When E3 came and went last year, it threw up more questions than it answered. You may say that it just goes with the territory, but 2011 certainly wasn’t the next-generation blow-out many had hoped for. Fast-forward almost twelve months and there has still been tantalisingly little revealed about Nintendo’s plans for its Wii U system. Perhaps the only safe bet is that the console will be Nintendo’s focus at its conference next month, but it’s always fun to speculate. To help guide your dreams and wishes, we’ve summed up the sorts of things to expect when the curtain’s raised on yet another carnival of crazy E3.

Wii U will be revealed... again

The blow-out never quite happened last year, with Nintendo choosing only to show off a provisional box, that contentious screen-embedded controller, and a number of tailor-made tech demos that may or may not become games released to the public. It leaves E3 2012 as the event that will surely have Nintendo answer most, if not all, questions about the system.

Neither price nor launch date will be revealed – at best you might hope for a release window, which is looking increasingly likely to be the back-end of the year rather than a surprise summer launch. It’s also looking virtually set that the name will not change, so if you were hoping to hear the end of “Wii U”, do yourself a favour and begin a process of acceptance. CEO Satoru Iwata has pinned this E3 as being the place Nintendo shows off the “final form” of the system, which has led some to speculate the console might be getting some aesthetic changes. The company made a point not to show off the console itself too much last year, so some small changes to the box perfectly on the cards. The controller is known to have received a few tweaks since a year ago, most notably the just-leaked revelation of traditional analog sticks. Rumours on the grapevine have further referred to analog triggers and clickable thumb-sticks. But again, it’s not likely any other major revisions have been implemented; anyone expecting an expensive, capacitive-with-multitouch screen shouldn’t be getting any sympathy.

Expect also that wholly speculative essays about the system’s power will be continued to be spewed out in the aftermath of the show, regardless of what type of games are showed off. ‘Anonymous reports’ ranging from how Wii U is actually less powerful than current consoles to it being a whole five times more capable have become run-of-the-mill now, and with Nintendo almost guaranteed not to divulge any hard specs, that will certainly continue.

Third parties and the way of the port

Third parties swiftly backed Wii U at last year’s E3 by pledging a number of their big games. Batman Arkham City. Assassin’s Creed 3. Darksiders 2. There’s a theme here, and it likely sets the tone for what to expect this time around too. The look-out for third party Wii U support will likely largely boil down to seeing which pre-announced Xbox 360/PS3 games will be confirmed to be getting a Wii U release. We’ll probably see the likes of FIFA, Madden, F1, Call of Duty, and perhaps not-yet-revealed multiplatform titles like Homefront 2.

That doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Depending on how developers utilise the controller, Wii U versions of some games might end up being the most interesting version (see Aliens: Colonial Marines). And of course multiplatformness doesn’t necessarily preclude big news – just imagine the megaton of the fifth entry of a certain blockbuster franchise being announced for Nintendo’s system.

Is the exclusive dying out?

They say the age of the exclusive is over and, well, that’s probably not too far from the truth. As Nintendo becomes the last of the major players to enter the age of HD, video game budgets are showing little sign of coming down. It just isn’t feasible for publishers to make big exclusives financially feasible. As such, it would be verging on foolish to hope for any dream third party exclusives to show up on Wii U.

There might be some exceptions. Ubisoft’s B-movie-inspired FPS Killer Freaks From Outer Space seems to have been turned into a Wii U exclusive to capitalise on the lucrative launch period, whilst its otherwise PC-only Ghost Recon Online is what you might call a half-exclusive. Whereas one of Wii’s biggest strengths was its varied range of smaller, unique exclusives from third parties, this probably won’t carry over to Wii U so much, at least not at the start. As such, don’t go expecting the likes of “Timesplitters 4, only on Wii U” come June.

Nintendo brings the big guns

Nintendo left a wide opening for third parties at the 3DS launch, and lived to regret it. The narrative since has been the company openly admitting they cannot afford to do the same for Wii U. Nintendo will be pulling out all the stops to be putting as many of its major franchises on Wii U as early as possible, which might make for a particularly fan-pleasing show.

We know Pikmin 3 is coming, and a new Mario game derived from the New Super Mario Bros. Mii demo last year is all but confirmed. Fan-favourite Retro Studios has been cooking up its project for a while now, and it might be utilised to please the more ‘hardcore’ section of the market. F-Zero has been a franchise begging for a return for a while now, whilst another Star Fox game is not entirely out of the question. And with producers keen to slash development time between iterations, don’t be too shocked to see the next Zelda game get a tease. Nintendo has a point to prove on Wii U this year, and you get the feeling anything can go.

Let’s not forget 3DS

It is simply the case that Wii U is the focus this year, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be anything of note for Nintendo’s handheld. Surely the most lucrative new reveal will be New Super Mario Bros. 2, while there’s still a hoard of first party goodness in Paper Mario 3D, Animal Crossing and Luigi’s Mansion 2 to come.

It might also be the E3 where western third parties show they want to step up on the system. They’ve been predictably lacklustre on 3DS thus far, but Iwata specifically emphasised to investors recently that western developers were starting to get behind Nintendo’s handheld like never before. Whether this actually translates into genuine surprises or not remains to be seen, but if not, at least there are gems like Renegade Kid and 5th Cell who will surely add a bit of western flair to the system. The future of 3DS is looking bright, and it should be a rather solid E3 for the platform.

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