This week, Sony Computer Entertainment America sent out a press release stating that the company would be receiving an Emmy Award for Technology and Engineering, honoring its motion-sensitive Sixaxis controller that ships with PlayStation 3. Upon release of the news, a great deal of news sites and blogs expressed surprise that Nintendo's Wii remote, which features a more dramatic layout change than the DualShock-derived Sixaxis as well as more comprehensive motion sensing capabilities, would be passed over for such an award. In fact, it seems that Sony's Emmy was not for Sixaxis at all, but for its first DualShock controller, the revised pad that replaced PlayStation's original controller. The news comes by way of blog Hydrapinion, which contacted the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for clarification on the matter.

"I would like to confirm that Sony did not win for their PS3 controller, they won for their Dual Shock [sic] Analog controller," said a NATAS representative. Furthermore, it appears that the Emmy was actually shared with Nintendo for its introduction of its directional pad, a feature that has been included in some form on every major console platform since the NES. "[DualShock] was nominated by our internal group and considered along with the Nintendo D-Pad both of which were considered Emmy worthy for the development of the generation of controllers that followed the classic joysticks.," added the rep.

Sony's bizarrely misleading press release has yet to be explained. Nintendo has not released any announcements regarding the award for its D-pad.

In case it wasnt obvious, Nintendo doesnt think the recent lawsuit filed against them for the Wii strap issue has much merit. They have now put out an official response here:

We believe the lawsuit to be completely without merit. Nintendo has a long tradition of delivering high-quality products and excellent customer service, and we take all reports from our customers seriously.

At the time we became aware of the lawsuit, we had already taken appropriate steps to reinforce with consumers the proper use of the Wii Remote and had made stronger replacement wrist straps available. This suit has had no effect on those efforts.

If you check out the Green Welling LLP website you'll see all kinds of class action suits that these guys jump in on. Green Welling loves you and wants to protect you. Money is cool too.

The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences has announced that it plans to present its inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award to former Nintendo of America executives Minoru Arakawa and Howard Lincoln. Arakawa, NoA's founding president, and Lincoln, its initial legal counsel and eventual chairman, established Nintendo's significant North American presence following and defined many of the sometimes controversial practices and underpinnings that remain fundamental parts of the games industry's structure today. The duo, particularly Lincoln, was also well known for establishing Nintendo as a sometimes ruthless legal heavyweight when challenged by lawsuits.

Said Arakawa, "I wish I could say that when we took the first Nintendo machines to sell in New York City in 1985 we knew we had a hit. But that was hardly the case. The fact that video games became popular so quickly with tens of millions of people around the world is both gratifying, and honestly, still a little amazing." Lincoln commented, "There may be no other business where fortunes can change so quickly, and that makes it great fun. This is a pure entertainment industry where you place big bets, rely on creativity and reshuffle the deck every time a new generation of machines arrives."

Electronic Arts CEO Larry Probst will deliver the award during the Interactive Achievement Awards cerimony at the D.I.C.E. Summit 2007 in Las Vegas next February. "I am honored to present the AIAS Lifetime Achievement Award to Minoru Arakawa and Howard Lincoln," said Probst. "Both are pioneers whose contribution to Nintendo and to the game industry has had a profound impact on interactive entertainment. These men personify the industry's highest ideals for integrity, creativity and innovation."

Law firm Green Welling LLP has announced that it has filed a class-action lawsuit against Nintendo of America following incidents of snapped Wii remote wrist straps resulting from users throwing the controllers with great force while playing. Green Welling, acting on behalf of Wii owners, claims that the failure of the straps during use "as instructed by the material that accompanied the Wii console" and resultant "failure [of Nintendo] to include a remote that is free from defects" constitutes a breach of the end user warranty included with the Wii.

The suit "seeks to enjoin Nintendo from continuing its unfair or deceptive business practices," and demands Nintendo correct the design flaw and replace existing straps. As we reported earlier this month, Nintendo has begun shipping newer, stronger straps in various territories, and has instituted a free replacement program for consumers.

Here's a selection of screenshots distributed at Konami's press conference today. Many of these titles were officially unveiled during the presentation.

- Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (NDS)
- Elebits (Wii) (concept art)
- Hellboy (PS3, X360, also PSP)
- Lunar Knights (NDS)
- Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3)
- Metal Gear Solid Digital Graphic Novel (PSP)
- Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops (PSP)
- Silent Hill Origins (PSP) (concept art)

Also, though Nintendo hardly even brought up GameCube at all during its press conference today, it did quietly announce three new first party games for the system via its press website. Here they are:

- Super Paper Mario, a Mario sidescroller with the graphical style of the Paper Mario games.
- Baten Kaitos: Origins, a prequel to the Monolith Soft RPG Baten Kaitos.
- DK Bongo Blast, an airborne racing title controlled with either the bongo controllers or a standard GameCube controllers.

Here's a bunch of screenshots from upcoming DS games published by Nintendo

- Chibi Robo Park Patrol
- Children of Mana
- Custom Robo Arena
- DK: King of Swing
- DS Air (temporary name)
- Elite Beat Agents
- Hotel Dusk Room 215
- Magical Vacation (temporary name)
- Magnetica
- Mario Hoops 3-on-3
- Mario vs Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis
- New Super Mario Bros.
- Pokemon Rangers
- Star Fox DS (temporary name)
- Sudoku Grid Masters
- Tenchu: Dark Secrets
- Yoshi's Island 2 (temporary name)

We'll have fuller coverage of Nintendo's press conference including HD video, but for now here are the titles for Wii that were showcased during the presentation. Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime promised 27 playable games on the E3 show floor starting tomorrow, as well as more on display in video form. A total of 18 were presented either in video or gameplay form at the conference.

Several first party games were announced or officially unveiled:

- Disaster: Day of Crisis
- Excite Truck
- The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (available in Wii and GameCube versions)
- Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
- Project H.A.M.M.E.R.
- Super Mario Galaxy (temporary name)
- WarioWare: Smooth Moves
- Wii Sports

A selection of third party games was also highlighted:

- Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam (Activision)
- Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (Activision)
- Call of Duty 3 (Activision
- Sonic (working title) (Sega)
- Super Monkey Ball (Sega)
- Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors (Square Enix)
- Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Crystal Bearers (codename) (Square Enix)
- Madden NFL (Electronic Arts)
- Rayman Raving Rabbids (Ubisoft)
- Red Steel (Ubisoft)

The company also unveiled its optional retro controller, which looks very much like an SNES gamepad with four face buttons, two shoulder buttons, and a d-pad. However, it also has two analog sticks, both of which look like the left GameCube analog stick. They are positioned in a similar fashioned to the analog sticks on Sony's DualShock controller.

Nintendo has always maintained that Revolution was just a codename for its next console. And today, Nintendo finally announced the real name. The Nintendo Wii. As in "We". All I want to know is Why.

While the code-name "Revolution" expressed our direction, Wii represents the answer. Wii will break down that wall that seperates video players from everybody else. Wii will put people more in touch with their games.. and each other. But you're probably asking: What does the name mean?
Wii sounds like "we," which emphasizes this console is for everyone. Wii can easily be remembered by people around the world, no matter what language they speak. No confusion. No need to abbreviate. Just Wii.
Wii has a distinctive "ii" spelling that symbolizes both the unique controllers and the image of people gathering to play. And Wii, as a name and a console, brings something revolutionary to the world of video games that sets it apart from the crowd. So that's Wii. But now Nintendo needs you. Because, it's not really about you or me. It's about Wii. And together, Wii will change everything.

There's a great piece over at Lost Garden describing Nintendo's historic focus on genre innovation as a way to maintain high profit margins. While most publishers focus on refining gameplay genres, Nintendo's strategy has and continues to be controlling new ones and controlling them through hardware. The article discusses how this has been achieved in the past, why it is likely to continue especially with the unveiling of the Revolution contoller, and why it's beneficial for everybody in the industry, including Nintendo's competitors.

People often look at Nintendo's releases of a half dozen Mario games a year and assume that they are all clones. In fact, they are typically radically different games across a wide variety of genres. Nintendo gains their value from the Mario brand, not ownership of a specific genre. Brand-based companies rely on the creation of new genres since they can take that brand into the genre for a low risk profit opportunity. ... Nintendo makes the majority of their money by leveraging their brand recognition during the early to mid-stages of a genre's life cycle. The power of the Mario character can establish a Nintendo game as an early genre king and help tap into a new market segment for great profit. However, as they get later into the life cycle, the standardization of the genre mechanics and the intense demands of the hardcore population reduces the power of the brand.

It's an excellent read and a very good overview of the opposite yet somewhat complimentary strategies pursued by the major players in the industry. Check it out.

So the Nintendo press conference is going on right now as you can see on the moblog Maarten and Alec are attending the show grabbing up some more HD footage for later on today. In the mean time here are some quick hits on what Nintendo has announced for Revolution:

- WiFi controllers and a 'very unique' controller to be introduced later
- WiFi games with Nintendo characters
- "strong 3rd party support"
- Square Enix working on wifi Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles
- game development is claimed to be a breeze
- disc drive accepts GameCube games but system is backwards compat w/ all past Nintendo games via downloads
- unique way to combine internet, controlling, flash memory to combine a unique game experience. keeps hinting towards "all-access"
- 2006 console

Thanks anthonybean for collecting a lot of these. Also, GameBoy Micro - new GameBoy Advance about the size of an iPod Mini

Today's issue of USA Today ran some of the first details on Nintendo's next-gen console and Revolution will be the final name. The machine is roughly two to three times as powerful as the GameCube. "It's not all about having 'turbo power,' " Nintendo's Perrin Kaplan told USA Today. "It's about what you do with it."

The online service will feature downloads of a wide range of Nintendo titles, from old classics like Donkey Kong to GameCube releases such as Super Mario Sunshine. No word yet on if they will be free of charge. "We've built Revolution around the concept of 'all-access gaming,'" said Kaplan. "We're about sticking to the soul of gaming."

Nintendo President Satoru Iwata gave his keynote address at the Game Developer's Conference and the majority of his speech focused on wireless connectivity and their next-gen console, currently codenamed Revolution. Iwata confirmed that IBM is working on the processor, codenamed "Broadway," while ATi is handling the graphics chip, codenamed "Hollywood." Two big surprises came out of the presentation. First, Revolution will be backwards compatible with the GameCube. Second, Revolution will come standard with wi-fi capabilities.

Also, Nintendo will roll out this year a free Wi-Fi connection service for the Nintendo DS. Hot spots will be put up around the country in places such as coffee shops and hotels. An Animal Crossing game is in development to take advantage of this new network.

"This is Nintendo's plan: make our existing game world better," Iwata said. "For us, this is a passion. This is a mission of adventure."

The event included a new trailer for The Legend of Zelda title in development for the GameCube. You can download the trailer here from FileShack.

With all the downtime from the Thanksgiving holiday, instead of letting you go without any console content, I've put together some general impressions of the Nintendo DS hardware. I've spent the past week putting the device through its paces and let you know how it stacks up. Check out my immediate impressions of Nintendo's "third pillar," the Nintendo DS.

GameSpy has gone live with the first details anywhere of the Nintendo DS, which is apparently Nintendo's "mystery" system that will be formally unveiled at E3. The system is said to contain two separate 3" game screens in a portable device. Here's an excerpt:

From information made available today, players can look forward to being able to simultaneously manage their game progress from two different perspectives, enhancing both the speed and strategy of the challenge. For example, players will no longer be forced to interrupt game play to shift perspective, such as moving from a wide shot to a close up, or alternating between a character's ongoing battle and a map of their environment. Nintendo DS makes it possible to perform the tasks in real time by simply glancing from one screen to the other. Today's announcement is but a glimpse of the additional features and benefits that will be shown in full at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles in May. Once fully revealed, players will see innovative advances in game interaction.

Update: Also at GameSpy is commentary from their editors on the the news, as well as just-added comments from the official press release out of Japan.

Screenshots from four anticipated Nintendo GameCube titles

Metroid Prime

Mario Sunshine

Zelda

Star Fox

Nintendo news site N-Sider is reporting that Nintendo has purchased Retro Studios. Retro is currently working on the GameCube version of Metroid. It's the first time Nintendo has purchased an American development studio. Everybody say go Jack and Zoid! ;)

Gamespot has an update on the new relationship between Square and Nintendo (story). It looks like people expecting a Final Fantasy game on the GameCube soon will be dissapointed. For now, the new company will only be developing games for the Game Boy Advance. Though creating a game which uses the Cube/GBA connectivity has not been ruled out.

[...] it was initially reported that Fund Q--a fund set up by Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi to help encourage game development, focusing specifically on games that utilize the connectivity feature between the GameCube and Game Boy Advance--would also factor into the agreement. But Murakawa told GameSpot that Fund Q is only one of several approaches Square plans to take with the new company. He did, however, say that the company still may take the connectivity option into account. "The objective of the new company is to develop GBA titles, so GameCube titles are not a part of the plan," he said. "But because the Game Boy Advance and GameCube allow for link connectivity, we may make use of such a feature in the future."

Normally this would end up in Late Night Consoling, but this is pretty big seeing how the Final Fantasy series has been Sony Playstation exclusive for a while now. Gamespot is reporting that after five years, Final Fantasy will return to Nintendo platforms. Games will be developed for the GameCube and Game Boy Advance.

Under the agreement, Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi will allocate money from Fund Q--a fund Yamauchi set up in January to help encourage software development--to a new Square-affiliated development house. In return, Square will establish the new development house with help from Akitoshi Kawazu, a director from the Final Fantasy development team, by the end of this month. The Square affiliate is expected to release games for both the GameCube and Game Boy Advance before the end of the year. Square properties other than Final Fantasy were not mentioned in the report.

Thanks Jeremy Stewart and disembodied potato.

IEMag has a pretty good Nintendo interview you may wish to check out. The VP of corporate affairs actually. Talk is about all kinds of GameCube stuff like meeting demand and market orientation etc.