E3: Nintendo's press conference - full report

Girl gamers, GTA DS

Cammie Dunaway comes back on stage to discuss the rapid growth of female gamers on DS, which she claims has now "reached parity with males" and explains the continued growth of the platform in recent years.

After a short demo of the DS version of Will Wright's Spore (due later this year) Cammie reveals what is probably the biggest news from the conference:

"The appeal of DS also extends to the core: GTA: Chinatown Wars arrives on DS this winter… featuring a new game engine, characters, and the same free-range gameplay people have come to expect."

Little more is said about the new Grand Theft Auto DS title, but we expect to hear more from Nintendo and Rockstar on this cool-sounding DS game in the coming days.

Wii MotionPlus

Fils Aime is back up on the stage next to discuss Nintendo's new WiiMotionPlus add-on for the Wii Remote, announcing the sequel to the popular Wii Sports to show off the new, more accurate controller.

Wii Sports Resort (out spring 2009) is literally "a day at the beach" and features some fun-looking frisbee-tossing games and a slightly more 'high octane' jet skiing game, in which the player users the Wii Remote and Nunchuck to emulate the handlebars of a jet ski.

Wii MotionPlus does seem to be notably more accurate at measuring your hand in 3D space than the previous infra-red technology employed by Nintendo. Stay tuned for more details on the tech behind the new controller as we get it.

Wii make music

Finally, Nintendo's celebrated games designer Shigeru Miyamoto takes to the stage to demo WiiMusic

"This game is one that we began designing along with Wii Play when we were first finalizing plans for Wii," says Miyamoto. "If you want something that everyone in the family can enjoy regardless of age or gender, music is a must.

"But Wii Music is a slightly different play experience than you've seen with other music games. Now most music games require you to press buttons with precise timing to symbols on screen. But we've designed Wii Music to allow everyone, including those who can't read music, to enjoy the experience of playing music."

Miyamoto is joined on stage by a number of other Nintendo execs and a pro drummer, and together they all bang out the well-known Mario theme.

A fad?

And that is pretty much it for Nintendo's E3 2008 press conference, as Cammie and Reggie return to the stage to remind the assembled journos and industry execs of the major announcements just made:

"Snowboarding where you don't hurt yourself… WiiSpeak to talk to your friends in Animal Crossing… using the new Wii MotionPlus as a sword to help your boss feel better about himself," quips Cammie.

Reggie concludes the show, switching to a more serious voice to note: "From the moment Wii went on sale, we all heard the same word - 'fad.'

"I'm here to tell you today that 'fad' is no longer operable. The paradigm shift is right around the corner. The only way to keep the advantage is to create new advantages. Consumers are saying "yeah, i like that!"

"The fact is that Mr. Iwata and Mr. Miyamoto have created a company that looks for the next thing. Not just the evolution in look, but the revolution in feel."