Zelda and Mario teams hard at work

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has confirmed that the Zelda and Mario teams are "both hard at work" to "bring new titles to Wii".

Speaking at Nintendo's E3 2008 press briefing, Iwata-san stopped short of revealing what those title were, or when they may arrive, leaving observers with few clues of the company's plans for its most historically popular 'core' brands.

Instead, the Nintendo boss focused on reflecting how dramatically the fortunes of the company had changed since 2003.

Iwata-san said that at E3 2003 "almost everyone attending held a pessimistic view of Nintendo's future."

"That view was not enjoyable," he admitted, "but I knew people were just using what seems to be a common sense view of the videogame market.

"I must admit that even Nintendo employees could not have imagined five years later that the market could respond so quickly that we could be selling millions of...bathroom scales," he added, referring to the current worldwide success of Wii Fit. "Common sense doesn't make as much sense any more!"

Indeed, Nintendo's 'common sense' approach of old would have been to wheel out a stellar new sequel. That, however, was well and truly abandoned this year, with almost zero concession made to its so-called 'core' audience throughout the 70-minute briefing.

With many seasoned observers expecting at least one major 'core' gaming announcement, fans of Zelda, Mario, Metroid, Donkey Kong, Yoshi, or even Starfox were left wondering when, or even if, the Japanese veteran will be unveiling its latest additions to its pillar franchises in the near future.

For more on Nintendo's E3 press briefing, check out our Livetext report.