[hypoconsequence_blog]

If you missed the news, this past week was host to the Nintendo Media Summit. Among the news stories crashing RSS feeds were some release dates for upcoming Nintendo titles including Metroid: Other M and Super Mario Galaxy 2. Now it is certainly possible that the decision makers at Nintendo realized there are twelve months in a year and 52 weeks worth of release dates instead of the ones between Thanksgiving and New Years. It's possible that these games were always scheduled to come out in the Spring to capitalize on a typically slow release schedule. Ironically it would seem that Sony and Microsoft had a similar thought process. God of War, Heavy Rain, Mass Effect 2 and a handful of other high profile games have highlighted the beginning of 2010. With Super Mario Galaxy 2 coming out May 23 and Metroid: Other M in June, Nintendo is positioning these first party favorites well in advance of the holiday season potentially as an attempt to capitalize on the market before store shelves become over saturated with offerings. Or, if you have a tin foil hat handy, maybe they are ensuring these games are released before the fall season because they are afraid something else is much more likely to capture their audience and they do not want to lose potential sales. But that can't be true, cant it? Is it possible that Nintendo is afraid of Project Natal?

More...