Retro Studios recently worked on 2010's Wii game Donkey Kong Country Returns, and last year's Mario Kart 7. For the studio's future, legendary game designer Shigeru Miyamoto said it isn't out of the question for Retro to work on the Zelda franchise; however, the Austin-based developer is currently too busy to take on the series.

"In terms of them working on a Zelda, it's not out of the question, certainly, for them to work on an entire Zelda game amongst themselves," Miyamoto told IGN when asked about the Austin-based studio's current project. Miyamoto has said Retro is capable in the past, but added that geography would be an issue.

"Traditionally I think that the Zelda team has always had a close contact with anyone who's working on a Zelda game. If you were going to have that happen in the US at Retro, that would be kind of difficult for them to be able to coordinate." Miyamoto added that Retro is "too busy for that sort of thing right now" anyway, joking that he'd likely have to move to Texas – where Retro Studios is located – since a Zelda game requires his involvement, as well.

Retro Studios is capable, but coordinating overseas with Kyoto would obviously be a big hurdle. "Retro is very busy right now, but I'm afraid I can't say exactly what it is," Miyamoto added. So either way, it looks like we can rule out that game being called The Legend of Zelda.

This is a column by Kat Bailey dedicated to the analysis of the once beloved Japanese RPG sub-genre. Tune in every Wednesday for thoughts on white-haired villains, giant robots, Infinity+1 swords, and everything else the wonderful world of JRPGs has to offer.
As I was going through my E3 schedule, I realized something remarkable. I found that I was actually more excited to be meeting with XSEED than with Square Enix. A far cry from 2009, to be sure, when I practically sprinted onto the show floor to play some Final Fantasy XIII.

Now that E3 2012 is over, for my column, I decided it would be an interesting idea to rank the current Japanese RPG developers based on the software lineup they showcased at the event.

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Nintendo is wavering between remaking The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past for 3DS and remaking Majora's Mask, Shigeru Miyamoto told IGN. "We haven't quite decided yet, whether we're going to do A Link to the Past, because there's also the possibility of doing a remake of Majora's Mask," Miyamoto said. "This is something we've certainly been talking about and doing a little bit of experimenting with, to figure out which way we're going to go."

Miyamoto said that now that the company has the dual goals of expanding the 3DS audience and building up the Wii U library, "we have lots of good opportunities in terms of thinking about which Zelda game is going to be best for which purpose." That suggests that one of these remakes could end up as a Wii U release.

We knew that Nintendo planned to release the "majority" of its retail 3DS games digitally on eShop going forward, but a note in an E3 investor presentation from NOA president Reggie Fils-Aime reveals plans to release third-party games digitally as well.

"We've got a massive list of AAA content on the way from all of the biggest names in gaming," Fils-Aime said, "that are all proven franchises, all exclusive to our platform, and all coming to stores both in physical and digital formats in the second half of 2012." Accompanying this statement is a slide featuring confirmed eShop/retail releases New Super Mario Bros. 2, Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, and Paper Mario: Sticker Star, along with third-party games Kingdom Hearts 3D, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate, Scribblenauts Unlimited, and Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion.

Unless this slide isn't meant to lay out the "massive list of AAA content," we can expect to see all of these games on the eShop alongside their retail releases.

The new emphasis on collecting coins in New Super Mario Bros. 2 may seem like an insubstantial change for the series – after all, there have always been coins everywhere, and it's always been a good idea to collect them. But I think that this subtle shift in goals subverts the nature of Mario more than it seems to.

The chief goal in Mario games has always been survival. You're expected to traverse the level, defeating as many enemies as possible along the way, so that you reach the end without death. Coin collection, along with discovery of secrets and acquisition of points, have always been secondary goals. Now, coin collecting is front and center (well, still behind not dying) and those background elements are among the most important.

NSMB2 increases the importance of coins by keeping a running count through your whole game. It also makes sure money is on your mind by putting coins absolutely everywhere. They curve around moving platforms like in New Super Mario Bros. Wii (highlighting some engine improvements over the DS game), they fill up secret areas inside special gold pipes, and they just generally make up an overwhelming presence in the stages.

There's even a new powerup that's all about coins: a gold Fire Flower that causes everything in its explosive path (enemies, blocks) to turn into coins. The other powerup new to NSMB is the raccoon tail, which works just like in Super Mario Bros. 3. You know that one already. Coins were previously just a thinly veiled signpost to show you the path through a level, but now they're the central element of the level.

Having only played a single level, I don't know how pervasive or interesting the greed motif will be in the full game. I just love that it's possible to tweak a single element of a very familiar series to make something new. I also love coins, so it's a promising game.

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Harvest Moon creator Yasuhiro Wada and publisher Natsume revealed their next project together at E3. "Project Happiness" is a new IP in which you run a shop in a small village, buying and selling items to improve the shop and learning the stories of all the customers who come in over the years. Natsume later revealed plans to put it on 3DS and mobile; during an interview at E3, Wada said it was planned for a "variety of platforms."

Wada recruited top talent to create his new game. Character designs, for both humans and the adorable "sprite" creatures that inhabit the world, are by Pokemon character designer Atsuko Nishida. The music, including that heard in the above trailer, is composed by legendary Final Fantasy series composer Nobuo Uematsu.

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Going into my interview with Pokemon Conquest director Hisashi Koinuma, the DS strategy game seemed like the most inscrutably random agglomeration of properties imaginable. I couldn't begin to imagine a reason anyone would think to merge Pokemon with Nobunaga's Ambition, a strategy game about real Japanese warlords.

Koinuma cut through the confusion without trouble, in an instant. "It would be nice if players would become interested in Nobunaga's Ambition," Koinuma said in response to my question about Conquest as a Nobunaga's gateway. "But as Tecmo Koei has created a lot of simulation titles, we wanted to introduce the genre of simulation games to children. It's not so much that we want them to start playing Nobunaga's Ambition as an entry point, but just as an entry point to the genre of simulation games."

Of course! It all makes perfect sense as a first strategy game to pull kids into the genre. "Especially in Japan," he continued, "the number of users of simulation games has really dropped over the years, so in order to keep people interested in that genre, we hope that kids would play this game and would take it as a suggestion of 'oh, simulation games are like this.' Then in the future they'd continue playing simulation games."

Koinuma believes that the hardcore nature of strategy/simulation fans leads the games to become ever more difficult and less accessible to attempt to satisfy said fans. "At the same time, there are people who want to start trying simulation games, well, now the games on the market are a lot more difficult, so it's a lot harder to learn how simulation games. Some new users are kind of turned off by the genre because it's too difficult."

Sure, you couldn't be in Los Angeles with us for this year's E3, but that doesn't mean you have to miss out on the sights and sounds of the LA Convention Center's neon light-littered, bass-pounding show floor. Nintendo's booth is no exception, with approximately a trillion Wii U game kiosks, not to mention 3DSes attached to "booth models" with all variety of game. Take a gander just above to see for yourself.

Amazon identified two major tropes in this year's E3 games, and then, to our delight, rounded up all the games featuring these tropes in a promotional page. Allow us to present: "E3 Helicopter and Bow Titles."

Everything from Brave (bow) to Beyond: Two Souls (helicopter) to Tomb Raider (helicopter and bow) is conveniently collected for your helicopter and bow game needs. It even links out to a few already-released games featuring helicopters and bows, for the impatient helicopter/bow enthusiast.

If peripheral maker PDP's booth had a theme at E3 this year, it was to be as bright and colorful as possible. From "Rock Candy" controllers in a rainbow of colors to glowing controllers, headsets and even HDMI cables, everything was designed to stand out on drab, utilitarian entertainment centers everywhere.

Netflix, Swapnote, The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords, Pokedex 3D, and Nintendo Video have each been downloaded over one million times in the US alone, Nintendo's Scott Moffitt just announced. What do these random apps have in common?*

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After a 3DS software showcase in which no new 3DS software was announced, Nintendo surprised us all by tweeting confirmation of a North American release for Fire Emblem: Awakening, the 3DS iteration of the popular strategy role-playing series. There's no release window, but Nintendo promised "more info to come" -- we'd expect a press release in the morning.

Turns out Twitter was the real news source the whole time, and this whole E3 thing was a red herring.

During Nintendo's 3DS showcase, Warren Spector and Dreamrift's Peter Ong showed off Epic Mickey 2: Power of Illusion, and revealed that the 3DS game will join its console counterpart at retail on November 18.

Ghost-busting 3DS holiday title Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon will be available for purchase in both retail and digital formats. We were previously told that "in principle" Nintendo's first-party 3DS titles would be available in both, and it appears the company is keeping to it.

Paper Mario: Sticker Star will also be available both "physically and digitally" this holiday season, along with New Super Mario Bros. 2.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate will launch in fall this year and will include Symphony of the Night alum Alucard in some capacity, Konami announced at an E3 3DS press conference today.

Mirror of Fate will be one of developer Mercury Steam's final 3DS titles, along with its console iteration currently in development, Lords of Shadow 2. It will use StreetPass, we learned today.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate, the 3DS title in development by Mercury Steam, will incorporate Nintendo's StreetPass feature, allowing players to swap game data simply by walking past one another. Mercury Steam and Konami confirmed its integration today at E3.

Mercury Steam developed a brand new engine for its 3DS installment and now has 100 people working on Mirror of Fate and its companion console title, Lords of Shadow 2. Both games operate in the same Lords of Shadow universe, at the same time, but Lords of Shadow 2 will conclude Dracula's storyline while Mirror of Fate tells the Belmonts' tale.

Mercury Steam will be finished with the Castlevania franchise after these titles launch.

There's a reason Theatrhythm received top billing in Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy, as the game could expand into a series beyond the Final Fantasy franchise. Ichiro Hazama, producer at Square Enix's 1st Production Department, told us the publisher has plenty of intellectual properties where the formula could be applied.

"Our company has so many other IPs that create great music, so if you ask if I want to do it? I want to do it, but nothing is determined yet," said Hazama. "In my mind, it was my intention that if it expands to other franchises that would be great. That's why this title carries Theatrhythm first and Final Fantasy comes next."

Hmm, that opens up the series to possibilities like Theatrhythm: Kingdom Hearts... or Theatrhythm: Hitman.

Danica Patrick, NASCAR racing star, is a playable character in Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed. This is despite being a real human person and not a cartoon hedgehog, confined monkey, or any other kind of Sega all-star.

Sega is returning the favor by sponsoring a special Sonic-themed car for Patrick to drive at the O'Reilly Auto Parts Challenge on November 3.

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I don't know what Adventure Time is, but my compatriots at Joystiq have led me to believe it's quite popular. Here is a giant inflatable balloon of it, as seen in the South Hall of E3 2012.