Nintendo trio roll out for GDC

Takao Sawano, Takashi Aoyama and Masahiro Sakurai - three of Nintendo's top men - will be at GDC next week banging on about their experiences with the likes of Wii Fit, WiiWare and Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Sawano, producer for the Wii Balance Board team, will do so on Wednesday, 20th February at 4pm, and talk about the game's development and subsequent reception in Japan, and how it will have "far-reaching impact for both casual and core gamers".

After everyone's slept that one off for a couple of days, Friday will kick off with a 9am Takashi Aoyama special discussing the Wii console's internal hardware programming, featuring bits about the various Channels and the challenges faced (and hopefully bested) in organising WiiWare, the system's upcoming software-download service. Will he announce the service's launch date?

And then, with barely enough time to rush out for a bagel, a coffee and a smoke, we'll be back indoors at 10.30 for Masahiro Sakurai's summary of how things went down with Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which recently came out in Japan and is due out in the US on 9th March prior to a European release on [inaudible mumbling].

According to the GDC bumf, "integrating so many different characters, each with its own personality, is no easy task". Tell me about it, Masahiro. Perhaps he can also confirm or deny whether the Wii Balance Board is an unlockable character.

Look out for our coverage of those and other interesting sessions throughout next week, as well as big interviews and some of our trademark LiveText reporting on the best keynote addresses.