Going into E3 2012, the company with the most pressure to wow their audience has to be Nintendo. The Wii and Nintendo DS are slowly dying a natural death, while Nintendo 3DS continues to wow Nintendo fans with big games such as Mario Kart 7 and Kid Icarus: Uprising. Things look rough for the 3DS as devices such as PlayStation Vita and iPad have taken away a decent share of the portable gaming market from Nintendo. The Wii U is coming out at a time inconvenient to gamers who are looking for that next generation console. I have reason to believe that the Wii U is only a little more powerful than Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, which will only help it for so long. Nintendo needs quality software for both Wii U and Nintendo 3DS to surprise people this year. I have reason to believe that in the end, Nintendo will succeed big time. It’s Wii U or bust. I’ll start off by listing Nintendo’s biggest games coming into the show, followed by my predictions.
Wii:
- Kirby’s 20th Anniversary Collection
Nintendo DS:
- Pokemon Conquest
- Pokemon Black Version 2
- Pokemon White Version 2
Nintendo 3DS:
- Luigi’s Mansion 2
- Animal Crossing
- Fire Emblem
- Paper Mario
- New Super Mario Bros. 2
Wii U:
- Pikmin 3
Extremely Likely:
- Nintendo will show off more of Luigi’s Mansion 2 and give a release window
- Fire Emblem for Nintendo 3DS will arrive stateside with a release date revealed
- First real details on Animal Crossing 3DS to be revealed, alongside confirming it will arrive worldwide in late 2012
- First details on Paper Mario 3DS to be announced along with confirming that it’s coming at the end of this year
- Nintendo will announce plans to sell retail games on the eShop. First game on Nintendo 3DS to have a simultaneous retail and digital release will be New Super Mario Bros. 2
- The first original The Legend of Zelda game for Nintendo 3DS will be revealed, won’t release until 2013
- At least 2-3 new Nintendo 3DS games will be revealed, possibly one being Donkey Kong
- The Wii U will be shown in its final form, including the new controller design
- Nintendo will reveal most of their first party launch lineup, including Pikmin 3
- New Super Mario game for Wii U will be announced, won’t arrive until 2013 or 2014
- A small teaser for Retro Studios’ new Wii U title will be shown
- At least two new hardcore IPs from Nintendo will debut for Wii U
- Extreme focus on 3rd party Wii U titles for hardcore gamers
- Nintendo will reveal their new online service, Nintendo Network, for both Nintendo 3DS and Wii U
Somewhat Likely:
- In honor of Kirby’s 20th anniversary, a new Kirby game will be announced for Nintendo 3DS and release before the end of the year
- Nintendo will publish demos of at least 2 big 3DS games on the eShop after their press conference
Extremely Unlikely:
- News concerning anything Pokemon
- Update on Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and Nintendo 3DS
- Price drop on Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo DS, and Wii
- Nintendo 3DS redesign
- Wii U price and release date being revealed
Are my predictions correct? Find out for yourself by watching Nintendo’s E3 2012 press conference on June 5 at 9:00 am PST. You can watch the press conference on Nintendo’s E3 website and on Spike TV and MTV 2. If you cannot watch the press conference, keep up with posts on the site and follow @LevelSave and @AdamShear for live up to the minute updates.
the playstation vita taking away a decent share of the 3ds sales? what a joke… get your facts straight. Even though i have nothing against the vita everybody knows that its sales chart at the moment is below disappointing. There was a point where even the psp sales outbeaten the vita.
Other noteble mentions could include:
1. Nintendo’s online interface: rumoured to have steam and origin integration
2. Wii’s virtual console store will be available day 1
3. high profile 3rd party games: GTA V, blops 2 & Resident Evil 6
4. I think super mario bros. Mii will be packaged just like Wii Sports was with the Wii
If I see more announcements like Rayman: Legends I’ll be happy. I would love to see Nintendo come back with some amazing things this year.
“I have reason to believe that the Wii U is only a little more powerful than Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, which will only help it for so long.”
I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. Everyone is saying the same thing, but why does the WiiU have to be more powerful than the Xbox 360 or Playstation 3 to succeed?
Nintendo has always been one step behind everyone else in terms of graphics and overall hardware capabilities and yet they have always sold the most consoles out of everyone. Look at the Wii for example, it has sold 30% more units than both the 360 and PS3 and it is inferior in every way regarding the hardware.
Even if the WiiU was just a Wii with a redesigned interface and a new touch screen controller, it is going to sell like hotcakes. Nintendo has already proven on multiple occasions that hardware specifications mean nothing.
They sold more units and posted a billion dollar loss.
McDonald’s might be successful, but it’s not my first choice for a hamburger.
It was a half a billion dollar loss, and the loss was due to the unsuccessful launch of the 3DS. The Wii has been extremely profitable for Nintendo.
Well, although I partially agree with you, I feel the need for a correction. Technically, Nintendo’s graphical power fell with the Wii. The NES,SNES,N64 and GC were all the most powerful or at least in between. The past generation for example, featured the Xbox as the most powerful console, the GC in second place, and the PS2, winner of the past generation by the way, came in third. The thing about graphical power right now is that, although the leap from last generation to the current one was big, There is no sign that the same will happen again, and please let me explain. The economy is not in any shape to push graphical power in the console industry once more as before, and although companies like EPIC are trying to, I think they will somewhat fail to do so. EPIC were the ones that pushed MS to have the xbox 360 with more RAM so they could push boundaries against the PS3, otherwise, the graphical competition between both would’ve been a one sided affair. With higher graphical capacities, the costs of production also go up, and Neither Nintendo nor any other company wants or are capable of being in a situation were they would be forced to limit their production and raise the prices of their games. Also, Gearbox recently talked about how the Wii U would featured the best looking version of Aliens, so anyone that argues that Nintendo’s console won’t bring up more power than the this generation must be kidding/trolling. Another important thing to consider, is the fact that graphics, due to the economy and the technological halt we’re coming to in certain areas, are not going to be of much importance next generation, and let me also explain. Did you see the Zelda Wii U demo? Amazing right? Did you see the recently revealed screenshots of Unreal Engine 4? Amazing too right? Which looks better? EPIC is pushing for this engine, but really, it is clearly not as big of a jump like the other jumps were. If Nintendo can push the graphics of that demo and push great online and third party support, I think they have nothing to worry about, even if MS and Sony try to take the cake with graphics.
“I have reason to believe that the Wii U is only a little more powerful than Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3” May I ask what your reason is? Just today from Gearbox said the Wii U is a
“powerful, powerful machine that can do a lot of cool new things”
“I’ll start off by listing Nintendo’s biggest games coming into the show, followed by my predictions”
The predictions start after the games that are already announced.