StreetsAhead
Member
I've seen it posted here, and in other places, that Nintendo is not only out of surprises for the next twelve months, but that they are secretive. I guess, it's depends on your definition of 'surprise' and 'secretive', but I feel that Nintendo's been fairly transparent in the last 12 months in talking about their intentions for both of their machines. I don't pretend to know anything 'secret' and I'll admit that this post 'grew in the telling' as I was reminded of a different thing each time I googled an article.
Wii U
With Wii U, Iwata has made it clear that he would like "to satisfy existing video game fans first and provide new surprises later," with regards to software. It's certainly no coincidence that most of Wii's largest selling franchises all came out in the first year.
Next year (and possible beyond) gives us the following announced games for the system:
-Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze (Feb): Still waiting on the announcement of the 4th character.
-Mario Kart 8 (Spring)
-Bayonetta 2
-Super Smash Bros.
-Monolith Soft's X - Soraya Saga has referred to the videos of this game that have been released so far as teasers, rather than trailers.
-Yarn Yoshi
-Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem
-Art Academy Wii U - According to the official page for AA Sketch Pad, there's another, different, title in development for the system that will feature lessons. Iwata has made it clear that Sketch Pad was adapated from an in-development, seperate product.
3DS
The 3DS has been ticking off DS franchises for a while now, mixed in with former console games brought to the system (Paper Mario, Luigi's Mansion, etc). We don't know the full line-up for next year, yet, but one can only assume they'll have (or are aiming to have) at least one game besides Smash for the holidays next year. I am quite sure we'll see a Rhythm Heaven at some point, though.
-Kirby: Triple Deluxe
-Mario Golf: World Tour
-Yoshi's New Island
-Super Smash Bros.
-Fossil Fighters: Infinite Gear - this title was announced in November's Corocoro magazine with some pictures of the new game, which features a tweaked art-style and a 3rd person perspective. A comic set in the game's world will be featured in the magazine each month until release.
-Mario Party: Island Tour (EU/JP)
-Pocket Football Club (EU) - Release on the eShop, already out in Japan as a retail title.
-Bravely Default (NA)
Others
-Steeldiver Sub Wars: title outed by Miyamoto as Nintendo's first foray in the F2P arena, with the name being outed by an Australian classification. Naturally, like its predecessor, it's being developed by Vitei.
-NES Remix: Nothing is known about this, but it was rated by the Australian classification board at the same time as Steeldiver.
-Chibi Robo! Let's Go Photos!: This is out in Japan already and has been rated by the Australian Classification Board.
-Untitled Pikachu Detective Game: A 3DS game that began development in Summer of this year, set for release in 2015, it will feature Pikachu as a detective assisting you in solving crimes. It uses mo-cap for Pikachu's animation.
-Untitled Pokemon Trozei Sequel: In the same Japanese TV program where the above Pikachu game was announced, there was footage shown of a prototype of a Trozei sequel for the Nintendo 3DS eshop that was said to be in early development. No word was given about whether the project continued passed the prototype stage.
-The Mysterious Murasame Castle: Once again, an Australian Classification Board outing, this seems to be a localisation of the never-released-in-the-West NES game. It was classified all the way back in May.
Mysterious Trademarks
-Mysterious Partner: Legend of the Fish With A Human Face & Mysterious Pet: Legend of the Fish With A Human Face were trademarked earlier this year by Nintendo and there have been rumors of a 3DS revival of Dreamcast's Seaman for over a year.
-Pokken (ポッ拳
was registered as a trademark in Japan, suggesting that there may be a collaboration between Tekken and Pokemon, in connection with this image.
-Eternal Darkness: NoA recently filed a new trademark for ED, rather than renewing the old one, which it is my understanding they could have done. We know, of course, that an ED game was in early development at one point (that then became Shadows of the Eternals) so it's possibly related to that. Who knows with this one, really.
New Building
Nintendo's new building in Kyoto is set to be open for business any day now, as far as I am aware. The new building will have space to hold 1,500 developers. The building is apparently supposed to bring the EAD, SDP, and Intelligent Systems teams together under one roof (although I honestly cannot find a legit source for that), to help promote cross-pollination of ideas.
Developers
Nintendo, specifically EAD, has been in desperate need of art(ists) lately, more than ever before, presumably it's needed more now than previously due to the collective demand of the Wii U/3DS development requirements. Although they've been using outside companies more than ever for things like cut-scenes, for asset production they primarily have 2 subsidiaries helping them.
-Brownie Brown's/1-UP Studio's restructure has been completed and, as expected, they worked closely with Tokyo EAD No. 2 on Super Mario 3D World. They lost about 50% of their staff in the restructure, but have been hiring recently.
-Monolith Soft Kyoto is likely not working on a 3DS game as was rumored, at least not their own one. They're a studio of artists, primarily. Their 'big 3DS project' was likely Animal Crossing: New Leaf . They have since worked on the art and design of Pikmin 3 and The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds. It is highly likely they are exclusively an art-asset production studio designed to assist Kyoto EAD.
-Retro: Miyamoto has recently said he thinks they can handle developing more than one project at a time and that we may see more projects from them in the future.
Acquisitions
This year, Nintendo has acquired shares in a Panasonic subsidiary, PUX, who specialize in face and voice recognition technologies and assited on Wii Fit U. They also bought some shares in Dwango, which I believe is the company that runs the video service NicoNico Douga, in Japan. Who knows whether they will lead to any future announcements or partnerships, but it is what it is.
Tokyo EAD No. 2's 'Other' Project
It's no secret that Tokyo EAD No. 2, the developers of the 3D Mario games, under Koizumi, have been working on a second project. Koizumi mentioned it in an interview around E3, and Miyamoto sort of dances around wanting to do something new with the Tokyo team in the 3D World Iwata Asks. From 3D World's credits, we also know that the lead planner and one of the lead designers/planners on 3D Land did not work on 3D World. This may be that they left the company (or were transferred), or maybe they're the leads on the 2nd project (3D World credits here).
Miyamoto's New IP
I'm willing to acknowledge that this may be the same project as listed above, but not necessarily. Miyamoto is working on a new project. Whether or not this is a character based IP, like Mario or Zelda, or an IP like Wii Fit or Nintendogs, remains to be seen, but recently he's been saying that it's been getting busier on multiple occasions lately. As far back as 2010, Miyamoto was talking about introducing a new character to the Nintendo stable. Then again, in April 2012, he spoke of possibly introducing new characters 'soon'.
Iwata and Miyamoto even skirted around a long-developed project (5 years) as recently as yesterday. Certainly, if a project was ready to be shown around 2010/2011, it is likely that it will have been worked on for 5 years now, if it is the same project spoken of above. Note that, as of E3 this year, Miyamoto began focusing on new gameplay experiences being important and the characters that are paired with them don't always have to be new. He says new characters are created at Nintendo when new gameplay is created that cannot be paired with an existing character, citing Pikmin as an example. At this point, though, we basically only know that it's going to be for the Wii U. By Miyamoto's IP I don't mean one he is developing himself, or even created, just one that he is producing or working very closely with.
Mobile Apps/Promotion
Both Iwata and Reggie have spoken of finding ways to use smart devices (tablets and phones) to assist Nintendo's primary business. With both of them saying it, I believe there (eventually) will be a push for promotion in some form using these devices. Iwata says he views these devices, not as competitors, but as a potential way to promote their business, even acknowledging the role Twitter has played in the promotion of games like Animal Crossing and Pokemon.
Nintendo Web Framework
The Nintendo Web Framework is a new framework Nintendo announced earlier this year to bring HTML, JAVA, and CSS games and apps to their console. With the Unity deal, and various other removals of restrictions on indie devs, Nintendo has been trying to make strides with indie developers this year. Miyamoto has hinted that the internal teams may make use of this easier development tool. Although we're yet to see the fruits of this effort, Wii Street U was developed with it. With over 1,000 developers allegedly signing up, hopefully we see the results sooner rather than later.
They even held the first Nintendo Game Seminar in Japan since 2010 to get university students developing software using the Framework. The Seminar will be done in March next year. Nintendo has been known to hire promising participants.
Digital Gaming & Business Models
Nintendo has made the full jump into digital content, each 1st party game has a midnight launch on Nintendo's eShop and DLC has been introduced to titles like NSMB2, NSMBU, Pikmin 3, and Fire Emblem Awakening and their digital business has been up YOY. While they've said they won't introduce paid DLC to franchises like Animal Crossing and Pokemon, they are introducing Pokemon Bank, a paid service for Pokemon storage. They've also had a foray into almost-F2P with the (as yet) Japan-only Darumeshi Sports Store, and soon they will make the full jump with Steeldiver Subwars. Nintendo may be selling Wii Sports Club sports individually for now (and with that ticketing system), and releasing sports gradually, but Iwata has said that there is a possibility they will release the package as retail software eventually. Both Wii Sports U and Darumeshi Sports Store were pushed to consumers with the option allowed via Spot Pass. Wii Fit U is also offered in a unique way as a digital download trial for consumers who already have a balance board, a campaign thought up by Iwata.
On top of that there's the four Mii Plaza games that have made 1.1 billion yen (US$10.7 million) since their release, which is predicted to go up as Street Passing becomes more popular in the West with the Street Pass Relay system.
Nintendo has been really experimenting with different business models for distribution lately and I imagine that they will continue to do so beyond Steeldiver. It would certainly be interesting to see a game like Game & Wario or Nintendo Land broken up and sold in chunks as a digital package.
Near Field Communication & 2 Game Pad Play
Miyamoto called games using NFC games a priority earlier in the year, and Iwata has said that they are working with several developers on projects. He did say he intended to show stuff by the end of the year, and while we have seen Pokemon Rumble U, seeing somethign else is starting to look unlikely, but the year is not over yet. Even as recently as last week Reggie was talking about these games too on GTTV. They also, apparently, have 2 Game Pad game(s) in development. Naturally, they also want to use NFC for payments. If they could make them work in a similar way to the AR Cards available in Japan, I'm sure they can encourage people to fork over money for them.
Bringing Tomodachi Collection Westward
At E3 Reggie spoke of considering Tomodachi Collection: Shinseikatsu (Friend Collection: New Life) for a Western release. This is the 2nd game in the series and while it bears some superficial resemblances to Animal Crossing, it stars Miis and includes romantic aspects, including the ability to marry and have children. The big problem with this release is the vocaloid system used to generate spoken dialogue, which works far better with Japanese than with English and other Western languages. If they can figure out a way to work around it, they have basically have a 'new' franchise for the West they could bring over next year and sell to the Animal Crossing fan-base.
Continuing Mario Galaxy's Legacy
Miyamoto has spoken multiple times about continuing on the 'Galaxy' series. Whether he means something akin to 'Galaxy 3' or in a broader sense the style of play/health/stars established since Mario 64 remains to be seen, but I imagine that if he keeps bringing it up, we will eventually see something come to fruition.
The Legend of Zelda: Wii U
Aouma has been talking about the Legend of Zelda for Wii U since January of this year. He wants revitalize the series by streamlining it, an effort recently seen begun with A Link Between Worlds, to relatively high praise. Miyamoto said it was considered to be shown off at E3 2013, but held back. Then again, Aonuma said he intended to show something at Comic Con in New York, but didn't have time to prepare anything. Since then, Aonuma has said that he will share more about the title at E3 2014. In the Iwata Asks for Skyward Sword, Iwata asks Aonuma and Fujibashi to spend three years on the next console project, which would put us to about holiday 2014, or around 12 months from now.
Further, The Legend of Zelda: Wii U has appeared on the Japanese Wii U software page since the January Direct, and has routinely been featured in the upcoming release lists given to investors. Now, maybe it gets delayed, but I believe that internally Nintendo is aiming for a holiday 2014 release of this title.
Speculation: I think that Zelda Wii U will be an announcement made at VGX this year.
Animal Crossing Plaza
This little app finishes up it's service time at the end of 2014. It's such an odd and specific date to announce (and it was mentioned when the app launched) that I can't help but think that Animal Crossing Wii U will be out by that time, or once again, that's Nintendo's internal intention. The 3DS version only came out in the West six months ago, but has been out in Japan over a year now, which would give it roughly two years of development time. This is roughly the same amount of time taken to develop Super Mario 3D World, so it's certainly possible that that could pull off a worthwhile sequel by then. Plaza uses a nice lighting model, but it is still using 3DS models for the villagers.
Now, let's briefly imagine a holiday period where the Wii U gets Smash Bros., LoZ, and Animal Crossing and all realize what a pipe dream that (unfortunately) is. But I think at least 2/3 will be make it out by next 2014. I don't think Nintendo can afford to not have at least two of them out, at this point.
Anyway, that's it. I haven't spoken about the imminent changes to the 3DS infrastructure and the introduction of Miiverse and a shared balance. Hopefully they continue down that path too, to provide a more fully realized account system.
There's clearly some stuff in development that hasn't been announced yet and Nintendo going into 2014 is in a different position to the position it went into 2013 with. Sales-wise and development-wise. Please, be excited.
Lock if you're EatChildren.
Wii U
With Wii U, Iwata has made it clear that he would like "to satisfy existing video game fans first and provide new surprises later," with regards to software. It's certainly no coincidence that most of Wii's largest selling franchises all came out in the first year.
Next year (and possible beyond) gives us the following announced games for the system:
-Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze (Feb): Still waiting on the announcement of the 4th character.
-Mario Kart 8 (Spring)
-Bayonetta 2
-Super Smash Bros.
-Monolith Soft's X - Soraya Saga has referred to the videos of this game that have been released so far as teasers, rather than trailers.
-Yarn Yoshi
-Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem
-Art Academy Wii U - According to the official page for AA Sketch Pad, there's another, different, title in development for the system that will feature lessons. Iwata has made it clear that Sketch Pad was adapated from an in-development, seperate product.
3DS
The 3DS has been ticking off DS franchises for a while now, mixed in with former console games brought to the system (Paper Mario, Luigi's Mansion, etc). We don't know the full line-up for next year, yet, but one can only assume they'll have (or are aiming to have) at least one game besides Smash for the holidays next year. I am quite sure we'll see a Rhythm Heaven at some point, though.
-Kirby: Triple Deluxe
-Mario Golf: World Tour
-Yoshi's New Island
-Super Smash Bros.
-Fossil Fighters: Infinite Gear - this title was announced in November's Corocoro magazine with some pictures of the new game, which features a tweaked art-style and a 3rd person perspective. A comic set in the game's world will be featured in the magazine each month until release.
-Mario Party: Island Tour (EU/JP)
-Pocket Football Club (EU) - Release on the eShop, already out in Japan as a retail title.
-Bravely Default (NA)
Others
-Steeldiver Sub Wars: title outed by Miyamoto as Nintendo's first foray in the F2P arena, with the name being outed by an Australian classification. Naturally, like its predecessor, it's being developed by Vitei.
-NES Remix: Nothing is known about this, but it was rated by the Australian classification board at the same time as Steeldiver.
-Chibi Robo! Let's Go Photos!: This is out in Japan already and has been rated by the Australian Classification Board.
-Untitled Pikachu Detective Game: A 3DS game that began development in Summer of this year, set for release in 2015, it will feature Pikachu as a detective assisting you in solving crimes. It uses mo-cap for Pikachu's animation.
-Untitled Pokemon Trozei Sequel: In the same Japanese TV program where the above Pikachu game was announced, there was footage shown of a prototype of a Trozei sequel for the Nintendo 3DS eshop that was said to be in early development. No word was given about whether the project continued passed the prototype stage.
-The Mysterious Murasame Castle: Once again, an Australian Classification Board outing, this seems to be a localisation of the never-released-in-the-West NES game. It was classified all the way back in May.
Mysterious Trademarks
-Mysterious Partner: Legend of the Fish With A Human Face & Mysterious Pet: Legend of the Fish With A Human Face were trademarked earlier this year by Nintendo and there have been rumors of a 3DS revival of Dreamcast's Seaman for over a year.
-Pokken (ポッ拳
was registered as a trademark in Japan, suggesting that there may be a collaboration between Tekken and Pokemon, in connection with this image. -Eternal Darkness: NoA recently filed a new trademark for ED, rather than renewing the old one, which it is my understanding they could have done. We know, of course, that an ED game was in early development at one point (that then became Shadows of the Eternals) so it's possibly related to that. Who knows with this one, really.
New Building
Nintendo's new building in Kyoto is set to be open for business any day now, as far as I am aware. The new building will have space to hold 1,500 developers. The building is apparently supposed to bring the EAD, SDP, and Intelligent Systems teams together under one roof (although I honestly cannot find a legit source for that), to help promote cross-pollination of ideas.
Developers
Nintendo, specifically EAD, has been in desperate need of art(ists) lately, more than ever before, presumably it's needed more now than previously due to the collective demand of the Wii U/3DS development requirements. Although they've been using outside companies more than ever for things like cut-scenes, for asset production they primarily have 2 subsidiaries helping them.
-Brownie Brown's/1-UP Studio's restructure has been completed and, as expected, they worked closely with Tokyo EAD No. 2 on Super Mario 3D World. They lost about 50% of their staff in the restructure, but have been hiring recently.
-Monolith Soft Kyoto is likely not working on a 3DS game as was rumored, at least not their own one. They're a studio of artists, primarily. Their 'big 3DS project' was likely Animal Crossing: New Leaf . They have since worked on the art and design of Pikmin 3 and The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds. It is highly likely they are exclusively an art-asset production studio designed to assist Kyoto EAD.
-Retro: Miyamoto has recently said he thinks they can handle developing more than one project at a time and that we may see more projects from them in the future.
Acquisitions
This year, Nintendo has acquired shares in a Panasonic subsidiary, PUX, who specialize in face and voice recognition technologies and assited on Wii Fit U. They also bought some shares in Dwango, which I believe is the company that runs the video service NicoNico Douga, in Japan. Who knows whether they will lead to any future announcements or partnerships, but it is what it is.
Tokyo EAD No. 2's 'Other' Project
It's no secret that Tokyo EAD No. 2, the developers of the 3D Mario games, under Koizumi, have been working on a second project. Koizumi mentioned it in an interview around E3, and Miyamoto sort of dances around wanting to do something new with the Tokyo team in the 3D World Iwata Asks. From 3D World's credits, we also know that the lead planner and one of the lead designers/planners on 3D Land did not work on 3D World. This may be that they left the company (or were transferred), or maybe they're the leads on the 2nd project (3D World credits here).
Miyamoto's New IP
I'm willing to acknowledge that this may be the same project as listed above, but not necessarily. Miyamoto is working on a new project. Whether or not this is a character based IP, like Mario or Zelda, or an IP like Wii Fit or Nintendogs, remains to be seen, but recently he's been saying that it's been getting busier on multiple occasions lately. As far back as 2010, Miyamoto was talking about introducing a new character to the Nintendo stable. Then again, in April 2012, he spoke of possibly introducing new characters 'soon'.
Iwata and Miyamoto even skirted around a long-developed project (5 years) as recently as yesterday. Certainly, if a project was ready to be shown around 2010/2011, it is likely that it will have been worked on for 5 years now, if it is the same project spoken of above. Note that, as of E3 this year, Miyamoto began focusing on new gameplay experiences being important and the characters that are paired with them don't always have to be new. He says new characters are created at Nintendo when new gameplay is created that cannot be paired with an existing character, citing Pikmin as an example. At this point, though, we basically only know that it's going to be for the Wii U. By Miyamoto's IP I don't mean one he is developing himself, or even created, just one that he is producing or working very closely with.
Mobile Apps/Promotion
Both Iwata and Reggie have spoken of finding ways to use smart devices (tablets and phones) to assist Nintendo's primary business. With both of them saying it, I believe there (eventually) will be a push for promotion in some form using these devices. Iwata says he views these devices, not as competitors, but as a potential way to promote their business, even acknowledging the role Twitter has played in the promotion of games like Animal Crossing and Pokemon.
Nintendo Web Framework
The Nintendo Web Framework is a new framework Nintendo announced earlier this year to bring HTML, JAVA, and CSS games and apps to their console. With the Unity deal, and various other removals of restrictions on indie devs, Nintendo has been trying to make strides with indie developers this year. Miyamoto has hinted that the internal teams may make use of this easier development tool. Although we're yet to see the fruits of this effort, Wii Street U was developed with it. With over 1,000 developers allegedly signing up, hopefully we see the results sooner rather than later.
They even held the first Nintendo Game Seminar in Japan since 2010 to get university students developing software using the Framework. The Seminar will be done in March next year. Nintendo has been known to hire promising participants.
Digital Gaming & Business Models
Nintendo has made the full jump into digital content, each 1st party game has a midnight launch on Nintendo's eShop and DLC has been introduced to titles like NSMB2, NSMBU, Pikmin 3, and Fire Emblem Awakening and their digital business has been up YOY. While they've said they won't introduce paid DLC to franchises like Animal Crossing and Pokemon, they are introducing Pokemon Bank, a paid service for Pokemon storage. They've also had a foray into almost-F2P with the (as yet) Japan-only Darumeshi Sports Store, and soon they will make the full jump with Steeldiver Subwars. Nintendo may be selling Wii Sports Club sports individually for now (and with that ticketing system), and releasing sports gradually, but Iwata has said that there is a possibility they will release the package as retail software eventually. Both Wii Sports U and Darumeshi Sports Store were pushed to consumers with the option allowed via Spot Pass. Wii Fit U is also offered in a unique way as a digital download trial for consumers who already have a balance board, a campaign thought up by Iwata.
On top of that there's the four Mii Plaza games that have made 1.1 billion yen (US$10.7 million) since their release, which is predicted to go up as Street Passing becomes more popular in the West with the Street Pass Relay system.
Nintendo has been really experimenting with different business models for distribution lately and I imagine that they will continue to do so beyond Steeldiver. It would certainly be interesting to see a game like Game & Wario or Nintendo Land broken up and sold in chunks as a digital package.
Near Field Communication & 2 Game Pad Play
Miyamoto called games using NFC games a priority earlier in the year, and Iwata has said that they are working with several developers on projects. He did say he intended to show stuff by the end of the year, and while we have seen Pokemon Rumble U, seeing somethign else is starting to look unlikely, but the year is not over yet. Even as recently as last week Reggie was talking about these games too on GTTV. They also, apparently, have 2 Game Pad game(s) in development. Naturally, they also want to use NFC for payments. If they could make them work in a similar way to the AR Cards available in Japan, I'm sure they can encourage people to fork over money for them.
Bringing Tomodachi Collection Westward
At E3 Reggie spoke of considering Tomodachi Collection: Shinseikatsu (Friend Collection: New Life) for a Western release. This is the 2nd game in the series and while it bears some superficial resemblances to Animal Crossing, it stars Miis and includes romantic aspects, including the ability to marry and have children. The big problem with this release is the vocaloid system used to generate spoken dialogue, which works far better with Japanese than with English and other Western languages. If they can figure out a way to work around it, they have basically have a 'new' franchise for the West they could bring over next year and sell to the Animal Crossing fan-base.
Continuing Mario Galaxy's Legacy
Miyamoto has spoken multiple times about continuing on the 'Galaxy' series. Whether he means something akin to 'Galaxy 3' or in a broader sense the style of play/health/stars established since Mario 64 remains to be seen, but I imagine that if he keeps bringing it up, we will eventually see something come to fruition.
The Legend of Zelda: Wii U
Aouma has been talking about the Legend of Zelda for Wii U since January of this year. He wants revitalize the series by streamlining it, an effort recently seen begun with A Link Between Worlds, to relatively high praise. Miyamoto said it was considered to be shown off at E3 2013, but held back. Then again, Aonuma said he intended to show something at Comic Con in New York, but didn't have time to prepare anything. Since then, Aonuma has said that he will share more about the title at E3 2014. In the Iwata Asks for Skyward Sword, Iwata asks Aonuma and Fujibashi to spend three years on the next console project, which would put us to about holiday 2014, or around 12 months from now.
Further, The Legend of Zelda: Wii U has appeared on the Japanese Wii U software page since the January Direct, and has routinely been featured in the upcoming release lists given to investors. Now, maybe it gets delayed, but I believe that internally Nintendo is aiming for a holiday 2014 release of this title.
Speculation: I think that Zelda Wii U will be an announcement made at VGX this year.
Animal Crossing Plaza
This little app finishes up it's service time at the end of 2014. It's such an odd and specific date to announce (and it was mentioned when the app launched) that I can't help but think that Animal Crossing Wii U will be out by that time, or once again, that's Nintendo's internal intention. The 3DS version only came out in the West six months ago, but has been out in Japan over a year now, which would give it roughly two years of development time. This is roughly the same amount of time taken to develop Super Mario 3D World, so it's certainly possible that that could pull off a worthwhile sequel by then. Plaza uses a nice lighting model, but it is still using 3DS models for the villagers.
Now, let's briefly imagine a holiday period where the Wii U gets Smash Bros., LoZ, and Animal Crossing and all realize what a pipe dream that (unfortunately) is. But I think at least 2/3 will be make it out by next 2014. I don't think Nintendo can afford to not have at least two of them out, at this point.
Anyway, that's it. I haven't spoken about the imminent changes to the 3DS infrastructure and the introduction of Miiverse and a shared balance. Hopefully they continue down that path too, to provide a more fully realized account system.
There's clearly some stuff in development that hasn't been announced yet and Nintendo going into 2014 is in a different position to the position it went into 2013 with. Sales-wise and development-wise. Please, be excited.
Lock if you're EatChildren.
