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E3 2011 Predictions

Zach's E3 Predictions

by the NWR Staff - June 2, 2011, 11:21 am EDT

Please remind me why I bought a 3DS.

First and foremost from Nintendo's press conference, I would like to be reminded why I spent $250 on their new handheld. You'll recall it had a terrible launch lineup (Pilotwings is D-list material, good as it is). One assumes that, because of the rushed launch to market, the "big" games were left on the development room floor. Reggie needs to tell me what those games are. I need Mario, Mario Kart, Pokemon, maybe a new Smash Bros. Games we already know about, like Ocarina of Time 3D, Star Fox 64 3D, and Metal Gear Solid 3D don't really wow me because I've played those games...years ago. But in addition to delivering top-tier retail games, Nintendo needs to embrace the promise of online functionality. The 3DS needs to have a good, well-organized online structure, and Nintendo ITSELF needs to support 3DSWare with high-quality, first-party titles.

Let me rephrase that: Nintendo needs to get their A-teams on these downloadable platforms. They might not like it, but it needs to happen.

Reggie will talk about the success of the DS/Lite/i/XL over the lifetime of that system. Licensed games will still be coming out for it, so he'll be able to say that developers are still flocking to the system and it's by no means dead. We've already heard about the price drop for the Lite--doubtlessly the most popular model--but I think it's dead in the water now. They're not going to support the DS and 3DS. One will die, and it'll be the first one.

The Wii is similarly dead, but Reggie will, of course, trumpet its lifetime success as the most popular video game console across all generations of all time, blah blah blah. But we all know the system is on its last legs: Wii Play Plus will be the "party title," but the Big Game of Show will be...Zelda, of course.

We'll get a big long trailer, but no gameplay at the press conference. The trailer will show off the final game, including the final graphics, and I'm betting it will look surprisingly different compared to what we saw last year. It will utilize Wii Motion Plus (it might even be bundled with Wii Remote Plus) and it will have an actual, epic storyline. It would be interesting if the "land below the clouds" turned out to be a middle world, and there was a further "underworld" below that. Previous Zelda games have gone with a duel-world mechanic, why not go for a triple-changer? Zelda will get a firm release date and it'll be late this year. It will be the Wii's last hurrah.

But what about Dragon Quest X? Spoiler alert, kids: DQX will be moved on up to Project Cafe, implied as a launch title, but since Cafe won't get a firm launch date, it'll be a nice, ghostly moving target. As for Cafe, I don't really know what to tell you: I have some hopes and dreams, but I'm fairly certain that all of the "confirmed rumors," like a screen in the controller, are going to prove false. It will be something we don't expect, and I really doubt we'll see anything besides game teasers (not trailers). We might not even see the whole unit--Iwata may just whip out a working model of the console itself, say something like "this is the future!" and walk off the stage.

Andy will be saddened to learn that I doubt they'll even breath a word of Pikmin 3 on stage, and whatever Animal Crossing port they show off for the 3DS will make Nathan writhe with anger.

Also, BioShock Infinite. Not necessarily for a Nintendo system, but I just want it.

Talkback

Chozo GhostJune 02, 2011

I predict Anon will be there and will heckle or do other things to disrupt Sony during their conference.

CericJune 02, 2011

Your missing the whole RFN Cast, Karlie, and Kairon. (I throw Pale their but I rarely see him.)

BlackNMild2k1June 02, 2011

Quote from: Chozo

I predict Anon will be there and will heckle or do other things to disrupt Sony during their conference.

http://i.imgur.com/HTpZS.jpg




edit: I should post a link to my E3 Prediction
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/forums/index.php?topic=34193.msg674637#msg674637

StogiJune 02, 2011

Neal - your's was a little too on the money.

TYP - Ahh Pokemon MMORPG. It's never going to happen.

Andy - Pikmin and RE6? That's it. Where's the Retro speculation?

Billy - Where are the predictions? Sounds like a lecture.

Nick - Pragmatic. I do like the idea of a detachable screen.

Pedro - Not crazy, not lame either. Warm. Very warm.

Kevin - I hope you're right.

Jared - Hahahaha. Those are great!

Zach - Party pooper. Though I like your DQX prediction.

Danny - "The Café version will be the definitive version of this title." One can dream.


I got to disagree with those saying SSB 3DS. I think the screen is too small for this kind of game. Otherwise, great feature.

CericJune 02, 2011

Quote from: The

...
I got to disagree with those saying SSB 3DS. I think the screen is too small for this kind of game. Otherwise, great feature.

But every other fighter is on there.  Why I'm waiting to see Clay Fighters, Mortal Kombat, Virtue Fighter, King of Fighters, Disney Base Fighter, Capcom VS , TMNT Tournaments: Legacy, Etc...

StogiJune 02, 2011

Having two players on screen with the point of killing one another vs. 4 players on screen with the point of knocking them out of bounds, is very different. One needs barely any real estate, the other needs a lot.

CericJune 02, 2011

Quote from: The

Having two players on screen with the point of killing one another vs. 4 players on screen with the point of knocking them out of bounds, is very different. One needs barely any real estate, the other needs a lot.

I've got 2 screens :P

BlackNMild2k1June 02, 2011

The screen is too small for the kind of chaos that is happening in SSB for it to be a playable game on 3DS. I have a hard time keeping track of stuff sometimes on a 32", so I can only imagine how hard it would be on a 3.5".... in 3D.

Killer_Man_JaroTom Malina, Associate Editor (Europe)June 02, 2011

Safe predictions to a large extent, although everybody has at least one that I'd label as either wishful thinking or plain crazy.

It was definitely a surprise to see more than one person predict that the Vitality Sensor will be integrated into the new system's controller. No way. I have my doubts as to whether that tech even exists any more - it always seemed like a concept that was very prematurely moved out of R&D.

On a different note, the idea of the Zelda 25th Anniversary product being a 3DS compilation of the first three games sounds quite plausible, in my view. Certainly not expecting anything new. That's one area where I respect Sega; I haven't a clue on how Sonic Generations will turn out, but at least they appear to be making a decent effort to celebrate that particular anniversary. Anyway, as for Skyward Sword, I reckon the press conference showing will be a short pitch and a new trailer focusing on more ways that MotionPlus is used for puzzles. Then later, at the Nintendo roundtable, there might be more of the nitty gritty details, such as the structure and the dynamic of moving between Hyrule and Skyloft.

On another different note, I'm going back and forth on whether the next Pikmin will make its debut here at last. Unless it's been moved to the new console, I feel it'd get minor lip service if any at all, but still be somewhat playable on the show floor. If it's on the new console, it would be a great one to show off their fancy HD rig, in my opinion.

Well, whatever happens, I believe Andy has the best quote of the lot:

Quote:

All in all, I predict that it will be a fun year for Nintendo at E3. Some known quantities, some surprising revelations, and one or two shockers; just the way I like it.

Exactly.

BlackNMild2k1June 02, 2011

Quote from: Killer_Man_Jaro

It was definitely a surprise to see more than one person predict that the Vitality Sensor will be integrated into the new system's controller. No way. I have my doubts as to whether that tech even exists any more - it always seemed like a concept that was very prematurely moved out of R&D.

I remember reading somewhere recently that Vitality Sensor was confirmed to still be in development by Iwata. I think he even said it will be at E3 this year. But I'll have to source that quote again....

I'll look it up later.

CericJune 02, 2011

Quote from: BlackNMild2k1

Quote from: Killer_Man_Jaro

It was definitely a surprise to see more than one person predict that the Vitality Sensor will be integrated into the new system's controller. No way. I have my doubts as to whether that tech even exists any more - it always seemed like a concept that was very prematurely moved out of R&D.

I remember reading somewhere recently that Vitality Sensor was confirmed to still be in development by Iwata. I think he even said it will be at E3 this year. But I'll have to source that quote again....

I'll look it up later.

It was 1 or 2 Iwata Asks ago I'm fairly sure.  Right after the Investor meeting.  He says that it has an ~80% success rate and that wasn't good enough.  Nintendo wants it at 99%.

Edit:
Here it is: http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/en/library/events/110426qa/03.html
Its A8 Second Paragraph.

Quote:

Also, concerning Wii Vitality Sensor, I imagine that  you are worried about that because it hasn't been put on the market even though  a long time has passed since it was initially announced. This is a totally new type of entertainment, and there are large individual differences in the  biological information of humans. For example, if it was acceptable that only  80% of the users thought the result was natural, then we could propose this to  consumers right now. However, we are aiming for a level of quality in which 99%  of consumers feel comfortable, and that is why this project is taking time to  complete. I feel that this project has a lot of interesting potential, and we  would like to continue this project without giving up, but it is difficult to overcome this hurdle, so please understand that now I cannot clearly say when  we will be ready to put this on the market.

PiotyrKevin Buikema, Staff AlumnusJune 02, 2011

Quote from: Killer_Man_Jaro

Safe predictions to a large extent, although everybody has at least one that I'd label as either wishful thinking or plain crazy.

It's at least my opinion that a prediction should be based in at least a little bit of reasonable thought. However, it's also the week before E3, the time is practically designed for wishful thinking! :)

Quote from: BlackNMild2k1

The screen is too small for the kind of chaos that is happening in SSB for it to be a playable game on 3DS. I have a hard time keeping track of stuff sometimes on a 32", so I can only imagine how hard it would be on a 3.5".... in 3D.

Easier? It's a smaller visual area to keep track of. I guess we'll have a better idea when we have a chance to play Cartoon Network Punch Time Explosion more.

CericJune 02, 2011

Quote from: MegaByte

Quote from: BlackNMild2k1

The screen is too small for the kind of chaos that is happening in SSB for it to be a playable game on 3DS. I have a hard time keeping track of stuff sometimes on a 32", so I can only imagine how hard it would be on a 3.5".... in 3D.

Easier? It's a smaller visual area to keep track of. I guess we'll have a better idea when we have a chance to play Cartoon Network Punch Time Explosion more.

That is very true.  I'm actually surprise the Review copies aren't out for that game.

BlackNMild2k1June 02, 2011

Quote from: MegaByte

Quote from: BlackNMild2k1

The screen is too small for the kind of chaos that is happening in SSB for it to be a playable game on 3DS. I have a hard time keeping track of Istuff sometimes on a 32", so I can only imagine how hard it would be on a 3.5".... in 3D.

Easier? It's a smaller visual area to keep track of. I guess we'll have a better idea when we have a chance to play Cartoon Network Punch Time Explosion more.

Smaller screen would mean even smaller characters if everything about the game was the same just scaled down to fit on the 3DS.

Caution: I may have had some sugar before writing this, and these predictions are for entertainment only and should not be taken seriously.

DS original: Layton and Kirby are fall, Pokemon Gray is getting fast-tracked for a March 2012 release and that will be the DS's last hurrah.

Wii: The theme is epic adventure after Kirby's reveal. Zelda, Xenoblade, Last Story and Pandora's Tower all come out by next E3 (the first 2 by the end of the year, Last Story in January and Pandora's Tower in March), and a mention of DQX which is still coming to the Wii. WiiPlay Motion gets a 1 minute video and that's it. In my dreams, the Dream Team reunited one more time to bring us Chrono Resurrection for a early 2012 release (and a director's cut of Chrono Cross comes out on Wii, killing every useless character in the process. You'll have 10 to finish the game with.) Also, Mother's Day gets moved to the Fourth of July this year with a stunning WiiWare release that someone in the Treehouse has been working on after hours for about the last 2 years.

3DS: The Christmas headliners are Mario 3DS/Mario Kart 3DS. e-shop gets a vague mention and the Oracle Zeldas, complete with automatic save detection. No F-Zero or Smash, those get saved for...

Super Wii (aka Cafe): Cafe is announced as the name... of Nintendo's new online service, which will launch day and date with the new Super Wii. There's too much brand equity in the Wii name to toss it away, which is why one of the tech demos is "Wii Sports Cruise" (working title). There is a screen on the controller, it's not 6 inches but is extremely high-res, drawing iPhone comparisons. No details on storage or even disc format, but some PR flack will leak something about 30GB disc capacity sending the Internet into a tizzy of HD-DVD rumors. The wall of logos will include Dead Space, CODBlops 2, Final Fantasy - but it's explicitly NOT Crystal Chronicles - and the Guillermo Del Toro/THQ joint production. Yves Guillemot of UbiSoft will run out on stage to proclaim how excited they are to bring their quality of Wii/DS production to Cafe - at which point he gets pistol-whipped by Reggie, who brings out Gabe Newell to announce that the back end of the online service is Steam. The first product of this partnership? Half Life 3, day and date on PC/Cafe.

CericJune 02, 2011

I'm sorry Half-Life isn't that great.  Its good but I wouldn't really be excited about Half Life 3.  Now a Compilation of Portal 1 and 2 with pointer controls, steam integration that I could get excited about or Team Fortress.

Kytim89June 02, 2011

Here are my predictions for E3 2011:

Wii:

Skyward Sword is this year's holiday retail title due out after balck friday. Nintendo announces it will be the last major holiday title for the current Wii system. To celebrate Zelda's 25th anniversary, Nintendo announces a Skyward Sword themed Wii bundled with the game.

Xenoblade, Last Story, Pandora's Tower and Dragon Quest X are announced for north America. Xenoblade wil get a late 2011 release and the other titles will be released through 2012.

Fling Smash 2 will be announced for holiday 2011.

Final Fantasy 6 announced for Virtual Console on the very day of Nintendo's conference.

Wii Winter Sports is announced for the Wii and is a holiday 2011 title.

DS and 3DS:

A new handheld version Super Smash Brothers is announced and is being developed by both Hal Labs and Game Arts. The game wil have a formula similar to cross between Melee and Rumble and will be called "SSB Rumble."

Player's Choice for DS titles is announced to coincide with those of the Wii.

Super Mario 3DS will be revealed as a hybrid of both  SMB 3 and Galaxy.

Mario Kart 3DS and Animal Crossing are announced as holiday 2011 title.

GBA Virtual Handheld is announced for the 3DS. Will include Metroid Fusion and Minsih Cap.

3DS price drop to $200 (we can only hope).

Super Wii:

Dreamcast and Gamecube announced for Virtual Console with modified Saturn games.

Price and release date not revealed in a similar manner to the 3DS the previous year.

The system will be about the same size as a modern laptop with aesthics similar to the 3DS in terms of shape and form factor.

A console version of Super Smash Brothers is announced for the Super Wii. It will be developed by a western company and will have some kind of connectivity with the 3DS title.

Online support equivalent to Xbox Live.

Kytim89June 02, 2011

Valve is not only colaborating with Nintendo on bringing Steam to the Super Wii, but Valve has rebuilt the Wii Shop Channel into a Steam-like service for betting management.

leahsdadJune 02, 2011

Quote:

I'm sorry Half-Life isn't that great.  Its good but I wouldn't really be excited about Half Life 3.

Amen, I thought I was the only nay-sayer.  I played Half-Life, both expansions, Half-Life 2, and both of its expansions, and I agree, they are not as great as people say.  I think the first Half-Life was really revolutionary at the time with they way it told its story sans cutscenes (a'la Modern Warfare and Bioshock), but the gameplay was only good when you were fighting soldiers, which was like 1/4 of the game, if that, and that it actually had bosses (2 of them). 


And then we had a whole lot of good FPS's after that, and Metroid Prime, and so when Half-Life 2 came out, it was pretty darn underwhelming, if not boring.  The only part of that game I liked was the last level, where you get to play with the Gravity Gun.  That last expansion pack (Episode 2) was actually pretty good, though.  Not fantastic, just pretty good. Really liked that last level fight against the walkers.

CericJune 02, 2011

Quote from: leahsdad

Quote:

I'm sorry Half-Life isn't that great.  Its good but I wouldn't really be excited about Half Life 3.

Amen, I thought I was the only nay-sayer.  I played Half-Life, both expansions, Half-Life 2, and both of its expansions, and I agree, they are not as great as people say.  I think the first Half-Life was really revolutionary at the time with they way it told its story sans cutscenes (a'la Modern Warfare and Bioshock), but the gameplay was only good when you were fighting soldiers, which was like 1/4 of the game, if that, and that it actually had bosses (2 of them). 


And then we had a whole lot of good FPS's after that, and Metroid Prime, and so when Half-Life 2 came out, it was pretty darn underwhelming, if not boring.  The only part of that game I liked was the last level, where you get to play with the Gravity Gun.  That last expansion pack (Episode 2) was actually pretty good, though.  Not fantastic, just pretty good. Really liked that last level fight against the walkers.

I thought the game hit its low point when you got the Gravity gun.  It was like God Mode pretty much not to long after that.  Red Faction suffered the same.  Been training intensely for the end and the end itself is a joke.  HL2 would have been a much better game if it would have cut the Vehicle sequences to a quarter of what they are in that game.  Valve can't do Vehicles Period.

Quote from: Ceric

Your missing the whole RFN Cast, Karlie, and Kairon. (I throw Pale their but I rarely see him.)

Heckle them :). People either didn't submit predictions or didn't have the time to contribute. We kind of had to post the feature before E3 happened.

UltraClaytonJune 02, 2011

I know the perfect F-Zero title for them to make! An F-Zero X remake would be an excellent addition to their N64 3DS remake collection. (sarcasm) I certainly hope they don't. Another N64 remake would be disappointing. Hopefully it will be a brand new title, with 12 player online races.

I would further predict that Nintendo is going to pull a lot more 3D-enhanced ports of old N64 games out of their ass. Super Mario 64 3DS? It's a given.

CericJune 02, 2011

Quote from: Halbred

I would further predict that Nintendo is going to pull a lot more 3D-enhanced ports of old N64 games out of their ass. Super Mario 64 3DS? It's a given.

Go Go Quest 64 3D.  Cinnamon Bun of Power 3D.

Kytim89June 02, 2011

Someone from Rockstar will walk out onto the stage during Nintendo's conference and wroll up their sleeve to reveal the GTA logo with the Nintendo logo underneath. This would solidify the idea that Nintendo is working closely with third parties to get their A titles on their next system.

Chozo GhostJune 02, 2011

So whose names are Reggie going to take this year, and whose asses are he going to kick?

Quote from: Ceric

Your missing the whole RFN Cast, Karlie, and Kairon. (I throw Pale their but I rarely see him.)

Ahem.

I would have contributed, but I couldn't come up with anything that hadn't already been said.

I'm going to add something else as a Cafe prediction. The medium will be an HD-DVD/Laserdisc combo disc (think the size of a laserdisc with the compression technologies of today, ZOMG!). Epic win.

CericJune 03, 2011

Quote from: NWR_insanolord

Quote from: Ceric

Your missing the whole RFN Cast, Karlie, and Kairon. (I throw Pale their but I rarely see him.)

Ahem.
I would have contributed, but I couldn't come up with anything that hadn't already been said.

I just assumed you were lazy :P  Anyways your on the boards enough I'm sure I can dig it up.

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