
Online, motion control and 3D are the "three pillars of growth" that will stand out at this year's E3, says Lazard Capital Markets Colin Sebastian -- who says that software showings might actually turn out to steal the show.
With the industry buckled in for an uncommonly long hardware cycle, it's iteration, not overhaul that's the theme. In that respect, Nintendo hardware looks to have the least life ahead of it, and according to the analyst that's drawn some doubters.
Expect a "Wii refresh" by 2011, he says, but for now, Nintendo's big "wow factor" at the show will be the 3DS. But with a launch months away, "we believe the company’s fortunes this year will depend more on new first party software in the pipeline, such as Zelda and Metroid," says the analyst.

Square Enix launches Final Fantasy X 25th anniversary site, revealing new Nomura art, books, music releases, and merchandise.
Look I know VIII has its issues and all that but how on earth can the do big anniversary events with new artwork and merchandise for VII, IX and X yet VIII got sweet f*** all.
They could have given it something during its 25th anniversary yet all it got was a single Happy Anniversary post on their social media.

The Wii is now a retro console. Let’s get nostalgic about an often maligned system.
Crazy to think the WII is to the Switch 2, as the NES was to the WII back then. 20 Year difference.
My wife asks me to bust it out (heh) everyone once in a while to play bowling and tennis with the kids. There was a ton of slop on it but some good stuff as well.
Wii was great but boy howdy did it cause Microsoft to go on a dark walk with the Kinect and the disastrous XBox One launch that they arguably never recovered from.
Not nostalgic for me.. I was there.. anyone who wasnt a little kid realized it was a gamecube with shit tacked onto it, it was the "joke" system and was well below even the switch in terms of comparing it to the latest machines at the time. The machine was well loved by young people and "casual gamers" who now remember it 20 years on, or in most cases more of its sales came in the 15-20 years ago range not right at launch- but again its not nostalgic for people who were "gamers" then really, just for those who ended up with one in their house, the games , graphics, interface and online features were archaic already in 2006.

A brutal reset, a smarter story, and a return to what made it great—Mortal Kombat (2011) revived the series.
15 years went by so fast. I remember playing through the story mode at launch.
Oh God seriously what a statement....
"Despite the 2 biggest hardware developments in the last 2 years and maybe a PSP2, the biggest video gaming show is still about software."
Seriously, a 2-year-old could have said that.
I HATE these "analysts", these self-proclaimed experts. Why don't they just spare the whole internet their mighty knowledge..
I know we're in the biggest E3 hype stage, and there are people who just suck every article up, but come on ... there's got to be some limit.
This is what I've been telling everyone for months. Its all about the software. You can have the greatest hardware ever created, but if you don't have the software to go with it no one cares.
What its always been about?
aside, Sony always wins when it comes down to software.