The Conference is over, at this point. Please join in the IRC chat room on the right for detailed discussion on the events..

Incoming links: Press Release, Screenshots of Phantom Hourglass One, Two

This just in: 3D Zelda similar to Wind Waker will be showing up on the DS. “Cel-shaded-style graphics. Top screen: mostly maps. Action is on the lower screen. Use touch screen to draw things — transitioning the bottom screen input to the top. Launches later this year — from Aonuma and team (makers of Wind Waker).”

The Nintendo Keynote has officially begun as of 1:30 PM EST, and 4cr is trying as hard as we can to make sure our inside taps are working correctly, and dumping onto the mainpage here. Expect us to dump all the developing information as soon as it develops.

Look beyond the more cut to catch developing news. More is added every minute, so keep tuned.

Big props to our moles, grey_ghost and KimiSan.

10:30 - Keynote has not yet begun. Confirmed: first aspect of the address will heavily emphasize Brain Age, and Brain Training Academy for the Nintendo DS. Nintendo is focusing a lot of attention of the early aspect of the show on the DS.

10:32 - Address delayed some ten minutes. Nintendo representatives had previously accidently closed their powerpoint window revealing the DS emphasis planned. Apparently, some pimpage for Brain Training and the DS in general. Doritos and Pepsi logos present?

10:44AM - From GameDaily, “Keynote has started. Video presentation. Iwata comes out. Applause.”

10:48 - Talks about Nintendo’s positioning in the market. Mentions how Pepsi is #1 in soft drinks worldwide by executing a disruptive strategy. Every developer understands that the three basic foodgroups are Cheetos, Dorritos and Fritos. (laughter)

10:50AM - From IGN, “The game industry is ready for disruption.”

10:51AM - From EuroGamer, “As is tradition, Iwata begins an address discussing Nintendo’s current situation - the success of Nintendo DS, Nintendogs, etc. “New kinds of softeare creating brand new players”.”

10.53AM - Iwata is now talking about Brain Training, and says he will discuss where the idea came from. (Diet Lilt?) “It came from where all great ideas come from - from our board of directors.” [Laughter] [Forgiving crowd perhaps].

10:54 - 1st Brain Training has sold 1.7 million with the sequel surpassing it with 1.8 million sold.

10.5XAM - Iwata takes a stab at Sony, describing how the PS2 took 21 months to reach the 6 million mark while the GBA took only 20 and the DS an astonishing 14.

10:58AM - Tells story about how the prototype was demoed, they were measure the impact with a brain scanning device. (IGN) “I asked each of our four development groups to nominate someone to start on a task force.”

18.58: Continuing on the subject of Brain Training, Iwata says that Dr Kawashima (who wrote the book) only agreed to meet with Iwata for one hour - on the day when the DS launched in Japan. Kawashima hooked a guy from the Nintendo team up to a monitor and showed that the prototype game was affecting blood flow in the brain - Iwata says this was “a very important moment”.

10:59: Retailers and sales people questioned title — “it’s not even a game.”

10: 59 - Audiance erupts in laughter over a story of a Japanese writer borrowing a nintendo task force member and putting a brain scan device on his head to monitor the activity of his brain. Picture looked like a strainer bowl with wires. “ NintendoON FTW!”

11:01: Introduces Bill Trinen (NOA).

11:02: Showing a DS playing Brain Age.

19:01: Technology like handwriting was developed without any real idea what it would be used for - and ended up being perfect for Brain Training, Iwata says.

11:01 - From IGN, “DS is turned sideways (as IGN readers know from our coverage of the game). Bill shows off the main mode, including the different mental exercises which appear in random sequence. Exercises include counting, math, ability to read text out loud, etc.”

—- (This is where 4cr went down, in here) —-

11:14 A.M. PST - Brain Training has sold more than 5 million copies for Japan. Originally, retailers had orders for 70,000 games, but a month later placed orders for about 800,000. 3

11:16 A.M. PST - As a gift, all people in attendance of the keynote received a copy of Brain Age to try for themselves.

11:16 A.M. PST - As a gift, all people in attendance of the keynote received a copy of Brain Age to try for themselves.

19:17: Iwata moves on to the subject of Wi-Fi Connection. Nintendo has been experimenting with networks since the 80s, he says, but never felt the time was right for a network game until the advent of DS. The development timetable for WFC was based on Mario Kart DS and Animal Crossing: Wild World - Nintendo wanted both games online.

11:20 AM PDT- Says that no one wants to play Animal Crossing online, someone has to come in and cut down all the trees. Audience laughs. One million players have been reached online thus far across the board.

Iwata moves onto the subject of the NWC

19:19: “Online gaming normally belongs to the most aggressive players, and they can be a very vocal group. This interaction can be intimidating for casual players.”

19:20: Nintendo didn’t want to just appeal to those in the vocal hardcore, Iwata says. Instead they wanted to achieve a friendly atmosphere where you invite your friends to play. Apparently WFC was originally known as “Project Houseparty”.

11:22: We’ve added a new title to use the service: Metroid Prime Hunters. Invites Bill back on stage to demo the game. Another competition: Bill against the creators of the game.

19:22: It’s important to give players freedom to choose to play with strangers or with their own friends. Iwata wanted to avoid situations where someone entered a game and cut down all his trees in Animal Crossing!

19:23: WFC has grown much faster than Xbox Live, Iwata says, with over one million users since launch. It took Xbox Live 20 months to reach that level, he points out.

11″25 AM PDT- Explanation of the graphics and weapons, while Trennon is “destroyed”. Shows the difference between characters. One of the development team is wearing a shirt that says “The Hurt Is On”. Audience laughs.

11:22: We’ve added a new title to use the service: Metroid Prime Hunters. Invites Bill back on stage to demo the game. Another competition: Bill against the creators of the game. Introduces the different ways to battle, including the morph ball.

here we go

11:29: Iwata takes the stage. There’s one more new adventure for you today

11:29 AM PDT- Iwata explains how even grandmothers loves the DS, and talks about Tetris DS and New Super Mario Bros.. Audience claps upon seeing Mario. A new Zelda game is revealed for the DS, but uses an engine similar to Wind Waker.

11:30 - New Ds title shown - ZELDA! 0 0 0 0

11:30 A.M. PST - Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass for Nintendo DS

# 11:30 - Very impressive, done in a wind waker like style of graphics

Iwata begins on the Revo.

11:31: Iwata is asked all the time: How did you get the idea for the Revolution controller. Elaborates on how some people are afraid to touch regular game controllers. YOU SHOULD BE AFRAID.

19:31: Iwata turns to Revolution. “Why are people comfortable picking up a TV remote, but not a game controller?” Revolution needed to be wireless, approachable, sophisticated, and “revolutionary”, he says.

11:34: Reiterates backwards compatibility to all previous Nintendo titles and the need for the controller to function with it.

SEGA Genesis and TurboGrafx games will downloadable, alongside NES, SNES and N64 games!

11:38: Most important thing is still to be told.

Elaborates on Nintendo’s desire to do something different — provide solutions for people with great ideas. Nintendo understands importance of graphics. Games like Mario, Zelda, Metroid will all look better than ever. But those will not be the only types of games.

11:41 AM PDT- The new Mario and Metroid will be games to be played in a whole new way. Says the Nintendo download service is comparable to Apple’s I-Tunes service.

“Essential to reach new audience: younger people, older people. Nintendo is commited to creating a development environment that lets developers and publishers expand and express themselves. ”

“In a few weeks, you will play and see and understand our philosophy. ” - Probably see you at E3, rebels.

11:44: Thanks everyone for inviting him.

Conference Ends. Thanks for reading, rebels.