Nintendo News latest ahead of E3 2019 (Image: NINTENDO)

Nintendo received some good news about their popular Switch console this week which will no doubt prove a boon to owners.

It has now been confirmed that the Nintendo Switch has passed the lifetime sales of Sony’s PS4 in Japan.

And while this won’t directly affect those who have bought one of the handhelds over the past few years, it’s still very important news.

When the Switch first launched, analysts were impressed by the initial sales clocked up.

But there were also cautious tones being shared, as something similar happened with the Wii, only to see sales plummet in the long term.

And that’s without counting the abject failure of the Wii U, which led to Nintendo and third-party developers cutting back on game production for it.

However, with the news that the Nintendo Switch has now sold over 8.1 million units in Japan, there is no doubt that the console is worth supporting.

According to a new report, the Switch has taken two years to catch up with the PS4 in Japan, which has been available on the market for five.

The official total, for now, is 8,125,637 Nintendo Switch consoles sold, compared to the PS4’s 8,077,756.

That leaves the question over what new gaming projects could be announced by Nintendo and their partners during E3 2019.

We already know that Pokemon Sword and Shield will be one of the star exhibits during Nintendo’s Direct showcase, having previously been announced.

It will undoubtedly take up a chunk of the proceeding unless Nintendo plans to drop a special Direct event for it before E3.

The Nintendo Direct E3 2019 live stream will begin at 18.00 CEST on June 11 and will focus entirely on software.

This means games, with the company confirming that no new consoles will be unveiled.

Nintendo will be showcasing games scheduled to launch in 2019, so that limits the news that will be shared by the company.

After the Direct event, Nintendo Treehouse: Live coverage will begin, giving viewers a more in-depth look into select games.

So what other projects could be featured during Nintendo’s E3 2019 event?

Two Zelda ports have been reported as coming to the Nintendo Switch, although it’s unclear if they are planned for 2019.

If The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess are being planned for the Nintendo eShop this year, we can probably expect their announcement in June.

There has been no mention on when such projects would be released on the Nintendo eShop, or if there would be new features included.

A recent report did specify that Twilight Princess HD would be launched on the eShop only, alongside Wind Waker as digital products.

“I don’t know what the Best Buy ‘Link To The Past’ listing is but according to a few sources, Twilight Princess HD and Wind Waker HD are both coming to the Switch eShop,” the Stealth Twitter account posted this week.

“Might be related to the Best Buy listing, might not. This is just a rumour so grains of salt and all that.

“The primary source for this is someone who told me about over 15 games WAY earlier than when they were announced, so I was confident enough to post it, but it really is a rumour until official.”

We already know that the remake for Link’s Awakening is in the works and looks set to be featured among the new 2019 games.

But unless we get a few more juicy Nintendo leaks before the big expo, we may be in for a few surprises.

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