Nintendo Media Summit: Mario Galaxy extends the olive branch to traditional gamers

Earlier this morning, Nintendo held its semi-annual Media Summit for gaming journalists around the country.  Today’s press conference was the second in a coordinated world tour of gaming gallivanting, beginning in Australia yesterday and ending in Europe tomorrow afternoon.

Highlights from today’s leg of the tour included a peek at a few heavily anticipated works-in-progress, such as Nintendo’s own Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Capcom’s Monster Hunter Tri.

However, the bulk of the morning was dedicated to Nintendo’s release strategy for the first half of the year.  The prognosis?  If you’re an enthusiast Wii owner, 2010 is shaping up to be the best year since 2007 for the console:

- Monster Hunter Tri (April 20)

- Super Mario Galaxy 2 (May 23)

- Sin and Punishment: Star Successor (June 2)

- Metroid: Other M (June 27)

This adds up to superfecta on par with 2007/08’s Prime-Galaxy-Brawl-Kart combo for the enthusiast player – that same vocal lot who bemoan each move Nintendo makes as being intentionally neglectful of their finer tastes.

In fact, today’s entire program could be seen as a gesture of good will, tailored specifically to this type of player.  For today was very much an under-the-radar affair, a calculated move by the company to specifically grab the attention of gaming journalists, while avoiding the traditional press – which tend to have a greater presence at industry showpieces such as E3.

Because when E3 comes around and the media is indeed watching, the focus will shift to the company’s Vitality Sensor – a mysterious device Nintendo hopes will make a Wii Fit-sized impact on the expanded market.  It’s an effort by the company to recognize the two distinct halves of a market in transition – with the expanded audience on one end and the today’s traditional player on the other.

For now though, it’s the enthusiast’s moment to shine in the world of Nintendo.  Will today manage to satiate, or will the general consensus return once again to scornful Nintendo come E3 2010?  Perhaps tellingly, the release dates for all of today’s aforementioned heavy-hitters seem to share one thing in common -

They’re all due out right around E3.

Images Courtesy of IGN and Lochal Archade