Even though Nintendo had already made it known that the tentatively named Nintendo NX won't be fully revealed until 2016, Nintendo's president Satoru Iwata has been peppered with questions about Nintendo announcing or talking about the device at E3 2015. Well, Iwata has reiterated that the Nintendo NX won't be announced at E3 2015.
Kotaku quoted Iwata who reiterated that not only will the Nintendo NX not be present at this year's E3, but the long-awaited and very mysterious “quality of life” initiative by the company won't be discussed at this year's E3 either. Iwata stated...
Incidentally, we’re getting various questions for this year’s E3, like ‘Won’t there be a NX announcement?’, ‘Will there be a presentation on smart devices?’, or ‘Will there be more on the quality of life platform?’ However, since we understand that E3 is an event for dedicated video game machines, we do not intend to discuss the smart devices as well as quality of life.
It's very interesting that he mentions the “smart devices”.
One of the rumors that are low on the radar but still kicking around is that Nintendo could be entering the smartphone market. A Nintendo Phone of sorts that would rival the likes of Apple's iPhone, except with dedicated gaming capabilities. It's an interesting rumor because it poses two very important questions: who would Nintendo network with for the phone services? And would dedicated mobile gaming on a phone device cannibalize sales of their portable gaming devices such as the Nintendo 3DS?
Strangely, most gamers aren't too worried about Nintendo's next step in the console space and many are expecting that the Nintendo NX could be a bridge between the company's home console and mobile gaming initiatives.
It's an interesting position that Nintendo is in because the Nintendo NX is such a mystery that it's easily going to overshadow whatever it is Nintendo may have planned for this upcoming E3. That's not to mention that one of the biggest games that gamers have been excited about for the Wii U won't be at this year's E3 either... The Legend of Zelda.
The new rumor is now that The Legend of Zelda could be pushed back in order to coincide with the release of the Nintendo NX. However, that seems a bit unlikely given that E3 2016 would likely be Nintendo just announcing the new console as well as finalizing their big AAA titles for the Wii U before focusing on the release of the NX in 2017. There's no way they could release the NX with a strong enough first-party line-up when many of their heavy hitters just released for the Wii U, including Mario Kart 8, Super Smash Bros, Pikmin 3 and Star Fox is due for release this year. Releasing a new console without any major first-party titles is a death knell for the system. So 2016 looks unlikely as the launch date unless the Nintendo NX isn't actually a home console and it is a focus on mobile efforts.
I guess the one thing we do know for sure is that the NX won't be announced or show up at this year's E3 but it leaves a lot possibilities open for whatever the Big 'N' has planned for 2016.
