Editorial: GDC Surprise from Nintendo (by Carl B.)
February 28, 2011, by Carl B. - The Game Developer's Conference has never really been known as a place for publishers to announce new titles like E3 is, but in recent years, Nintendo has done just that. In 2005 Nintendo showed off the first "story" trailer for Twilight Princess along with making a mention of Nintendo's next home console, known as the "Revolution" at that point in time. At GDC 2009 Nintendo announced a new Zelda game (Spirit Tracks), a solution to the Wii's storage woes, and the Virtual Console Arcade. Those announcements, among others in different years, were all made during a keynote speech by Satoru Iwata. This year, at GDC 2011, Satoru Iwata will once again be presenting a main keynote speech, and if history is anything to go by, we can expect some sort of big announcement or surprise from Nintendo on March 2, 2011.
To back up my speculation, GDC Global Brand Director Simon Careless recently hinted at Nintendo making an announcement, saying "this year we have keynotes from companies like Nintendo, who are in a position to announce things if they wish to."
The Nintendo 3DS will definitely make an appearance at Iwata's keynote, but I only see it making a small cameo. Nintendo have already hosted press events in New York City, Amsterdam, and Australia that detailed information on when the system will be available, how much money it will cost, and what titles will be available day one. Since the 3DS came out in Japan this past weekend, expect Nintendo to talk a little bit about how the system is selling well and how it is the ideal platform for indie developers with 3DSWare launching this May. The biggest 3DS-related announcement or reveal that is likely to happen is a media blow-out for the eShop and some details on what systems will be on the Virtual Console and 3D Classics services.
The most likely reveal for Nintendo to make would be to show a brand new trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, specifically one that has footage of locations that are actually in the game -- the demo showed off at E3 2010 wasn't an actual place in the final game. Skyward Sword has had more than six months of development time between now and when it was first unveiled, so expect a much more polished game. I also wouldn't be surprised if it featured a completely different art style than what was shown at E3 2010. A release date isn't very probable, as the game will be making a second appearance at E3 before it's finally released.
Mistwalker's The Last Story released in Japan on January 27, 2011, and received very good commercial reception. Due to their official Twitter account being in English and the high amount of media that is continually released for The Last Story -- even after its Japanese release -- that leads me to believe that the game will indeed be localized in North America and Europe sometime in 2011. The Wii doesn't have many upcoming games we know about, either, so that makes the chances of The Last Story being localized that much better.
Pandora's Tower and the new Kirby adventure for Wii are somewhat likely to make an appearance, with new trailers being shown off for both games. Kirby Wii may see release before E3 since there's a rumor floating around that the game has been in development for several years now, but Pandora's Tower will probably receive more detailed information at E3.
Two final predictions that probably won't happen: details on a Xenoblade localization and information on the Wii's successor. When asked about Xenoblade coming to North America Nintendo have always declined to comment, so this game may see the route of Captain Rainbow and Disaster: Day of Crisis. The Wii was first talked about at GDC 2005, so it isn't crazy to think that Nintendo will talk about their next home console, but there's no way they'll formally show it off with the 3DS releasing around the world at the end of the month.
What do you hope Nintendo will announce at GDC 2011?
