Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata Headlines GDC 2011

[Greg Tito]

Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata Headlines GDC 2011

Nintendo's Big Cheese and Top Banana is set to deliver the keynote speech at this year's Game Developers Conference in March.

Satoru Iwata is no stranger to speaking before the game developers of the world. Back in 2005, his keynote speech gave us the first glimpse of the technology behind Nintendo's forthcoming seventh generation console which was codenamed "Revolution." That hardware would eventually become the Wii, and Iwata was proud of its ability to bring in new players. Last year's keynote speaker was strategy game giant Sid Meier and he shared [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/99093-Liveblog-Sid-Meiers-GDC-2010-Keynote-Speech] with us all his philosophy for designing games like Civilization. In 2011, the 25th year of the venerable Game Developers Conference, Iwata will give a speech called, "Video Games Turn 25: A Historical Perspective and Vision for the Future." GDC 2011 is scheduled from February 28th to March 4th at Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco.

"We are honored and pleased to welcome Mr. Iwata back to the keynote stage for our 25th conference," said Meggan Scavio, the director of GDC. "Nintendo continues to innovate and captivate developers and gamers alike, and we're looking forward to their unique insights into both the history and future of the game business."

It's a fair bet that Iwata will discuss his company's recent release of the 3DS handheld system - due out in Japan on February 26th with a subsequent release in the West. Does Iwata see 3D images as the future of videogames? Will he hint at an HD Wii, or his plans for the eighth generation of videogame consoles?

Well, you'll just have to check back in March for our GDC 2011 coverage. If last year is any indication [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/tag/gdc+2010], it's going to be full of innovative new games and developers sharing their design philosophies with each other.

Oh, and crazy strippers doing pole dances at industry parties [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/99001-Activisions-PR-Recreates-True-Crime-Location-at-GDC-Event].

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[Onyx Oblivion]

I'm really praying for someone from Konami to make an appearance, and announce another Metroidvania for the 3DS.

OoE was so damn awesome. And even Harmony of Despair was ****ing sweet, too.

Sadly, not too many game announcements come out of GDC.

 

[XT inc]

Maybe he can explain why no matter what I try and play on my wii I get filled with sad and go back to Pc and 360 games for another couple of months before I need a reminder why I don't touch the thing.

 

[mattttherman3]

His first line will be: Beat your current franchises to death, and then beat them some more!

 

[Korten12]

His first line will be: Beat your current franchises to death, and then beat them some more!

or: "We will continue to make sequels to our franchies! But if anyone else makes a sequel to their franchies, they're obviously milking it."

 

[righthanded]

His first line will be: Beat your current franchises to death, and then beat them some more!

or: "We will continue to make sequels to our franchies! But if anyone else makes a sequel to their franchies, they're obviously milking it."

More likely "Bobby Kotick is a ****."

Complain all you want that Nintendo doesn't make games like other companies and they tend to throw their mascots into everything and make as many sequels as they can--their games are still top notch.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

His first line will be: Beat your current franchises to death, and then beat them some more!

or: "We will continue to make sequels to our franchies! But if anyone else makes a sequel to their franchies, they're obviously milking it."

More likely "Bobby Kotick is a ****."

Complain all you want that Nintendo doesn't make games like other companies and they tend to throw their mascots into everything and make as many sequels as they can--their games are still top notch.

The main titles are...But shit like Mario Party, Mario Football/Soccer, Mario Hoops...That's the shit Nintendo is selling out with. They're TERRIBLE.

 

[Towowo2]

One could argue that the first 3 Mario Parties were good games.

 

[Delusibeta]

His first line will be: Beat your current franchises to death, and then beat them some more!

or: "We will continue to make sequels to our franchies! But if anyone else makes a sequel to their franchies, they're obviously milking it."

More likely "Bobby Kotick is a ****."

Complain all you want that Nintendo doesn't make games like other companies and they tend to throw their mascots into everything and make as many sequels as they can--their games are still top notch.

The main titles are...But shit like Mario Party, Mario Football/Soccer, Mario Hoops...That's the shit Nintendo is selling out with. They're TERRIBLE.

All of the above was outsourced to different companies. The Mario Parties was Hudson, Mario Football was Next Level Games, and Mario Hoops was Square Enix AFAIK.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

His first line will be: Beat your current franchises to death, and then beat them some more!

or: "We will continue to make sequels to our franchies! But if anyone else makes a sequel to their franchies, they're obviously milking it."

More likely "Bobby Kotick is a ****."

Complain all you want that Nintendo doesn't make games like other companies and they tend to throw their mascots into everything and make as many sequels as they can--their games are still top notch.

The main titles are...But shit like Mario Party, Mario Football/Soccer, Mario Hoops...That's the shit Nintendo is selling out with. They're TERRIBLE.

All of the above was outsourced to different companies. The Mario Parties was Hudson, Mario Football was Next Level Games, and Mario Hoops was Square Enix AFAIK.

Well aware of that. But Nintendo still gave them the right to do this shit with poor Mario and friends.

 

[righthanded]

His first line will be: Beat your current franchises to death, and then beat them some more!

or: "We will continue to make sequels to our franchies! But if anyone else makes a sequel to their franchies, they're obviously milking it."

More likely "Bobby Kotick is a ****."

Complain all you want that Nintendo doesn't make games like other companies and they tend to throw their mascots into everything and make as many sequels as they can--their games are still top notch.

The main titles are...But shit like Mario Party, Mario Football/Soccer, Mario Hoops...That's the shit Nintendo is selling out with. They're TERRIBLE.

All of the above was outsourced to different companies. The Mario Parties was Hudson, Mario Football was Next Level Games, and Mario Hoops was Square Enix AFAIK.

Well aware of that. But Nintendo still gave them the right to do this shit with poor Mario and friends.

Fair enough, but you don't see constant iterations of these games--even the good ones like mario tennis and golf. I think nintendo's problem lies a lot with branding and their hang up with it--it's like every genre and sub genre needs it's own set of mascots or they'll just dump mario and crew in.

They've certainly under milked the F-zero franchise... the gamecube one was one of the best and hardest fantasy racers.