With any luck, E3 will bring an end to the recent drought of Nintendo Wii games and news. After impressive sales and a handful of great titles, Nintendo's newest system has been just sitting quietly with little in the way of compelling games or interesting news for months. Nintendo might be planning a major announcement for E3, but they're playing it close to the vest.
Possibilities for the Wii itself range from the nigh-inevitability to the hopeful dream. Most likely, Nintendo will announce a new range of colors for the Wii. While the little system's simple, white finish looks good enough, fans have been clamoring for a black version at the very least. If Nintendo is planning more colors, I speculate the company announcing at least a black version, probably a silver-gray version, and some bold color such as red or purple.
Colors aren't the only possible announcements, but they are the most likely. Wii fans have speculated on the possibility of a new, hard-drive-equipped Wii coming out. While it's certainly possible, a Wii hard drive is highly unlikely; the Wii lacks the multimedia capabilities of the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360, and most downloadable content still fits easily on the system's 512MB internal memory, or a slightly larger SD card. The Wii might also be getting long-awaited DVD support, though we haven't heard anything about it in months. GameSpot reported in late 2006 that Sonic Solutions was working on some sort of DVD playback product for the Wii, though we've heard precious little since then.
Though the system itself doesn't look like it'll change very much, the Wii's game library is another story. Nintendo's Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and Super Smash Bros. Brawl will probably steal the show with new gameplay videos, though SSBM isn't going to be playable at the show. Don't be surprised if Nintendo also unveils a new title or two, such as a Wii-oriented Mario Kart game. Nintendo isn't the only company working on Wii games, though; prominent third-party exclusive titles include Capcom's Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles; Square-Enix's Dragon Quest Swords and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers; and Namco's Soulcalibur Legends. Though LucasArts still hasn't announced any new title for the Wii yet, I'm still hoping for a Wiimote lightsaber battle game on the way, too. And not just Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga.