Nintendo's conference wasn't exactly my favourite, nor did it hold any real influence over the way I would go about gaming with my DSi, but there were a few gems mentioned throughout the course of the hour that certainly grabbed my attention. If you haven't seen the conference, or you're just really interested in what I thought of the event, then by all means, read on.

Nintendo kicked off their conference with a full on orchestra playing the various themes from the Legend of Zelda series, to mark its 25^th anniversary. Along with this, there was an opening montage of the various Zelda titles. Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of the Zelda franchise was the first to come up on stage. He started off by speaking about the series of Zelda games and he introduced the orchestra by allowing them to play certain themes made famous by being in the games. He went on to say that Nintendo have created a Legend of Zelda game to support each piece of hardware in celebration for its 25^th anniversary.

3DS fans will be able to purchase Zelda: Orcarina of Time – a 3D adventure available to download next weekend, whilst DSi fans will be entitled to a free download of Legend of Zelda: Four Swords; a four-player game available from September. Skyward Sword was the third game to be confirmed for use with the Wii, and would use the Wii Motion Plus, along with this, a special gold Wiimote will also be available to purchase for fans of the Zelda series. Miyamoto said that this game would be “packed with content” it is to be released this season. Unfortunately, no gameplay, live or otherwise, was shown to us, which was highly disappointing. Miyamoto concluded by stating that this autumn in Japan, Europe and the US, a 25^th anniversary concert would be played around the world, before inviting several of the people who have worked on the Zelda games for a mark of appreciation and gratitude.

Next up, Satoru Iwata; global president for Nintendo came on stage. He briefly spoke about the boundaries of target audiences in video gaming. He said that the 3D aspect of video gaming provided deeper game experiences for passionate gamers as well as having a wider appeal. He said that Nintendo aimed to serve every player. A short pre-recorded video followed, demonstrating the 3D capabilities for the physical audience members at the venue.

Reggie Fils-Aime; president of Nintendo America was next up. He spoke of several classic Nintendo games, remade especially for the 3DS. They included Mario Kart, which would be due for release this season. 1993’s Starfox, which would also make use of the front cameras to allow you to video call your friends whilst battling them; a nice feature that could make for a lot of fun. Super Mario 3D was the next game, and if I’m honest, seemed really pointless as a re-release in 3D. The two games I felt would work the best on 3D were last. They were Kid Icarus Uprising, which looked amazing – definitely something I’d be interested in playing, and Luigi’s Mansion 2 (stressed that this was not a revision, it was in fact a brand new game).

Another short video followed featuring other games that would make it on the 3DS featuring Resident Evil: Revelations, Ace Combat, Tetris, Cave Story and Tekken 3D. There wasn’t time to fully digest the video much as it all seemed rather rushed and quick, which was unfortunate on both Nintendo’s and the consumers’ parts, as I for one was half expecting to witness some live gameplay.

Nintendo then went on to talk about further remakes, speaking of Excitebike; way before the NES days, and how the remake would take its place to both the DS and 3DS. Nintendo suggested that this season, customers would be entitled to one free remake via the eshop. Pokémon Pokédex 3D was briefly mentioned next. Nintendo claimed that players could download their very own 3D Pokédex via the eshop for free following a system update. It sounded pretty pointless, but the mild fun was there in some form.

The highlight and final step in Nintendo’s conference surrounded entirely on their brand new console; the Wii U. The Wii U was described by Nintendo as ‘infinitely complex, yet entirely simple” – now if that’s not an oxymoron, I don’t know what is! A video followed (as could have been predicted). I won’t go into the details of the video, as I have ever so kindly embedded it below. One simple click and you can witness the many capabilities of the Wii U.

We weren’t given any price estimation or release date, Nintendo just wants to keep us hanging. For some technical information, the screen is 6.2”. It features a circle pad, a control pad, touch screen, a microphone, an inward camera and speakers. Satoru Iwata claimed that this was not designed to be a portable console, despite it sharing similar characteristics. It was also announced, that much to the audiences d'elight, Smash Bros would be released for both the 3DS and Wii U in the near future. Other such games being featured on this console extension were Darksiders II, Assassins Creed, Batman Arkham City and Ghost Recon Online.

And that was it. I know, I was surprised too. So basically, Nintendo gave us a bunch of information about re-releases to 3D, no live gameplay, tonnes of pre-recorded footage and a new console extension; you understand why the Wii U was the highlight of the evening now don’t you? I half expected a new Pokémon game at least! The Wii U is certainly an impressive piece of kit, but with no retail information such as a price or release date, I suspect I was not the only one feeling somewhat in the dark when the conference ended.