GC 2006: Wii Prove Our Promise Live Updates

AMN Wii will have live updates from Nintendo’s press conference titled “Wii Prove Our Promise” in Leipzig, Germany, which is scheduled to take place at 10:15 AM Germany time on Wednesday, August 23, 2006.

Our North American viewers should tune in late, late tonight for our live coverage right here. The conference begins, along with our coverage, at 1:15 AM PST or 4:00 AM EST.

AMN expects several new game announcements, along with other surprises, from the event. It is very possible a new Super Mario Strikers and Battalion Wars game for Wii could be announced. Some rumors persist that Nintendo will unveil full launch details in regards to Wii’s price and launch date, although we expect this will not be the case tonight.

We’ll see you later tonight.

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Nintendo’s Leipzig, Germany “Wii Prove Our Promise” conference has come to and end, but you can check out our list of live updates below.

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Below times are Leipzig, Germany time.

10:20 AM: Attendees are being seated for conference.

10:22 AM: Conference is about to begin.

10:28 AM: Speaker takes stage and prepares for “surprise” announcements.

10:30 AM: Speaker goes over plan to capture non-gamers.

10:33: AM: Goes over plan to explore new ways of game development. Talks about NES.

10:36 AM: The DS and Wil both introduce intuitive controls.

10:36: AM: Both adults and women are mentioned as key targets.

10:37 AM: Talks about pulling in new kinds of gamers – uses the Nintendo DS as a good example of this.

10:38 AM: Talk of Touch Generation, such as software like Nintendogs and Brain Training. Nintendo says that this is the strategy of getting new folks into gaming. One million DSs are sold in Germany, thus far.

10:39 AM: 18% of DSs sold were sold to “non-gamers.” 24% sold to previous PC users. 42% told to console gamers.

10:40 AM: Over 150,000 units of Animal Crossing DS sold, thus far. Brain Training, meanwhile, has been a top seller in European countries. It has already sold over half a million copies in the UK.

10:42 AM: 35% of buyers are over the age of 35.

10:43 AM: Talk of Brain Training now. It is selling around 60,000 units, steadily, each week in Germany.

10:45 AM: Nintendo keeps talking stats. You know you love it. Nintendo DS hardware sales, according to Nintendo, are “counter-cyclical.” The normal summer slump has been non-existent this year, says the Big N.

10:46 AM: “Few companies have contributed as much as Nintendo,” says Bernd Fakesch.

10:47 AM: He introduces first guest – a TV presenter, no name yet.

10:48 AM: The guest says he was surprised when Nintendo called. He didn’t think Nintendo knew who he was. Neither do we.

10:49 AM: A video of the man on stage playing DS is running.

10:50 AM: He loves his DS Lite, it seems.

10:51 AM: They’re talking about the English language. They plan to launch software for training people to speak English on October 13, 2006. The software is called “English Training.” An on-stage demo is about to take place, it seems.

10:53 AM: In “English Training,” you listen and write down the words in English as fast as possible. Sounds like Brain Age.

10:54 AM: Some more games now. Talk of “Actionloop,” on DS, which is due out in Japan this year. It’s a puzzle game, similar to Tetris, according to the speaker on stage.

10:55 AM: A woman walks out on stage and introduces the pink DS Lite.

10:58 AM: Pink DS Lite in Europe on October 27, 2006.

10:59 AM: They’re switching subjects now, it seems.

11:00 AM: A DS trailer is shown. Mario vs. Donky Kong 2. 42 All-Time Classics. Pokemon. Tenchu.

11:01 AM: More DS games shown: Big Brain Academy, Hotel Dusk 215, Super Mario Bros. NEW, English Training, Star Fox Command, Tomb Raider Legend, Sudoku Master.

11:10 AM: Nintendo walks through Phantom Hourglass trailer from GDC back in March 2006.

11:11 AM: We’re getting tired. We should have slept more last night.

11:13 AM: People are flying around on stage with Wii controllers. We definitely should have got more sleep.

11:12 AM: They’re demoing the Wii now and talking to some seven-year-old about games and Wii.

11:13 AM: They’re playing Wii Sports Tennis.

11:17 AM: Nintendo unveils Mario Smash Football (aka Super Mario Strikers). They’re going to demo game now.

11:19 AM: The official title of the game is Super Mario Strikers Charged.

11:20 AM: Super Mario Strikers Charged features special moves, such as super shots. Mario is seen jumping into the air to kick the ball down at a player. You can use the Wii-mote in the air to block the incoming shot.

11:21 AM: Players must drag their hands across the screen to block passes and such with split-second timing.

11:22 AM: Battalion Wars 2 announced for Wii. Abbreviated BWii.

11:23 AM: Talk of third-party Wii support from developers and publishers like EA, SEGA, Activision, THQ, Namco, Square-Enix, Konami, Capcom and Ubisoft.

11:24 AM: Another trailer. Looks like the one shown at TGS 2005.

11:25 AM: Wii Sports Tennis, Wii Sports Golf, Wii Orchestra spotlighted.

11:26 AM: Super Mario Galaxy, Red Steel, Metroid Prime 3 Corruption, Excite Truck, Table Tennis, WarioWare, Wii Sports Baseball, Twilight Princess shown in clip.

11:27 AM: All footage seems to be the same as stuff shown at E3.

11:29 AM: Conference comes to an end.

AMN Wii and Revo-Europe are teaming up to bring you full hands-on coverage of all Games Convention 2006 throughout the week. Stay tuned for the latest.