Mario Kart 7 (still a weird name) and Super Mario 3D Land are the big releases for 2011.

It’s hard not to straight up like Nintendo president Satoru Iwata; like designer Shigeru Miyamoto, he seem so nice. Which is why I’ll be watching him on early Friday morning, as Nintendo will be streaming a 3DS presentation talking about what’s in store for 3DS the rest of the year.

The event streams on Ustream and Nico Nico on Friday at 8:00 p.m. in Japan, which is 4:00 a.m. PST, 6:00 a.m. CST and 7:00 a.m. EST.

...maybe I’ll end up watching it after I bike into work.

Iwata will apparently be covering Mario Kart 7, the upcoming 3DS firmware upgrade that will bring 3D video recording. Expect him to sneak in a reference or two to The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, which is coming out in just a few weeks. Kind of a big deal.