NIDZUMI+

Where to start? We’ve got Microsoft and their usual focus on the year’s line-up of games and then there is Sony. Who will most probably announce new hardware. What should we expect from Nintendo though? That’s the million dollar question at the last few E3s actually. Will we get the casual, fun and lighthearted Nintendo of late or will we start to see signs of the hardcore catering Nintendo from back in the day?

For the casual fan, Wii Fit Plus. Probably not new hardware but an awkward sounding combination of the original Wii Fit along with EA Active. Think of Wii Fit that actually keeps you fit. Although on the other hand the ‘Plus’ in the name might refer to MotionPlus but who knows? There is a chance that we’ll see the illusive green and red variations of the Wii along with controls and more coloured accessories to appeal to it’s casual market along with some juicy live demos of new MotionPlus games.

While on the hardcore side a new Mario or Zelda should get teased but nothing past that. I would pick Zelda because the last one on Wii was a redesigned port from the Gamecube. Their development cycle should be coming back around to an announcement. Then again, they announced a new Zelda for the DS a few months back and they wouldn’t want to bombard you with two Zelda’s at the same time. Maybe Mario would make more sense.

I can’t see much from the Wii side of things this year. They’ll should announce info on the above and line up their one or two important games for Christmas this year. That doesn’t include Kid Icarus because it’s probably not happening, so put that one to bed… please.

Finally with the release of the DSi, we could get a load of new gimmicky games and downloadable titles to keep the interest while it’s hot. Zelda DS should be on show along with a couple of minor bombs dropped on a few unannounced games. Last year we got Chinatown Wars, so I would expect something of the same magnitude again.

Nintendo’s events are always hard to predict as they do a great job of keeping everything under wraps. While this year’s conference is expected to have enough high points for a Nintendo event, it probably won’t have enough to compete with Sony or Microsoft. But when you are making money hand over fist, who needs to win a quote unquote battle of the press conferences?

The only thing you can expect is a load of awkward executives trying to look like they are having fun on Nintendo branded products. Being honest though that’s half the reason why we watch…