii. It was not surprising. I'm not saying that because I think the system is boring; in fact, I walked away impressed by the potential. I'm saying that because as I predicted, the rumors we've been hearing for months were fairly accurate. You likely already know the gist of new console, called Wii U, so let's get the facts out of the way first. That's mainly what we'll deal with here in this preview.

With our visit to the Natsume booth, we had to check out the latest in the Harvest Moon franchise for the Wii. While there still is no Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 version of Harvest Moon in the works, the latest for the Wii, Harvest Moon: Animal Paradise, looks to give fans even more of the cute and cuddly fun the series is known for.

Nintendo learned last year, at E3 08, that if you don't feed the Hardcore Nintendo nerds some juicy gaming goodness, they will bite you. After being bit repeatedly, Reggie, Cammie, and the rest of the Big N got the picture and promised to never treat E3 like their personal Casual Games Showcase. In place of Wii Music, this year we saw the surprise announcement of Super Mario Galaxy 2. While the game has no official release date and there is no playable build on the show floor, it is looking very promising.

One of the biggest highlights of the Microsoft E3 Press Briefing was the reveal of The Beatles Rock Band. Since being announced last fall, the game has been eagerly anticipated by both fans of the Rock Band franchise and Beatles fans. Taking center stage, The Beatles rocked our world and is by far one of the best titles of the show.

We all know that the Nintendo Wii is not nearly as powerful or as beloved by the hardcore sports fanatic. This has not stopped EA from trying to find the right formula to bring their phenomenal football franchise to the masses of casual players on the Wii. Past attempts have been left with lukewarm responses but Tiburon has been given the reigns to try it once more in Madden 10 for the Wii.