LOS ANGELES – Nintendo opened its kimono on the Wii U Tuesday morning at E3, showing the games that will launch with the new console and its touch-screen controller.
For hard-core gamers, Pikmin 3 is the big draw. The sequel to Nintendo's beloved strategy game series, the new version has a remarkable tilt-shift graphical effect that makes its nature-themed environments look quite realistic and appealing. New gameplay mechanics deepen the strategy.
New Super Mario Bros. U lets five players get in on the action, with four playing the standard action game while another places blocks on the screen using the GamePad controller screen. NintendoLand is a virtual theme park with mini-games based on classic Nintendo heroes.
Wired's live blog coverage is below.
8:45 – Alright, let's do this, people. Microsoft and Sony barely made any announcements of actual new videogames. When Ubisoft puts on the best conference, you know it's a weird year. Time for the final hope. We want megatons. Real megatons. Why am I coming to E3 if there is to be no megatons? Remember when E3 press conferences used to be one giant announcement after another? If Nintendo doesn't deliver, those days are over.
8:52 – Nintendo has already said it does not plan to talk about 3DS too much during this conference, and has announced that a "software showcase" on Wednesday evening will be 3DS-centric. So stay tuned for more 3DS stuff on Wednesday. That said, we'll see if these rumors about a 3DS XL pan out this morning.
8:57 – Here we go. We are beginning with a video, showing Miyamoto's dressing room. He's reading a script and Pikmin are running all over his clothes. I guess this is finally the Pikmin 3 unveiling.
8:59 – Miyamoto takes the stage. He whistles and Bill Trinen appears. Man if they are not showing Pikmin this is going to be the worst.
9:00 – Nintendo wanted to make the Wii U screen the first screen you look at when you enter your living room. "This dedicated screen changes the importance of videogames, which have always relied on the TV screen," he said.
9:02 – You won't need to look at your TV to do Wii Fit.
9:04 – Pikmin 3 video. It looks gorgeous. They're using tilt-shift effect to make the environment really look like a very tiny realistic garden. Uses Wii MotionPlus controls. On the Wii U GamePad you will always see the overall map of the level. You can touch the map and scroll very quickly over the environment. You can also play the game using only the GamePad.
9:05 – You can control up to 4 Pikmin leaders, switching between them with the GamePad screen. One of "several" modes in the game, the Challenge mode, is playable at E3.
9:06 – Miyamoto gets applause for pulling a plush Pikmin out of his pocket. He whistles and Reggie appears. Hooting, hollering.
9:08 – "What's most important about this presentation" today, says Reggie, is games. We'll see 27 Wii U games on stage today in one form or another, he says. That's a small portion of Wii U and Nintendo 3DS games playable here at E3. That doesn't leave a lot of time to talk about Wii U hardware, he says.
9:09 – Netflix, Hulu Plus, YouTube, Amazon Video just announced in rapid succession for Wii U.
9:10 – Reggie pushing the idea that people need to go to e3.nintendo.com to find out more about Wii U that he won't have time to discuss at the conference.
9:11 – New disruption called "asymmetric gameplay." Putting one player in the game with a GamePad in their own world, apart from other players, playing a different kind of game. Wii U will support two separate GamePad. This week they're focused on single-pad challenges, but look for multi-GamePad games in the future.
9:12 – Showing a video running down all of the features of the GamePad. Now Reggie's talking about all of the Miiverse social-gaming stuff that's built into the Wii U. You can share screenshots from the games you're currently playing, alongside text messages and drawings.
9:17 – Miiverse will help make the new Mario game, New Super Mario Bros. U, a social experience – friends will be chatting about the game, all integrated into the game. A "new real time social window that opens up right as you're playing." More on Miiverse tonight at the developers' roundtable.
9:18 – Showing video of New Super Mario Bros. U. Mario has a flying squirrel suit that lets him glide. You can carry Baby Yoshis that have special powers, like air ballooning. Reggie says the game will have "Boost Mode," which allows one player with the GamePad to drop blocks into the level while others play.
9:19 – Harley Quinn is now talking to Reggie, introducing Martin Tremblay, president of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. We're going to hear about the Wii U version of Batman: Arkham City, which is subtitled Armored Edition.
9:21 – So the first third-party Wii U game they're showing is from last year? I'd rather have something totally new, even if the Arkham City upgrades using the GamePad look interesting.
9:24 – Okay, now they're talking Scribblenauts, which has sold 4 million units worldwide so far. Jeremiah Slaczka from 5th Cell takes the stage to show Scribblenauts Unlimited for Wii U.
9:26 – You can now create crazy objects like a dog-car, then share these objects with your friends. There's a multiplayer mode too. It looks like the game lets you actually explore a large world rather than be confined to brief levels.
9:28 – Time for a sizzle reel of more Wii U games. Darksiders II, Mass Effect 3 (!), Tank! Tank! Tank! from Namco Bandai, Tekken Tag Tournament 2, Trine 2: Director's Cut, Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge, Aliens: Colonial Marines.
9:30 – "Yes, my body was ready," says Reggie about his infamous Wii Fit demo of five years prior. Nintendo announces that 43 million Wii Fit and Wii Fit Plus have been sold around the world so far. Wii Fit U is the name of the Wii U version. Here's the first look.
9:31 – People playing Wii Fit U. It looks like Wii Fit insofar as it uses Mii characters and simple environments. You pick your exercises by tapping the touch screen.
9:34 – Game called "Sing." Lyrics are shown on the GamePad, only visible to the singer. Others in the room can see different things on the TV.
9:35 – Nintendo VP Scott Moffit is here to talk 3DS. He reiterates that we'll spend a full hour talking about new 3DS games tomorrow evening. It will be streamed online. But he's going to show some games now. Three Nintendo first-party games. We're going to look at New Super Mario Bros. 2, which he says is "clearly different" from the Wii U game. This game is "all about the gold" – you collect tons and tons of gold coins, there's even a golden Mario. We'll hear more about it tomorrow. Will be available in the U.S. on August 19.
9:38 – Paper Mario: Sticker Star is the official title. Paper Mario himself is evolving, Moffit says. Stickers are plastered all over the world. You collect them by pulling them off the scenery and they become your battle commands.
9:43 – Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon also coming to 3DS this holiday with Paper Mario.
9:43 – A Lego game for Wii U. Lego City: Undercover. You play as a Lego cop. Portable version also in the works, Reggie says.
9:45 – Nintendo's approach is to provide something for every kind of player. Now talking up Ubisoft's lineup with Yves Guillemot, CEO of Ubisoft.
9:47 – Guillemot is effusive with praise for Wii U. Now bringing up Xavier Poix, managing director of Ubisoft's French studios and a man whose name has a remarkably high Scrabble score. They're showing Just Dance 4 – you can change the choreography in real time. Reggie is using the GamePad to send out the different dance moves that the four people with Wii remotes have to dance to.
9:50 – ZombiU. Still has either a horrible name or the best name. We're watching a video of the game's features, like using the GamePad as a sniper rifle, etc. When using the GamePad to enter in a keycode on a door, you can see the zombies behind you on the TV.
9:52 – Assassin's Creed III, Your Shape, Rayman and the other Wii U games that were announced at the Ubisoft press event yesterday.
9:54 – "Welcome to NintendoLand," says Reggie. It's a game based on the concept of a Nintendo theme park. It's supposed to be the Wii Sports of the Wii U – the game that shows new players how to use all the new features. There are 12 different "attractions" (mini-games) and they are showing 5 at E3, based on Luigi's Mansion, Animal Crossing, etc.
10:01 – Luigi's Mansion mini-game being demoed. Looks really deep: Players on TV can't see the ghost being controlled by player with GamePad, so they have to cooperate to not get attacked by it. When players try to revive fallen comrades the ghost might choose that moment to attack.
10:06 – Looks like Reggie is wrapping up with some platitudes about Wii U and togetherness. Is this it? No Zelda, no Metroid? We're going to finish with "one more walk through the theme park that is NintendoLand." Nope, that's it. Bye!
All photos: Ariel Zambelich/Wired 
