Eventually, we expect that Nintendo president Satoru Iwata will take the stage and talk about industry trends. He may philosophize about the company's place in videogames and reiterate Nintendo's status as a developer focused on intuitive, fun software, just as he did at the Game Developers Conference in March. These comments will of course lead into the main event: talk about Nintendo's still-codenamed Revolution console, of which very few real details are available. Despite a major unveiling of Xbox 360 and detailed specs and demos on PlayStation 3 the day prior, we believe that Nintendo will choose to guard information on Revolution. An official name may be announced. Initial specs may be released. A preliminary release time frame may be given. But the console will likely be discussed and not shown. We do not believe that gamers will see Revolution's design, or the new controller, which is allegedly vastly different from existing pads. Neither do we believe that any real games running on Revolution will be spotlighted. However, Nintendo may choose to show a graphic demo or two, just to spice up the presentation. With any luck, Nintendo may take the opportunity to debut footage from Mario 128, which is rumored to be for Revolution. In March, NOA's Reggie Fils-Aime said the title would show up at E3 2005 in video form, but would not say for what system.

One Day Later...

The day after pre-shows are over, E3 2005 begins. The ESA opens the Convention Center doors in the early morning and there are always thousands of industry professionals waiting to get in. Readers attending the event need to know where they are going and they need to move fast. There are several halls in the Convention Center, but the Big Three -- Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony -- are always found in the two largest, which are the South and West halls. Nintendo and Sony are in the West, and Microsoft in the South. This year, Nintendo's booth is slightly bigger than Sony's, and the company will undoubtedly be using that extra space to feature a wide number of kiosks for playable DS and GameCube software.

The Convention Center layout. Nintendo is in the West hall. Click on the image for a more detailed map

Of course, viewers will have to turn to our DS channel for its best guesses on what new portable games will be on display. That said, we predict that Nintendo will put a noticeable emphasis on its DS lineup and -- save for the new Legend of Zelda -- downplay some GameCube titles. This move seems to make sense as many of the GameCube titles sure to be on display in playable form will either have been previously shown at another event, or will be on the verge of releasing in America. In contrast, we expect several major surprises for the publisher's portable system.

The new Legend of Zelda will be huge at Nintendo's booth

We anticipate about 15 Nintendo-published GameCube titles at the company's booth, most of them, but perhaps not all, in playable form. The list naturally includes the new Legend of Zelda, which will be one of the main attractions at Nintendo's booth. Based on previously released magazine reports and insider information, we expect that gamers can look forward to a four or five-level demo of the new Zelda, showing off various stage types from the game, from horseback battle to village exploration and quite possibly fishing. Attendees be warned: the Zelda area is certain to be packed full of gamers. In fact, we wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo chose to close off this particular portion of its showing in order to properly regulate and observe the flow of visitors.

Many of the Nintendo-published GameCube titles on the show floor will be identical to the ones featured in the pre-conference sizzle trailer. Titles like Nintendo Pennant Chase Baseball and Geist will be there, but since both will be out a month later we doubt the Big N will make big deals of either. Donkey Konga 3 should be there. Other titles include Advance Wars, Dance Dance Revolution with Mario, Fire Emblem, Pokemon XD, Odama, Mario Baseball, Kirby and Chibi Robo. If there are any surprises, we haven't heard about them, but Mario Party 7 seems almost inevitable at this point and we wouldn't be shocked to see another Mario sports cash-in. Perhaps football?

Batman Begins from Electronic Arts

As per usual, Nintendo-published GameCube titles will probably draw the biggest crowds, but that doesn't mean GCN owners won't get to play some gems from the likes of Capcom, Electronic Arts, THQ, Activision and Ubisoft. Capcom will be on-hand with Killer 7 and at least one other unannounced GameCube project. Our guess is that it's the anticipated GameCube port of Okami, but it could also be the next Viewtiful Joe or an original game from Clover Studio. Regardless, we're excited. Electronic Arts will have the usual suspects, from Madden NFL '06, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Need for Speed Most Wanted to the new James Bond: From Russia with Love, Batman Begins and Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects. Activision will have Madagascar and The Fantastic Four, among others. THQ will show off WWE Day of Reckoning 2 and kid-oriented software like Tak 3, Scooby Doo Unmasked, sequels to The Incredibles and SpongeBob SquarePants, and more. Meanwhile, Ubisoft should show such GameCube titles as Prince of Persia 3, King Kong and 187: Ride or Die, for starters.

There will also be games from other publishers, including The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction from Vivendi, One Piece Grand Battle and Zatchbell from Bandai, Hello Kitty: Roller Rescue from Namco, Midway Arcade Treasures 3 from Midway, and Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life from Natsume. Sega will show off Shadow the Hedgehog and at least two additional new Sonic games.

Outlook

All in all, a very solid event for Nintendo thanks to a big showing of Zelda and promised new Revolution information, which is always exciting. Although software releases as a whole have dropped off for GameCube, we were surprised to see so many solid third party efforts for the console when putting together this feature. Based on all of the above, it appears that E3 2005 will be good to Nintendo owners. Still, we're hoping Nintendo will be less tight-lipped about its next console than we've predicted. If that turns out to be the case, the company stands to have an outstanding show.

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