Crystal Ballin': E3 Predictions Part 3 - Nintendo

So less than a week away and all of us gamers will be drooling over new trailers, screenshots, and news that is to surely ooze out from E3.

Probably the biggest draw of the the show is the conferences held by the major platform holders, and this year definitely will be an interesting one for the Big Three.

Microsoft has to make up ground with core title releases and the Kinect, Sony has to regain lost ground not only with consumers but publishers, and Nintendo is easily poised to steal the show with their new console reveal.

What else might happen though? What news and huge surprises will be announced? That's where I come in. There is some for sure answers and some completely out there guesses going on here but remember, this is my take on what I believe will happen at E3.

And in case you missed our previous E3 predictions here is Part 1 focusing on Microsoft and Part 2 dealing with Sony.

Here is the conference schedule and the order in which I will do these posts:

Microsoft: June 6 12PM EST

Sony: June 6 8PM EST

Nintendo: June 7 12PM EST

And as you probably guessed, this last one will all be Nintendo. Last years E3 conference was easily the best of the three. With the announcement of the 3DS, Kirby, Metroid, and Donkey Kong, Nintendo fans had a lot to be happy about. 

Now though, games for the DS and Wii are pretty much non-existent and the 3DS definitely not meeting expectations, both in sales and consumer standards, Nintendo has a lot to of ground to make up. Will their new console pull them from this slump that plagued them through the the Gamecube's lifecycle? Or are Nintendo fans subject to a repeat of the Wii?

Hit the jump to see our predictions!

Let's start off with the Wii and the DS.

All your hear about the DS is maybe some sales figures and total units sold. They'll talk about the new red cases for the Mario games.

Exciting right? ......no? Yeah I know......

Hopefully they'll show a few games left to come out that haven't been brought over from Japan yet like the fourth Professor Layton game and the second Miles Edgeworth game.

It's rather puzzling that these haven't made it over to us yet.
I have an objection to that.

On the 3DS side of things, Nintendo has to show off some third party support for the system and there killer first party line-up. The biggest thing they need to do is give a firm release date on those games and not some "release window" junk they gave us with the 3DS launch and the release of the e-shop.

M.I.A until the day BEFORE Nintendo's E3 conference.

Expect videos and/or demos of the following games with some kind of release "window":

• Paper Mario 3DS
• Animal Crossing 3DS
• Mario Kart 3DS
• Kid Icarus: Uprising
• Star Fox 64 3D
• Professor Layton and the Mask of Miracle

The game definitely getting a lot of show for the 3DS will of course be the new Super Mario game announced at GDC.

C'mon Tanooki suit!!!

It's supposed to be a mix of Mario 64 and Super Mario Galaxy and I know that Nintendo will release it by the end of the year. Because everyone knows a Nintendo system without a proper Mario game sucks. Don't believe me? You do remember how it was when the Gamecube launched and we had no Mario game right?

Luigi still remembers....

Enough from Nintendo. We know that they have the titles to support their system, but we all know that they can't do it by themselves, look at what happened to the Wii and Gamecube. Third parties like EA, Ubisoft, Activision and Konami better have an equally big presence or else the 3DS will be doomed.

I know Konami has already given a rough release date for Metal Gear Solid Snake Eater 3D (November) so expect that to be showcased in earnest and Ubisoft should pull out Assassin's Creed: Lost Legacy so we can make sure it wasn't cancelled. Though Capcom could steal everyone's thunder with its two Resident Evil 3DS games: The Mercenaries 3D and Revelations.

Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D is based off of the mini-game featured in Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil 5 and features four player co-op. It scheduled to hit the 28th of this month and will include a demo of Revelations as well. Resident Evil: Revelations is more like your traditional survival horror Resident Evil and takes place between the events of Resident Evil 4 and 5. So all Capcom needs to do is show gameplay of both, remind people of the demo, and then just walk off stage. Not even Nintendo would be able to show them up.

Unless Nintendo pulls out Super Smash Bros. 3DS.

OMGWTFBBQ WANT!!!!

Now this is not confirmed in any way shape or form but you have to agree with me, you'd buy a 3DS so you could Smash on the go. Imagine the possibilities! Have Brawl's roster, Melee's gameplay, single and multi cart play, trade trophies and custom stages through spot and street pass, local battles and wi-fi battles and you have a game that would make 3DS systems fly off of the shelves and keep Nintendo in the spotlight. Not even Capcom would be able to stand up to that.

Hence why they both should go after these other games by third partie get shown (a montage will suffice):

• Cave Story 3D
• Crush 3D
• Bit.Trip Saga
• Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance
• Pac-Man and Galaga Dimensions
• Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked
• Professor Layton VS Phoenix Wright

See? They have the third party support, they just need to showcase it.

Speaking of third party support, let's talk about the Wii shall we? I'll promise it'll be quick and painless.

My personal Limited Edition 25th Anniversary Mario Red Wii.
Click here if you don't get the reference.

Nintendo will talk about the amazing amount of consoles they sold during its lifecycle and how it will just continue with the recent price drop and bundle with Mario Kart. Here's a line I can already here Reggie Fils-Aime, the President of Nintendo of America using:

"And with our newly introduced line of 'Nintendo Selects' titles and games like Wii Play: Motion, Rhythm Heaven, and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword coming out, there is still plenty of life left in the Wii."

A Zelda game coming at the end of a consoles lifecycle? This seems oddly familiar....

And for heaven's sake they better give an actual release date for Zelda on the Wii. If it doesn't come out by the Holiday time this year, it can only mean one thing: that it might come out on Nintendo's new console, Codename: Project Cafe.

Could it be Nintendo's new console?!

Yes, Project Cafe. Nintendo themselves have said that they will unveil the system and have it playable at E3 so that's not really a prediction. What the system is capable of and what games it will have are still up in the air so let's take a stab at that.

The system is rumored to be capable of:

• 1080p HD output
• Backwards compatibility with Wii and Gamecube
• 8 GB worth of internal memory
• 25 GB discs based on Blu Ray tech. This possibly means DVD, CD, and Blu-ray playback.
• Bluetooth
• Wi-Fi
• Touch capable HD screen in the controller which is more traditional in design, a.k.a. not like a Wii remote and more like a Gamecube controller.
• The system is to rival Xbox 360 and PS3. How? To get technical and quote IGN's Scott Lowe, "...the system will be based on a revamped version of AMD's R700 GPU architecture, not AMD's Fusion technology as previously believed, which will, as previously reported, out perform the PlayStation 3's NVIDIA 7800GTX-based processor. Like the Xbox 360, the system's CPU will be a custom-built triple-core IBM PowerPC chipset, but the clocking speeds will be faster."

Color me intrigued. That controller part is especially interesting. It almost sounds like it wouldn't be possible but if you look at Nintendo's history with the Gamecube and the Game Boy Advance you know it is something that they have been thinking of for a while. Then it doesn't seem as far fetched for them to put it into their new system.

With a screen on the controller, the system could function similar to the DS with the top screen being the TV and the touch screen being the controller. But why not take it a step further? You could have literal splitscreen multiplayer with each controller having their own screen. How about watching something on Netflix and then taking the controller into another room and still watch it . Or you could do it with the games also where you can play from the controller and not the TV. Man I can't wait to see what developers do with it!

The only part I am worried about is the online. Microsoft and Sony have proven that you can't half-ass it and that if done correctly, will keep people coming back and using your system more often. They have to have a robust online network that rivals Xbox Live and Playstation Network in accessibility and content. Cross game chat, no friend codes, a storefront like the PS Store and XBL Marketplace, messaging, friends lists, some kind of trophy system, Netflix, Hulu, and most importantly free online play. If they can get it to work as smoothly as Xbox Live or PSN, then maybe I will be able to play a non-laggy match in Smash Bros.

The Wii's 2nd greatest flaw.

I don't know what Nintendo's new online shop for the Cafe will be like but it has to keep everything it introduced with the Wii like the Wii Shop Channel and Virtual Console, while also bringing something new to the table. They should also aim to keep it backwards compatible with previously downloaded content from your Wii lest they piss off a whole slew of Nintendo fans. They encountered this problem with the Wii when people realized that their downloadable content was tied to their system and not their account. This means if you had to get a new Wii for whatever reason you had to repurchase all of your content again. Sometimes Nintendo was nice enough to credit the games to you but that didn't happen often. They have plenty of time before Project Cafe launches so they can work it out by then.

As for release date, they have said it won't be fiscal year 2012 which means no earlier than May of 2012. This allows both Nintendo and third party support plenty of time to develop and port over some games for the consoles launch which they won't announce till next years E3. A fall release would be best, around September or October. That way they could build up the hype for the holiday season.

That just leaves the games. Like I said, don't rule out the possibility of them porting over Skyward Sword and making it a launch title. Of course expect stuff like Assassin's Creed, Call of Duty, and Grand Theft Auto to make an appearance on the console and not in a "water-downed" version either. And considering that it will release in the fall of 2012, you can expect the newest versions of Assassin's Creed and Call of Duty, not this years Assassin's Creed: Revelations or Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 though don't rule out  the possibility of compilations of both games to hit so all those Nintendo Wii owners can see what the hubbub is about.

For the time being though, Nintendo has to show off what they have in store for us. To start off, how about a new Pikmin game and a new F-Zero game. We are long overdue for a new Pikmin game and F-Zero would have to be used to show off the new systems capabilities. Just remember all the fun you had with F-Zero GX on the Gamecube, make it look better than Wipeout HD, and you got a Grade A launch title on your hands. 

They are racing at over 2000 km/hr. Imagine the crashes!!!

Another exclusive game Nintendo should look into is Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom. I picked this up a few months before Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 came out and you could tell that they took a lot from TvC and put it into MvC 3. The game was amazing. Colorful artwork, a simple and robust fighting system, outstanding lineup, this was Capcom testing the waters for MvC 3 except that they created a franchise that stood up just as well against Super Smash, Street Fighter, and Marvel Vs Capcom.  Check out the video from the fighting game championships, EVO, if you don't believe me.

Hmm, now that Retro Studios is done with Donkey Kong Returns, how about Nintendo put them to work on something for Project Cafe? The easy option would be to go with another Metroid Prime game or Donkey Kong game but that would be too easy. I say Nintendo should give Retro Studios the opportunity to create and develop a new franchise for them. All of their games have been stellar and reviewed well. Out of the five games they have worked on, Donkey Kong Returns has the lowest metascore with an 87, everything else is above 90. Check it out.

Nintendo's secret weapon.

So what better studio to make a brand new franchise? Retro could easily make the Cafe's new killer app. Hell, Nintendo could just give them another of their franchises and let them strike gold with that too. I know Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem has been lying dormant for a while and that Nintendo is looking to recapture the "hardcore" market with Cafe. Eternal Darkness would show that Nintendo isn't kidding around.

Nintendo's biggest hurdle though will be itself though. It captured a whole lot of new players with the Wii and is aiming to recapture the hardcore crowd. This means trying to pander to both sides of the spectrum. So while we will still get our new Marios, Zeldas, and Metroids expect stuff like Wii Sports and Just Dance to come out as well.

And upgrade the Mii's somehow or introduce a new avatar system.
It was OK for the Wii but we are moving forward aren't we? 

So that's all I got ladies and gentlemen. Expectations this year are riding high for Nintendo with the 3DS and Project Cafe. Hopefully they don't let us down.

 I for one hope that they exceed them and announce things that no one would have even thought of. I loved my Gamecube and my hope for the Wii was riding high until I saw that Nintendo had almost forgotten about those of us who have supported them since the NES. I just hope Project Cafe doesn't end up like the Wii did.

Another artists rendition of Project Cafe.

Am I wrong? Got predictions of your own? Leave them in the comments!