14 DAY TRIAL // San Francisco is the venue for this year's Nintendo spring bonanza, the place where the Wii producing company chooses to demonstrate its newest and most interesting games. The first day was presided over by Cammie Dunaway, sales and marketing executive vice president, who announced that a new Mario title was coming to the Wii. And there were also details about Steven Spielberg's first videogame adventure, but that was dwarfed by the power of the Mario announcement. Dunamaw's cast also made an appearance.
Mario is returning to the Wii as a baseball player in the upcoming (which means sometime in summer) Mario Super Sluggers, a game that takes baseball action to the land of the Mushroom kingdom, aka Mario-land. A major cast of characters will fill out the court, although specifics are not known at this point.
The gameplay will be similar to that found in the Wii Sports baseball game, with the exception that you can expect various signature moves from each character and a big assortment of power-ups sprinkled on the playing field. Other than this, you'll be able to customize your team and your players, and there will a variety of venues to play on.
The most important third-party title coming to the Wii this year is produced by Electronic Arts and directed by Steven Spielberg. An EA representative said the game was a direct result of Steven Spielberg's excitement about the Wii and especially the control scheme on the Nintendo console. The game will be equally appealing to all ages and all cultures in an effort to make gaming more a family affair. The representative said: "It was very important to Spielberg that we have themed worlds and characters you can interact with."
Two new games for the Nintendo DS have also been announced, called Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness. No other details regarding the titles have been released.