5 Companies Nintendo Should Buy? Your Thoughts?

I have been thinking about this topic quite a bit lately, the Wii and DS continue to pull in the cash, and with the recent E309 under its belt, Nintendo has succeeded in fully supporting each branch (core and casual) of gamers.

With that covered, and profits still souring, who would you want Nintendo to buy up and consume into a first party studio?

Recent Purchases/Funded Studios:
Monolith Soft. (Baten Kaitos, Disaster: Day of Crisis)
Project Sora (Founded by the creator of Super Smash Bros, and his team)
Retro Studios (Metroid Prime series)

Other development studios are likely owned by Nintendo (such as Grezzo Games), but those are the official ones that have been announced via press release.

Here are the 5 studios I would hope Nintendo adds to their ranks.

5. Cing & Town Factory
I imagine these two can be had for a fairly small sum, and they have already had strong relations with Nintendo in their short life span. Nintendo will be publishing their newest Wii game (Another Code R) in all territories (as of this writing). They have also worked together on the Hotel Dusk games for the DS and the previous Trace Memory game.
That was all Cing, Town Factory is the developer who was pulled in to help out with the development of Little Kings Story (the other Wii game they have produced). Little King's Story has received amazing reviews so far, and I would love to see what these two could do together (with Nintendo's funding as an added bonus).

4. Sega
Now Sega is a different animal when it comes to money and how much it may cost to grab them, as it would likely cost a very large chunk of profit to carry over and incorporate someone as big as Sega. This would be a financial risk that I fear Nintendo would never take, but if they did the payoffs could be huge.
The payoffs would come in multiple fashions, Nintendo could inject some of its own developers into Sega and push them more towards a Nintendo quality development studio. Then Nintendo gets to happily relinquish many games from the competitors (no Virtua Fighter, Sonic, Golden Axe, Valkyria Chronicles for anyone), those titles being exclusive to Nintendo would be huge, and with the rights of something like Sonic placed in Nintendo's hands you have a large quantity of potential.
Overworks(Valkyria Chronicles), Prope (Lets Tap), Smilebit (Panzer Dragoon), would all be included in the deal, and Nintendo would also grab a large share of the arcade game business.


3. Treasure
Not an unlikely choice, as Nintendo has bought out Monolith Soft. shortly after announcing that they were creating a game together. Treasure would work in the same style as that purchase, with Sin and Punishment 2 being developed by Treasure and Nintendo as we speak.
Treasure's cost? Likely nothing near that of Sega, but a large enough sum to warrant a slight concern, but I believe that Treasure could be put to work on some core games, filling in a need that Nintendo does not necessarily "need", but could improve on.
Nintendo would also relinquish full control over the Sin and Punishment franchise, along with stakes in Gunstar Heroes and Mischief Makers, and the rights to Ikaruga.
Out of this list I would place Treasure as one of the more likely studios to be bought out by Nintendo in some form.

2. Factor 5
You could probably find the employees of Factor 5 in court these days, after claiming that the studio did not pay them for 2 months and then laid them off unfairly.
Still, Factor 5 is Factor 5, and they have an uncanny knack for making the best out of nothing in the graphics department. Factor 5 could likely be had for extremely cheap (as it would only be the name, and then rehiring of the employees), and I'm sure most of them would be happy to get on with life after Factor 5's sudden close, so working for Nintendo is probably a step in the right direction for many of them.
Grabbing Factor 5 also means grabbing the Turrican series, a welcome addition to a genre Nintendo is lacking in (as of now, at least). Factor 5 could also be the perfect developer for Star Fox, perhaps handing the rains to them for a long period of time and allowing them to create something like Rogue Squadron with it would be a good thing for that franchise.
Factor 5 has also worked with Nintendo before, and were once considered a second party studio until their departure to create Lair for the PS3. Still, the relationships should hold true on most levels, and I'm sure Factor 5 would be forgiven and accepted, if the right price and opportunity came along.



1. Whoever Nintendo Decides They Want
Might sound like a lame answer, but it is the best one available to us as Nintendo fans. Perhaps they have looked at the 4 I mentioned above and have already decided that they are not worth the trouble, or maybe they are not willing to work for Nintendo and would not be a good choice in keeping the company nice and together. Perhaps Nintendo has already found a slate of developers they want to buy, and they are signing the papers right now, or maybe they are completely content with what they have (and lets face it, they have quite a bit). Whichever way it turns we will have to trust that Nintendo can continue to produce quality games for the DSi and Wii, and whatever comes after those, it's the best we can hope for and the most we can say in the matter.

What studios would you want Nintendo to buy? Comment below.

The Legend Of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (DS) Announced

In a surprising turn of events Nintendo president Satoru Iwata announced The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks(tentative title) for DS today, showing off a short video(pictures below) and announcing that it would be available later this year for the DS.

The game will feature the same basic graphics styles as The Legend Of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass for the DS had. The new twist for this game is that, instead of a boat like Phantom Hourglass had, you will be using a train to maneuver around the world(see video below). It's an interesting concept, and one that could turn out to be a ton of fun come Winter 09.

*UPDATE*
Here is the official announcement trailer, shown at the press conference today.

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks Announcement Trailer:

What I Expect At E3 This Year

Note: None of this is confirmed in any way, these are just my thoughts on what could happen at E3 this year for Nintendo. Nothing is 100% for sure.
Nintendo is expected to put it all on the table at this years E3, announcing future hardware, games and features for the Wii and DS. They have rented the Kodak Theatre for the presentation, which can only mean that something big is brewing over at Nintendo HQ. What should you expect at E3 this year? Here are my thoughts.

Games:
I expect Nintendo to announce a lot of games this year. So far the Wii lineup this year consists of Animal Crossing, Kirby, Warioland and Disaster: Day Of Crisis, and while that is a nice lineup it seems...I dunno, small? Not to mention they only have one other announced WiiWare game that hasn't hit the states yet, and they have a very minimal amount of DS games in the works. So I expect a lot of announcements, big franchises and maybe even some new ones thrown in, along with hands on gameplay of at least 3 out of the 4 games I listed above.

What To Expect(From Games Already Announced):

Kirby Wii-Already announced for release later this year in Japan, though we have seen absolutely nothing about it(unless it turns out to be the Gamecube game that was cancelled a few years back), I expect this game to be shown off and playable on the E3 floor this year.
Animal Crossing Wii-Another game already announced for Japanese release later this year, but again we have seen nothing about it. So I expect a large reveal and some playable demos(at least behind closed doors).
Disaster:Day Of Crisis- Nintendo bought Monolith for a reason, and I have a feeling this game was the reason. It has been in development since before the Wii was released, and only a few gameplay videos have been released. I expect full playable demos at this years E3, along with solid release dates.
Warioland: Shake It!- This game is set to release within the month(in Japan), so expect the game to be playable at E3, along with a real US release date.
Fire Emblem DS- This game will be hitting Japan by the end of the Summer, and with the news that it will indeed be coming to the US this year I expect it to be playable at E3, along with some news on the added features(because remember, it is a remake of the first Fire Emblem).
Pokemon Platinum- We know it's coming, but we don't know when. I expect release dates for this game as well.
Mario Super Sluggers- The game is completed and has already been released in Japan, and with a release date set for August I would bet a lot that this will be playable at E3.
Wii Series(Wii Chess and Wii Music)- We saw Wii Music in action a few years ago, and I honestly thought that it was just a fun little feature that they were using to show off the Miis, but now it has grown into a full blown game. With more then 2 years of developement put into it I expect it to be playable along with release dates for the US and Japan. Now Wii Chess has never been seen before, is it a WiiWare game? Full blown Wii game? Will it have online? Hopefully all of these questions will be answered at E3.
Fatal Frame IV- Grasshopper is developing it, but Nintendo is publishing it? With rumors that Nintendo may have bought the rights to the franchise I expect Nintendo to showcase more of this game at E3.
Band Brothers DX, Kirby DS, Glory Of Hercules- I would expect Nintendo to announce localization for all of these games, as well as having them playable at E3.

What To Expect(From Games They Haven't Announced):

Wii-
Starfox Wii-In an interview last year Miyamoto said that he had indeed started testing for Starfox Wii, but since then we haven't heard much about the little fox and his crew. Could this be the year that they show us a true Starfox sequel? I would say that while it is likely, I wouldn't expect this until the October Conferences.
FZero (Wii or DS)- I would expect this game in some shape or form. I suspect the DS might get a shot at the FZero series at this years E3.
Kid Icarus Wii-With IGN talking about this game like it has already been announced, and Pit getting an appearance in Brawl I would expect Kid Icarus 2 to be announced at this years E3. Possibly the "Big Game" that Nintendo has been hyping up.
Fire Emblem Wii- With Fire Emblem DS near completion Intelligent Systems doesn't have much announced. I would expect something more from Fire Emblem or Paper Mario this year.
Paper Mario Wii- Like I said above, Intelligent Systems has no Wii games announced, and very few DS games. I would expect either another Paper Mario or Fire Emblem for the Wii.
Battalion Wars 3- For those who have beaten Battalion Wars 2 you will know that the game ends in a cliffhanger, meaning that it is only a matter of time until Battalion Wars 3 is announced.

Zelda Wii- Wouldn't it be the perfect ending for a game conference to show off a brand new Zelda? While we can't expect the game to be released until 2010, we can expect them to show us a teaser trailer this year.
New IP's- So far the Wii has seen only a few new IP's(Disaster and the Wii series), I wouldn't call it likely, but it isn't a crazy idea to think that Nintendo may be brewing up some new games to rival with Mario and Zelda.
Pikmin 3- It's most likely going to happen on the Wii, only question is, when? Miyamoto would love to visit the little turnip heads again, so who knows. It could happen.
Retro Studios-They have nothing announced. After Metroid Prime 3 came out 11 months ago, and since then they have lost a few of their key people, but they are still a big developement team. And they will be showing something off at E3.
Pokemon Wii- I dunno why people think an RPG style Pokemon will come to the Wii...it's one of the biggest titles for the handhelds, they wouldn't jeperodize that by making it for the Wii. The best we will get from Pokemon is another Pokemon Stadium.

What To Expect(Third Parties):

Treasure- They announced that they have two Wii projects in the works, and I would be shocked if they didn't show them off at E3 this year. Could we be getting a Gunstar Hero's sequel? Another Mischief Makers? What about Sin and Punishment for the Wii(oh please yes!). I don't know what to expect from them, but if I had to guess I would say Sin and Punishment is probably the most likely(first game to get localized via the Virtual Console for a reason maybe?).
High Voltage- If they are invited to E3(I don't know if they will be showing at all) I expect The Conduit to be a big hit. They will also show off Animeles De La Murete(playable) and whatever else they have planned for WiiWare(they already finished two games, they must have a few more right?).
Square Enix- The fate of Kingdom Hearts 3 will be revealed at E3(my bold prediction), but who will get it? I wouldn't be entirely shocked if the Wii ended up with a spinoff of Kingdom Hearts, but hey we may get the real deal. I also expect them to show off Final Fantasy Chrystal Chronicles, if that doesn't show up I would call it cancelled(it has been too long). I also expect them to have a great showing for the DS this year. Two Dragon Quests, Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy. Should be a great year for Square and the DS.
EA- They had a great showing last year, Medal Of Honor Heroes 2 with 32 player online. I expect another reveal like this from E3 this year. Hopefully just as good as Medal Of Honor Heroes 2. I also expect them to show off the Wii Remote features in Tiger Woods PGA 2009. Facebreaker will also be shown at E3, so expect some more info on that title.
Maxis- While they are technically a part of EA, they are noteworthy enough to list on their own. With Spore announced for the Wii and DS, expect some extensive previews and videos of these two games, along with first looks at Simcity Creator and Mysims: Kingdom
Ubisoft- They haven't done much for the Wii yet, but I expect them to show off Rayman: TV Party and announced Red Steel 2. If not, Ubisoft can go drop off a cliff for all I care(at least the Wii development studios can).
Atlus-With the latest Trauma Center being released in the U.S. I expect Atlus to show off a new Trauma Center(Wii or DS, they are all good), along with a few other RPGs for the DS/Wii. And a firm release date for Dokapon Kingdom in the U.S. would be appreciated!
Factor 5- With at least two Star Wars games coming to the Wii this year, I don't expect Factor 5 to announce anything Star Wars related. With rumors that they may have gone second party for Nintendo,(and been assigned either Pilot Wings or Kid Icarus) Factor 5 should have a nice show for the Wii fans this year, they should show what the Wii can really do.
Rainbow- Little known indie developer Rainbow will be bringing Deadly Creatures to the Wii later this year, I expect them to go in depth with the game and show us all how deadly the trantula and scorpion can be. IGN was impressed by the game, so lets hope for more previews during E3.
Konami- With the absolutely stellar Pro Evolution 2008 behind them I expect Konami to announce Pro Evolution 2009 and Elebits 2 for the Wii. Along with indepth looks at Castlevania: Judgement and Castlevania DS, along with Lost In Blue 3.
Capcom-With Spyborgs, Megaman 9, We Love Golf and Monster Hunter 3 to show off Capcom won't dissappoint with E3 this year. Will we get another shocker like we did last year with Monster Hunter 3? A new Resident Evil or Viewtiful Joe perhaps? We will see.
Tecmo- With Tecmo Bowl Wii and DS already announced I expect a ton of info on these two games, along with an official announcement of the Wii version(along with trailers please!). Also expect Rygar to show up, hopefully they will finnaly give that a true release date.
Krome- With two Star Wars games announced(The Force Unleashed and Clone Wars) I don't think they have the man power for anything else, so expect them to show off the Clone Wars and Force Unleashed exstensively this year.
Marvelous Interactive- These guys could steal the third party spotlight this year, with games like Harvest Moon, Rune Factory: Frontier, Arc Rise Fantasia, Little Kings Story and Oboro Muramasa Yotoden, they could showcase the best third party lineup for the Wii this year.
Expect at least two of the last four games to be announced for localization, along with Little King Story, Harvest Moon and Rune Factory playable.
Tomy- All Tomy has to show for the Wii this year is Naruto: Clash Of Ninja Revolution 2, and while the game looks to have the best roster of any Naruto game available, it's the features and gameplay that really count. Expect them to show off Revolution 2 and announce one or two more characters for it at E3.
Activision- Guitar Hero IV will be shown, and hopefully they will out do what Rock Band did on the Wii(looks like they will be doing that easily), they should also be showing off the drums and microphones for the Wii version. Call of Duty 5 will also be shown, hopefully they get a good online system for it, 16 players or more would be stellar. But since the developers haven't made a good Call Of Duty I wouldn't get too excited about this one.
Harmonix- Rock Band 2 should be shown at E3 this year, and while Rock Band was a disgrace on the Wii I think Harmonix knows what they are doing now. Hopefully Nintendo will reveal a hardrive and the Wii will be able to get downloadable content, like the other versions. Also expect them to show off the new set of instruments.
Namco- Though their first few Wii games haven't been anything to talk about(Soul Caliber Legends...), they seem to have cleaned up their act. Expect extensive coverage of Tales Of Symphonia 2, Sky Crawlers(made by the Ace Combat 6 team) and Fragile. Expect release dates for all three games(in the US).
Frontier- Small developer Frontier has already released a fabulous WiiWare game(Lostwinds), and with Lostwinds 2 already announced I would expect a few tidbits of info from E3 this year.
TellTale Games-With Strong Bad due out any day(for WiiWare), expect some news on the remaining episodes of the series, along with a look at what they are doing with Sam and Max on the Wii.
Hudson Soft-With 4 WiiWare games in development(including Joysound, Tetris Party, Bomberman and Alien Crush) expect a lot of info on localizations of these games. And, if it is coming, expect them to announce Mario Party 9 as well.
Blue Tongue/Helix-With De Blob getting a glowing preview from IGN I think it is safe to say this is going to be a game worth looking forward to. With Blue Tongue taking care of the Wii version and Helix for the DS version, I expect them both to show off De Blob at E3 this year. Sleeper hit of 2008(along with King Story) if you ask me.
5th Cell- With Drawn To Life getting a generally good reception on the DS, and THQ announcing a sequel for the Wii. Expect 5th Cell to announce that they are indeed working on a second Drawn To Life(whether it be the Wii version, or a new DS version).

What To Expect(Hardware):
Headsets? New Wii Channels? Hardrives? We could see any of these things at E3 this year. Heres what to expect.

Headset- High Voltage has mentioned that they want a headset for the Wii, and I'm sure EA would like to be able to use one. Nintendo would get a ton of points in the online division if they just announce a headset. Though it doesn't seem particularly likely.
Wii Channels- With all of the announced channels released Nintendo will likely announce one or two new ones this year at E3. Maybe they have found a way to bring the TV Guide channel to the United States? Maybe we will get a chat channel? Who knows, but expect a few new channels to be announced at E3.
Wii Hardrive- While Nintendo has stated that hardrives are for geeks and otaku they have to see that one of the glaring issues with the Wii is a lack of memory. I expect Nintendo to announce a solution of some sort at E3 this year. It's only right!
New DS- Games on the DS are starting to become numbered, is this because Nintendo has told developers to start developing for their new handheld? Maybe the DS will be getting a redesign(DS Lite) this year? Maybe just a few more colors will be announced? I honestly have no idea what to expect.
Wii Colors- They were shown way back at the conferences before the Wii was announced. With the Wii selling so much, and Nintendo having a hard time keeping up with demand I wouldn't expect these until at least next year. But if Nintendo wants to drive sales through the roof this holiday season, this is the way to do it.

There you have it, my views on just about everything Nintendo could do at E3 this year.
I will update this thread if anything new gets announced before E3, E3 runs from July 14-17, just twelve more days people!