First, the highs! And, yeah, it's Sin & Punishment's Japanese box art (via Tiny Cartridge) up top there. It's classy, in an early-90's manga kind of way. It has our blessing. But Ju-On...oh, Ju-On...

Things were bad enough with the American box art. "Haunted House Simulator"? But little did we know what lurked around the corner...

This is Ju-On's European cover. For real. It's horror, alright, but not the kind the original movie did so well.

A sequel to a Nintendo 64 game that wasn't offered stateside until the Virtual Console release of the original Sin And Punishment getting that much attention is a good thing. Because Sin And Punishment 2 feels right on the Wii. The on-rails shooter makes excellent use of the Wii Remote's pointer to queue up shots. Press B to fire your weapon, A to lock onto targets and charge up more powerful shots. Players familiar with on-rails shooters like Sega's Panzer Dragoon and Rez will likely be familiar with how Sin And Punishment 2's firing system works.

The only downside to the Wii Remote control implementation was for performing melee attacks, which must be done with a quick tap of the B button—a little harder to do, given the way one holds the Wii Remote.

On the Nunchuk side, players can use the C button to jump, double tapping C to hover. Z dodges. It's all pretty straightforward stuff. Fire and forget.

But the beauty of it all comes in with Treasure's multiplier system. That and the fact that Sin And Punishment 2 swarms you with enemies, filling the screen with things to queue up and destroy, dozens of bullets to dodge.

During our hands-on demo, we battled through a few of Sin And Punishment 2's "Commanders," one a massive heli-ship that spawned dozens of heavily armored soldiers. The other was a giant bird dubbed the Cock Keeper, which was supported by scores of seemingly indestructible enemies barrel-rolling towards us. In between these fights, our character hoverboarded through a futuristic city, the screen packed with flying creatures and mounted cannons. The action was intense, but nowhere near as challenging as some of Treasure's other shooters.

And like some of Treasure's other action oriented games, the depth of Sin And Punishment 2 may not fully illustrate itself until played more thoroughly. What we did glean from our E3 hands-on demo was that the game will most definitely appeal to fans of the original, with a clean, understated presentation that's unlike Nintendo's other published offerings.

The game won't be out until Q1 of 2010, so expect plenty of time to get acquainted with the title at upcoming events. For now, screen shots!

Players take the role of Isa or Kachi, two young-ish looking people on the run from pretty much everything. Based on these screens, we don't know much about them besides the fact that they have jet packs. But the press release promises the same run-and-gun action that made the original so popular it just had to hit Virtual Console.

Features include a score multiplier that ups the replay value; the ability to switch between guns and swords for ranged and close quarters combat; and a Wii Remote control scheme that doesn't sound too flail-prone. You point and shoot at targets with the remotes and maneuver with the Nunchuck.

Check it out:

I corned the president of Nintendo of America after spending all day being told that “no, I couldn’t have an interview with anyone from Nintendo about the DSi because nobody knew anything about the DSi.” I thought Reggie might be the man to ask, since he’s the only one who had one at the whole event. And for all I knew, it was a hollow DS light with decals stuck on it to look like camera lenses.

“Wait and see,” says Reggie. He pats the pocket of his coat where the DSi is kept from sight. “When the time is right… you’ll see.”

Rumor has it EA already has seen, getting their hands on the DSi as early as two weeks ago and is already hard at work on ideas for the platform.

And this is what we already know about the DSi:

It’s a “third” Nintendo platform – not a “new” DS. If someone can explain to me how this works, please do so in the comments.

It’s got two cameras, one on the back of the top side and one on the inside, sorta where the mic is.

It’s got onboard software that can edit the pics you take.

You can save pics to SD cards and have a “daily personal diary,” though only God knows who in the US cares about that…

You can put AAC music on your SD card and play it on your DSi.

There’s yet more built-in software you can use to screw with said music, and with your own voice, should you record it.

The screens are bigger.

The whole system is smaller/lighter than the DS.

And that’s pretty much it. They didn’t reinvent the wheel; they’re not trying the challenge the iPhone. And there still isn’t an analog stick. And no word on any sort of sticker printing, but if it did, I’m in.

I poked around the floor at the Summit and talked to a few DS-centric developers, to get their take on the DSi. The Nintendo kind wouldn’t go on the record (jobs have been lost over less), but overall, people seemed intrigued and hopeful that it could produce some pretty good games.

Damn you, Tokyo, and you’re being 12 hours ahead! You rob me of the chance to break good news (hell, any news) to the tired masses.

You also make me suffer with the knowledge that no matter who I ask, or how much I nag, I won’t be getting any answers.

Maybe today will be better, I’m told they will be kicking off the second day of game play by announcing a “new “ WiiWare game.

[Liveblogging the Nintendo Press Conference Liveblog]