Your guess is as good as ours.

Man, we're a week away from getting our minds blown into smithereens from all the crazy revelations Nintendo will (hopefully) throw our way. Though, I can tease the one bit of E3 news I know but you don't (teehee) and say that Nintendo isn't the only company with a cool surprise for us portable game players.

But color me excited for next Tuesday. I don't have too much more to say, and I've got one more of these Letters From The Director before the big day, so I might just end the speculation and let you know what's going down.

James.C treats himself to a delicious Zelda-themed snack.

As some people may remember from a previous blog entry, I'm a self confessed Gachpon addict, no matter how many little toys, mobile phone accessories and figurines I have, I can't resist picking up any Nintendo themed one I pass by!Today however I was passing through the chocolate and candies section of a local supermarket and saw a box with Link on the bottom shelf mixed in with other sweets. (cue Zelda "found secret" sound effect)The box read "Zelda Spirit Tracks Figurine Collection - eleven characters plus 1 secret to collect! I looked on the back of the box and saw a cool looking Link and Zelda, how could I resist getting an awesome figurine and a delicious choclate snack?As with any randomised thing, there is always some trepidation that I might get something crappy like Anjean, but I might get Link or a mini train! Oh the excitement,  let's see how it went:

Nick tries to prove he is retro enough with this mock commercial.

My Super Nintendo classic controller arrived the other day, and one of the things I came up with other than writing a review for it, was to make my own Super Nintendo styled commercial!

So here it is, hope you all get some laughs out of it. And remember, stay RETRO-RAD!

The HD upgrade for Sega and Headstrong's excellent rail shooter is a killer app for me.

I can't say I'm surprised that Sega and Headstrong Games are bringing The House of the Dead: Overkill to PlayStation 3, complete with new levels, HD graphics, and Move support. I can say that, for better or worse, I must own a Move controller, possibly two, by the time this game comes out in October.

And I hate Sega and Headstrong for that, but for good reasons. I love The House of the Dead: Overkill. It might be my favorite game on Wii. It's one of the best rail shooters I've ever played. It also has a stupidly awesome and gross Grindhouse-style story and excellent music, complete with even better remixes. To top it all off, they say the "F" word. A lot.

Our beloved dino expert is undergoing a major surgery.

Our great friend, staff writer, Newcast member and dinosaur fanatic Zachary Miller has announced that he will undergo a major brain surgery in order to combat an infection. I am not one to speak on anyone's behalf, but since I see the whole site as one big family, I would appreciate it if you send your get well wishes and thoughts to him and his family. Zach is being a trooper, handling this with his unique brand of humor. But a little hope goes a long way.

All of the staff members at Nintendo World Report believe that you will pull through, Zach! Hang in there and get well soon!

Seriously, I'm not really a Nintendo apologist. Maybe.

I've been musing lately about how, on the past few episodes of NWR Newscast, I've settled into the Nintendo apologist role. I'm kind of bothered by this a little bit. Listen to the episodes (#54 and #52) in question to catch up.

My love for Nintendo is vast, and it really stems from the idea that they make games I like. Do I hate games such as Halo, Call of Duty, and Portal? Not at all. I enjoy them when I play them, but they don't get me as excited as your Zeldas, Marios, or even your Punch-Outs. Those are the games I grew up with, and those are the games I still enjoy immensely. Nintendo's design style just works for me, generally.

Guest Writer Aaron Edwards tells what he thinks Project Café needs.

For the last console generation, the Wii has stood apart from its competition. Where Microsoft and Sony pushed the boundaries of graphics and processing power, Nintendo stuck with a simple but noble motto: gameplay comes first. As a result, we received the Wii: a console with power just above that of the GameCube and a motion controller. At first, the gaming community met the Wii with a reserved marvel at the prospects of motion-controlled gaming. But now Nintendo’s console is often met with eye rolls and weary sighs. Despite its reputation, the Wii has become an enormous success and helped shape the generation as we know it. Nintendo’s affordable hardware and family-friendly approach have captured a market thought unreachable en masse: the casual market. Grandparents and non-gamers bought Wiis for Wii Sports and Wii Fit...and little else. Still, as far as console sales go, the Wii has had almost unprecedented success in the current generation.

Overall pretty useless.

Exciting story about this special edition: it took like six weeks to get to me. I'm not sure whether the United States Post Office has started using box tortoises to make deliveries, but I was going crazy after about two weeks because Best Buy's website claimed I'd get it in between seven and ten business days. This did not happen. I really wanted the special edition for reasons I don't remember now, and had I known then what I know now, I would have saved the ten extra dollars it cost. With the recent announcement of Soul Calibur V, I thought it might be a good time go over the previous game's special edition, as it might serve as a warning against buying the next game's premium version.

StreetPassing ain't easy, but there might be good days ahead.

When Nintendo announced StreetPass back at E3 2010, it seemed like a fantastic idea. Unfortunately, there is a harsh reality for the service outside of Japan, specifically North America: our culture makes things such as this nearly worthless. In Japan, the concept of StreetPass is likely mind-blowing, especially as the system gains more traction. Their commuter culture makes for a wonderful way to swap data. But in North America, it has a large potential to fall flat. Outside of kids on school buses, who the hell else is going to use this feature often?

Want to know what's slated to hit NWR this week? Read on.

In an effort to keep you folks in the loop, I'm going to write about what's in the works here at Nintendo World Report for the week ahead. Want to know what reviews folks are working on? Want to know what features are launching soon? Read this every week to find out.

Next week, we should have a rare occurrence in these new-release-barren times: multiple reviews. Jared Rosenberg's review of MDK2, last week's WiiWare release, should be going up today. Josh Max is writing up the review for the Wii version of Thor, developed by Mushroom Men and Ghostbusters Wii developer Red Fly Studio. He should be starting Dream Trigger 3D, that crazy-as-bullet-hell shooter from D3Publisher, right after that.