The Richter Scale^®

It’s a bright and sunny day in Los Angeles today, but a serious power outage in the West Hall of the L.A. Convention Center is causing consternation. The show floor opens at 10am.

A free breakfast for media attending an opening presentation by Entertainment Software Association president Doug Lowenstein resulted in over a thousand “media” waiting in line for a long time for not much more than a bagel. Apparently their publications don’t pay them very
much, or perhaps the emotional response to ‘free’ overwhelms reason.

Nintendo’s president just announced a whole new dimension to ‘backward compatibility’.

He says the Revolution will pretty much run ALL Nintendo content for the last 20 years, meaning NES, Super NES, Nintendo 64, Gameboy, and Game Cube.

Smart move.

Finally, we see the Revolution, but it’s being said that the internals
should be left as an item of ‘mystery’.

So far nothing much said about the Revolution. But, they did just
announce the Gamyboy Micro for a Fall release. Plays all Gameboy Advance
games in a tiny package with a great screen.

The briefing started with Nintendo president Satoru Iwata telling us he
was playing Super Smash Brothers. It ended with him asking “Who’s Your
Daddy?”

I estimate that there are about 2500 people in attendance, with almost a
third of these standing.

Nintendo seems to tug at emotional heart strings more than Sony or
Microsoft, perhaps because for many a Super NES or Gameboy were their
first game devices. And gosh those characters from Super Mario are just
so cute!

In any event, a noticable part of the audience are looking toward the
stage with a blend of adulation and awe, although nothin much is
happening yet.

The Nintendo DS is out in force as well (I didn’t bring mine ). Not
sure what’s showing on the DSes.

The big news this morning, while waiting to enter the Kodak Theatre at
Hollywood & Highland for the media briefing on the forthcoming third
entry in the next generation video game consoles - the Nintendo
Revolution - was that USA Today got the scoop.

There on page 1D (the Life section), above the fold, was a picture of
the Revolution (confirmed as authentic by the Nintendo staff when I
checked in this morning for the briefing).

http://www.usatoday.com

Live, from L.A....

Microsoft certainly knows how to throw a party… The Killers - in about
ten minutes, on this stage....