You make good points.

Day it ships, but I win if they announce a delay to 2010 (after all when is a delay ever reversed?).

We all knew in advance going in to E3 that all of the teams, the Mario team, Zelda team, Metroid team, etc. are working on something. If they weren't they'ed be out on their ass in the streets. If they don't have anything substantial to show though, then how far along are these games really? Is Pikmin not far along enough to warrant a trailer? If so, that sounds 2009 to me easily. Nobody knows what's going on with Disaster: Day of Crisis now. It's either being developed unde secrecy, or it's not nearly as far along as we all thought it was. Wii Music is turning out to be a huge bust, and if this was created by Miyamoto, it just makes it all the worse to see this kind of crap come from the mind of a genius.

Also we knew already that these teams that did Mario, Metroid and Zelda were working on something. We weren't expecting anything soon from them, so vocal announcements are fine for now. What about the team working on Kid Icarus? How far off is Pikmin really? Where's teams working on Kirby, Donkey Kong, Star Fox, F-Zero and the 15 other franchises? Is Fatal Frame IV, Wii Music, Wario Land Shake It, and Animal Crossing: City Folks the entire fall lineup for Wii, with a maybe for Disaster: Day of Crisis? Weak by Nintendo standards. I think what really bothered everyone is they expected Kid Icarus for the Fall after six months of teases and had high hopes to see Pikmin this Fall too, which doesn't look lightly.

Nintendo has a lot of teams and I don't see them doing much with them at the moment. DS development is slowing down too. Nintendo's fall DS lineup is what now? Pokemon Ranger? Mystery Case Files? Kirby Super Star Ultra? Cooking Guide? Rhythm Heaven? Maybe ASH? I was hoping for something else on both platforms and don't feel good about either.

We all know how reliable official relase dates are...

The rudeness in your comment is unnecessary.

OT about Nintendo ignoring core gamers:

Remember that this is the penalty you pay for enjoying Zelda, Smash, Mario, and Metroid games in the first 18 months of a console's life... Usually, those games are spread throughout an entire generation. We got them all in a very short period of time. A large gap until the following titles release is to be expected.

It still sucks that we didn't see anything about Kid Icarus, though. I really really REALLY want a Kid Icarus game.

Does it matter if they show a game coming in 09 if it's coming in spring 09?  Before the next E3?  As for Final Fantasy 13. Microsofts hand was forced by Sony showing it off way back in 2005.

Consider this bet on.

I can't wait to play Ocarina of Time for free!

The worst part of Wii music is he was developing it for years.  I gotta think what he wanted to do and what the software and hardware would let him do wouldn't match.  He wanted a free roaming make your own music game... and instead ended up with what he has.

Some points.

Folks, people play Animal Crossing like crack. It may not invovle blood and gore, but there are many hardcore players for it.

Also, since when did Call of Duty become casual? Is SW: Clone Wars casual? (Everyone wanted a light sabre game. When it is shown, no one mentions it).

Nintendo is playing a different game now. First of all, they are the market leader with increasing share, so they don't have to generate hype years out and decided not to play that game. Second, they are trying to leave some air in the room for third parties. They don't want a GC situation again (where there was virtually no third party support).

The Big N showed six Wii games -- five out by the holidays, one in Spring 2009. It also hinted at other things in development. I would guess at this point next year we will be talking about the new Zelda that is coming out for Christmas 2009 -- and beating FF XIII to market in NA and EU. (SE is unsure how it is going to do the X360 version and has said that will delay the western release. Sounds like date slippage to me).

There are just a lot of people who (a) don't like the Wii because it is not the latest technolgoy, (b) don't like the Wii because it has (workable) motion controls, don't like the Wii because it is differently positioned than the other two consoles, (d) don't like the Wii because they don't like Nintendo, (e) don't like the Wii because it has some games that are more casual, (f) don't like the Wii because it has iconic franchises, or (g) don't like the Wii for all of the above. Many of the E3 attendees fit into (g), so why should Nintendo do much for them 8*>. (And if you don't beleive me, read some of the gaming press.).

Mike from Morgantown