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GDC '09: Zelda makes a bang, DSi makes a whimper

Iwata says disappointingly little

GDC '09: Zelda makes a bang, DSi makes a whimper
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DS

Jon prepared himself for an onslaught of hot Nintendo news to liveblog right here on Pocket Gamer this afternoon, and was ready and eager - as we all were - as president Satoru Iwata came on stage.

“Okay, GDC introductions over. Cue small, slightly portly Japanese man onto stage. Wearing a leather jacket,” Jon expectantly announced.

Unfortunately, that was the most interesting thing that happened.

In lieu of any real announcements, it seems the Big N took the opportunity to remind us – or, perhaps, try to convince us – that it’s still the number one games company, and everything it does is completely awesome.

Miyamoto apparently makes games and is really really good at it, we were told. Girls buy DS consoles, shock horror. The DSi can be used as a flip book with the Moving Memo application coming to DSiWare.

What we needed to hear was at least one good, solid reason as to why we might want to buy, or upgrade to, a DSi. We love the DS passionately, so we don’t need all that much convincing, and yet Nintendo had very little to say. Until the end.

To be fair, WarioWare Snapped could be an intriguing novelty, and the Virtual Console would undoubtedly be briefly appreciated, but these aren’t the killer apps that Nintendo’s new console desperately needs.

To top things off, Nintendo’s biggest announcement of the show was its new Zelda game - on the DS. True enough, it’ll work on the DSi too, but the fact that it’s a GDC showstopper is evidence that the DS hasn’t been superceded - least of all by the DSi.

Spanner Spencer
Spanner Spencer
Yes. Spanner's his real name, and he's already heard that joke you just thought of. Although Spanner's not very good, he's quite fast, and that seems to be enough to keep him in a regular supply of free games and away from the depressing world of real work.