GDC has come to a close, and I can't help feeling a little bit let down by GameSpot's coverage. They did allow cameras in the Conference Hall, didn't they? But that's not the point of this post...

Despite the fact that in recent weeks I've been scratching my head at some of the comments made by Iwata Satoru (Graphics have reached a saturation point? Maybe in content produced by Sony and Microsoft, but hardly on any Nintendo console to date), I'm impressed with the direction Nintendo is going.

With games like New Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, & Magnetica (I love me some Zuma) I pretty much have to get a DS now. I didn't buy one initially because I was so disappointed with the hardware. Compared to the brilliance of the GBA SP, the original DS looked like a proof-of-concept rather than a completed piece of consumer electronics. But now we have the DS Lite, which is probably the best looking handheld Nintendo, or anyone else for that matter, has ever produced.

And then there was the news of the Nintendo Virtual Console (NVC) being able to play Genesis and TurboGrafx16 games. So not only will titles from the NES, SNES, N64, & GC libraries be playable on Revolution, but the rest of the 16-bit generation as well. Wow... That's simply huge news.

It makes you begin to understand why Nintendo so vehemently defended their intellectual properties against emulation. But maybe it's just a coincidence.

It is easy enough to remember how, in the last console cycle, people derided Nintendo's decision to steer clear of networked gameplay, while the Dreamcast, PS2, and Xbox forged ahead. Nintendo simply said it wasn't time.

Now, they have a runaway success with the DS connectivity and the unbelievable money-making potential of the NVC. They have jumped into networked gameplay with a solid plan and are succeeding. And that success is a quiet one. Hardly anywhere near as much attention is being given to it, as was given just a few short years ago, when they decided not to support networked games.

So I will wait for E3, and the promise of more information on the Revolution. Among a cacophony of Marketing-Speak touting The HD Era™, BluRay™, & The Key to Winning the Console War!™, Nintendo is staying true to a simple mantra...

"Games"

And I for one, am excited.