The big news that will be coming out of this conference will, of course, be the launch date and price of the 3DS. Whether or not any launch info will pertain to areas outside of Japan, I don’t know. However, it’s no secret that there have been rumors of leaks abound.

• A Japanese company manufacturing 3DS accessories had revealed that they will be releasing said accessories on November 20th, 2010 in a tweet that has since been deleted. Source
• A german tabloid had stated that the 3DS is scheduled for launch in Spring 2010 at a price of 200 euros. However, this can prove to be false as this would fall under Nintendo’s launch window, being after the end of the 2010 fiscal year. Image
• There are also rumors that a Gamestop employee leaked info from the company’s database that the handheld will launch in the US on November 22nd. Even moreso it was leaked that Dragon Ball 3DS would have a November 11th release, which adds more fuel to the fire and adding that the date could be even earlier than that. That being said, 3DS preorders may start taking place tomorrow as well. Source

We only have a few hours until we know the truth for sure.

Until then, this is what I’ve predicted:

Release: November 20th (JP), November 28th (NA), Q1 2011 (EU) (I had to spite all the people saing Nov. 22nd)
Price: 249,000 yen/$269.99 ($299.99 CAD), 200 euros – (NA preorders to start either tomorrow or Thursday)
I’m predicting that the design of the 3DS won’t change all that much, but am hoping that the start/select/home buttons along the bottom of the touch screen will be moved.

Anyway, it’s that time again. Let’s take a look at what to expect from the gaming industry in the next quarter:

Again, help is always appreciated identify worthy games-to-come

NORTH AMERICA

Xbox 360:
July 1st: King of Fighters 98: Ultimate Match
July 20th: King of Fighters XII
July 22nd: TMNT: Turtles in Time Re-shelled
July 28th: Gears of War 2: All Fronts Collection
Possibly near the end of July: Marvel vs. Capcom 2
August 14th: Madden NFL 10
August 25th: Batman: Arkham Asylum
September 1st: Guitar Hero 5
September 8th: Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, NHL 10
September 9th: The Beatles: Rock Band
September 22nd: Halo 3 ODST

Playstation 3:
July 20th: King of Fighters XII
August 14th: Madden NFL 10
August 25th: Batman: Arkham Asylum
September 1st: Guitar Hero 5
September 8th: NHL 10, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2
September 9th: The Beatles: Rock Band
September 22nd: Need for Speed Shift, Katamari Forever

Wii:
July 7th: Tales of Monkey Island
July 26th: Wii Sports Resort
August 14th: Madden NFL 10
August 24th: Metroid Prime Trilogy
September 1st: Guitar Hero 5
September 9th: The Beatles: Rock Band
September 15th: Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, NHL 2K10
September 29th: Dead Space Extraction

Nintendo DS:
Today: Megaman Starforce 3: Black Ace/Red Joker
August 24th: Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box
Sometime in July/August: Flipnote Studio (DSiWare)
September 1st: Duke Nukem Trilogy: Critical Mass
September 15th: Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, Scribblenauts
September 29th: Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days

Playstation Portable:
August 25th: Dissidia: Final Fantasy
September 1st: Duke Nukem Trilogy: Critical Mass, Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny
September 8th: Disgaea: Dark Hero Days
September 15th: Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2
September 22nd: SMT: Persona, Need for Speed Shift
October 1st: PSP Go

PC:
Today: GTA PC Trilogy
July 1st: Street Fighter IV (Fight pad bundle on the 7th)
July 7th: Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 1
August 25th: Batman: Arkham Asylum
September 27th: Need for Speed Shift

EUROPE:

Xbox 360:
August 28th: Batman: Arkham Asylum
September 9th: The Beatles: Rock Band
September 17th: Need for Speed Shift
September 22nd: Halo 3 ODST
September 24th: Metal Gear Solid Rising
September 25th: Dead Rising 2, Tekken 6

Playstation 3:
August 28th: Batman: Arkham Asylum
September 9th: The Beatles: Rock Band
September 18th: Need for Speed Shift
September 25th: Dead Rising 2, Gran Tourismo 5

Wii:
July 10th: The Conduit
July 24th: Wii Sports Resort
September 9th: The Beatles: Rock Band
September 25th: Red Steel 2 (Remember for this that WMP is MANDATORY for this game.)

Nintendo DS:
September 25th: Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box
This is seriously the only thing coming out on the DS in Europe in the next three months that actually looks good.

Playstation Portable:
September 11th: Dissidia: Final Fantasy
September 18th: Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2
September 25th: Gran Tourismo PSP
October 2nd: PSP Go

PC:
July 3rd: Street Fighter IV, World of Goo
August 28th: Batman: Arkham Asylum
September 18th: Need for Speed Shift

JAPAN:

Xbox 360:
July 30th: Gears of War 2 (Wow… this late?)
September 24th: Halo 3 ODST
Most of the good Japanese stuff are just existing games being relaunched as platinum titles.

Playstation 3:
September 17th: Tales of Vesperia
Once again, most of the good stuff is just be relaunched as greatest hits titles.

Wii:
July 23rd: Punch-Out!!
August 1st: Monster Hunter 3
August 6th: EA Sports Active
September 17th: House of the Dead: Overkill

Nintendo DS:
July 11th: Dragon Quest IX: Hoshizora no Mamoribito
August 6th: Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood (You mean they actually went through with localizing that piece of shit?)
September 12th: Pokemon Heart Gold/Soul Silver

Playstation Portable:
July 2nd: Hatsune Miku: Project Diva (Yes, I know…)
July 16th: Ys I & II
August 6th: Tales of VS. (a.k.a. the date that Namco Bandai says they have no intention of localizing the game anywhere outside Japan, as usual.)

PC:
July 2nd: Street Fighter IV
There’s also a crapton of other PC games that I don’t think I could care about on this side of the Pacific, although with my understanding of Japanese I have to laugh because a lot of them seem to be part of the “Eroge Text Adventure” genre.

That rounds out the games to watch for this quarter, and hopefully Arkham Asylum won’t end up in my Q4 post three months from now. This is only a warmup for what’s to come, though.  Come the fourth quarter, everything’s gonna be jam packed!