PSP World

Why Nintendo's E3 Keynote Could Beat Sony, Microsoft

Like Eric Cartman, we are getting ready to freeze ourselves in a glacier to make the time pass quicker in anticipation for E3. And like our favorite South Park character, it is Nintendo and not competitors Sony or Microsoft that has us most excited this year. The latter two companies will spend a lot of their keynote time discussing products that make their consoles more like the Wii, while Nintendo could be preparing to take gaming in another direction altogether. Here's why we're actually more excited about Nintendo's offerings this year, and why we think the Japanese company has some big surprises in store for competitors, consumers, and the press.

First of all, let's talk handheld gaming. Nothing, not even the PSP 2, has us more excited than Nintendo's new 3DS project. This new portable device will continue on from the uber-successful dual-screen line, but add 3D stereoscopic capabilities to the display. It features all-new hardware, too, making it a true powerhouse and successor to the original DS. We can barely get our heads around the proposition of a more-powerful DS with a fully 3D display, but here's another cool trick: the device doesn't need special glasses. Using new technology developed by Sharp, it can actually deliver 3D images independently to each eye in a manner even more impressive than current state-of-the-art 3DTVs. But how does it really perform 'in the wild'? What new gaming experiences will it permit? What will the launch titles be? Look for all of these burning questions to be answered at E3.

Sony's Ken Kutaragi famously said that the "next generation" wouldn't start until he said it did. Well, while his old company's engineers struggle to perfect their motion control technology Nintendo might be on the verge of making another generational leap of its own. The Wii HD has long been rumored to exist, mainly because folks are annoyed at how last-gen Wii games look on their shiny new 1080p television displays. What if Nintendo dropped Wii HD on us at this year's E3 event? It would be the perfect place to surprise the world and keep the plateauing Wii hardware relevant. Heck, Nintendo might even win back some of its missing hardcore gamers, especially when paired with a compelling new Zelda announcement. There are a lot of old gaming souls out there who undoubtedly still get a tingle -- like we do -- at the prospect of another Zelda.

In a perfect world, Wii HD would up the processing power to enable all new and old games to run at 1080p. It might even come with 3D capabilities, but let's not get a head of ourselves. Anybody remember that kid named Johnny Lee who was building head-tracking interfaces using a Wiimote? I wonder what happened to him ever since Nintendo showed up at his house with a truck full of money.

The fact that Nintendo's last two E3 performances were somewhat lackluster actually increases our anticipation that this year will be special. With expectations lowered, Nintendo can sneak in as the underdog and surprise us all, something that the company seems to do best. Somebody just remember to come by and thaw us out before the Nintendo keynote begins at E3 on tuesday, June 15th.

Epic Mickey will likely be one of the showcase titles at E3 2010.