Pre-E3 2009 Nintendo - Expectations vs. Reality

This is part one of my four part series leading up to the Electronics Entertainment Expo, aka E3.  I'll be covering the big three consoles; Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony and of course the PC as well.  We are going to take a look at potential announcements, games that may be shown off and expectations when it comes to the four platforms. 

Nintendo had a rough E3 last year.  Their conference was lame at best.  I easily rated it the worst out of the big three in my E3 wrap up with very little interesting besides MotionPlus (which still isn't out by the way).  You can't come to E3 hyping Wii Music and Wii Sports Resort, that just doesn't cut it.  If they didn't learn anything from last year they are bound to disappoint us again.

Since last years show announcements have rolled in from Nintendo trying to appease the hardcore gamers.  They have promised that a new Zelda and Mario is in the works but no time table has been announced.  The last Zelda game will be three years out this fall making it very possible that we see a followup to Twilight Princess.  If Nintendo wants to woo the fans they need a big game to show and this would make perfect sense.  Zelda using the MotionPlus accessory would probably be the first thing that would get me to buy it.

Pikmin 3 has been confirmed as "in development" so it may very be shown off during their keynote.  While not particularly my thing quite a few people love the series. 

I am hoping for the often rumored Kid Icarus game that has been kicked around for some time.  The rumors started well before E3 of last year however and we still haven't seen any concrete proof no matter what IGN podcasts say. 

You can expect Nintendo to plug the hell out of not only MotionPlus but the Balance Board as well.  They have integrated Balance Board controls into Punch-Out according to the manual via Kotaku.  As good as their peripheral sales are they should be able to leverage these features into new games.  

Reports from around the web insist that Retro Studios (aka Metroid Prime) are working on a new title.  A new Metroid Prime game is a possibility as few titles besides Metroid, Zelda and Mario "wooo" the hardcore crowd.

Third-party wise hopefully we will see an improved Red Steel 2.  The original had a lot of potential but the addition of MotionPlus could really make it a solid title.  The Conduit, shown a while back, is due out in June and will probably be at the show in some form or another.

On the DSi front a new Zelda is on the way titled "Spirit Tracks" is expected later this year and I fully expect it to be shown off and hyped.  A double helping of Zelda at E3 would go a long way to appeasing the deluded hardcore Wii fan base.

I know it is far fetched that we will ever see the GoldenEye 64 port to WiiWare but we can cross our fingers.  I wouldn't mind some more classic titles make a return however.  A true Castlevania game instead of that stupid ass Judgment fighting game would be awesome.  The whip and Wiimote seem like first cousins.  And would it really hurt to get the Star Fox franchise going again?

Overall it seems Nintendo is trying to keep things low key so far.  After last year's disappointing showing they don't want to over hype their show and not deliver.  Plus being leader of the pack right now means they don't have to go out of their way to really blow people away. 

Sales of the Wii are cooling off but they are the top dog.  I don't expect a price cut either as the console is selling so well.   Just toss a couple core titles at us please.  Right now the general sentiment of a lot of Wii owners as that their console spends more time collecting dust than waggling; especially if you happen to own a 360, PS3 or PC. 

Out of all my expectations and rumors I figure we can count on at least one huge game announcement from Nintendo, hopefully Zelda/Metroid.  Other than that I am not getting my hopes up.  Another year of shovelware and a lack of first-party key franchises is going to have hardcore fans really pulling away from the system.  The game attach rate for the system is already pretty shoddy and Nintendo needs something they can bank on almost everyone buying.

Stay tuned for the rest of the E3 preview articles and of course coverage when the event begins.