Splatoon 2, Fire Emblem Warriors? Splatoon 2 is NOT a port, despite what people keep trying to say. Fire Emblem Warriors is a collab with Koei Tecmo, but it's still a 'made for Switch' game. And there's no reason we couldn't get some surprises at E3 still. For example, Retro hasn't released a game since February 2014. That means this holiday they'd have had ALL of 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017 to have worked on their current game/s. That's more than enough time to have something ready, technically. 

Haha, well Zelda as a series has a much more notorious delay track-record than Xenoblade. The first Xenoblade doesn't count because that was idiocy on Nintendo of America's part. Xenoblade X was only delayed once from 2014 to 2015 as far as I can recall? Unfortunately we just heard about BotW and XCX WAY too early because Iwata felt desperate to assure Wii U owners that games were coming after its first two launch months, despite knowing that an 8-month drought was just starting for it, lol. Nintendo DOES seem to be trying to announce games closer to launch these days.

But hey, at least we'll get to see a lot more of X2 in just a few days, and likely get confirmation of the delay, hopefully only a small one, and we'll have a much better idea of what the game will be like and should be able to get a sense of how far along it is, so that hopefully we aren't waiting til late 2018 or beyond. 

And yeah, I love XCX, but the original Xenoblade is one of my absolute favorite games ever. The story was so good, and the music was more my preference and absolutely incredible (though XCX does have some great tunes...hello, Sylvalum!), and the characters were much more distinct and significant. Plus, I just prefer the more fantasy feel of X1 over sci-fi, though XCX did have some beautiful, colorful spots. 

I don't think Monolith Soft's 'help' on a game like Breath of the Wild was as significant as people assumed, either. I remember reading an interview that they didn't really help with the technical side much at all because their way of making games is so different from the Zelda team's way.

And again, I think people are assuming X2 is open-world, and I don't think that's been stated or confirmed at all yet? My guess is it'll be more linear like the original, with big open areas to explore that may be connected with or without loading, but maybe not truly 'open' in the sense of being able to go anywhere like you could in BotW or with a Skell in XCX. The scene in the trailer of riding on the lion/cat thing, for example, seemed like there were 'walls' on both sides, creating a narrow passage...something reminiscent of the original...and those walls may not be climbable like BotW or something you can 'fly over' with a skell, y'know? In which case, having some 'barriers' like that makes development faster and easier, cause you don't have nearly as many 'what ifs' to debug and program and worry about. Just my thoughts though, haha. I could be totally wrong because we really haven't seen enough of the game to get a sense of what it will be like. 

Good point! Such a short delay, if true, implies more of a release schedule decision, and that the game has been very close to completion and on track for 2017 since its announcement, despite people assuming otherwise. 

The other matter - people keep comparing this to XCX's long dev time, which doesn't make sense. It's likely being developed on the exact same engine. It's not being made from scratch like that game was.

I don't believe there's a game that was announced for 2017 that wasn't either done or almost done. XC2 included. Especially seeing how packed this summer and fall are becoming. Arms, Splatoon 2, Pokken TDX, Mario x Rabbids, FE Warriors, Mario Odyssey. That's enough for one game a month starting this month until November, and that's what we know of before E3.

I don't think releasing in December did XCX any favors either. If XC2 comes out in Feb, we'll definitely see a ton of it at E3 though, which is nice.

And by we, I mean you. I don't watch E3 anymore.

You can't forget about Splatoon 2, which is already dominating preorders in Japan.