GDC 09: Rock 'N Roll Climber Announced

Nintendo President Satoru Iwata dropped a couple of bombs during his keynote address at this year's Game Developers Conference this morning, but at least one of them wasn't all that unexpected -- the official announcement of Nintendo's Rock 'N Roll Climber. The game's existence was first brought to the public's attention thanks to ratings updates on the websites of the OFLC and ESRB roughly two weeks ago.

Rock 'N Roll Climber will be a rock climbing action/sim title, developed by none other than Giles Goddard. Goddard is best known to Nintendo fans as the man behind 1080 Snowboarding, but he was also one of the key creative forces behind the original Star Fox on the Super NES, and he single-handedly completed the programming for Doshin the Giant for the N64's 64DD (and, later, the GameCube) when that project was threatened with cancellation.

A shot of Rock 'N Roll Climber in action, from President Satoru Iwata's GDC keynote.
Iwata also confirmed that Rock 'N Roll Climber will be compatible with the Wii Balance Board accessory, which makes it (and Punch-Out!!) the newest additions to the quickly-expanding list of titles taking advantage of the fact that so many people with Wii Fit in their homes have access to the accessory, and probably want more things to do with it than strike yoga poses and hit soccer balls with their heads.

Stay tuned to IGN Wii for more info on Rock 'N Roll Climber as it becomes available.

http://uk.wii.ign.com/articles/966/966140p1.html