E3 2007: Nintendo Keeps It Casual

Miyamoto shows his new get-fit Wii game.

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An example is Mario Kart Wii, a game that builds on the success of the DS instalment in the series. The game will be playable online when it comes out next winter, but it also comes with a steering wheel attachment that makes it easier for casual gamers to forget about the buttons and just drive.

Mario Kart Wii

You want more hardcore? How about Super Smash Bros Brawl, the eagerly awaited new Wii instalment, which arrives in early December. Then there's Super Mario Galaxy - a game Nintendo president Reggie Fils-Aime calls "the first real successor to Super Mario 64". That arrives on 12 November in North America.

One of the biggest gamers' games Nintendo has in the offing is Metroid Prime: Corruption, demoed on stage by a member of the surging Nintendo fan community. The teaser showed off the game's new controls, which have been built entirely around the Wii remote and nunchuck.

The DS hasn't been forgotten either. Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass brings touch-gaming to the Zelda franchise, giving DS owners new ways to play Miyamoto's legendary series.

Metroid Prime Corruption

There's no denying that nostalgia plays a big part in the success of the Wii among longtime Nintendo fans, a fact demonstrated by the success of Virtual Console games on the Wii Shop.

Since launch last year, more than 5.6 million games have been downloaded. Starting next year, Wii owners will be able to play new creations too, though the WiiWare (Wii Software in Europe) games already in development around the world.

Nintendo unveiled a new channel on the Wii interface, one called Check Mii Out. It builds on the popularity of the Mii avatars Wii owners have been creating, letting you vote on other people's creations. In the future there will be contests too.

Super Mario Galaxy

One of the "Ah, finally" announcements was the Wii Zapper, a peripheral that lets you combine the Wii remote and nunchuck in a gun-like accessory. Company president Satoru Iwata says this is what's going to get ordinary people playing first-person shooters, games such as Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles and the Wii version of Sega's arcade game Ghost Squad.

Iwata had a message for the gaming veterans, especially those feeling left out by Nintendo's new direction. He asked them to think back to when they first started playing and how new it all seemed to them.

What Nintendo's change in focus will bring, says Iwata, is "not only new games forever, but new gamers forever."

No one would argue against that.

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