[GDC] Miyamoto Confirms Super Mario Galaxy For 2007

The Nintendo Wii lost some serious ground at GDC 2007 last week, with not much worth reporting about it - especially compared to Sony's pleasant surprises, namely Home and LittleBigPlanet for the PS3. What little we have to say about the Wii is mostly thanks to Shigeru Miyamoto's very personal keynote speech. Nintendo's playful guru didn't make any big announcement at the event, however, continuing the Japanese company's tradition to only talk about game development in general at GDC, rather than wow the world with novelties.

On the other hand, as reported on GI.biz, it's speculated that Nintendo is on the virge of a major transaction in the firm's stock, and that their lips are forced shut by Nikkei trading rules (something about announcements potentially influencing its share price in this period... bureaucratic stuff). So even if they wanted to reveal something big, they probably have to wait a bit longer.

Anyway, getting back to Miyamoto's speech, this was his first appearance at GDC in the last eight years. He had obviously a lot to talk about regarding Nintendo's recent history, and you can read some reports about this on GameDaily BIZ and Gamasutra for instance. One of the last things he touched upon was Mario's history, and in particular Super Mario Galaxy (see the new screenshots). Miyamoto confirmed that the eagerly anticipated Wii game will be released in 2007, and showed a new Galaxy trailer that you can watch on this Gamebrink page (check the last two clips).

Aaand... that's pretty much about it. You can watch the entire keynote on Gamebrink, and if you can bare with the terrible sound quality, it's certainly worth listening to Miyamoto talking about his gaming philosophy; and how he turned his wife into a gamer. In conclusion, he proclaimed: "If we can convert my wife, I believe we can convert anyone".

(N.B. Archive text, links removed)