During a small roundtable at the event, Shigeru Miyamoto told us that while there won't be any Wii Zelda at this year's E3, he hopes to give us something more next year, and even brought along a piece of concept art with him to prove stuff was actually being worked on. According to reports, it depicted an older version of Link--late teen or early adult, depending on who you ask--and a woman garbed in a blue dress, who in all likelihood is Princess Zelda. Miyamoto also mentioned that he would love for the game to include Wii MotionPlus for swordplay, archery, and the like.
We'll keep you posted with any further developments.Categories: Zelda News
I agree. I think that Nintendo needs to realize that Zelda's success isn't about the controls etc. While cool items etc. are pretty crucial, I think they should save that sort of stuff for Mario etc.
Zelda is special for it's story elements, timeline mysteries etc.
Also, from memory, the gamecube TP got better ratings than Wii TP on ign- they felt the controls felt more natural on the GC- I would think that would make them think twice before delaying games to add controls
Yeah, I think that while it's certainly important to change Zelda, it's good to discuss exactly what kind of changes are more called for by the people who play and purchase the games, and who actually have a decent idea of what made the previous games "Zeldaish". Changing Zelda by changing the controls and revamping Link's moveset? Sure, that could work and there are many good Wii games coming to keep us busy while that happens. But MM was *adored* just as much as OoT despite being a carbon copy in many ways, simply because it had content that was so different from OoT's, no? So why not have imagination and new content as the main source of change? We might definitely see these kinds of changes (Miyamoto talked about Spirit Tracks and he talked both about train mechanics *and* about making your relationship with dungeons and NPCs something different, this is great news) but all this talk about Motion+ might overshadow other aspects of Wii Zelda.
Take that moment in WW when you realized the OoT sages were represented in beautiful windowpanes. I would trade many moments of that quality for the tacked-on GC/GBA connectivity silliness they added. If you ask me Zelda games have never been much about what the hardware can do beyond audiovisual immersion into Hyrule and the Zelda mythos, helped by the imagination and charm provided by Nintendo. If they want to change Zelda (this is needed) by using hardware to change the control possibilities that is well and good, but let's not forget the wonderful and envelope-pushing Zelda game that MM provided while having the same mechanics and engine as OoT.
There are few automatically good ideas or bad ideas in designing games because it depends on the context and how well you make the rules of your game fit together. Ultimately, it all comes down to effort and talent from developers. I wondered how the makers of the Silent Hill remake "Shattered Memories" could pull off a horror game with *no combat*, but the gameplay videos I've seen so far are incredibly arresting and impressive, and not just in the "awesome graphics" sense. It all comes down to execution, and I think Miyamoto should try to introduce improved swordplay/archery *and* more RPG elements (there are people on the Wii Zelda team who wants to try that as well) in Wii Zelda. Making the Motion+ integral to puzzles and archery doesn't have anything to do with making a fleshed-out and mysterious Hyrule, so why consider the two goals conflicting?
Also, getting the damn game to PAL regions without a five month delay would be just dandy.
I heard that the "woman" was a zora. I saw a link to this in ign roundtable's comment section to another jouralist site referencing the picture.
Wooo... an announcement of an announcement for Zelda Wii is better than the nothing we thought we were left with.
I don't think it likely that the delays of Wii Zelda in order to get Motion+ utilization in there will actually result in a Zelda game good enough to be worth the wait, at least. I say this because how you control Link is merely the baseline, a basic rudimentary tool that doesn't make or break Zelda at all and shouldn't be the main focus.
I think a better way to change Zelda would be by making more fantastic and imaginative locations, events, NPCs and really flesh out the Zelda universe/timeline/setting etc. OoT really changed the timeline and mythos, MM provided different content and WW also tried some great new things and had a charming but flawed Hyrule. Controls, mechanics and hardware gimmickry was never a focus for the fans and was never a factor in the quality and "Zeldaness" of these games.
Making us wait even longer for a Zelda game that is a long time coming because you want to make the swordsplay and archery a bit "cooler" doesn't sound sane to me.
The utilization and integration of Motion+ better make for one hell of an interesting change and they better focus on other aspects of the game rather than focus only on what the newfangled hardware can provide. I don't want a game that only adds control changes to the same old template - make improvements to the plot, story and settings as well.
It doesn't make an inch of sense to make us wait until next E3 fro a trailer. I guess Europe will see this game in Fall 2012. Maybe I should sell my Wii till then and buy one for a pittance to play Wii Zelda when it finally arrives. I will have finished my three-year college program by then.