Struggling with that pixel-perfect leap? Help is at hand...

It’s been mooted for a while, but Nintendo has finally confirmed it will be introducing a new help system to assist gamers when they’re stuck on a particularly difficult bit.

Rather than video-based hints or walkthroughs or a DVD-style chapter-skip, however, players will simply be able to pause the action and select an option which sees the game play itself - completing any tough sections and allowing the player to regain control at any time thereafter.

This generation, Nintendo’s mantra has been all about reducing the barriers of entry for non-gamers and less experienced players, and so this is a sensible and logical next step. And as the tentatively-named “demo play” is merely optional, it’s only the weak-willed whose play experience is going to suffer.

The feature will be introduced in New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and will likely be used in all future first-party titles. Should Galaxy 2 have any challenges rivalling Luigi’s Purple Coins in the difficulty stakes, temptation might just be too great for me to resist pressing pause for a computer-controlled leg-up.

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New Super Mario Bros. Wii is currently getting rave previews

After a conference that all but alienated core gamers last year, E3 2009 was a much more exciting one for Nintendo’s loyal fans. A series of core-focused announcements - admittedly almost entirely concentrated on established franchises - made for a more interesting conference, though a rather aloof and curiously flat presentation sucked a little bit of the life out of some of the major reveals. Not helped by an oddly muted audience - compare and contrast with the whooping and hollering at Sony’s briefing two hours later - the likes of New Super Mario Bros. Wii were greeted with silent interest rather than wide-eyed excitement, while even Super Mario Galaxy 2 got a polite rather than rapturous reception. It wasn’t until the ‘wow, really?’ surprise of a new Metroid from Team Ninja that the attendees finally started cheering and clapping to any significant degree.

Yet take Cammie, Reggie and Iwata out of the equation, and the line-up of games shown was pretty impressive. Two brand new Mario games on Wii, both of which look great, and both of which will be here before mid-2010 (Miyamoto confirming that Galaxy might be a Christmas 2009 release were it not for NSMB Wii). A thrillingly different take on a popular franchise in Metroid: Other M. What look to be two vastly improved sequels to two of the console’s biggest games in Wii Sports Resort and Wii Fit Plus - both offering more to core gamers than their predecessors. And plenty of interesting DS titles - WarioWare DIY could well be the handheld’s LittleBigPlanet, while Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story is a welcome return for one of Nintendo’s most unfairly underappreciated franchises. Golden Sun DS was arguably the most warmly-received announcement for the handheld, and we got a brief reminder that we’re getting another portable Zelda by the end of the year. Then there’s Flip Notes Studio - the DSi killer-app you don’t know you want yet. Believe me when I say it’s one of the most significant pieces of software Nintendo announced at the show - the non-game formerly known as Moving Memo is a masterful app which will give creative types hours upon hours of fun.

Endless Ocean 2 - sharks and crocs add a dose of danger

But E3 is about more than just the conferences, and it was interesting to note what Nintendo didn’t show, with plenty of assets on the company’s press site for games which the big N chose not to reveal. On DS alone, we had role-player Glory of Heracles, Picross 3D (née Rittai Picross), The Legendary Starfy and - why didn’t they mention this? - Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box. The latter’s predecessor might not have been the unbridled success in the US that it was in Europe and Japan, but ignoring Layton completely is still a bit of a baffler. Then on Wii, we have - hurrah! - Endless Ocean 2, Sin and Punishment 2 (sadly pushed back to early 2010, but looking tremendous on the show floor) and a triumvirate of games about which little is known. Monado: The Beginning of the World is an RPG from Baten Kaitos creator Monolith, looking not unlike Final Fantasy XII, while Artoon’s Span Smasher is a platformer-cum-pinball game as you swat a rotund hero about the screen, obliterating barriers for points. Meanwhile Line Attack Heroes is apparently a  ‘fast-paced melee action game’ for up to four players. A few shots and a brief press sheet suggests that the games aren’t high on Nintendo’s priority list, and while both could be fun, it wouldn’t be a major surprise to see them sneak out at a budget price.

Taking third-party titles out of the equation for the time being - I’ll be analysing the line-up for DS and Wii in more detail very soon - Nintendo has plenty of interesting titles coming out over the next year or so. The non-appearance of Pikmin 3 and franchise favourites like F-Zero and Starfox was a little disappointing - and we’re still waiting for some really groundbreaking new IP that I’m sure Nintendo is more than capable of - but overall, us Wii and DS owners have much to look forward to.

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Kotaku has posted an excerpt of Nintendo’s financial results for fiscal year 2009, pointing out a note from Nintendo to its investors that the forthcoming Zelda: Spirit Tracks “will appeal to a wider age group of people”.

Naturally, this has led to speculation that it may be even more casual-friendly than Phantom Hourglass, though this may just be Nintendo trying to explain to its investors why it’s still making core-focused titles alongside its multi-million-selling Wii- branded range. That said, the results for Wii Music were considered disappointing, the instrument sim shifting a ‘mere’ two-and-a-half million unit.

It may, of course, be a reference to that patented hint system which was revealed not so long ago - will Spirit Tracks guide less experienced players through its dungeons should they find themselves getting stuck? The patent originally seemed to be for a Wii game, but it’s quite possible.

Expect to see more of Spirit Tracks at E3 this June.

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Dead Space: Extraction executive producer Steve Papoutsis has been chatting to MTV Multiplayer about the forthcoming Wii shooter, and it seems that it’s not going to be a traditional on-rails blaster like Ghost Squad or the House of the Dead games, but something a little different.

So what exactly is EA calling it? “[It] is a Guided First Person Experience” explains Papoutsis. “The player will be presented with many choices as they play the game, ranging from which path they wish to explore to maneuvering in Zero-G.”

Choosing paths in a rail shooter is nothing new, but perhaps the Zero-G sections will allow a little more freedom of movement than is commonly found in the genre. Evidently, the game is going to be faithful to its 360/PS3 predecessor, with stasis and telekinesis powers making a return, while the story is canonical - detailing the events prior to the arrival of heroically dumb engineer Isaac Clarke on the mining vessel USG Ishimura.

Of course, if you’ve played Dead Space, you’ll know that all was not well aboard said ‘planet-cracker’, so don’t expect Extraction to have a happy, feelgood ending. Do expect it to feature co-operative play, though - Papoutsis confirmed a second player can jump in at any point and start dismembering Necromorphs.

The world’s first GFPE should be with us sometime this Autumn.

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UPDATE: Nintendo of Europe has said it’s “too early” for its own Q2 list. Expect that at some point in March, probably in two or three weeks.

NOA has released an uncharacteristically early list of titles which will be released in the second quarter of this year, including a date for Punch-Out!!, the announcement of an Excite Truck spin-off and the news that popular Japanese character Starfy will finally be making his western debut this May.

The big surprise - shocking in a where-the-hell-did-that-come-from kind of way - is Excitebots: Trick Racing. Apparently building on the Excitebike and Excite Truck franchises, it “lets everyone in the family use the Wii Wheel accessory in unique and changing environments, play fun minigames and perform crazy tricks”. In other words, it’s about as hardcore as Scouting For Girls, but hopefully not quite so fist-chewingly hateful.

Donkey Kong Jungle Beat gets a five-months-late localisation in the New Play Control range on May 4th, while Punch-Out!! is out two weeks later, and has some rather spiffy boxart, as you can see above.

Pleasingly, Nintendo has made a bit of a fuss about a few titles coming to WiiWare - Bit.Trip Beat and Eduardo the Samurai Toaster joined on the official press release by Swords and Soldiers and a new title named Night Game from the makers of Cave Story - the latter also coming to WiiWare soon.

The launch of Rhythm Heaven alongside DSi is confirmed, while Personal Trainer: Walking is a handheld accompaniment to Wii Fit which includes two pedometers, and the first use of Miis on the DS. Meanwhile, The Legendary Starfy will be released on June 8th - nice to see it arrive, but it’s nothing to get massively excited about. One for the kids, definitely.

It is, of course, a partial list, so best not to get too irate about any omissions, both non-surprising (Another Code, Fatal Frame) and faintly worrying (Wii Sports Resort). With MotionPlus guaranteed to launch before May, the latter is probably pencilled in for an April release - the gap between the New Play Control pairing of Mario Tennis and Pikmin (March 9th) and Excitebots (April 20th) surely a bit of free space for a first-party biggie. One cry-making absentee - Mario and Luigi RPG 3. Let’s hope that one’s just waiting on a concrete date.

Elsewhere, there’s little on the third-party list that’s too surprising, though I’m heartened to see giganto-quiff detective Jake Hunter make a reappearance in a new adventure named Memories of the Past. The first one was pretty naff - albeit charmingly so - but definitely had promise. An improved sequel would go down like a sack of potatoes, to paraphrase a line from the original.

The full list can be found after the jump. Nintendo of Europe, your move.

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The official site for Wii de Asobu: Pikmin 2 (or New Play Control! Pikmin 2 as it’ll be known in the west) has opened, and is a pleasant reminder of what made the GameCube sequel so great, particularly the delicious visuals - there’s definitely a noticeable improvement in Olimar’s second trinket-hunting adventure.

Like the recent Wiimake of the original Pikmin, the new controls now make use of the Wii’s pointer capabilities, and there are a number of videos which show exactly how that works (clue: the same as New Play Control! Pikmin).

The hulking purples and poisonous, treasure-uncovering whites are detailed, as is the addition of Louie, Olimar’s dopey shipmate. The site’s two-player options remain off-duty for now, but we imagine they’ll play out similarly to the GameCube game. The addition of online co-op would be a most pleasant surprise, but I reckon Nintendo is saving that for Pikmin 3.

Let’s hope the March release of the second game means we’ll be hearing more about the new Wii version sooner rather than later. I’m expecting an E3 debut, though don’t rule out a mention during Iwata’s GDC keynote - particularly if he wants to sate the voracious appetite of Nintendo’s increasingly disillusioned core audience.

One more thing - as an added bonus, here’s a link to a rather excellent review of New Play Control! Pikmin - and there’s absolutely no bias in this recommendation at all.

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The latest issue of unofficial UK Nintendo publication NGamer can be found in stores from today, though it’s next month’s edition which looks more interesting.

At the back of the mag, the next month page advertises an ‘Easter reviews special’, covering the likes of GTA: Chinatown Wars, Broken Sword and Little King’s Story.

But more excitingly, the mag also promises the first look at Red Steel 2, sequel to Ubisoft’s FPS/sword-fighter which was something of a commercial success during the Wii’s launch window. Better still is the news that the game will feature “Motion Plus swordsmanship” says the mag.

Issue #35 of NGamer, on sale March 25th, but likely to reach subscribers five or six days earlier, will also uncover Dead Space: Extraction in more detail.

Plenty to look forward to, then, especially if you subscribe to this excellent magazine.

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Shortly after March 12th this year, my entire world will grind to a complete halt. That date marks the release of Rittai Picross, Nintendo’s 3D take on the life-eatingly compulsive puzzler which enslaved my DS (and me) for several months in 2007.

It’s pretty much exactly the game you’d expect it to be - Picross but in 3D. You’re given a number of cubes with numbers on to chisel away at until you’re left with a vaguely recognisable (if blocky) rendition of a dog or a plane or a baseball player. It appears to be completely stylus controlled - using swipes to rotate the view and stabs to tap away any unwanted cubes, with an icon swapping between a hammer and a paintbrush, the latter to colour in areas which are part of the finished shape. Eventually you’re left with the solution, which then animates in a rudimentary but entirely charming way. And that’s about it, really.

Presentationally, it’s giant strides ahead of Picross DS and its peers (Hudson’s Illust Logic and Colorful Logic remains the best take, for my money) and it’s the logical next step for the game. One concern remains over how exactly the more complex puzzles will be presented - the official site merely offering a few examples of early brainteasers - but this is Nintendo, and I’m sure there’ll be an elegant solution to that particular problem.

It’s Wi-Fi compatible, too. Whether that will mean downloadable puzzles or online multiplayer I’m not too sure, but either way, I’ve cleared a couple of weeks’ worth of evenings in my diary already.

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Nintendo’s Japanese site has details of the new DSi software which will be available to download next Wednesday, February 25th.

For 200 points you can get a Nintendo-themed calculator, with Super Mario Bros. and Animal Crossing skins among others, while there’s also a slightly unfathomable app which Google Translate suggests is a ‘clock software dictionary’. Erm.

Thankfully, the remainder of the games are a little more understandable. For 500 points you can get one of two new Art Style games - Nalaku is a faintly nightmarish isometric puzzler which sees your stickman avatar climbing and pushing to reach the top of a cube while trying to avoid being crushed by falling blocks. Hacolife seems a little more relaxing, requiring you to cut out and fold together cubes from flat grids of squares - sometimes needing to ensure you’ve packed away an item within your created box before it’s lifted away by some omnipotent crane thing.  Also for 500 points is a collection of table games (chess, reversi, connect five and two more) and a stripped down version of that 100 Classic Book Collection, offering twenty titles to read on the move.

800 points gets you a Mahjong game and a new Mr. Driller title, the latter looking a little more interesting than the former.

It seems that Nintendo has settled into a rhythm with DSiWare - updating the range once a month with a mixture of games and applications at very reasonable prices. It’s good to see the Art Style series continuing to thrive on the service - and what we’ve seen so far seems to be a good indication of the sort of games we’ll see when DSi hits the west in April (so we’ll probably have to wait until June to see Hacolife and Nalaku unless Nintendo chops and changes the release order.

Excitingly, according to Offworld, next month sees a Katamari game come to DSiWare - though rather than the ball-rolling exploits the series is famous for, it’s a block-puzzler set in Takahashi-san’s esoteric universe.

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Slicing, smashing, bludgeoning and bashing its way to store shelves across Europe next month is Platinum Games’ ultraviolent destroy-em-up MadWorld - publisher Sega announcing today that the stylish scrapper will launch on March 20th.

It’s another valiant attempt by the Japanese giant to bring a bit of Mature action for us Wii owners starved of blood, guts, gore and chainsaws. It might be a slightly tougher sell than House of the Dead Overkill, though - shooting zombies with a gun controller is more immediately appealing to some than monochromatic, faintly satirical beat-em-ups. Hopefully Sega’s marketing department will have something worked out and can get behind it in a big way in the weeks leading up to its release.

With precisely a month until the game’s release, I think it’ll be about another week or so before the first reviews start to trickle in - hopefully some high scores are in the offing. Certainly if Platinum’s past record is anything to go by, we’re at least looking at some critical acclaim if not commercial success.

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