A little less than
two weeks ago we got our first glance of the newest Zelda Game for
Wii-U and NX. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild truly feels
like a fresh start for the series. A truly open Hyrule, which you can
explore freely. For the first time since the First Game Myamotos
inspiration, his childhood days exploring the forests and hills
around his home, seems to come to life. Over the last couple of weeks
we have seen a lot of material of the new title and got a glimpse of
how Nintendos approach to an Open-World Game looks like. This got me
to think.
Open-World is the
get to gameplay in today market. Every successful series goes
Open-World. With varying degrees of success. The Legend of Zelda:
Breath of the Wild looks like it manages the transition quite fine
and the gameplay of a Zelda title definitely suits Open-World.
So let's take a
closer look at the Open-World style of games out there. For the next
three days I'll post my thoughts on the two basic approaches of
Open-Worlds before laying out my ideas for the future of these games
on the third day.
Today we start
with the type of Open-World that is most common in todays AAA games.
Now I admit that I
borrowed this term from the world of MMOs, but it describes these
kind of Open-World experiences quite well in my opinion. But first
what is a Themepark game.
It simply means
that the game is build like a Themepark. Lots of attractions and lots
of entertainment, but it comes at a price. Just like in Themepark
there is nothing to do between the attractions. And while you're
riding the attractions you'll follow a strict path. This creates an
on rails experience, even though the game may be Open-World. You can
clearly distinguish between what is actual content and what was just
put in as filler. What you're meant to play and what is only created
in order to fatten up the game. This creates to problem of the
Overworld feeling like a chore. Some games try to avoid this problem
by making the space between the attractions as small as possible,
thus sacrificing even more of the authenticity of their world. Around
every corner you'll find something to do. While this sounds great the
problem still lies withing the Themepark approach. Often the
attractions don't blend in very well with the world. Five enemy bases
in an area smaller than my neighborhood just isn't believable. Also
the problem of the on rails experience persists. And lastly to keep
the world huge and filled to the brim with content the developers
often use copypasted attractions. The Viewpoints in Assassins Creed
or even the enemy bases in Far Cry. Once you've seen one of them,
you've seen them all.
Another Problem of
the Themepark is that it lacks long term motivation. What do you do
after you seen all the attractions? Sure some of them may be fun
enough to justify a second ride (if possible), but in the long term
the world itself doesn't offer an incentive to play the game.
Let us now examine
the Problem of this approach on a practical subject.
We'll start with
an older example. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker offered a huge
Open-World. 49 Islands and a huge ocean to explore. During the days
of the GameCube this truly seemed like an endless world. But soon it
exposed the weakness of the Themepark design. While the attractions
(Islands) were a lot of fun to explore the world between them was
not. Even if the World only serves as a way to move the player
between the unique attractions you build for your game, you need to
make the journey fun and engaging. Copy pasted Pirate lookouts are
not enough to achieve that.
Raise your hand if
you used to sail everywhere in Wind Waker. Thank you. Now sit down.
All both of you.
The moment I got
the Ballad of Gales this got my go to way of crossing the Great Sea.
Granted the method of quick travel will be used eventually, no matter
how great the Overworld is, but it should at least take a while. A
good Overworld should invite you to explore it and not make you want
to swiftly skip to the next point of interest.
Like many other
games Wind Waker also tries to fill it's overworld with copy pasted
content, but that is the problem. The only part in the game where
Rubys matter is the Triforce Hunt so why should I keep fishing up
Treasure Chests? The Pirate Watchtowers are mostly ignored after you
cleared a couple of them.
The only side
activity on the Great Sea that I find fun and engaging is hunting and
killing the Big Octos.
So are Themeparks
bad then? Of course not. It's easier to create and the attractions
are almost always fun. However it also shows how useless many
Open-Worlds are. If the only reason you have an Open-World is so that
you have a space for traveling between your attractions do you really
need to be an Open-World game?
This is all for
today. So what are your thoughts on Themepark Open-Worlds? Do you
prefer them? Do you hate them? Let me know in the comments.
It took a while
and I'm truly sorry for the delay, but I won't waste your time
further with excuses. As we all know last week the title of the
newest Zelda was finally unveiled and we now can stop calling it
Zelda U.
Breath of the Wild
seems to be a completely fresh start for the franchise and offer a
truly open adventure focused on exploration. Over the course of e3 we
got some information about the game and it's world and for once
Nintendo managed to not spoil too much and keep the new Hyrule still
mostly a mystery.
Now let us
take a look at the unveil Trailer of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of
the Wild.
Right of the bat
the Trailer starts with a huge unveil. But it's not what we see, but
what we hear. Yes Zelda has finally delved into the realm of Voice
Acting. And Nintendo does it just the right way. Link will remain
silent, but several important characters throughout the world will be
fully voice acted. This decision helps bringing the world to life,
while still allowing Link to play his role as a link for the players
to project themselves into the world.
But who is this
Voice, calling out Link, belonging to? There are many candidates, but
I'm going with the most obvious choice.
Zelda.
It's the most
obvious, but also logical choice. Just like at the beginning of a
Link to the Past she is crying out for her Hero. The interesting part
is that she specifically calls out Link. This get's even more evident
in the start of the game, when Link awakes from his 100 year slumber.
This implies that Zelda knows Link. So this Link may have saved the
world from Ganon once before and has been put into hibernation
afterward. Sort of a legendary Hero of Hyrule, who can be called upon
in times of need.
The Trailer opens
with this breathtaking shot. There is not much to spot her, but I
does an excellent job of showing you the vastness of this new Hyrule.
Any point you see in this picture can be reached.
Then we see
Link riding into a dusty valley. The structure hanging from the
archway at the entrance signals that this valley is inhabited. Later
on we also Link fighting against a Bokoblin on a series of bridges
set against the cliffside of a similar looking valley. So this will
probably an enemy stronghold. The lookout tower towering over the
surrounding area is another indicator for that. This Towers are
spread across all of Hyrule and go hand in hand with a strong enemy
presence.
Another
interesting thing to spot is the water directly behind the archway.
I think that this
valley may house the ruins of Kakariko from Twilight Princess. There
have been many theories about which Timeline is Home to this newest
adventure because there have been hints about all three of them. I'm
not going to address this issue in this post, but if Breath of Wild
takes place in the Twilight Princess Timeline this small spring could
very well be the home of the Eldin Light Spirit. It would certainly
make for an interesting and somber experience visiting a probably
ruined Kakariko village.
Next up we visit a
tropical looking part of Hyrule, most probably on it's southern
boarders. First let us talk about the contraption in the water. On
the second picture we get a better look at it. It's build in a
similar style to the structure hanging from the archway in the valley
shot. The skull ornament also makes me believe that this is another
Bokoblin made structure. It will probably house several of them.
Much more
interesting however are the two signs of civilization on this
pictures. On the first one we can clearly see a house on the cliffs
overlooking the sea. One can even spot some smoke rising from a
chimney. A clear sign of inhabitents. The structure of the building
with the clearly visible tower at the front reminded me of the
laboratory in Ocarina of Time. So maybe we are not looking at a shot
of the sea, but rather the beaches of Lake Hylia.
The smaller
building on the second Picture isn't as interesting. It seems to be a
fisher hut, but it's also a sign of other people living in this new
Hyrule. A fact that has since then been confirmed by Aonuma himself.
Towns and other People have been removed from the e3 Demo to not
spoil anything. Nintendo wanted to fully concentrate on the new world
of Zelda.
Moving on we have
this interesting shot. First of the palm trees tell us that we are
still in the vicinity of the earlier pictures. Of course the huge
beast on the cliffs does pull in all attention, but there are several
other details in this picture. Between the palm trees there is a
strange, black thing. Zooming in closer it almost looks like an
opened mouth with a red tongue sticking out towards the sky. In my
opinion this is a carnivorous plant, which probably attacks you if
disturbed. Similar to the Peahats in Ocarain of Time.
Next up on the
right side, just beneath the cliff the huge beast is walking on, we
can spot the entrance to a cave. So it seems that the Shiekah Shrines
won't be the only Mini-Dungeons you can explore in Breath of the
Wild.
And lastly let us
talk about the center of attention for this scene. The huge beast on
the cliff. It is pretty clearly undead. You can see the sunlight
shining through his skeletal form several times. This most likely is
a Stallord and probably serves as one the huge monsters you can
encounter in the wilderness. In any way it looks quite impressive and
I'm wondering how you'll take this monster down. A fight utilizing
the mobility of your horse to defeat the towering creature could work
pretty well and would certainly feel like an epic struggle.
Ducks confirmed!
This was the most
important thing, but this picture also shows us once again that this
whole world is connected. And that you can explore everything you
see. The two huge mountains in the distance are visible on several
shots throughout the trailer and later one we even see Link climbing
there.
Now we visit a valley where Link later fights a Bokoblin and which is probably
the dry valley from the beginning of the trailer.
The next picture
is more interesting. Here we take a look at the ruined Temple of Time
on the Great Plateau. There are several interesting things to note
here. On the left we see smoke rise from the trees, so there seems
to be a camp there. Just slightly behind the smoke to the left we see
a small mountain with a black statue resting against it's sight. From
the little details I can spot it looks like the Statue is in ruins,
pretty much like the rest of the surrounding area.
On the right side
of the Temple we can see a fire burning in the distance, hinting at
another enemy presence.
And finally on the
ride edge of the picture we can see Hyrule Castle in the distance.
And it looks a lot spikier than I remember.
Here we see the
huge mountains, which we know and already love, again, but what's
more important is the wooden structure in the center of the picture.
Right next to it you can spot a huge flag. We'll get to see those
several times during the trailer. Maybe these flags are used by
Ganons Forces to show their dominance over the surrounding land. If
that is the case then Link can probably reclaim those territories for
the people of Hyrule. I know that this is a cliched way of filling a
Open World Game with content, but it's efficient and it works. And
you need to have some repetitive tasks and elements. Otherwise it's
just not feasible to create such a vast world.
Yes we all know
that Breath of the Wild will win the award for best deer simulator,
but that is not what I want to focus on in this picture. First of all
the obvious thing. There are many Guardians located in this area. And
considering the moss covering them I guess that it has been this way
for a long time. To me this area looks like the remnants of a
battlefield, overgrown and forgotten with the time passed.
The second
interesting part of this picture is found on the lower right side.
Between the rocks we can see a roughly fortified entrance. Wooden
Spears were used to create a barrier. This will most certainly be
another Bokoblin Stronghold, but this time it truly looks like one.
Here we can see
the new dynamic weather system in full action. It certainly looks
amazing and, as we know from the demo, the weather will have a real
influence on the gameplay. For example you can use the wind to spread
flames and so on. But more interesting are, once again, the remains
of the Guardians. It is pretty clear that while Link was hibernating
a massive Battle for Hyrule must have taken place.
And now for the
first time we get a look at our hero. As we know from the Treehouse
this is the first view you'll see after leaving the Chamber of
Resurrection at the beginning of the game. And as many other Zelda
fans have pointed out already it's very reminiscent of one of the
earliest Zelda Artworks for the original game.
Another cool point
is that Link is now visibly wearing most of his items on his body. Of
course there are still things he pulls out of thin air, like the
glider only seconds after this picture is taken, but his main
equipment is always visible. This is a nice graphic touch, which
should help create a more immersive experience.
After several more
views of Link interacting with the world and taming a horse, we now
come to this shot. Link is riding across, what seems to be, the great
bridge of Eldin. And just like with the rest of the world we can also
see the signs of decay here. We also see the ruined Temple of Time on
the left side and the tip of Castly Hyrules biggest tower on the
left.
And what is the
most interesting to me is the structure between the two mountains on
the far right side of the picture. Now this may be just another
mountain, but it doesn't look natural to me. The flat surface and
sharp edges look man made. The structure is also quite big, so this
may be one of the Dungeons of the game.
After that we see
Links new ability to become Spiderman and climb anything in this
world. Especially this last shot gives you a good indication on just
how big this world is going to be.
Now we focus more
on the survival aspect of the game and it starts with link chopping
down a tree to create a bridge. The question remains if the player
can alter the game world permanently. The lack of any tree stumps in
the world makes this rather unlikely. I guess it will be reset,
whenever you enter a dungeon, Shieka Shrine or turn of the game.
Much more
interesting is the man on Links right, who is also chopping down a
tree. You can see his frame sticking out behind the trunk. Seeing
this makes the world feel more alive. I expect to meet People fishing
at the shore, Shepherds and their animals on the fields... Just the
everyday people of Hyrule going about their everyday lifes.
The next couple of
Scenes concentrate on the survival aspect of the game. Swimming,
Hunting boars and using Fire to your advantage. As we have seen in
the e3 demos fire, together with the weather can be used to attack
enemies. Or you could sneak up on them. This scene shows us that
Aonuma stayed true to his word that in this game the puzzle solving
begins at the moment you decide how to approach a situation.
Speaking of
several ways to approach a situation. Shooting down a hornets nest
and sending the frenzied insects against your enemies never gets old.
But more interestingly for a brief moment we can see a structure on
the cliff to the right. It looks as if lava is flowing out of it.
This is most likely a Shiekah Shrine and the ''Lava'' are just the
runes that light up orange before you unlock it with your Shieka
Slate.
And now for the
only part of Story we got in this whole trailer. Link watches as
Hyrule Castle is engulfed in Darkness. I think this will happen
pretty early on in the game, because in most other scenes we saw the
castle was already corrupted. On the picture above two things
immediately caught my eye.
First the light
that shines from the Castle for the entire scene. I'm pretty sure
that this is Zelda. The light comes from roughly the places where her
throne room is in Twilight Princess.
The other is
Ganon. It's only for a brief moment in the trailer, but I managed to
take a picture of it. The shadow heading for the highest tower of the
castle. You can clearly spot Ganons horns on top of it. If this means
we won't see his incarnation as Ganondorf in this game remains to be
seen.
After that short
glimpse of Story we head right back into the gameplay. We are
introduced to Link using different weapons like Spears and Axes and
him even wearing full on armor. We also, for the first time, see
other enemies than Bokoblins. I wonder if different Enemies will take
different weapons to beat. Maybe these slimes are immune to slash
attacks, which is why Link is hitting him with his shield in this
scene.
From the e3 demo
we know that this huge pile of boulders is called Steppe Talus and is
one of the huge boss monsters that may appear on the overworld Aonuma
mentioned. From what we've seen in the demo Link has to climb this
huge enemy and attack it's weakspot on the back. (Which, for once,
isn't a huge eye)
For the finish of
the trailer we get two last overview shots, showing us how fast this
world is. Both of them look rather empty, but as the scenes show a
desert and icy peak, this is understandable. And like I said earlier
some places in this world should feel empty and lonely.
On this picture we
can even spot some slightly interesting sights. We once again spot
several of this huge flags and on the left corner of the screen we
see the burnt remains of a camp. Now the question is if it was like
this from the start or if Link can even destroy such campsites by
burning them.
Here we get a good
look at a Shiekah Shrine and how it's unlocked. Interestingly we have
seen this location earlier in the trailer. Notice the chest on the
right side of the screen in the middle of the small body of water.
It's the exact
same chest Link tries to reach in this scene.
Now for the last
two pictures.
There isn't much
to talk about in this one, but I love how it shows the danger of the
Guardians. Link cowering behind old, broken Ones, desperately trying
to hide from the Active. These things are menacing and I hope they
stay that way for a long time during the game. This huge new Hyrule
shouldn't only be a world of adventure and exploration, but also
danger. At least at the start of the game Link shouldn't feel safe
while venturing into the wild.
And lastly we have
the Master Sword. Yes it is still in the game, but it has seen some
rough times it seems. On the games logo it's even more evident, but
our good old Fi has gotten quite rusty. This also means that the
Timeline couldn't be the Wind Waker one, because there the Master
sword is securely nestled into Ganondorfs forehead at the bottom of
the sea. (Also the whole story about the new Hyrule and Malus,
etc...)
This picture has a
somber feel to it.
And with that I
leave you. Hopefully this Trailer Watch could help you spot some
interesting things for yourself, got you thinking and if I missed
something be sure to point it all out.
Hello and Welcome to Dillians
Nintendo at e3 2016 Recap
Well it was a good e3, far better than I anticipated. And even though
Nintendo announced beforhand that they would concentrate on the new
Legend of Zelda Title, which they did, we also got some other
announcements along the way. So without further ado let's dive in.
We start with the most controversial Nintendo title of this years e3.
It seems as if the fears of many fans have been justified, because
Nintendo themselves call this game a successor to Sticker Star. While
I haven't played a Paper Mario so far, and think the outrage over
this is blown out of proportion, I also can see why some fans are
upset about some of the things, and it's not the battle system
itself. Honestly the battles look quite fun. The small tactical
component of managing your Paint and deciding how much you want to
use to paint your cards and make your attack stronger, looks like it
could be fun. But what disappoints even me is the fact that there
seems to be no kind of leveling present. You don't gain Exp from
fights. This is a big motivation killer for me and many other people.
Also the fact that the World in a RPG is segmented into different
levels with a world map in between feels just wrong. The levels
themselves look great and in fact I think the graphics are one of the
strongest points of the game. Still Paper Mario Sticker Star feels
more like a Mario Jump'n'Run with some twists, than the RPG it should
be.
However we can all find out about the Quality of the title for
ourselves when Paper Mario: Color Splash launches on 7th
October 2016 for the Wii-U.
If you want to take an extended look at the newest Paper Mario here
is the recording of the Treehouse Segment for the game.
Surprise there is a new Mario Party on the way. Well that in itself
may be not surprising, but it launches for the 3DS and that is quite
the surprise. Many, myself included, thought that the next
installment of the series would release for the Wii-U, probably to
help with holiday sales, but no one thought about the 3DS. Normally
handhelds only get one Mario Party title and Island Tour had already
filled that quota. But Nintendo thought otherwise and brings us a new
Party to Go.
Like its predecessor Island Tour Star Rush ditches the car of the
console Mari Party titles and lets each player move around the game
board by themselves. And while in Island Tour the boards were one way
paths to the goal this time they return to being actual game boards.
And another new addition is that all players can now move at the same
time, so there is no need to wait for the others to finish their
turns before you can role the dice. This speeds up the Gameplay by a
lot and also makes it beautifully chaotic.
While the classical Mario Party Mode will surely be present in the
final game, at e3 Nintendo concentrated on a new Game Mode called
Toad Scramble. Here several ideas from previous Mario Party titles
are combined. The player takes control of a Toad and moves around
tile based boards without predetermined paths. On these maps you'll
find Mushrooms or other helpful items, as well as known characters
like Mario or Peach. These will help you in your quest for the Power
Stars. These are held by several bosses dotted across the game board,
which you'll have to defeat in special Mini-Games. As for know normal
Mini-Games don't seem to be a part of this Game Mode, but as I said,
I'm sure there will also be a standard Party Mode.
While I'm not a fan of the Mobile Mario Parties (I think these games
need to be enjoyed with a couple of friends, beer and pizza on a
couch) all of you who are can look forward to the 7th
October 2016 when the game launches on the 3DS.
Well
that was a surprise. Out of the blue Nintendo announced a new RPG IP
for the 3DS on the second day of e3. Ever Oasis is developed by
GREZZO, who you may know as the guys who did Majoras Mask 3D and
Ocarina of Time 3D and I think some influences of Zelda can be seen
in this newest adventure for the 3DS.
The
game takes place in a huge desert and your main character Tethu
(which can be either, Male or Female) is the leader of a small Oasis.
Your job is it to grow your Oasis into a good place to live. To do
this you must venture out into the desert and it's countless dungeons
to gather materials and dew, which serves as the games currency.
The
bigger your Oasis becomes the more people from across the desert will
visit it and buy in your shops. These People come from varying
tribes, all with different abilities and strengths. You can recruit
some of these people to help you explore the dungeons. It's necessary
to have Teammates to beat the dungeons and the boss monsters hidden
in the deepest corners of them. A great help is the fact that you can
switch between your group members with one button click. This way you
can approach each situation with the optimal tools at your disposal.
The
game looks very promising and I'll definitely keep an eye out for
further information. The mixture of Zelda like exploration and Animal
Crossin like Management of your Town looks like a lot of fun. It
mostly reminded me of the Rune Factory series, which was great.
Hopefully Ever Oasis can deliver the same fun gameplay.
Ever
Oasis will launch in 2017 for the Nintendo 3DS.
Some new information about Pokemon Go also surfaced. There have been
mostly shown Pokemon from the first generation in Trailers and
Screenshots so far and this has a reason. When Pokemon Go launches it
will only contain the first 151 Pokemon. More Pokemon will later be
added. This decision was taken because they wanted the game to be
ready for the 20th anniversary of the Franchise and it
felt right to concentrate on the Pokemon from the first three games
on that occasion.
Another interesting information was the confirmation on how you'll
evolve your Pokemon. This is not done by training and leveling them,
like in the original Game, but by capturing Pokemon of the same
species. For example if you capture 25 Squirtles you'll get 25
Squirtle Candy, which you can use to evolve a Squirtle into a
Wartortle. Let's hope they don't make this aspect of the game to
grindy, because I don't want to capture 100 Charmeleon to get a
Charizard.
We also got some more information on Pokemon Go Plus. This gadget
helps you capture wild Pokemon even when you're not on the Phone. It
works quite simple. When the button blinks green a wild Pokemon is
nearby. You then can decide if you want to capture it. If the button
blinks in rainbow colors you were successful and if it blinks red you
failed. And while we are on the topic of capturing wild Pokemon. Of
course some Pokemon will be rarer than others.
For all of you who can't wait to capture Pokemon in the real world
the good news is that Pokemon Go will launch for Android and IOS at
the end of July. And it will also be compatible with Sun and Moon,
but Nintendo hasn't exactly specified how this will work.
The first hour of Nintendo Treehouse dealt with Pokemon Sun and Moon
and while I like what I saw, there wasn't anything truly new.
Pokemon fights have been overhauled and the whole interface is now
much more newcomer friendly and easy to understand. Information about
the Pokemon you're fighting, which attacks are effective against it
and more are now easily accessible through the touch screen. So
you'll have important information always available to you a the tip
of your finger.
Another interesting new addition is the Battle Royal Game mode. Here
four trainer fight against each other in a Free for all battle until
the first Trainer runs out of Pokemon. Then points will be assigned
to the surviving participants and a winner is decided.
This Mode looked like a lot of chaotic fun, but I won't advise you to
play it with friends, because it will almost always end with three
persons ganging up on one, poor, unfortunate soul.
Apart from that we got a good look at the start of your adventure in
the Alola Region, but nothing to exciting happened. Still I'm looking
forward to my next big Pokemon Adventure which starts on 23rd
November 2016.
Ok there is so much to talk about here that I won't cover it all in
this Post. But don't worry a more detailed Post for this game is
already in the Works and this Weekend I'll release a Trailer Watch
for the announcement Trailer. But for now let's stick to the facts.
Breath of the Wild marks a new era for the series. This time Hyrule
is a truly open world, where you can go anywhere at anytime... if you
survive. You can even head directly for the final boss and fight him
with only a pair of underwear and a stick. Of course you'll need to
know how you do this, but for Speedrunner or a second playthrough
challenge this is great news. This won't be an easy challenge of course. After all this time Hyrule is 12 times as big as the world of Twilight Princess and the huge area players got to test during the e3 demo only contains 2% of the entire worlds size.
This Zelda puts a much stronger emphasis on survival. Because of this
Link needs to adjust to his surroundings. He needs to wear warm
clothing in cold environments. His weapons and Shields can break. He
can cook to create food, which will heal or even buff him temporary.
Also in this vein Link can now sneak to ambush his foes from behind
and he can even jump.
Also this time the world itself will be the Star of the Game and,
because of that, be much more interactive than before. Link can climb
nearly everything as long as his Stamina doesn't run out. He can chop
down trees to create bridges or gain wood. The grass can burn and
wind will fan the flames. The dynamic weather system will also force
you to adapt to always changing circumstances.
And while we don't know who the mysterious voice is, who awakes Link
from his 100 year slumber in the beginning, The Legend of Zelda
producer Eji Aonuma has confirmed that several important characters
in the game will have voice acting. Link however will remain silent.
Generally this game goes back to the first Legend of Zelda on the
NES. There is barely any hand holding. Apart from some breadcrumbs at
the beginning you're completely free to explore Hyrule and the Story
for yourselves. Over 100 challenging Shrines await you. These are Mini-Dungeons, which often consist of one puzzle and reward you with optional upgrades or consumables. Of course there will also be full fledged dungeons as we expect from a Legend of Zelda game.
And of course there will be villages and towns. There was some
confusion because of the complete lack of them in the e3 demo, but
Nintendo has assured us that they will be present in the final game.
They have been left out, because Nintendo didn't want to spoil
anything story related. So in the final game you will find towns full
of NPCs to talk to.
Anyway this game looks amazing and single-handedly made this e3
worthwhile. I hope you're as excited as I for this next step in the
Zelda franchise because that means you'll also have to suffer till
next year when The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild finally
releases for Wii-U and Nintendo NX.
While this introduction is ok, I would advise you to take the time and enjoy the uncommented Gameplay of the title done by GameXplain. This truly captures the vibe and spirit of the new Legend of Zelda perfectly.
That was all for this years e3 from Nintendo. Have you enjoyed it?
Are you looking forward to the upcoming games? Or were you
disappointed? Let me known
It doesn't matter
if it's a leak or not, the artwork looks amazing. First off it gives
us a glimpse of how fast and huge this world is hopefully going to
be. This artwork screams adventure to me, and if the game does the
same job capturing that vibe, than this truly could become something
great. But I'm not only here to praise the artwork. I'm also talk
shortly about the three interesting landmarks, we can see on the
picture.
First of is death
mountain. It has been featured prominently in all of the previous
showings of the game, and I think it will at least house one of the
(rumoured) four huge dungeons. Maybe they'll even go back and make it
the final dungeon once again. However the next interesting thing on
the picture speaks against this theory.
Left of Death
Mountain in the middle of the wide open field, we can see a structure
covered and surrounded by darkness. I'm pretty sure that this is
Hyrule Castle and Castle Town. The shape of the structure with one
large tower above one circle like structure is pretty similar to the
castle in Twilight Princess. Interestingly there are four dark
pillars surrounding the castle. So this could probably prove the leak
from several days ago, that there will be four huge main dungeons and
over one hundred mini-dungeons. Of course more pillars could simply
be hidden from our view, but for now this is an interesting fact.
And lastly one
lower left corner there seems to be some kind of mansion. My first
thought, when I saw the main building and the tower in front of it,
was, this is the church. And I would make sense. It looks over Hyurle
Castle and it isn't too far away, so that it could be reached through
a hidden tunnel. If that is the case and this is truly the church,
than that means that this Hyrule could be based on the world of a
Link to the Past.
What speaks
against that theory is the placement of Death Mountain. Still I'm
pretty sure that the building in the lower left corner of the picture
is a church.
Lastly let's talk about Link. He is once again missing his signature green tunic and once again the quiver is clearly visible on his back. I know I'm just stating the obvious, but the Bow will probably play a pivotal role in this new adventure.
Edit:
Nintendo released a more detailed version of the screenshot, which unveils several watchtowers dotted across the landscape. We can also see a bridge crossing a body of water. Also on the left there are some snow covered mountains. Anyway here is the artwork:
Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia –
Virtual Console (Wii-U)
Kirbys Dream Course – Virtual
Console (New Nintendo 3DS)
Puzzle Labyrinth – Nintendo 3DS
Download-Software
Kirby: Planet Robobot – Nintendo
3DS Game Card
It got better. Although it wasn't hard
after last weeks releases. Still this week is quite a good one.
Kirby: Planet Robobot looks even better than Triple Deluxe. If you
like Jump'n'Runs, Kirby or devouring everything, which dares to stand
in your way, you should give this game a try. On the Wii-U we have
two cool Pokemon Titles for the Virtual Console. Even though I never
played the Ranger Series of games myself, I only heard good things
about them. And The Book of Unwritten Tales 2 is a extremely funny
Point'n'Click Adventure. If you like Games like Monkey Island, Day of
the Tentacle or Deponia you should definitely check it out.
We start this week
with some Splatoon News. Nothing special, just a small update about
the upcoming Splatfest. This time it will ask the difficult question
of whether you'd rather travel around the World or travel through
Space? World Trip or Space Adventure? Whatever your answer is, you
can fight for your teams superiority on 11th of June
starting at 19:00 CEST.
Either
Nintendo of Europe are genius trolls, don't know how to use hashtags
properly, or they truly have given us a small hint that there maybe
is more on the horizon for Mario Kart 8. In case you didn't hear it,
Nintendo of Europe has tweeted the above picture with the message:
Good things come to those who wait #MK8.
This
message coupled with the Hashtag of Mario Kart 8 has led people to
believe that more Mario Kart 8 DLC could be on the way. And I must
admit that this doesn't sound to unlikely. It's pretty clear that
apart from Zelda and Paper Mario Color Splash we won't be getting any
more major titles for the Wii-U. But with some new DLC for the
successful evergreens of the System Nintendo could expand the life
cycle of their Console and satisfy customers. Whether or not this
proves to be true, I think there is a good possibility that MK8 will
get some more DLC.
My Nintendo is Nintendos first try at an online service and so far it
does an okish job. It get's updated frequently with new rewards for
Platin or Gold Points. One of those new rewards are the Kid Icarus
Uprising short movies, which were released together with Kid
Icarus:Uprsing. These short movies were produced by renowned
animation Studios Production I.G, Stuido 4°C
and SHAFT.
To celebrate the fifth
anniversary of the e-shop in Japan these movies can now be download
onto your 3DS via MyNintendo. It's unclear if these offer will also
come to the West, but as someone who has seen all of the short
movies, I definitely hope so. They are great.
But don't worry. The 5th birthday of the e-shop will also
be celebrated here in Europe by Nintendo and several other
Publishers. From the 09.06.2016 till 23.06.2016 many games will be
sold with discounts. Maybe you'll spot some gems you don't have in
your collection yet, so here is the list:
Wii-U:
Art
Academy: Sketch Pad – 1.99€ instead of 3.99€
Child
of Light – 7.49€ instead of 14.99€
Cube
Life: Island Survival – 6.99€ instead of 9.99€
Donkey
Kong 64 – 4.99€ instead of 9.99 €
EarthBound
– 4.99€ instead of 9.99€
Fast
Racing NEO – 11.20€ instead of 14.99€
F-Zero
– 3.99€ instad of 7.99€
Kirbys
Adventure – 2.49€ instead of 4.99€
Little
Inferno – 4.99€ instead of 9.99€
Metroid
Prime Trilogy – 9.99€ instead of 19.99€
Nano
Assault Neo – 7.49€ instead of 9.99€
NES
Remix – 4.99€ instead of 9.99€
NES
Remix 2 – 4.99€ instead of 9.99€
Super
Mario Bros. 3 – 2.49€ instead of 4.99€
Super
Mario Galaxy 2 – 9.99€ instead of 19.99€
Super
Mario World – 3.99€ instead of 7.99€
Super
Mario 64 – 4.99€ instead of 9.99€
Super
Metroid – 3.99€ instead of 7.99€
The
Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past – 3.99€ instead of 7.99€
The
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time – 4.99€ instead of 9.99€
The
Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap – 3.49€ instead of 6.99€
Toki
Tori – 0.99€ instead of 1.99€
Trine
2: Director's Cut -8.49€ instead of 16.99€
3DS:
3D
Clasics Kirby's Adventure – 2.99€ instead of 5.99€
Colors!
3D – 2.99€ instead of 5.99€
Dillons's
Rolling Western – 4.99€ instead of 9.99€
Fun!
Fun! Minigolf TOUCH! - 2.24€ instead of 2.99€
Gunman
Clive – 0.99€ instead of 1.99€
Kirby's
Dream Land – 1.99€ instead of 3.99€
Pokedex
3D Pro – 7.49€ instead of 14.99€
Pokemon
Link: Battle! - 3.99€ instead of 7.99€
Pokemon
Trading Card Game – 2.49€ instead of 4.99€
Pullblox
– 2.99€ instead of 5.99€
Shin
Megami Tensei IV – 9.99€ instead of 19.99€
Steam
World Dig – 4.49€ instead of 8.99€
Super
Mario Bros. – 2.49€ instead of 4.99€
Super
Mario Bros. 2 – 2.49€ instead of 4.99€
Super
Mario Bros. 3 – 2.49€ instead of 4.99€
Super
Mario Land – 1.99€ instead of 3.99€
Super
Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins – 1.99€ instead of 3.99€
The
Legend of Zelda – 2.49€ instead of 4.99€
The
Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX – 2.99€ instead of 5.99€
The
Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages – 2.99€ instead of 5.99€
The
Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons – 2.99€ instead of 5.99€
Next up we have some news regarding our friends from America.
Nintendo has announced the Play Nintendo Tour. During the upcoming
summer months you'll be able to test several Nintendo games in
selected malls across the country. The games included are:
Yoshi's
New Island
Kirby:
Planet Robobot
Donkey
Kong Country Returns 3D
Mario
Kart 7
Pokemon
Alpha Saphire and Omega Ruby
New
Super Mario Bros. 2
YO-KAI
Watch
All
in all a good selection of games, but most of us probably own them
already. It would have been cool if they offered a chance to play the
new Zelda game, but then the onslaught would have been to great.
Anyways here are the dates, so if the tour comes nearby you can check
it out:
June
17-19: Westfield Culver City – Los Angeles
June
24-26: Arrowhead Town Center – Glendale, Arizona
July
1-3: Flat Iron Crossing – Broomfield, Colorad
July
8-10: Mall of America®
- Bloomingten, Minnesota
July
15-17: Bite of Seattle – Seattle
July
21-24: Marriot Marquis San Diego Marina – San Diego
July
29-31: Memorial City Mall- Houston
August
5-7: Woodfield Mall – Schaumburg, Illinois
August
12-14: Roosevelt Field – Garden City, New York
August
19-21: South Shore Plaza – Braintree, Massachusetts
August
26-28: Tysons Corner Center -Tysons Corner, Virginia
September
2-5: North Point Mall – Alpharetta, Georgia
And finally we have some news about e3. Well not directly. As we all know the video game convention starts in a few days and we'll all be discussing announcements and the new Zelda on every message board we know. But if you hate typing on a keyboard but absolutely love it on the Wii-U Gamepad Nintendo has a solution for you. Nintendo of America just announced on their Twitter that the Miiverse Community for e3 2016 is officially opened.
The release of this game edges closer and Nintendo, trying their best
to make us forget the censorship, have released two new videos for us
to enjoy. One deals with the dungeons of the game, while the other is
even better... It's a music video. Enjoy.
And lastly the fine folks at GameXPlain had the chance to delve into the newest RPG for the Wii-U already and opted to share the first hour of Gameplay with us.
People who bought the Limited Edition of The Legend of Zelda:
Twilight Princess HD also got a Music CD with selected pieces from
the Game. For everyone not lucky enough or who wants more Nintendo is
now releasing the complete Soundtrack of the Game. At least if you
live in Japan. Next month the Album containing 3 CDs with 108 Tracks
will be released for 4.611 Yen (38€ or 43$). While there is no
announcement yet if the soundtrack will also release in the West, we
at least got the cover already.
We also got a new Artwork for the upcoming Zelda game, which shows us
nothing new really, but looks cool nonetheless.
Pokemon:
As we all know 2016 is the 20th anniversary of the Pokemon
franchise. To celebrate this Nintendo is giving away legendary
Pokemon all across the year. For anyone not lucky enough getting Mew
during it's first giveaway in February I have good news. From now
till the 30th of June you'll be able to download the
mysterious Pokemon via the Nintendo Network. Just use the pasword
MEW2016. But if you got Mew already in February you won't get a
second one this time.
And, like last week, we wrap things up with a new Kirby trailer. The
game releases today, so this is probably the last time we see the
Pink Ball for a long time. Enjoy an overview of the Amiibo features
in the new game:
