The Nintendo press conference was probably one of the events that has been eagerly awaited by both gamer and online journalist alike. Nintendo fans are always dying to see what is coming out next and spend their hard-earned cash on it. Well this year, Nintendo as always have managed to not only wow the audience with their impressive conference but also surprise them.

While on the floor waiting for the conference to start, the buzz was all about the next-gen console, the Revolution. Of course, Nintendo waited to the very end to show it off, but more on that later.

Once the show started, Nintendo Vice President Reggis Fils-Aime came out and detailed about the accomplishments of Nintendo since starting in 1983. Since over twenty years ago, Nintendo has managed to sell more than 2 billion games and 336 million hardware units. ?No company has a stronger history or a brighter future,? Fils-Aime boasted. Truth be told, Nintendo grips a number two spot in game system and publishing in the world.

First to be shown is a video interview of David Hollands, a DJ who creates pulse pumping dance music and mood displays. He talks about his love of Electroplankton and how he has begun to create new and exciting tracks with it. Electroplankton allows the gamer to create rhythms and sounds with the touch screen. Interacting with the touch screen makes little critters move about in different ways or form, creating a unique sound experience. Gladly enough, Hollands himself came out and created a track live on his DS while on the large screens in the conference displayed his screens, showing his moves and interactions. It can?t be said enough that this was very cool and the music was great.

Announced at the conference was the Nintendo DS Wi-Fi connection which will be put into effect later this year. With this, any DS user can go to any internet connection, be it through their computer or wireless a caf?, and chat and play games online with anyone in the world. Titles like Mario Cart and Animal Crossing, which are also being released later this year, will be online capable, as well as several other titles that will be released later on. 25 publishers such as Activision, EA, and THQ are hard at work at the new titles for the DS. Imagine sitting down in your room and racing against your friend in New York or an unknown contender somewhere across the Pacific Ocean or starting up a group for Tony Hawk 2. Nintendo also announced that these features will be available on the floor to try out at E3.

The next big thing at the conference was the announcement of Nintendogs US release due later on this year. Nintendogs is a DS game in which players take care of a dog, feeding it, showing love, and of course, playing with it. It has been wildly popular in Japan, where it sold over 400,000 units in one month alone. Showing off the Nintendogs game was Tina Wood from G4's GTV. It was amusing to watch her tell her pet dog to give paw to the crowd as well as give her a bath. With a Wi-Fi connection, you will be able to have your dog interact with others across the world, as well as receive voice recorded messages from the player.

Next to be shown was the new Nintendo hand-held console, the Game Boy Micro. While not a successor to the Game Boy Advance, it is more of a facelift that furthers the ability to play Nintendo?s hand-held games anywhere, anytime, with space saved. Nearly twice as small as a Game Boy Advance SP and weighing 2.8 ounces, the Game Boy Micro comes with a new and improved display screen that will present a better and brighter image. The Micro also allows its owners to customize its look with removable face plates. Shortly afterwards, a montage of the new games due this year for both the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS were played, with loud cheers for the DS titles Mario and Luigi 2 and Castlevania. No doubt that this be a year with anxious waits by Nintendo handheld gamers.

Finally the moment came. The Nintendo Revolution. Cameras flashed, cheers roared, and I?m pretty sure someone at least fainted. Featured in a slick, shiny case that can come in a variety of colors, the next-gen console by Nintendo boasted a series of improvements over the GameCube and competitors. With a processor by IBM code-named ?Broadway? and a graphics chip set code-named ?Hollywood? one can only guess the awesome power packed into the console. Revolutions is also armed with 512mb of internal flash memory, which can be expanded easily via an SD memory card, wireless controllers (which were not shown), two USB 2.0 ports, Wi-Fi access, and the option to add a self-contained attachment to play DVDs. Unfortunately no games were shown for the Revolution but Nintendo promised we will be seeing big names such as Mario, Zelda, Super Smash Bros., Donkey Kong, and Metroid. Unfortunately, the Revolution will not be released until 2006.

As the show was drawing to a close, George Harrison, Senior Vice President of Nintendo, came out to talk about a few of the 60 new releases for the GameCube. Titles such as Killer 7, the first person shooter with a hip modern art graphical touch, Mario Party 7 with 8 player and microphone capability, DDR Mario Mix, Mario Baseball, Geist, Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness, a darker title of the Pokemon series, and Batman Begins.

Ending the show was a brand new trailer for the new Zelda game for GameCube. The confirmed title Zelda: Twilight Princess, starts off with a dark intro showcasing a castle surrounding by lighting and moody shadows. The graphics were especially intense as it showed Link in various costumes and interacting with the scenery and people. The big surprise came when Link was walking down a dark tunnel and suddenly was overcame with pain as he changed into a wolf, seemingly controlled by a young female looking creature. The trailer continued to show off the awesome lighting and shadow effects of Link in action as well as his enemies. As the trailer ended, attendees were given a special treat by Eiji Aonuma, Main Director at Nintendo. Telling us there was a surprise and humming the infamous Zelda treasure song (you know the sound), Aonuma whipped out a small DS cartridge. The trailer was available on the cartridge with all press kits handed out at the end of the show! I don?t own a DS myself, but after checking it out on Mike Lanier?s DS, the quality is superb.

Overall, a pretty exciting Nintendo event that showcased Nintendo?s staying power as well as console power. It can be safely assumed that it will be a banner year for Nintendo with intense new titles, new consoles, and Wi-Fi upgrades. Nintendo fans will definitely not be disappointed (have they ever?) in the future.