:: Samurai Nintendo's Pre-E3 Message
May 2, 2005   6:55pm

Every year, the new E3 seems more important for Nintendo than the past one, and this year is no exception. With 4 consoles - and maybe more if we believe rumours - taking the center stage, Nintendo is going to be really busy during this E3 and the whole show floor might not be enough to display all the games and products they have been working on for the Game Boy Advance, the Nintendo DS, the GameCube, and most importantly, for the possible unveiling of the Revolution, or, at least, the unveiling of its concept. It's hard to know which home console is going to be the focus for Nintendo at this year's event; of course, the competition is definitely going to show off new systems and so should Nintendo. But they also have an opportunity to make the GameCube shines, not only with the new Zelda, which, just in itself might defeat any ace the competition has up its sleeves, but also with new titles.

Given the nature of the Revolution, it's very unclear if it's going to be the sign of the GameCube's ending, and if it is, how soon it's going to take place. If the GameCube was not overlooked by game makers, including Nintendo in some case, it could still have a long life ahead. This year's E3 is going to tell us more about Nintendo's strategy, maybe even to define it, answering key questions such as how much resource Nintendo will choose to allocate to its different systems. In other words, a question which at the moment could be pretty much be formulated as: will Nintendo continue to support the DS more than its home consoles ? Finally, what could be the most important point of all, is the question of third-party editors. If the trend continues like last year, they should have practically no display at all for Nintendo's home consoles. A change in that perspective could have lots of significance for the future, as well as to know which of the four consoles is going to receive the most attention from them.

To talk about all these subjects and to find out about the latest developments day by day, you will just have to do one thing: connect to Samurai Nintendo (and our forum) for our annual E3 coverage !