This week, Nintendo held their 2010 Media Summit and made a bunch of announcements, most of which concerned release dates for upcoming games. To the surprise of many gamers, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Sin and Punishment 2, and Metroid: Other M will all be out by the end of June, and the DSi XL hits stores next month. With E3 2010 scheduled for the middle of June, I can’t help but wonder what Nintendo will be announcing and promoting at the year’s biggest gaming convention. I previously assumed that Super Mario Galaxy 2 would be their huge holiday title, but clearly that’s not going to be the case. With their three big announcements from last year’s E3 coming out this summer, that leaves this year’s expo wide open. Nintendo needs to save something big for the rest of the year, but what’s bigger than a brand new Mario platformer? The only thing that compares is a brand new Zelda.

Last year, Nintendo quietly revealed that a Zelda title for the Wii was in development, though I still don’t understand why it wasn’t announced at their E3 press conference. Since then, there have been rumors that the next game in the beloved series might be out in 2010, but very few people believed it. I know I didn’t. However, I also never would have guessed that Super Mario Galaxy 2 would be on store shelves by the time the big N’s E3 10 press conference rolled around, and that definitely changes things. There’s got to be another first-party triple-A title they’re saving for late 2010, right? And it has to be a new Zelda, right? Right?



Well, not necessarily. After all, this is Nintendo, and at this point, they can pretty much do whatever the hell they want and still make bucketloads of cash. Since first-party Nintendo games often continue to sell for months, if not years, after they’re released, the publisher may be trying to capitalize on record-breaking mid-year sales, with the hope of getting another spike during the holiday season. If Nintendo’s actions over the last few years have proven anything, it’s that the company is getting increasingly arrogant and out of touch with what “core gamers” want. They could have a huge holiday surprise that will please everyone, they could have nothing, or they could have a release date for Wii Vitality.

All I know for sure is that after hearing about these release dates, and particularly finding out that Super Mario Galaxy 2 was coming out in May, I became significantly more excited for Nintendo’s E3 2010 presentation. Of course, the last two Nintendo E3 pressers have been disappointing, to say the least, so it’s probably best not to get your hopes up too high. Do you think Nintendo’s big mid-year games indicate that something even bigger is coming later in the year, or is this blind speculation just wishful thinking?