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Guide for the Nintendo Fan at E3
IGN.Cube has details on what its expected Nintendo will be showing off at E3 this year. Whether or not the Revolution gets much airtime is up in the air, but it's anticipated that new DS titles and the system itself are going to recieve the lion's share of attention. From the article: "...we predict that Nintendo will put a noticeable emphasis on its DS lineup and -- save for the new Legend of Zelda -- downplay some GameCube titles. This move seems to make sense as many of the GameCube titles sure to be on display in playable form will either have been previously shown at another event, or will be on the verge of releasing in America. In contrast, we expect several major surprises for the publisher's portable system."
Part of me suspects this is a troll, particularly given the usual response that posts like this get on slashdot. However, part of me also agrees with it.
Development costs for new consoles and games are rising all the time. I'm not talking about the cost of manufacture here; it doesn't especially matter that MS used to lose money on every X-Box sold for the first year or two. I'm talking about the R&D costs of actually developing, marketing and rolling out a new console. The pace is being set by two companies with exceedingly deep pockets, Microsoft and Sony. Nintendo are profitable for the moment, but in any kind of long-term endurance battle, they know they couldn't hold on for long. Nintendo have already voiced frustration (and, some might say, fear) with the pace at which console cycles are progressing.
We've also seen Nintendo's game-development suffering a lot over the last two cycles, particularly during the lifespan on the Gamecube. The fanboys may like their new Zelda/Mario/Metroid games, but ultimately there just haven't been enough games selling enough copies. My personal guess is that the price of having to constantly develop new hardware has inflicted serious damage to Nintendo's game development capability, no matter what they say in their public statements.
As for Microsoft buying Nintendo... who knows. There's been speculation on this front for a long time, but nothing even approaching evidence of real intent on Microsoft's part. If MS did make an offer and the details were right, I suspect Nintendo would be mad to refuse it. Of course, Nintendo are an extremely "proud" company (which has been more of a problem than an asset over the last two console cycles), so who knows what they'd actually do in reality.