I’ve already written about how excited I am for Nintendo’s next console.  And it’s a safe bet that I’ll be writing about it again in more detail after the E3 press conference where it will be unveiled. (That will be June 7 at 12pm Eastern, for those of you who are interested.)

But I have a prediction about what Nintendo will reveal at E3, and specifically how it will affect the next Nick’s Marathon. And since I absolutely LOVE being right, it’s worth it to make this proclamation now.

(If I’m wrong, I’ll never bring it up again. Obviously. I HATE being wrong.)

PREDICTION:
The next Nintendo home console will be launched with a new New Super Mario Bros. game.

Therefore, Nick’s Marathon 2012 will be scheduled around the release of not only a new NSMB game (as it was in 2009), but also around a whole new video game system!

Now let’s not get too excited about this prediction, as I could of course be totally wrong. Or worse, this exact announcement could be made in June 2011, only to be derailed by a later postponement. (It’s happened before.)

So is it likely? You never know what surprises Nintendo has in store. But it seems like it would be a smart move for the company to release their next system with a sequel to one of the most successful video games ever made. The next console Zelda game is (as of now) coming to the Wii this year, so it seems unlikely we’ll get a new Zelda for a while on the new system. And Team Mario is hard at work cranking out Super Mario 3DS, also meaning that a 3D console game could be down the road a bit. But a 2D Mario? I say it’s a sure thing! (The 2D Mario games are developed by a different team than the 3D games, which is how NSMBWii and Super Mario Galaxy 2 were able to be released only six months apart.)

The strongest argument against my bold prediction is that all signs seem to point towards the next system courting the “hardcore” gamer, while Super Mario games tend to appeal more to the “family friendly” sector. But Nintendo would be wise to cater to both demographics; while they want to lure new customers in, they don’t want to alienate the people who bought the Wii – and NSMBWii specifically – en masse. So give the hardcore gamers some stunning graphics games where you shoot Nazi alien zombies in shockingly graphic detail. And then give the rest of us a new 2D Super Mario Bros. game!

NSMBWii was the perfect game for Nick’s Marathon – 4 player co-op that you can drop in and drop out of easily. It was not super easy, but it was challenging enough to take the better part of the weekend to beat the game. And having a brand new game helped us get some exposure (and donations from strangers!) online.

I’m also hoping that the system will launch in the spring of 2012 instead of before the holidays, since scheduling NM at the end of the year is extra tricky. But that is not part of my prediction, as I have a gut feeling (not really based on anything) that the system will launch in the late fall like the Wii did.

So yeah, there’s definitely some wishful thinking here on my part, and I can’t deny that. But I stand by my prediction!