Nintendo’s Developer Roundtable details: Pikmin 3 and more!

Nintendo fans might have been disappointed by Nintendo’s E3 conference, but going on right now is Nintendo’s Developer Roundtable. It’s possible we could get some new information or at least new details on announced titles, so stay tuned for more info. I will post whatever I can find from the event right here.

[UPDATE] And it’s now over. You can read all about it below.

• NOA’s Eric Walter welcomed everyone. He says they’re going to have some presentations and no video recording is allowed
• Bill Trinen takes over; Mr. Eguchi shows off Animal Crossing: City Folk. He mentions that today he will show off this game and Wii Sports Resort.
• Halloween returns in Animal Crossing: City Folk. Jingle, the reindeer who visits in the holidays, returns. There will be new events. One of them is like an Easter event and another is like a carnival.
• Through WiiConnect24, you can receive new furniture and wallpaper automatically.
• A tour of the city was given. The city has a salon, an auction house, a fashion designer’s store, Happy Room Academy, and a theater where a comedy show plays.
• Mr. Eguchi’s character then takes the bus back to his town, which is called “E3 Ville”.
• He talks about playing with others via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection and how the game uses WiiSpeak.
• In City Folk, you can design different patterns and clothing. What’s new is that you can now design the front and back of your shirt, as well as each different sleeve, all individually. You can also create hats and other accessories.
• Mr. Eguchi takes a photo of the new shirt he just made. The photos can be saved to a SD card or posted to the Wii Message Board and sent to friends. They can even be sent to computers or cell phones.
• Now the Q&A session has begun. The first question is regarding how if one person disconnected in Animal Crossing: Wild World, everyone was. The same thing happens in Animal Crossing: City Folk.
• City Folk has Wii/DS connectivity with Wild World. You can move your character from Wild World to City Folk, and all of the items you had in Wild World can go with you.
• If you don’t have Wi-Fi at home, you can transfer your City Folk’s character data to your Nintendo DS, go to your friend’s house, and then transfer it to their City Folk game. That way, you can visit other people’s towns without Wi-Fi.
• In Japan, DS Download Stations will have special content that can be downloaded to your Nintendo DS and then transferred to Animal Crossing: City Folk.
• Animal Crossing: City Folk will have DLC, and it is not already on the game disc.
• No NES games in Animal Crossing: City Folk.
• There is no connectivity with the Forecast Channel on Wii. They thought about it, but they instead decided to go with having the game create the weather because some cities may experience one type
• And now it’s time for Wii Sports Resort. Mr. Eguchi is talking about Wii MotionPlus. He starts to preview the game, which is basically what they did at E3.
• And after basically showing off what they showed at the conference yesterday, they have moved on to the Q&A session.
• Mr. Eguchi doesn’t know if third parties have started to use Wii MotionPlus.
• The Wii Remote is capable of measuring speed via the accelerometer built inside of it. Wii MotionPlus adds the ability to measure the angles of rotation, which allows for more precise movements.
• When Wii MotionPlus was created, they came up with a bunch of games that could use the technology. Then they decided to put all of them in an island because it felt like it fit, and thus, Wii Sports Resort was born. The game will probably have at least 10 games in it.
• They were happy with the Wii Remote, so Wii MotionPlus was not made because they were dissatisfied with it. When asked about the airplane game shown a while back, they said they are always experimenting. There was no word on if it would be included in Wii Sports Resort.
• They’re still trying to determine if Wii MotionPlus will be the new standard with the Wii Remote.
• Nintendo is aware that Wii MotionPlus might make games harder and are trying to keep that in their thoughts when making games compatible with it.
• And the Wii Sports Resort stuff is done. Now it’s time for Shigeru Miyamoto to take the stage and show off Wii Music. He compares it to games like Guitar Hero and how those games try to get the player to achieve perfection with the song.
• Now they’re showing off gameplay of Wii Music. They’re playing Yankee Doodle, but IGN says it sounds awful as a MIDI.
• Yankee Doodle has six parts: bass, two percussion, chord, lead melody, and harmony.
• Miyamoto played the melody on guitar.
• Now he’s playing steel drums and accidentally selected a “Dog Suit” for a second.
• The “Singer” instrument supposedly sounds just like K.K. Slider from the Animal Crossing games
• The game supports up to four players, though only three are playing right now. And now they’re playing the Super Mario Bros. theme.
• One of the guys picked Beat Box for percussion.
• Now they’re showing the drums with the Wii Balance Board. The right foot is the kick pedal, the left foot is the high hat, the left hand is the snare, the right hand is also snare, the B button is the symbol, the C and Z buttons are crash symbols, and toms are the d-pad.
• Mr. Eguchi has joined Miyamoto on stage now. They’re talking about both kids and adults will enjoy the game. And now on to the Q&A session.
• The drum mode is nothing like in Rhythm Tengoku.
• There will be roughly 50 songs, with lots of them being popular songs.
• Nintendo is not thinking about adding songs via WiiConnect24.
• Someone asked why it’s called a game when it’s more of a musical toy, and Miyamoto said that it is like a toy, so it’s more fun than a video game.
• And someone wants to switch gears and ask a Wii Sports Resort question. Nintendo won’t comment on if there will be a sequel to Wave Race, but the mode in Wii Sports Resort will surpass Wave Race in depth.
• Miyamoto says that the Pikmin and Zelda teams are working hard on some titles, but won’t say what they are.
• MEGATON: Pikmin 3 confirmed! Miyamoto says, “We are making Pikmin”.
• Wii Music will have tutorials for various instruments, not just drums.
• I guess I missed this earlier, but the demo of Wii Music will only have 26 of the 60+ instruments in the final game.
• Wii MotionPlus will have no new functionality for new games.
• And with that, the event is over. If anything, it was good to get an official announcement of Pikmin 3 and more information on Animal Crossing: City Folk, as well as Wii Sports Resort and Wii Music.

[Via IGN, Go Nintendo, and Joystiq]

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