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Nintendo dates their next system (NX), delays 'Zelda,' announces new smart phone games

Nintendo decided to drop a lot of news on people in a press release this morning. Not all of it was good. In fact, a lot of it has people on social media asking, "Is Nintendo in trouble?"

"Probably not," is the answer. That question gets asked all the time. It was asked when people didn't understand the Nintendo DS or the Nintendo Wii, both of which went on to be extremely successful systems.

Nonetheless, some of the news is a bummer not just for Nintendo, but for its fans as well.

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Let's start with the biggest:

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Nintendo's next system, code named the NX, is coming out March 2017

Or at least that's the plan.

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Nintendo had previously said that more information about the NX would be unveiled at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), which is happening in June. The company now says that the NX will not make an appearance at E3, and will instead by unveiled later this year.

That part surprises and disappoints me, because I'm very much looking forward to seeing what the NX actually is, as Nintendo has given us almost no information about it. The release date for the system, though? I'm not shocked. Many people have been guessing that the NX would launch this holiday season (2016), but I've always argued that it would be too early.

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March might sound like a weird time for a video game console launch (we're used to seeing systems come out around November, in time for Christmas shopping), but the month of March previously hosted the Japanese launch of the very successful PlayStation 2 as well as Nintendo's own Game Boy Advance and Nintendo 3DS (in the US). If rumors are true and the NX functions as a hybrid console/handheld, then launching when Nintendo handhelds have launched before makes sense.

'Zelda' on Wii U is delayed until 2017, because it's coming to the NX as well

Nintendo fans will remember that The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess launched simultaneously on the GameCube and the Wii, and many people have assumed that the Wii U Legend of Zelda game would meet the same fate.

They were right.

The as-of-yet-untitled Zelda game for Wii U will miss its 2016 release date and now launch alongside an NX version of the game. Nintendo says, "both versions of the game have been in development in tandem." Whether or not you believe that the Wii U version of the game actually needs more work or is just being delayed because of the NX version is up to you.

'Zelda' will be at E3 ... and it will be the only playable game Nintendo has at the show

Nintendo has backed away from E3 little by little over the past few years. They've instead focused on doing "Nintendo Direct" presentations throughout the year rather than spend money with a big, flashy press conference like Sony and Microsoft have.

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But to focus all of their efforts on one game, and only one version of that game, is unheard of from them, and it's an unexpected move.

You could pessimistically (and somewhat accurately) say that Nintendo simply doesn't have any other games to show, but that's not entirely true. Paper Mario: Color Splash is coming to the Wii U this year, Pokemon Sun & Moon are coming to the 3DS, there's a Kirby game, a Metroid game... It's not a lot, but there's stuff. It's stuff that they might still show off via a video, but it's weird that none of it will be playable.

Nintendo's first smart phone app, 'Miitomo,' has 10 million unique users

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It wasn't exactly what many people hoped for when Nintendo announced that they would be making cell phone games, but the social media app/game Miitomo has been a surprise hit. Since launching in March, the app has attracted more than 10 million users worldwide, leading to more than 300 million conversations within the app. Users have also created more than 20 million "Miifotos" within Miitomo.

As a way of celebration/thanks, Nintendo is going to be having a 10-day "Celebrating 10 million users!" promotion between April 29 and May 8. They don't say what that promotion will actually involve, however.

'Animal Crossing' and 'Fire Emblem' games are coming to smart phones this fall

Since Miitomo has been such a success, it will be interesting to see what Nintendo does next in the mobile space. They've announced the next franchises that will make the jump: Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing.

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Fire Emblem makes a heck of a lot of sense. It's a turn-based strategy game that can work well with a touch screen. Nintendo says the smart phone game will be "more accessible" in comparison to the games available on their dedicated gaming systems, but that's not much of a surprise.

The other series coming to mobile is Animal Crossing. That doesn't mean that a fully-fledged village life simulation (like the mainline Animal Crossing games people know and love) is coming to your iPhone, though. There's a good chance that this will be some sort of spin-off. Nintendo only says that the game "will be connected with the world of Animal Crossing for dedicated gaming systems," which might mean that a new, big game in the series is in development for the NX. We can hope, anyway.

Both apps are scheduled to be released this fall.

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