Today is day one of the 2011 Game Developer’s Conference, and to kick things off Nintendo has just finished presenting their keynote. While a lot of things we see at GDC are more business oriented, we do get a couple of gold nuggets to provide to the consumer.
Satoru Iwata, President of Nintendo, started off showing a few quotes from different developers in the industry stating, “All developers can learn from each other at GDC, and Nintendo is no exception.”
Mr. Iwata proceeded to show off some slides about the numbers and demographics in the gaming industry, showing off how numbers have fluctuated over the years. Iwata also showed some of the titles that have made Nintendo who they are such as Mario, Zelda, Donkey Kong, and Pokemon. Along with those titles, he feels that the Nintendo 3DS will be in the same category as the titles above, and will launch the company into new territory. As Iwata’s last statement, he says Nintendo feels more compelled to provide social integration in their products, and the 3DS will be pre-installed with programs like Mii Maker and Face Raiders.
Iwata introduced Reggie Fils-Amie, President of Nintendo America to the stage. Fils-Amie got right into things on the network side of the 3DS and announced a partnership with Netflix that will bring the company’s streaming service to the handheld device. He stated that you will be able to stream from the 3DS and pick up where you left off on the Wii. This is no surprise as you can do this with all other Netflix-enabled devices, but a nice feature nonetheless.
Other content ultimately available for the 3DS include 3D trailers, 3D video recording, as well as a custom short film service developed specifically for the 3DS. Along with these features you will be able to utilize 100,00 AT & T WiFi hotspots for free starting in late May. This is in addition to the always-on internet service they announced last month called “Spotpass” which allows you to connect to other 3DS devices directly and potentially have automatic firmware updates pushed to your device.
Also coming in late May is Nintendo’s eShop. The eShop will give you the ability to transfer your DSi purchases, and also includes new titles, the virtual console, and 3D classics (remastered games in 3D similar to the re-release of Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time). A web browser will also arrive at the same time, and will not use Opera, but another, Japanese-based browser instead, although if you have a smartphone or laptop, you probably won’t use it much. Still, the 3DS OS allows you to switch to the browser in the middle of the game, which may make looking up walkthroughs easier.
Nintendo also offered up a temporary logo for an upcoming Super Mario 3D game with a hint of raccoon tail from Super Mario Bros. 3. No information was really given, but you can expect there to be more at this years E3. They also mentioned the latest in the Zelda franchise, Skyward Sword. They showed off a new trailer that introduces some new enemies and shows a little gameplay to go along with it. Check out the video below for the latest information and trailer directly from the keynote.
All in all it was a pretty informative keynote, and Nintendo offered a sneak peak into what hopefully is another great year at E3. Keep checking VividGamer.com for all the latest news coming in from GDC 2011.
[Source: Joystiq]
