I don't think I saw much innovation in gameplay for a platformer but of course they won't show much, would they? Only the scissors stuff was shown. However, I loved the hole concept of playing a puppet show. I was like, hmm, that is what's happening in the story but then the curtain would roll or a set piece would move to the sound of the crowd and I was kind of taken away from the idea that I was watching a storyline but watching a show, I liked that effect.
Now, this is a demonstration in how you can add story elements to a platformer game without making it intrusive or relying in cut-scenes, something they don't bother to do with Mario as I argued a while back in a thread. That is how you push things forward.
Nintendo is selling their IPs to Microsoft and this is true because:
http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread.php?id=221391&page=1
