I'm going to go against the trend, and predict that they actually reveal AC U prior to E3. Animal Crossing on consoles hasn't generally done anywhere near the handheld numbers, and with good reason - the regular gameplay is something that works well for play when you're commuting, or in other similar circumstances. Being able to pull it out and play at any time gives a lot more freedom in a game that runs on a real-time clock.
On the other hand, it's the kind of game that appeals well to the Nintendo core. That makes it a great pre-E3 reveal, because it can act as a teaser for E3, while also preventing too large a vacuum of information. Plus, it's a franchise that does strongest in Japan, but only for handhelds. They're going to want to try to get the Japanese players to transition to the Wii U, so I could see them angling the reveal more towards Japan. If they're smart, they'll make it a Wii U game with a download-to-3DS support program that lets people do some stuff while out and about, and then connect up to the Wii U to upload the stuff done before playing on on the Wii U.
Imagine this - the village itself can be played on either Wii U or 3DS. When played on 3DS, you're restricted to the village. When playing on Wii U, you can access a much broader game, including various online functionalities (perhaps a full-fledged Animal Crossing City?). If each player gets their own village, but can then travel to the other villages on the same Wii U, it could be made so that a village downloaded to 3DS can't be accessed on the Wii U until it's returned, to maintain consistency.
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