Satoru Iwata Talks Nintendo's 2010 Plans, Zelda Wii And DS Successor

Nintendo President Satoru Iwata recently sat down with Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun and spilled the beans on some of Nintendo's 2010 plans. Of course, being from a Japanese newspaper, and my own ability to read Japanese comparable to a jellyfish's ability to walk on land, the news is brought to us thanks to the 50/50 reliability of online translators.

The first bit of news is the least likely to get lost in translation, and that is news of the next Wii Zelda game. Only briefly mentioned in the article, Iwata confirms that Nintendo plans to release the motion plus compatible sequel by the year's end, though no date or even an general time frame was provided. If Nintendo can pull it off, Zelda would be joining Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Metroid: Other M making for a very exciting year for Wii owners.

Where things get a little less clear is dealing with the other big news in the article: talk of a DS successor system. All translations seem to agree that Iwata refers to motion control as a necessary feature in any new handheld that Nintendo makes, which is either good news or bad news depending on your experience with tilt-based games on the iPhone. However there is less agreement on the other required handheld feature that Iwata mentions, which depending on the translation you consult could be "highly detailed graphics," or a "high definition video display." There is a distinct difference between the two, but I suppose for now it could suffice to say that games on the next Nintendo handheld will look very good. But there is still plenty of time for Nintendo to figure out what it is doing with the next DS, as Iwata says in the article that he is in no hurry to release a DS successor with the DS still riding high in 2009 sales.

Expect to hear more about both Zelda and the next DS around E3, since if they are really going to make a 2010 release they will surely be shown there. Expect to also hear more about the Wii vitality sensor as well, with Iwata saying it is planned to release "as soon as possible." I know you are all eagerly waiting dreading to get your hands of that, or rather, get it on your hands.

ＤＳ接続サービス拡大へ　任天堂社長「Ｗｉｉは再加速」 [Asahi Shimbun]
[via Kotaku]