Nintendo Locks Down Its E3 Schedule, Announces Direct

Nintendo finally has its E3 ducks in a row, according to a report from Nintendo Life. And if the company's schedule is any indication, it's shaping up to be a very busy week.

We'll start with the most important event first: the Nintendo Direct presentation. Odds are, we're going to get a healthy look at most of the games Nintendo has planned for the rest of 2019, and we may even see a few titles that are slated for release in 2020 and beyond. We know Super Mario Maker 2 is on the horizon, as is Fire Emblem: Three Houses and Pokemon Sword and Shield. But there are some games we haven't heard from in a while. Remember Town, the new project from Game Freak? And what about the next Animal Crossing? That's supposed to come out this year. The remake for The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening has a 2019 release window, but we've not seen that one since February. And Luigi's Mansion 3 has been ghosting us for quite some time.

Nintendo's E3 Direct is scheduled for June 11 at 9 a.m. PT. And the company was very insistent on letting us know that the stream "focuses entirely on software," so don't hold out hope for seeing one of those new Nintendo Switch models.

After the Direct, Nintendo will go live on the E3 floor with its Treehouse segment. We can't really say for sure what Nintendo will be doing here, other than having some Treehouse staffers talk more about the Direct. There are sometimes informative bits in the Treehouse streams, but more often than not, they're usually full of fluff. So you likely won't miss much if you tune out once this starts.

Oh, and one last thing. Nintendo plans to hold tournaments for both Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Splatoon at E3. These will take place a few days before the Direct stream on Saturday, June 8, and you can watch them by checking out Nintendo's various video channels on Twitch and YouTube. We don't have specific start times for the tournaments; all we know at this point is that "competition is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. [PT]."

We'll undoubtedly have smoke pouring out of our keyboards during the week of E3, so be sure to stop by for all the latest news from Nintendo's Direct (and the rest of the E3 presentations).