While Nintendo's media briefing wasn't quite up to the same level of slick hype as EA or Microsoft's offerings, it still held some fairly cool information for the patient crowd (plus free soda, water and coffee, bonus points there).

As expected, Nintendo wheeled out sales figures for the DS and Wii, explaining that with an install base of over 100million DS units, developers were more free to experiment with innovative titles. They then proceeded to show off extended versions of Wii Fit and Wii Sports (in the form of Wii Sports Resort) which uses the new high precision Wii-mote. Nothing really amazing, despite the attitudes of the on-stage presenters. At this stage of the briefing, I wrote 'ZZZZ' on my notepad. Things were looking a little grim.

Diversity is an oft-used buzzword here in the States, and it was pushed rather hard by the Nintendo execs here at E3. Delivering games to the reluctant gamer was the theme today, with Iwata explaining the trade off between making games easy and accessible enough for novices and challenging enough for experts. The mention of 'experience' or hard-core gamers breathed a little life into the room, as Nintendo had promised to provide more focus on the enthusiast market.

Amongst some generic looking third party titles, were gems like Golden Sun for the DS, the new Team Ninja/Nintendo developed Metroid: Origin M and a brand new Mario Galaxy for the Wii. A great relief for the people holding their breath for some solid franchise action. I shed a tear at the almost absolute lack of Pokemon titles, no MMORPG for now.

E3 proper is mere minutes away, so I must be brief. More updates are sure to follow!