That is a very good point. Nintendo really did think of everything. I too am hopeful this will result in the same number of 'core' games, just a year later and better quality.

The minor problem with that theory is that Nintendo stated completely different actual plans when referencing the Wii.  They're plan for the DS was to make it a success and to support the crap out of it and then to sit back and let 3rd party companies step in and reap ever greater rewards, and really, that seems to be working.  They also stated a similar plan for the Wii.  Support it heavily early on then, once it's established, let 3rd party companies take it over.

I think they planned from the start for the Wii to outsell the GC as it was once commented (by Iwata I believe), "if the Wii (Revolution) doesn't sell better than the GameCube, it will be a failure."  The DS was their way of testing the waters to see if something truly different would actually work because they also said, "if the DS fails, we'll take our next console back to the drawing board since it has similar design ideas behind it."

They planned for success the whole time, they never planned for failure.  I'm sure that they probably believed that they might end up "going it alone" for a while with the Wii and DS and that's probably part of why they cranked out so many "hits" in relatively short times, but they also needed to do that to warm up the machines for the 3rd parties to want to jump on-board.

Also, Miyamoto apparently believes E3 is something for more casual gamers to take notice of.  Since they left their biggest reveal, the Wiimote, to the Tokyo Game Show in 2006, I have little doubt that either that venue, or E for All is where they're going to churn out some of their more hardcore-leaning titles.

Looking at this list of so many development teams not having anything known in development but obviously working on something really has me wondering.

I'm thinking maybe Nintendo is sitting on some of their mainstay 'franchise' titles - Kirby, DK, StarFox, etc. Possibly with many of these in finished condition. As suggested already.

But here's why: They want to increase their userbase first and basically educate this large group of novice players on how to play prior to releasing classic franchises - resulting in far greater sales. Alternatively they could be saving them for if and when Wii sales begin to wane.

Nice list Frank, There is a line of hope in the horizon

I believe it was Yamauchi that linked the success of the Wii and DS together. (Something like "if the DS succeeds, we will rise to heaven.)

But sure, everyone says they're aiming to be number one. None of the console manufacturers are planning on losing. On the other hand, Nintendo knew going into this generation that they weren't going to get much 3rd party support, hence my theory. I think we may be looking at the same things, analyzing them in a different way, and reaching conclusions that are similar.

You are right that they are a third party developer.  But, they are a third party developer that asserts they will only develop for Nintendo.  Hence, a 2nd party developer. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second-party_developer

"The term "second-party" however, is not an official business term like "first-party" and "third-party", but is used simply to distinguish between third-party developers who develop games for various video game consoles, and developers who, while still a third-party, provide software only for a single video-game console (or consoles for a single company) due to reasons mentioned in the first paragraph."

Nice List. I really wish Camelot would do another Shining Force with Sega though.... I miss the real ones. :(

From Nintendo's track record, I would suspect that Nintendo would hold onto titles so that they will maximize the sales by maintaining a steady rate of release through out the year. There could (potentially) be some motivation to build a back-log of developed titles so that there will be less of a disturbance from releasing a new platform. If you slowly build a back-log, by the time you're ready to release a new console you could have 6 to 18 months worth of games ready to be released; if you start switching over development teams to your new platform at a steady pace you could still release games for your existing platform for a couple of years after your new platform was completed.

@HappySqurriel - good point. Lord knows GC had almost zip for it's last year or so. Having a back catalog of Wii games to continue to publish while they are hard at work on Wii2 games wouldn't be a bad thing (except games might seem outdated when they finally come out)

I also wonder if many titles have been delayed while they waited for MotionPlus development...

Maybe Project HAMMER would work better with MotionPlus.

Also, wasn't there a flying game in Wii Motorsports? What happened to that?