GDC 2007 Post-Show Roundup Part 1 - Nintendo

This year's Game Developers Conference marked a sort of industry transition. With the longtime front running industry event once known as the Electronic Entertainment Expo (a.k.a. E3) downsizing this year, the focus now begins to shift to GDC and other remaining large-scale videogame-related events for major announcements and other new developments in the industry. Therefore, for my first-ever post-show roundup, it is my aim to focus on the biggest highlights for each major videogame platform in three separate parts. For part one, I shall aim my focus on events related to Nintendo.

Would you like some Internet with that DS?

First off, for those of you addicted to Wi-Fi and do not own a PDA for handheld web surfing, Nintendo has distributed web browser software based on Opera to almost the entire world (and to Europe and Japan in particular). Problem is, here in the States we continue to wait for our turn to browse on our handheld game player (provided we only own a DS and not a Sony PSP). Well, I come to say that we need not wait too much longer: The DS web browser is finally coming to America. While price and availability is yet unknown, we do know this: the browser will arrive on June 4.

Does "underpowered" mean "piece of [expletive]"... or not?

Now we all know by now that the hit Wii console is theoretically (and perhaps literally) underpowered compared to its competition. However, you really do have to ask this: Does that mean we can deride it as complete junk? During a morning rant session at GDC on Wednesday, EA developer Chris Hecker did just that: he blatantly called the Wii a "piece of [expletive]!" During his expletive-ridden tirade (all information courtesy of IGN), Hecker compared the console to "two Game Cubes stuck together with duct tape [sic]" and demanded that Nintendo first "recognize and push games as serious art [sic]" and to "make a console that doesn't [double expletive]." He even went as far as to say that he did not even think the company even "gives a [expletive] about games as an art form." Of course, Hecker apologized the next day, but you do have to wonder if he "flip-flopped" like a confused politician.

Release Dates aplenty

Yet even Nintendo itself pushed out very little useful information, which was most likely due to a major stock trade currently in progress - after all, they certainly had no intention to disclose too much information and send the stock price sliding the wrong way. One of the things they did release, though, was a set list of upcoming releases for the Wii and DS. The release dates are as follows:

Upcoming Wii releases:

• Super Paper Mario: April 9 - Nintendo
• Prince of Persia Rival Swords: April - Ubisoft
• Bust-A-Move Bash - April - Majesco
• Bionicle Heroes - April - Eidos
• May 15 - Mortal Kombat: Armageddon - Midway
• May 29 - Mario Party 8 - Nintendo
• May - Tamagotchi Party On - Namco Bandai
• May - Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean at World's End - Disney Interactive
• May - Escape from Bug Island - Eidos
• May - Spider-Man The Movie 3 - Activision
• June 11 - Big Brain Academy - Nintendo
• June 25 - Pokemon Battle Revolution - Nintendo
• June - Cosmic Family - Ubisoft
• Spring - Heatseeker - Codemasters
• Q2 - Legend of the Dragon - American Game Factory
• Summer - Shrek the Third - Activision
• Summer - Transformers the Game - Activision

Upcoming DS releases:

• April 22 - Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl -Nintendo
• May - Pirates of the Caribbean 3 - Buena Vista
• May - Dragon Ball Z: Harukanaru Densetsu - Atari
• May - Pony Friends - Eidos
• May - Diner Dash - Eidos
• May - Touch the Dead - Eidos
• June 4 - Nintendo DS browser - Nintendo
• June 4 - Planet Puzzle League - Nintendo
• June 11 - Touchmaster DS - Midway
• June - Zendoku (Eidos
• Spring - Naruto Ninja Council 3 - Tomy
• Spring - Time Ace - Konami
• Spring - Death Jr. and the Science Fair of Doom - Konami
• Q2 - Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon - Natsume
• Summer - Shrek the Third - Activision
• Summer - Transformers: Autobots - Activision
• Summer - Transformers: Decepticons - Activision

The above release date information comes straight from Nintendo via this press release.

Online play for Wii owners en route

Also in the press release linked above is the announcement Wii owners have all been waiting for: online play is finally coming to the console this summer. Starting with the U.S. release of Pokémon Battle Revolution, Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection matchmaking becomes available on the Wii console, completing the rollout of the system's WiiConnect24 functionality. Speaking of online, an upcoming new Wii channel currently in the works will allow people to compare and rank the most popular Miis in circulation, according to Nintendo videogame legend Shigeru Miyamoto.

From positive to negative and back

Which brings me to Miyamoto's keynote speech at GDC: in an hour-long presentation, the master game designer explained that the videogame industry has changed over the years, and displayed pictures of Pac-Man and Donkey Kong, as well as his younger self, to back up his point. "Guys in neckties were playing videogames back then," he joked as he described the progression of the videogame industry. Moving to 1998, Miyamoto noted that games like Goldeneye 007 and Ocarina of Time were the best-sellers that year - both very different from the early days of software.

However, in 2004 videogames increasingly appeared as a negative experience for players, according to Miyamoto. "So even as sales went up, our reputation as an industry went down," he explained, adding that he began to find himself at a crossroads around this time wondering, "Would my style of games still be accepted by future users?" That line of thinking, as Miyamoto explained, led straight to the development of both the DS and Wii, which in turn boosted the positive side of videogames - and even attracted his wife to gaming, as evidenced by a component of his presentation that he referred to as his "wife-o-meter."

Finally, Miyamoto displayed the latest footage of the upcoming Super Mario Galaxy, noting that the scheduled release date for the game will definitely happen later this year.