"Nintendo didn’t send us a note today so that we’d sit patiently for 160-odd days. They sent it to get people talking a bit more about their next-gen console, and to perhaps steal a little bit of Microsoft’s thunder around the just-launched Xbox 360.

We’re usually loathe to play the pawn, but speculation is rarely so fun, so let’s make some predictions about the press event to be held on May 9th. We’ll take five slots, readers fill in the next five.

1. The final console will not look like the little box pictured here. The system will occupy roughly the same physical volume, sans peripherals.
2. The console’s name probably won’t be “Revolution.” Companies can’t promise a revolution every five years and get away with it. The name will be functional but less prosaic than “Nintendo Entertainment System.” The name will evoke the system’s two core strengths: the back catalog and the controller. Access to Nintendo’s entire back catalog of titles might result in a name like “NES V”—a good name as it trumps the version numbers of both the Xbox 360 and PS3 while simultaneously reminding us that Nintendo started it all, way back when). The wand-like controller that promises to liberate us from today’s stale control schemes might result in a name that sounds like a magical incantation (e.g., “Abracadabra”).
3. It won’t be as computationally powerful as the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3. Imaginative power, however, is expected to be off the hook.
4. A respected third-party developer will be trotted onto the stage to announce an exclusive title for the system. Metroid Prime will be a launch title, too.
5. They’ll still withhold lots of key information about the system, including, perhaps, the price. They’ve gotta retain fuel for the hype engine leading up to a presumed fall launch in North America." [more]