Iwata GDC Keynote Summary

For the first time in three years, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata took the main stage at the Game Developer’s Conference, in order to give the keynote address. Not surprisingly, he took to talking about how Nintendo was attracting new consumers while keeping hold of older ones, which led to a series of announcements that both crowds could enjoy.

A major focus of the presentation was the upcoming launch of the Nintendo DSi, specifically DSiWare. The Nintendo DSi Shop, as it will be known, will utilize Nintendo Points in a similar manner to Wii Points; they can be bought on your DS via credit card, or you can pick up Points Cards in stores. Applications will be priced as either free, 200 points, 500 points, or 800+ points, but anybody who heads to the DSi Shop before October 5, 2009 will receive 1,000 free points to do with as they please. Iwata also introduced two upcoming DSiWare games: Moving Memo (not the final name), which allows users to create a digital flipbook, and WarioWare: Snapped!, which brings the DSi Camera into the world of Wario’s microgames.

To round out DS news, Iwata announced a new handheld entry in the Legend of Zelda franchise. The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks will have Link utilizing a steam engine train to navigate the world, while inside of dungeons, the players will not only utilize new items, but will switch control between Link and a new character, called Phantom. The game won’t be playable at GDC, but an E3 demo seems likely at this point.

Downloadable games on WiiWare, of course, are an excellent way for developers to try new ideas, as Iwata pointed out. He pointed to an upcoming WiiWare title called Rock N’ Roll Climbing, in which you use the Wii Remote, the nunchuk, and the Wii Balance Board to simulate the experience of rock climbing. That wasn’t the only downloadable revealed, however; the Virtual Console Arcade is already live, allowing players to download fully-fledged arcade titles to their Wii at about 500 Wii Points apiece. Currently available for download are Gaplus (which is actually 600 points), Mappy, Star Force, and The Tower of Druaga; soon to come are games like Space Harrier.

With all this new downloadable content, Nintendo has finally seen fit to unleash its Wii storage solution on the world. Starting today, Wii owners can update to System Menu 4.0, which allows players to save games to, and play them from, their SD card or High Capacity SD card, without having to continually organize their Wii Channels. There does need to be enough empty space in the Wii’s memory to run the game, equivalent to the size of what you’re trying to play, but the system update also includes an option to have the Wii automatically manage your memory, so you can have that space cleared up without going to the trouble of doing it manually.

As one final note, release dates for two games were noted. Excitebots: Trick Racing will be released on April 20, while the new Wii Punch-Out!! title will be released on May 18.

This is definitely a lot of information. I’m loving the SD card update, and the Virtual Console Arcade; I wish I was at home with my Wii so I could try them out.