Iwata to give keynote speech at TGS, but show no Nintendo products

by Ross Miller { Jul 27th 2005 at 7:00PM }

Iwata The Tokyo Game Show is to Japan what E3 is to the United States. With that in mind, it may be surprising to learn that Nintendo, who calls Japan home, has never shown products at the TGS, opting instead to host its own expo, Space World (which generally takes place in August in years that Nintendo feels like doing it). With that said, one may find it even more odd that Satoru Iwata, president of Nintendo, will for the second time give a keynote address at TGS 2005. Don't bother trying to make sense of this, likely it's just that Nintendo is refusing to break tradition (how odd for them…*cough* cartridges). Then again, maybe Iwata will make his entire keynote address about the Revolution controller - after which, he will hop onto a magical flying pig and soar off into the sunset with Jigglypuff at his side.

My guess is his speech will probably center around oft-used theme that video games should be made to appeal to everyone. And while the hardcore gamer may laugh at this notion, it has worked well for the Big N.

[via GameSpot]

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Daniel @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

Ummm.... sorry. I'm gonna have to side with Big N on the cartridges. If you are talking about the N64, the speed of a cart was blazing compared to the craptacular speed of the PS1 cd-rom drive, and cart's dont get scratched. Their only loss in this case was pre-rendered video, but I'll trade better gaming graphics for cut-scenes anyday.

If you are talking about NDS, well.... I'll pit my DS's battery life against a PSP any day. I admit it though, I cry myself to sleep at night thinking about how I lost out on $25 UMD movies ):

Eran Hawke @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

You have GOT to be joking about missing out on UMDs.

Pick up one of these for $25 and copy your own DVDs to it.
http://www.lik-sang.com/info.php?category=246&products_id=3983&

You'll be watching any movie you own, (or rent) in no time.

swac @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

I'm sorry, but where on that link to GameSpot does it say that he won't be showing off new products?

Pretty Obvious @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

So your saying Nintendo was right about using cartriges instead of CD's? It sure didnt help them against the 32 bit PS1. These are the stupid decisions Nintendo makes that hold them back from taking any kind of console lead. By the way N64 was a failure, thought I should break it to you.

As for your DS battery life, if playing crappier looking games longer is a high point for you then enjoy.

benhc911 psp @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

i cant wait for the day when media capacity no longer matters. then we can worry about transfer speed. then good bye loading times.

Imp @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

I don't find it odd that he is speaking for the second year in a row. He is a very important person in the video game buisness, more so in Japan.
Despite your feelings of Nintendo not breaking tradition (you know, innovation aside), I highly doubt that they have control over who speaks when at the TGS.

Lectoid @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

#5 said: "I highly doubt that they have control over who speaks when at the TGS."

So your saying that (arguably) the most powerful man in video gaming doesn't have some sort of pull at the Tokyo Game Show?

Imp @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

I think he is sought after to speak, not he seeks them and asks to speak.
He is one of the most powerful people in video gaming, which is why he speaks. He is important. Do you think the TGS wants the head of some random developer speaking as the key note speaker?