GDC 2009 Nintendo Announcements

Nintendo’s president Satoru Iwata has revealed quite a few things during his GDC keynote today. I just wanted to go over a couple of the announcements that caught my eye.

1. Wii System Menu 4.0 revealed: This update includes an SD Card icon at the bottom of the main screen. Each SD Card will have it’s own menu with up to 20 screens. It will also lift the 2GB memory cap, allowing for high-capacity SD Cards. Wiiware and Virtual Console games can now be downloaded to and launched from an SD card directly without going through the Wii System Memory.

My Thoughts: The Wii is finally getting a storage fix, but not the one I was hoping for. A new USB Hard-Drive would have been a better solution, but I guess I will have to take what I can get for the time being.

Side Note: The update is available for download right now.

2. Final Fantasy: My Life as a Darklord and Final Fantasy IV: The After Years will both be coming to Wiiware later this year. Final Fantasy I and IV will also be released in the US, for the Wii, later this year.

My Thoughts: The first Wiiware Final Fantasy game did not do that well at all, so I have no idea as to why Square Enix is releasing two more of them. Releasing I and IV will offer some decent fan service to fanboys, but that is about all it will do.

3. Virtual Console Arcade makes it debut today, bringing classic arcade titles to Wii owners. Six games are already available, including Space Invaders and Mappy.

My Thoughts: I honestly cannot wait to get my hands on Space Invaders, but other than that, not too sure about this one. Only time will tell to see if it delivers the goods.

4. New Zelda DS game announced entitled “The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks” will be available later this year.

My thoughts: Nice to see another Zelda game coming to the DS, but how about the Wii, when will a new Zelda game be coming out on there. Disappointing, yet a good thing to hear at the same time.

Videos from the conference can be found at Gamespot.com

If I find out anything else, all of you will be the first to know, until then, see you later.