Iwata to deliver GDC '06 keynote

Satoru Iwata is to return to the stage at the Game Developers Conference in San Jose next month, with the Nintendo president delivering a keynote address titled "Disrupting Development" at the event.

According to the official notes released by the conference organisers, Iwata's keynote will focus on areas including the DS product line-up, Nintendo's role in the next generation of consoles, and the need to expand videogames beyond the young adult demographic.

However, anticipation is high that Iwata, formerly a developer himself, will once again choose to unveil key elements of the company's strategy at GDC - as he did last year, when he used the stage at the conference to announce the Wi-Fi Connection free online service for the DS handheld and the backwards compatibility features of the Revolution console.

"We are extremely honored to feature an experienced platform leader such as Satoru Iwata as a keynote speaker," according to GDC's event director, Jamil Moledina. "As Nintendo reinvents the scope of what games can be, it is ever more crucial to share their creative and market-growing philosophies with the other leaders of the game creation industry."

Iwata's keynote will take place on the morning of March 23rd at 10.30AM (Pacific Standard Time).