Anyone that is touting doom for the Wii U is just being foolish. It is far too early to make any sensible prediction and, given the success of the Wii, suggesting that the Wii U is doomed seems ridiculous to me.

Personally, I will not be purchasing it. My wife used to play the Wii we have, but it hasn't had an airing in about 18 months. My kids use the 360 and my console of choice is the PS3.

I hope all next gen consoles do well.

Well, that would be neat =) I like 'em both ^^

He's actually off to school, and haven't been on this site for quite some time...

Context is important when reading what somebody says.

I didn't say that people reacted to the Wii U Direct with "Oh, that's pretty much what I expected", I said that announcing Mario 3D and Mario Kart now will make them go "that's pretty much what I expected", and then have a repeat of this at E3 when they show it off. On the other hand, if they'd held out until close to the event itself, people would have been more excited at E3.

The longer people are given to anticipate something, the more it gets built up in their minds, and the less exciting the real event ends up being because it can't compare with their imaginations.

Nintendo pretty much has always dropped at least one bomb during each E3, with the possible exception of 2008 (when it was just a "Media and Business Summit" - and even then, they had surprises like GTA: Chinatown Wars). Consider that, in 2009, there was Galaxy 2 and Metroid: Other M, both completely unknown before the event. In 2010, it was Skyward Sword and the 3DS. In 2011, it was the Wii U unveiling, including confirmation of Smash Bros for 3DS and Wii U. And last year, it was ZombiU, Pikmin 3, and Luigi's Mansion.

And my point in mentioning Battalion Wars and Excite was purely that they're franchises that have gotten new games within the last generation, that are candidates for new titles that could be major announcements under some circumstances, such as crossovers.

You'll also notice that I didn't suggest that there'd be multiple massive megatons. I expect either one big announcement comparable to announcement of Mario 3D or Mario Kart, or a number of small announcements that add up to one big one. It's in line with Nintendo's recent E3 announcements, and my assertion is that games like Mario 3D and Mario Kart are no longer "on the table" as the big announcement, as they've already been announced - so it's something else.

It could even be a third-party announcement. Kingdom Hearts 3. Final Fantasy XV exclusive. GTA V timed exclusive (I don't expect this one). Battlefield U. Metal Gear Solid exclusive. Watch Dogs timed exclusive. You get the idea. There's quite a few candidates for major third-party announcements for Wii U. Alternatively, it could be something like, say, an agreement with Valve to have most Steam games ported to Wii U, including incorporation of a Steam section of the eShop. Or something else again. My point is, it's not Mario 3D or Mario Kart, and it's not Zelda.

Yes, I can read. Which is why I said that people are always underwhelmed by Nintendo's E3, and why you expect this year to be any different, I'm not really sure. It's pretty obvious that the companies don't really care about this "winning" E3 nonsense, and Nintendo in particular appears to have its own agenda in establishing Nintendo Direct as something to be watched.

LOL. Okay, I take it back. You are the new Joel.

I wasn't saying it was likely, I was using it as an example of something that would be a big announcement that wasn't a game announcement, per se. And if you'd paid attention (again, you seem to have completely ignored what I actually said in favour of your own straw interpretation), you'd have noticed that I didn't suggest that any of them were likely, just that they were possibilities. And a deal with Valve is certainly a possibility, since we know that Nintendo wanted the eShop to be compatible with other online distribution services.

I also said nothing about "winning" E3. I spoke about surprises, and specifically, the fact that there's always one significant surprise or another amongst Nintendo's announcements, backed up with specifics. It was in no way a comparison with Sony or MS, and it was in no way a commentary on fan reactions. In fact, I'd like to point out that nowhere did I say that they're holding back a surprise that is favourable to fans. It could be that the surprise is Wii Sports U. I don't know what it'll be, but based on every previous E3, Nintendo has SOMETHING being kept hidden, that is significant.

NOONE WOULD BELIEVE ME!

A deal with Valve is a possibility. Even Sony managed that much. Porting most Steam games to the Wii U is hysterically funny, even as a completely hypothetical example.

Well, now that we've gone from, "If they're tipping their hand about Zelda, Mario, etc. NOW, just imagine what riches must await!" to, "They will announce something," we are in agreement. They will certainly announce... something.

I meant porting most of them eventually, and I really meant it more in the sense of "creating a framework that will allow them to run on the Wii U" (not to mention that it was more about Valve's own titles, since Valve can't force other companies to port a game to a new platform). I wasn't overly concerned about details, because I was just throwing it out there as a random example.

And I never said that there were "riches". That was your assumption. I simply pointed out that there's more coming - that this Wii U Direct was not the end of their announcements, nor was it their most important announcements. But hey, now that you're actually comprehending my point as stated originally, I guess we are indeed in agreement.

A reasonable assumption when someone says that, oh, they didn't feel that it was worth keeping Mario Kart and playable Smash Bros. quiet, so imagine what they ARE keeping quiet!

Realistically, nothing they can announce will be even remotely competitive with those two games, saleswise or hypewise. In la-la land where GTA or FFXV or Steam's entire library goes Wii U exclusive, yes. But unless they are going to have a much longer conference than last year (you know, when they were getting ready to launch the Wii U), stage demos of those two will eat up a considerable amount of their time. So, like I said, we basically know what they're doing at E3 as truly big surprises are few and far between there. Whatever they will announce will probably be Pikmin 3 level, and that's just fine.