Nintendo E3 Presser Wish List

Watch live video from g4tv_e3 on Justin.tv

Using the embeddable video above you will be able to watch the Nintendo press conference at this year's Electronics Entertainment Expo (from here on referred to as E3). Nintendo has some interesting rumors surrounding it this year, and I hope to be able to watch this press conference with great intrigue.

"Dismal", "disappointing", "lifeless", and "embarrassing" are some terms that could be used to describe Nintendo's press conference last year at E3. Do I really need to remind you? This year hopefully will be a rebound for the world's video game leader. Here are some of my expectations and items on my wish list.

New Zelda - This is a cop out I admit because every year Nintendo fans wish for a new Zelda, or a new Mario game. This one though I feel has legs. It has been a few years since the last Zelda release, and now with a team that can focus solely on the Wii platform rather than both the Wii and Gamecube, perhaps Nintendo can bring out the best of the Wii. And to top it off why not throw in enhanced game play utilizing the seldom used Wii Motion Plus, and then pack it in with the latest Zelda title?

Excitebike - When you think of classic NES titles what comes to mind? Aside from the slate of Mario, Zelda, Mega Man titles you probably won't meet a person that has not played Excitebike. When Super Mario Kart was released Nintendo unveiled the Wii Wheel. I personally would love to use the wheel add on for an Excitebike remake. And I'm talking wild and zany tracks with just motorcycles. Excitebike 64 was good, but I think Excitebike could have some good times on the Wii, especially with online multi player modes, including tournaments!

Hard drive expansion - While the latest version of the Wii menu allows for the enhanced SD memory options it may still be nice to have expandable hard drive options. Seriously, why have USB ports if they're not going to be used?

Virtual Console Expansion - Enough is enough Nintendo. Just go ahead and make your entire software library available, at least for the NES. And how about making more N64 titles available? I can't totally fault Nintendo for the sparse Sega game library, but I can hope that they finally find a way to bring old Game Boy games to the Wii. Right?

Mario Paint - One of my favorite games, if you can really call it that, on the Super NES was Mario Paint. It took MS Paint to the next level by adding simple animation and music editing and putting a fun twist on it all. The Wii could have endless possibilities with an updated version. It doesn't even have to be a retail game though. Mario Paint could easily be created as a channel downloaded form the WiiStore.

Revamped Online Network - Sony and Microsoft have online gaming down to nitty gritty. Nintendo will likely never be as hard core with online gaming networks as those two competitors are but they could benefit from an enhanced system. Giving players a profile linked to their Mii and rankings based on their competitive play in games such as Super Smash Brothers, Mario Kart and numerous other online games would attract third party publishers as well as give existing third party publishers incentive to bring their Wii versions up to par with their Sony and Microsoft versions.

While the rumor mills are starting to turn about the next home console version form Nintendo, I wouldn't expect any mention of it today. Nintendo is just coming off the release of their latest version of the Nintendo DS and while work is underway on the successor of the Wii, if not a more powerful Wii, public news about it in this forum is still a good year or two away.


What I fear will happen...

• Pokeman news
• WiiMusic 2
  
• No new franchise title (Zelda, Mario, Star Fox)

Whatever Nintendo talks about today, it should be interesting. I am curious about the new WiiFit release though. Will my current balance board really be outdated? That would really be a bummer.