Visionary Top 5: Nintendo

With video game publishers focussing more and more on what’s around the corner, rather than looking ahead to what’s due a year from now, predicting the big games and moments of 2009 isn’t easy. But that hasn’t stopped us gazing into our gaming crystal ball and bringing you our predictions on what’s going to happen next year. Here, we run down our top tips for 2009 for all you Nintendo fanboys out there.

A good Lightsaber duels game

The Wii Motion Plus add on for the Wii Remote, due out in spring 2009, brings with it great potential. We tested it out at E3 in the summer with Wii Sports Resort, and it not only worked, but was loads of fun, too. Holding the Wii Remote like you would the helm of a sword and slicing and blocking in splitscreen two-player duels was brilliant. Now all that’s needed to fulfil the Wii’s initial promise is a good Star Wars Lightsaber game to make the most of the new tech, and we reckon that’s exactly what Wii owners are in store for in 2009. We don’t want sub par 3D action/platforming, all we want is to be able to wave the Wii Remote around and see an on-screen Lightsaber mimic our actionsexactly, and be able to block, parry and thrust against a friend. Online duels would be a wonderful bonus.

Loads of motion plus compatible games

With Wii Motion Plus launching alongside Wii Sports Resort in the spring we’re hopeful that we’ll see a string of compatible games throughout 2009. We know the team behind Tiger Woods on Wii wants to use the tech, but what about everyone else? EA’s tennis game is said to be using the add-on, and presumably it’ll appear in other high profile releases, too. If you don’t see some form of Motion Plus support in Red Steel 2, Fight Night from EA, whatever big games Nintendo has up its sleeve and a new racing game series, we’d be quite surprised.

No Wii price cut

Despite being two years old and the least powerful console on the market, the Wii continues to sell extremely well, making Sony and Microsoft’s sales look rather poor in comparison. It’s because of this, and the fact that the Wii has no real competition in the casual gamer space, that the Wii’s current RRP of £179.99 will remain for at least another year. We think there’s a slim chance that Nintendo will introduce a Wii Sports Resort console bundle, but new users are unlikely to see that as much more of an incentive than the existing Wii Sports bundle.

No new console announcements

We’ve heard the rumours about Wii HD and there’s endless chatter about when Nintendo will unveil its next handheld, but we don’t think either will be revealed in 2009. Nintendo simply has no reason to shake up the market by announcing what it’s got coming next. Had Wii sales shown signs of slowing and proved to be nothing more than the fad many have claimed, perhaps we’d be much closer to hearing about Wii 2, but the best we’re going to get in 2009 from Nintendo is the DSi.

Nintendo will show hardcore gamers it hasn’t forgotten them

Given how lacklustre and disappointing Nintendo’s E3 2008 press conference was, especially for hardcore Nintendo fans, there’s some pressure’s on Nintendo to make a big splash at E3 2009. We predict a slew of new core-focussed game announcements, including the world first look at the next home console Zelda game. Kid Icarus is already heavily rumoured, so we expect to see something on that, and a reveal on New Super Mario Bros. 2 just so DS owners don’t feel left out. Not only will they be announced, but they will be released in 2009, too, just in time for Christmas. Those doubting the Zelda prediction know this: By November time it’ll have been three years since the The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, a decent length of time that makes the stupendous series ripe for a return to Hyrule. Bide your time Nintendo fanboys. 2009’s going to be good.

Agree? Disagree? What are your top Nintendo tips for 2009? Let us know in the comments section below.