DS Online: Details To Follow

IGN editor Matt Casamassina sat down for an interview with Nintendo of America’s senior vice president of sales and marketing, Reggie Fils-Aime today at the Game Developers Conference. The interview has confirmed the long standing rumor of DS online or “no line” gaming. When prompted for details, the vice president revealed that information regarding the networked gaming medium will come tomorrow during Iwata’s keynote address to the industry.

“About DS wireless Internet play. Yes, we’re going to be making announcements about that tomorrow. And there’s going to be a lot of activity that we’ll be sharing now through E3 and to the end of this year. We’ll be launching wireless enabled games on DS this year. Could that framework be compatible with Revolution? Certainly it could. We’ll be talking more about that, again both tomorrow and at E3. But it’s very important for your community out there to understand that we see the potential for Internet play for all of our platforms to be a huge opportunity and something that we’re going to be driving very aggressively.”

News regarding the companies first wireless enabled games has yet to be unveiled, but it has been long speculated that Mario Kart DS, Animal Crossing, and Metroid Prime Hunters could feature some form of networked multiplayer.

The keynote address to be given by Satoru Iwata is scheduled for 10:30 – 11:30 am, pacific time. The title of the address, The Heart of a Gamer, is expected to touch on several issues regarding the current game industry. Iwata is expected to give his thoughts on where the industry stands today, and where he expects it to go in the future. The keynote will also hint at the future direction of Nintendo. Check back tomorrow for complete coverage of the address, as well as video footage of the landmark speech.
Satoru Iwata
President
Nintendo Co., Ltd.
Kyoto, Japan

Satoru Iwata was born in 1959 in the Hokkaido Prefecture of Japan. He studied at and graduated from the Tokyo Institute of Technology University, where he majored in computer science. Shortly after graduating, Iwata joined HAL Laboratory, Inc. and in 1983 began coordinating the software production and development of Nintendo titles, such as the Kirby series. By 1993, he had become president of that company.

In 2000, Iwata moved to Nintendo Co., Ltd. as the head of the Corporate Planning Division, where he was responsible for Nintendo’s global corporate planning. In 2002, he was named president of Nintendo Co. Ltd.

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