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The New Zelda
freakonaleash881 writes "IGN is reporting that the new Legend of Zelda for the Gamecube is going to be a cartoon...that's right, a cartoon! It's supposedly showing off the Gamecube's realtime cartoon shading abilities. I just don't know about this..." I think it looks sweet considering the general poor quality of the snapshots. I tell ya folks, the next few months are going to be really exciting for console games with the new Final Fantasy, and the release of 2 new systems.
404 not found - do they delete these as soon as they make the /. front page?
This could be really interesting. Should Zelda be realistic or cartoony?
It started as cartoony out of nescesity of being a sprite based game, and while moving to 3D, it still maintained what I believe to be a somewhat intentional cartoonish appearence. So, in a way this is going back to basics.
But, so far I haven't been impressed with realtime cell shaded games. They just don't seem right, and the graphics have tended to be rather distracting in the past.
I'm a loser baby, so why don't you kill me.
If after reading the text you still think a cartoon approach is bad, check out the movie at the bottom of the page. Although not the same feel as the previous version of Zelda it certainly is a novel approach and one that might find a number of imitators.
Jumpstart the tartan drive.
Are there going to be cartoon chickens in this release? There is never anything that highlights a console's abilities better than animated chickens.
If they could get the scent thing working where you could actually sniff under the wings of the chicken, that would be grand.
I like to move the little video game chickens around and have them peck about.
When I first saw the The Legend of Zelda for the GCN, it was a picture, and I did think for a split second, oh my god, what on earth has Nintendo done (around this time I had only had about 3 hours of sleep as I stayed up for Spaceworld as I live in the UK). I could not picture Zelda to look like this after seeing last years Spaceworld footage and the N64 versions. However after a lot of thought I realised Nintendo is going back to their roots and that is when I finally understood Miyamoto's reasons for making the changes - he doesn't want to make rehashes of the same old game with just prettier graphics, he doesn't want to do what most other developers out there would be afraid to do and that is to try something different and go along the same lines that made the Zelda series great in the first place.
I believe that the reasons why many people are upset about this change in Zelda is because the videogame industry hasn't had a wake up call (I apologise if I offend anyone when I say this) and that the Sony Playstation has done something to this industry that Nintendo is trying to prevent from happening - and that (Playstation) is preventing developers from making new and original games and stopping them from making new ideas - instead they just release game after game after game which don't have any different gameplay in them and yes, I know you shouldn't fix something that ain't broke but Miyamoto knows that if he doesn't do something to the Zelda series soon, then that too will follow the path of say the Tomb Raider series.
People complaining should think long and hard and try and understand that what Miyamoto is doing is for the good of the Zelda series as Im sure none of you would like to see Zelda dry up, cause if it did, Im pretty damn sure you would be begging for a change in the series like this to happen.
The Legend will live on!
Maybe it's just my opinion, but havent the Zelda games in the past been cartoons? Look at other popular PC and console games like Resident Evil, Diablo 2, and stuff like that. They try to realistically portray the human form. I've never seen Zelda try to accomplish that. I mean, for God's sakes, the characters are for the most part elfin. Of course it looks cartoonish.
BigCat79
"The dead have risen and are voting Republican!" --Bart Simpson
It's interesting to note that the cartoon-shading technique Sega used for Jet Set Radio was according to developer interviews 'a Dreamcast exclusive; we wanted to do something with the Dreamcast that COULD NOT be done on the Playstation 2.'
Not too long ago, when asked if Jet Set Radio Future (the sequel) would be an X-Box exclusive, Sega said it would be multiplatform after an exclusivity period runs out.
So here we have a toon shader on GameCube, and Monster Rancher 3 uses a toon shader on PS2...
It's getting hard to figure out what's hype, what's system FUD and what's a legit feature set for these machines.
If they really wanted to have a "cartoon" look, they should have gone for an Anime motif, rather than a South Park paper-cut-out motif. I dunno... maybe it looks better in motion, but I'm always skeptical: The more toys the developers get, the more the story line and playability seems to suffer.
--brian
It may be only to show off lighting and shading, but... you'd think they could design something enjoyable.
Now me, I'd like to see an anime Zelda if they really wanted to make a 'cartoon game'.
I went to see the screenshots and I have to admit I am disappointed. The demo we were shown a few months ago (the 3D rendered fight scene between Ganon and Link) was much more impressive and seemed to me to be the future of the Zelda series.
What we were promised was a beautifully-rendered adult Link (in what seemed a more real & detailed version of the 3D world we first saw in Ocarina of Time) and what we are given is... something that looks like it was stolen from a saturday morning kiddie show.
Even the 80s cartoon based on the Legend of Zelda looked better than this.
I'm wondering why they made this choice when developpers all seem to be converging towards more encompassing (and realistic) 3D worlds...
Zoi
I thought the animation was incredible. Link's movements were decent, but the enemies featured in the shot were hilarious. On the other hand, the shots of Zelda standing still looked like fan-art from a very confused 12 year old. Only time will tell if this method works. But if you're looking for a more conventional game, check out the Mario Sunrise converage. Now THAT looks like a complex 3D environment.
Legend of Zelda for GameCube -- like the new look, or not?
24.6% - This is the worst day of my life
20.1% - I love it!
18% - I'm not so sure
15.7% - Huh? What have they done?!?
10.8% - I like it
5.7% - I don't like it at all
4.8% - It's ok
Seems like you will either love it or hate it
"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a son-of-a-bitch." - Jack Nicholson
Reminds me of the old PS game, PaRappa the Rappa. That game was sorta cool, but because of the idea behind the game: Mash buttons in rythm to the beats to become the best 'rappa' around. Why would you change the virtual world of Zelda? It's like going from 2d overhead 'simulated' 3dimensional space (Zelda 1), to an isometric view (SuperNES Zelda), to full 3d (N64 Zelda), and then back to some wierd mixture of 2d characters in a 3d world (Gamecube Zelda). That's like putting us four dimensional humans into a 6 dimensional space!
What, me worry?
looking at the pictures, they arent as life-like as past games have been. Character faces are very flat, like pre-Renissance (sp?) era paintings. It looks like the game is not taking good advantage on the graphical performance a system like gamecube offers. Nintendo has prided themselves on graphical performance and have strove for better graphics ever since the original 8 bit system came out in '85. I think they're taking a step backwards in graphics technology development by using cartoony graphics in a game series as popular as Zelda.
The One Rule Of Chess You'll Ever Need: Don't play someone who carries a kit in their bookbag.
Who cares about cartoons.
All I care about his extreeme detail on eyeballs, bits of brain and skull, rib cage bones, and knee joints as they fly in every direction after killing your enemy.
Race games are fun too.
Fish! LipHo
Is it just me, or does this look like the sequel to Parappa the Rappa? Although Parappa was a fun game, I like the look of the old Zelda better.
My opinion is that the general look and feel of a game should not change drastically. If it does, then it should be called by another name not XXXIII. I'm tired of sequels anyway, video games are following the path of Hollywood, which I'm not too impressed with.
My two cents.
The article says: "it stands to reason it will still have the patented Z-trigger lock-on battle system".
SOFTWARE PATENTS ARE evil!
Now I will have to buy an X-Box.
Yes, the nick is flamebait
I'm sorry, but I think that this has to be the wrong direction for this game. Moving from a sprite based game to a 3d rendered game was a great move.... but that is where it should have stayed.
Is Nintendo trying to prove that they can create something that looks as rediculous as Parappa The Rapper? =) When I saw the shots of that trailer, I was just waiting to see a Toon Onion telling me how to dance.
-S
We Apprentice Developers and Designers
it looks sweet. for a cartoon. I am really impressed with it, actually. Realtime high quality cartoonage. Now if only they didn't waste zelda on it.
But you gotta realize their target audience. They want kids to play. They want really kid-friendly games. Too bad we lose out.
i think that the idea is quite fantastic. however the animation looks like what we see on saturday morning cartoons nowadays, it just looks childish to the extreme. if they took more of an anime style high-quality animation, it might make me want to buy a gamecube. as of right now, i'm still going for the ps2... good try nintendo
Man i cant wait for nintendo to release their new console....nintendo really is a great company...ecspecially since they tend to keep their consoles alive as long as possible unlike other gaming cosole makers.
and that power pc processor nintendo is going to use,will open up all kinds of cool things for it like "linux"
"when im not being mean,im actually a nice guy"
~Later~
I really want to play this game, too bad it's not supposed to come out until next Christmas. It's kinda funny that a lot of people looked at the new Mario title and said "It's disappointing because it just looks like Mario64 but prettier" and then complained when the new Zelda didn't look like Ocarina only prettier.
I've read all kinds of opinions on this thing and it seems that everyone who was actually at the show was apprehensive at first, but by the end of the clip they loved it. That, along with the fact that there is a year of development time left, and, well, because I just think it looks cool, has convinced me that Nintendo knows what they are doing and aren't afraid to try something because they think it would be fun. Sega and Nintendo are the real trailblazers when it comes to video games, the PS2 and XBox can go take a running jump.
My other
Zelda2 looked like crap, but did anyone care? No. The game was almost IMPOSSIBLE to beat. It was good graphics for back then anyways. I really don't care what this Zelda game looks like, as long as it uses the GameCubes full capabilities I'm happy. I just want it to take a LOT to beat it, not 2 days like the first N64 Zelda game took.
Nintendo, there better not be any annoying talking fairy following Link around the whole damn time!
"0101100101? It's just jibberish. *looks in mirror, gasps* 1010011010@!? AHHHHHH!!"
As others have seed, the current screenshots don't look very pretty (I did like the 'art of a confused 12-year old fanboy' comment).
I'm not opposed to a Zelda game taking a cartoon approach -- though I'd rather see a more realistic rendering method -- but I do hope that the character designs being shown were early prototypes and that the finished product will have a more anime look to it. Even if it looks like a cartoon, it could look like an epic-adventure type of cartoon rather than South Park.
(Not that I don't like South Park)
STOP MISUSING APOSTROPHES, YOU MORONS!!!
In fact, there's a good chance that cell shading is less intensive than regular texture mapping. You dont have to worry about moving huge textures in and out of memory and your color pallete drops from millions of colors to thousands.
D
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A few games that would do well with this:
Bard's Tale
Impossible Mission
Questron/Legacy of the Ancients
Come to think of it... a version of Larn or Nethack with such a display would kick butt.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
The screenshots look like Parappa the Rapper.
In the rain or in the snow, I feel the funky flow.
North-West-South-West; that's the way ya gotta go.
http://cube.ign.com/news/37687.html
That article explains it and I think does a decent job of getting his message across.
It looks as if Miyamoto liked Herdy Gerdy, so much... he decided a cartoon game would be a good way to showcase the new system. Its pretty clear that the new console horsepower is allowing Miyamoto and others to design movies (cartoons) you can play.
"Smokey, this isn't Nam, there are rules." -Walter
My friend sent me a video he took of it at the Spaceworld show, and I'm still not sure what I think.
;)
o vi es/zelda1.mov
It LOOKS like it could be a "remake" of the original game, in a pseudo 3d world, which could be really good, or really bad, depending on how Nintendo handles it. Or, it could just be completely "original", with Link fighting the baddies we all grew up with, ending with the evil Gannon [none of this Mask of Majora or Ganondorf crap].
And the cartoon cell-shading thing? Isn't it just a BIT overused? Games like Jet Set/Grind Radio pretty much made it look as cool as possible, but now with it being used on dozens of new PS2, XBOX, and now GCN games, I'm starting to think if everyone is just running to make the next "cool" game using this "new" "cool" effect. There's nothing wrong with that if ALL, if all these games use it to their own advantages. But if a game has it for no real purpose beyond it just being there, I struggle to see the whole point of it.
Unfortunately, that's gaming's biggest problem now. They all want to make "the next Half-Life" or "the next Tony Hawk". Very few will try and go ahead and make something original like Shenmue or Max Payne.
And note, if the poor quality shots aren't enough, most people probably don't realize that there's a poor quality video to go along with it (plaintext link):
http://cubemovies.ign.com/media/space2k1/pressm
Those shots really reminded me of the old Dragons Lair game.
I'd like to thank all those people making PaRappa references...now I can't get Navi's rapping outta my head:
Navi: Swing, roll, LinkLinkLink!
Link: *swing*, *roll*, *jump*
Navi: Nonono...swing, roll, Link Over-over here!
Link: *swing*, *roll*, *block*
Navi: You're adventurin' bad! LinkLink *tinkle* swing roll over here *tinkle*!
The horror...the horror...
Co-founder of GerbilMechs
I think that would be Jet Set Radio.
Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
It looks less polygon-ish, which is a good thing, though it makes me think of Dragon's Lair, or was it Dragon Quest? the cartoon game?
Is this going to be anything like "Dragon's Lair" at the arcades?? If it is then this is the worst mistake Nintendo can make. There's a reason that Dragon's Lair is in the free section of your local nickel arcade: It sucks.
But aren't the graphics great?? And listen to the character voices, so life-like!! But how much fun is it to move the joypad up and down and jam on the sword to trigger a sequence of animations?? It's fucking nar. I want interactivity, and this "cartoon" thing looks like a joke.
what happened to this?
http://cube.ign.com/previews/14914.html
is this not the same game? These are the screenshots for zelda that have been around for months now. Perhaps it's not a launch title because they changed the format recently?
Actually, Zelda as already been a cartoon ... on CD-i.
Those were really bad games made by Philips who got the license.
More infos available : Faces of Evil, Wand of Gamelon and Zelda Adventure.
I barely do :)
;)
I do remember that Fridays were Zelda... so this isn't such a new idea after all! If anyone actually does remember this... I don't... and I'd love for you to help me out here
-- Is "Sig" copyrighted by www.sig.com?
Is the "change" that Zelda is now a cartoony game as upposed to a realistic game? ... uh no, Zelda has always been cartoony.
Is the "change" that Zelda is now aimed at young children... uh no, Nintendo's target audience has always been young children.
Is the "change" that Zelda is now in 3d with the latest 3d technology powering it... uh no, Zelda 64 had the latest 3d technology powering it too.
I can't understand why anyone is in a huff... there is NOTHING different here from all the other Zeldas.
Personally I loved the Zelda games on my NES when I was 8... and I expect the 8 year olds of the world in 2002 will love this incarnation.
WAAAAAAAAAAH! MOMMY!!!!!
Seriously... The entire reason i've bought ANY of the previous game systems was Zelda, Mega Man [sob] and Metroid... Occasionally Mario. I'm not a huge gamer, but those are the only games i've ever played since I was 5 years old. I'm not a huge fan of 3D worlds - My favorite zelda of all had to be Link to the Past. Theres something to be said about the flat overheads that i just didnt get from N64. I disliked Ocarina of Time's gameplay enough that i sold my N64 and didnt even bother playing the new zelda.
The approach of this new game is just too odd for my comfort - What i'd love to see them do though is bundle that cartridge with a "Super mario all-stars" like redo of all the previous games (well, maybe they can leave out Adventure of Link). Then i'd buy it.
Next Up: GameCube remake of Dragon's Lair.
...with the notable exception of the CDi games.
But seriously, this looks kind of neat. The Zelda games have always had a subtle sense of humor, and this one seems to make it far less subtle and far more Chuck Jones. (Now, I'm basing that on the article - I don't have a QuickTime viewer on this system.) That doesn't have to be a bad thing; often the unexpected is the best. I've enjoyed every Zelda Game up to this point - and since I'm pretty terrible at games, they've all had lots of time dedicated.
They just stole SEGA's cel-shading technique from Jet Set Radio. And instead of it looking like an anime, it looks like a wimpy kiddie cartoon. Way to go nintendo, that'll get you the over-6 crowd.
I never had an N64. I got a PSX instead. I was always tempted to get the N64 though because of zelda and the starwars games, primarily zelda. Unfortunately that was all nintendo could do to distract me from Metal Gear Solid and Resident Evil et al. After seeing this zelda nonsense it looks like i'll sooner buy a used cheepo N64 than buy gamecube. I like microsoft just about as much as the rest of you, but I'm kinda psyched about the XBox now. I don't know what i'm saying, i don't even have a PS2.
Is it me or does Link look like a walking hieroglyph in this? I look at that face and I just get annoyed.
The animation looks spectacular, but the characters just look lame. They could have made him look SO much better.
It looks like gameplay may improve a bit. But it's disappointing that Nintendo tried to go with shock value, making the characters look radically (and horribly, IMHO) different, instead of maybe concentrating on innovative gameplay.
Now this is obviously all speculative, as all I've seen is a 20 second clip or whatever, and I can't tell if gameplay's gonna improve, and who knows if they'll keep these changes.
All I know is I liked the look of the graphics in the initial movie from E3 (with Link and Ganon fighting) - THAT'S the Zelda games I remember. Not a Saturday morning battle for the Triforce. Or if you're going to use cartoons, go hire the animators from "The Batman and Superman Adventures" (or the greatest cartoon of all time, Transformers). Don't make Link look like a Nickelodeon cartoon.
---
"how can the same street intersect with itself? i must be at the nexus of the universe!" - cosmo kramer
Just don't make metroid a cartoon... that's all I care about...
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
Maybe I'm in the minority here, but what has always impressed me most about the N64 Zeldas (my entry point into the Zelda story) has been the wonderfully balanced gameplay and control.
They've always managed to strike a perfect balance between challenge/difficulty, and achievability. Puzzles are tough, but not obscure. Beating bosses are a challenge, but don't take nanosecond twitch responses to pull off. There's no "find the magic pixel" or "die a thousand deaths".
Future game developers would do well to study the N64 Zeldas. They're as close to perfect as any game I've ever played.
Want to learn about race cars? Read my Book
Everybody's bitching because it feels like the old bait-and-switch. Miyamoto dangles these beautiful carrots in front of everybody, showcasing exactly what the Gamecube is capable of, and then he says, "No, sorry, we've completely re-designed the game, and now it looks cartoony. Sorry." He has even admitted that the change was made before E3 of 2000, and the shots were of a game that was not in the works
It's not that the new game is different from other Zeldas... It's that the new game is not the game we were shown.
C'mon, it's not just the rendering technique. Video games are always moving closer to looking like your character is part of a movie. Graphics alone doesn't do it... art and atmosphere contribute significantly to that. If Zelda can do all this when you're playing, it will be a lot better than Jet Grind Radio.
Once you can do photorealistic images (or even get close to it), what do you do next? We already know the answer, because it already happend in fine art. The greeks and romans perfected realistic sculpture, and all sculpture afterwards became more figurative (see byzantine and gothic sculpture). The renaissance artists perfected photorealsim through use of perspective techniques etc, and what followed?
OK, so we're not yet at real-time rendering of final fantasy-quality movies on our desktop, but it's just a matter of raw computing power at this point; there's no new conceptual territory to cover. Hardware will continue to advance, and we will eventually have realtime photorealistic rendering, but expect the mainstream game designers to go back to figurative representations, at least until the next big technology comes along (holographic games, anyone?)
Just look at the numbers. Last month, there were 7,328 calls to the Sega helpline on making love to female zebras in heat. In the same period, there were 0 support calls to the Sega helpline about Zelda. The conclusion is obvious, Zelda is not just dying, it is dead. If Nintendo hadn't nailed its feet to the perch, it'd be pushing up daisies.
just what it said on the poll...
The Zelda series has captured me from day one with its release of a golden carted game, 'The Legend of Zelda'. and it has kept me entwined in its evolution over the years. Through the different incarnations of Link and his adventures, he has never lost the fantasy-realism feeling. Even though the look and play of the N64 versions was drasticly different from the originals, it still had that feeling. The thing was that I could always feel the game i guess. I'm in no way knocking 'cartoons' either - I can usually empathise with the characters in them - depending of course how they were written..., but it almost seems like the same as re-drawing Ninja Scroll into Dragon-Half style animation.
I just hope it's all still there with this new fandangled thing.
.ph0x
---
ps -aux | grep mind
I don't think that Nintendo should take one of the few darker-themed games and make it lighthearted, sunny and happy.
This must be what Don Bluth wanted to do with Dragon's Lair and its offspring, Space Ace. Too bad they weren't interactive enough. This time, maybe we have got a REAL interactive cartoon. But I hope this kind of game will be done on other platforms, 'cause I don't like Nintendo...
Xenu brings order!
The Nintendo 64 Zelda was a cartooony weak, kiddy piece of shit, like 90% of nintendo games. The wrestling games are the only thing that made the N64 what it is
The Super nintendo Link to the Past was nothing short of an epic masterpiece.
They could have done some killer isometric view, Diablo style, or done some nice top view but 3D.
This cartoon style could be promising, in general I'm not much for cartoons but I love to see some variety.
Reminds me of that game that was in the arcades years ago based around a laser disk.... I forget the name now.
Dragon's Lair?
The CPad .. the handheld .. the side scroller ... Nintendo has been responsible for so much of what is taken for granted in the console industry that it's always amusing to see people trash Nintendo.
.. Nintendo has always focused on innovative game play and a unique approach to old franchises.
Sure, you may not be a fan of the style in the screenshots and movie, but it does highlight what Nintendo has always been good at: innovation.
Other developers are usually content to raise the bar on the present set of conventions and standards, in terms up updated graphics (making the characters look more lifelike), etc
I for one think that the style Nintendo is going for here is refreshing - way too many games take themselves way too seriously. And Link has always held an element of novelty and humour. I mean, how serious can you be when you're a green-garbed elf who occasionally stops by the chicken coup to ruffle a few feathers for the fun of it?
And, for the 20somethings who really won't touch a game unless its covered in blood, don't worry - Nintendo is handling their licencing issues far better this time around. We've seen some evidence that Microsoft's money will ultimatetly help see tons of the Xbox titles get ported to game cube, hopefully shutting up the thousands of console FANBOYS who only seem to pledge allegiance to systems with the darkest most 'adult' image, regardless of the reality.
"Old man yells at systemd"
Many game fans are put off by the complexity of most RPG's. Zelda titles have been much simpler than most, but all the same, it will be simplified to appeal to a larger audience.
Instead of epic quests for a glowing sword or whatever, you just try to survive from room to room. Example: your guy runs into a room and rocks start falling- what do you do? Pick a direction to run in and that's it. If you choose wrong, you die. Try again. No health status and objects to find- no alternate endings or pointless side quests.
Nintendo has plans to make a space-oriented cartoon Zelda for release in Japan early 2002.
Go Nintendo. I'm a big fan of the SNES and Gameboy Zelda's. This looks like what they should have done to begin with: They transferred those games stylistically into the hypothetical third dimension. The scene where all the enemies fall off the cliff is something everyone complains about because it supposedly makes the game like a roadrunner cartoon, but if you look at it closer you'll realize it has the exact same timing and everything of the animation of things falling off cliffs in the SNES/GB games.
Further, as other people pointed out, it's different. I personally don't want a console with a crapload of vanilla, wannabe games all identical in style. Let's take TV for example. The Simpsons is a great show. I'll state that as an objective uncontradictable fact. Imagine if every show looked like the simpsons. Flipping through the channels, you'd see Everyone Loves Raymond, Oprah, Star Trek all with yellow people. The evening news animated feverishy each night by unfortunate Koreans. This would be crap, I think you'll agree. So hooray for diversity. (Now I've attracted the ire of the right-wingers in the crowd)
It speaks volumes about how conditioned the videogame market is now to their crappy Playstation crap which is churned out every day. Now, there's some great games for PS, dont get me wrong, but... metric assloads of clones, too. The fact that people are so resistant to something new worries me, but I guess its expected.
Along that vein, I was disappointed with Mario Sunshine. It didn't seem very creative. But then, its hard to tell because they didnt show us much of it, but what's he wearing on his back? Is it the vaccuum cleaner that Luigi has in Luigi's Mansion?? Hmmmm.
Microsoft, following in the inspired footsteps of Nintendo, is adding Clippy(tm) as a sidekick to each of its game titles.
Their first racing demo shows just how much Clippy(tm) enhances a gamer's experience:
When asked why so many gamers who have tested Tomb RaiderX have cramped thumbs, a Microsoft spokesman's only comment was 'apparently, some kids thought it would be funny to shoot at Clippy(tm). What they didn't realize is that our beta-testers had already done the same thing incessantly, so we've re-designed the game to make this feat impossible. After all, how could you complete any game without the aid of Clippy(tm)?'
Endless arguments over trivial contradictions in books written by ignorant savages to explain thunder in the dark.
Just look at the fact that you can still get games that will work in a 1989 Gameboy!
And (as what happened with me) if your old Gameboy is broken you can buy a new 2001 Gameboy Advance which will play Tetris and Super Mario World as well as the original Gameboy did 12 years ago.
At the time developers did not have the resource's to create texture based models and thus most of the actors were polygon based, However this didn't matter since the character animation was so good (mainly due to the animation being rendered on the fly).
IMHO, things like texture mapping (and nowadays bump mapping and vertex shaders) were invented to make screen shots look good . Creating a convincing world is more about animation, voice acting and storyline. My best example for this is half-life (or shelf life as it seems to have become) which used a hacked version of the quake2 engine but added skeletal animation's that created a entirely new game.
In terms of links I'll say that if the design is a success people will buy the game if not they won't.
And to the troll's who think that the big N is merely trying to dumb down the game for kids, the character you are playing in the game is like 12 and, dude, you can always buy Tony Hawk 3 | Conker's bad fur day 2 | Any rare game instead.
I thought the exact same thing when I saw the first screen shot... but not so much after looking at the movie.
Am I the only one who couldnt give a shit about these releases if I tried?
Everyone complains about the lack of creativity in games, and how there is little room for innovation in such a hit/profit oriented market.
I applaud Nintendo for taking their hit series in a new direction, and for having the guts to do something different for a change (no I don't count Dragon's Lair to be in the same category)
Ben
OddManIn: A Game of guns and game theory.
Non photorealistic rendering is a very cool field of graphics, if that's what these guys are doing. For more info on the technique, check out this google-attained page here.
For fleeting minutes, one of the games I considered creating in this very past year was a Zelda-type game where the models are cartoon NPR-rendered but with a richly detailed Street Fighter World Warrior type colourful background.
This doesn't seem too far from that. I think M[ia]moto (sp) is using his instincts on this one.
Nothing horribly insightful in this comment, sorry...
Oh Yuck!
Zelda is a decent game on the '64. Now they want to make it into a cartoon? And an ugly looking one at that!?!?!
LongTail SSH Brute Force analysis tool is here!
Sure, I'll get an offtopic for this, but what the hell:
"greatest cartoon of all time, Transformers"
ROFL, you're kidding right? Are you evaluating greatness by golf-score style cel-counts, and perspectives that look like the bastard love child of Dali and cubism?! The Transformers embodied everything that american animation stands for - get a good franchise, and the fans will be totally blind to brutal, shoestring budget art.
"Old man yells at systemd"
But seriously, don't those screenshots look just like Parrapa-the-Rappa?
Compare what they are doing with the Zelda graphics with a game with cartoon-like graphics, like Jet Grind Radio. Face it: Jet Grind looks cool, and Zelda like this looks LAME. And no one wants to buy a game that looks like poop.
"Chill, Orrin!"---Trent Lott
Nintendo is cool, mmmm kay
It's kind of like this: Playstation makes cool movies you watch during load times between playing sessions, where Nintendo makes cool movies you can play.
~ now you know
I watched the movie yesterday and I think it looks like the shit! Samurai Link baby! Or is it Link Jack? The gameplay looks freaking fun as hell to play.
This is NOT Dragon's Lair! DL was NOT a game, it was a cartoon that you only got to keep watching if you were fast enough to hit a button here and there when prompted. There was no interactivity!
I can't wait to get my Nintendo Numb Thumbs(tm) on this game and be in perfect control of beautiful cartoon Hyrule. I forgot my PS2 existed for the month after I bought Paper Mario; the storyline was a bit (ok a lot) kiddish, but the gameplay rocked!
Seems like Nintendo is the only company that actually cares about making fun games any more. Yes, they target kids. Who do you think has the most time to play games? Sony and MS are only out to get the dollars of teenage impulse buyers, who have jobs, but still live at home. If a game sucks, they will just buy another one with the next paycheck burning a hole in their pockets.
Want eye candy? Watch some Wave Race movies!
"You point your finger at the moon, the fool stares at your finger."
My brother and I are longtime fans of Zelda. One thing we liked about Zelda was that it was targeted at a wide range of people. That continued to this day, but now, I think Zelda for Gamecube is targeted at a smaller age group, the young players. I, personally, think it is a bad move. I'm 18, and my brother's 23. We both know so many people our age that still plays Zelda games. A lot of people our age, including us, are pretty upset about it.
"Black holes are where God divided by zero." - Steve Wright
If you want to actually play around with NPR, try NPRQuake, which is Quake as a cartoon. Really funky to play. Windows only, sadly, but gives you a very odd flavor. This was covered on Slashdot a few months ago.
PHEM - party like it's 1997-2003!
Am I the only one who realizes that Shigeru Miyamoto has yet to drop the ball on a single release he has been behind? The man has an almost supernatural ability to produce unique, challenging and top-notch games time after time, and I don't think this will be his "Daikatana". I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt on this one and judge it when I play it.
p.s. If I spelled his name wrong, I apologize. Damn public education system...
In the originals he was about 18 or so, the last N64 adventure had a younger link through the first half, and now he looks about 12 in this new game. What's next, Zelda Babies? If they're trying to capture the current market, they need to realize what Sony did, and find more adult games. How cool would it be to have an older Link and Zelda ruling Hyrule together. The game could have single-quest parts, (one or both characters adventuring, looking for some magic element) as well as scenes of Link leading a huge army against hordes of monsters. Make the characters age, mature and grow, not just watered down kiddy versions. How many adventures could link have possibly have before the first game anyway? He was just a kid.
May you be touched by His Noodly Appendage. RAmen.
Here's some Zelda links: review, and Watch all the episodes here!
Now, about the Mario show as a whole:
Personally, want I remember about the show was Magic Johnson appearing, and the strange fact that since the series was released after Mario 2 (e.g. Mario Advance), they had all the critters and features from that game only (like Shy guys and vegetables, but rarely goombas and koopa-troppas), but yet Bowser seemed to be in charge. Where was Toad (not the mushroom retainer guy, the big frog)? Do the Mario! Swing your hips, From side to side. C'mon it's time to go, Do the Matio!
Pretty much all the info you need. Main page including all the Mario shows.
Another (less flattering) summary, including one of the episodes, and the original theme!
Crack crack crack the eggs into the bowl.
what is in those screen shots and video clip.
If you look closely you will notice that in the vid clip and the screen shots, there is a lot of "fmv" sequince where things like heart containers are not visible. the regular gameplay sequinces in those shots look like the standard 3d zelda interfaces, and the fighting sure seems the same.
For all the 1337 |R3\/\/ who are spouting off about how it needs to me anime style and such, get a life. If every single thing we 1337 anime (like you just saw on CD so now you too can jump on a bandwagon) looking it would suck.
This zelda while looking different is fine. It will be a fun game and should apeal not only to kids but us adults as well.
For everyone who spouts about how it should be anime looking, then denounce it for being cartoon looking, ANIME are cartoons.
For all the idiots spouting about how cartoons looking game means it's for 12 and under, go play in traffic.
The ignorance of people in this and in the brazil threads just infuriates me beyond sane reason.
You don't work for nintendo, your just a snot nosed brat that doesn't have any clue in marketing games.
No,
you don't.
I don't care if you work for "some big company I do games."
Your not nintendo
You never competed with Sega
You don't know whats best,
And your not ages 6-14.
I'm a big retard who forgot to log out of Slashdot on Mike's computer! LOOK AT ME.
"like you just saw on CD so now you too can jump on a bandwagon"
Replace CD with CN (as in Cartoon Network). Sorry missed that even after looking in preview.
Maybe just maybe - if its simpler they could add a feature. eg. as you advance thought the levels you could see the movies bits rendered in real time, (like a replay) (can't... get... ign.. activating anti-blocker hack)
make Linux, not Microsoft. sin(beast) = -0.809016994374947424102293417182819
My mother and I?
I remember when Sierra decided to do King's Quest VII: The Princeless Bride in cartoon style. Something changed in the style of their games and I lost interest. Since then they have lost their seat at the throne of gamemakers and haven't recovered it. Is this start of a similar fall for Nintendo?
Z.
Z. http://www.play.net Your games, my job. C'est la vie!
When i see that computer programming can bring this kind of beauty to life it truely brings a (watch the movie they have there)
"Allez Cusine!"
I loved the Zelda's and FF's too. Those all bring back some nostalgic memories, but I sure am glad Zelda wasn't referred to as an RPG. I always laugh at the semantics wars, but when it really comes down to it. It doesn't matter what you like or dislike about any game. The real issue is whether you can eyeball something based on a screenshot or two and its 'genre' and have a 85% probability of knowing how it plays. Final Fantasy is NOT an RPG. Great stories and often great graphics, but like so many other games that are set in a fantasy/swords and sorcery setting, that does NOT make it a RPG.
...for the XBOX. Hey, if companies keep putting out dreck like this, the XBOX will have no competition. I know, I know, this is Slashdot! "You can't pull for Micro$oft!!" Well, not only am I a Slashdot fan, but I'm also a tech junkie. And when something cool and unique hits the shelves, I'm all over it. And if any of you other geeks can honestly say that the XBOX doesn't intrigue you...well you just haven't pulled those Coke-Bottle blinders from your eyes.
Hey, no biggy to me. The more geeks that DON'T buy the XBOX and all the games, the easier it's going to be for me to find em...
(Close-up of Neo - Look of agog on his face - Said in a half-whisper)"Whoa!"
Nintendo will set it's image as a video game company for kiddies with a cartoon Zelda. First the colorful casing, then the inability to play DVD's.....factor in the low price tag and the PS2 and X-Box look more grown up than the Gamecube.
You know what infuriates me? People who get all high and mighty and start prophecizing about intelligence, yet don't have the common sense to run a spell check on their postings before hitting the Submit button. Did you realize you mis-spelled sequence? TWICE? Do you understand the concept of a capital letter at the beginning of a sentence? Do you understand that the only homo-sapiens who actually USE "leet-speak" are either social misfits or graduates of the Raymond Babbitt School of Memory and Techno-Babble (and if you understand that...yea!)?
Please don't bother posting again until you either graduate from elementary school or your parents proof-read it first...
(Close-up of Neo - Look of agog on his face - Said in a half-whisper)"Whoa!"
The game that convinced me that cel-shading polys could look good was Jet Set Radio (Jet Grind Radio here in the states) for the Sega Dreamcast. Good cel-shading code combined with superb character design made the game very attractive, with silk-smooth animation. Very impressive.
Zelda looks even more impressive, and while I like the concept of going to a cel-shaded, cartoony setting, I honestly don't like the character design of Link at all. He looks like a little girl! Heck, maybe Miyamoto will break from tradition completely and make this Link as a little girl. Linkette, anyone?
They're just using the age old method of 'oil painting.' Renaissance masters have had this for ages, and George Rodrigue already did a painting (Blue Dog) last year.
In fact, there's a good chance that oil painting is less intensive than watercolor. You don't have to worry about colors flowing in and out of each other, and your color palette is solid and made of wood.
-
Oh wait, a painting is about more than the materials and technique used to create it? Say it isn't so!
I'll grant you that this is news for nerds, but is it really 'Stuff that Matters'?
Zelda was only cartoony on The NES and SNES, and that only because EVERYTHING looks cartoony in 8/16-bit color. N64 didn't look cartoony at all.
Not a typewriter
So it's all good, and you're enjoying your little quest, with its puzzles and mini-games and whatnot. That is, until you run into the patented Nintendo Cheap Shot Syndrome, and end up knocked on your ass mainly as a result of the interface. (Anyone who's fought the later bosses in Ocarina of Time knows what I'm talking about). Then, of course, you're thrown just far enough back in the game for it to be a nuisance. But by this time, you've come too far to just pack it in...
I'm on the fence as to whether I'll play another Zelda game or not... after years of gaming, I've come to the conclusion that challenge is good, but I'd rather play a game than fight it.
Looks ALOT like Parappa the Rapper to me!! I want to play Zelda, not "punch kick its all in the mind!"
There has been some discussion about the cartoon style and some peeps said that the new zelda is made for kids and N doesn't care for the mature folks. Guess what: it is for kids, welcome to the real world.
May i ask you: how old were you when you first played zelda on your NES? Think about it.
Another point: Gameplay is EVERYTHING. I know some peeps who still play Mario Kart on the SNES and they have a big game machine (1.XGhz, GF3 you name it) at home. And if you ask me i love the new style of Zelda because of what i just said: it has style. It reminds me of Day of the Tentacle and Monkey Island 3 (look at the clouds for example). Go Big N!
keep it simple.
I don't know--maybe websites are more grateful for a Slashdot effect than worried about it.
At first I was like omg-wtf, and then I thought for second, wow that would be neat, a game playable in realtime with the look and feel of a Disney cartoon movie. But then I thought again. WTF!? I think it's gonna fail.
I had to throw that in there, because as substandard as the animation on cartoons like Transformers and GIJoe was (not as bad as HE-MAN... I watched that a month or two ago and couldn't believe how terrible the animation was, even for the 80's)... it was still a dang fine show nonetheless - entertaining and fun. And at least the characters looked better than the pitiful excuse of a drawing the new Link is. That was my point.
:)
Maybe referring to the 'animation' was the wrong term. DRAW Link better. His head looks like a football.
And be wary of knocking Transformers on a forum populated such as this one. It'd seem that there are a lot of rabid Transformers-loving nerds around.
---
"how can the same street intersect with itself? i must be at the nexus of the universe!" - cosmo kramer
Think about it: would it make sense for me to say "I would have shot I"? Fuck no. You say "I would have shot myself".
Speaking of which, why have you not killed yourself yet for pretending to know something about the English language? Oh, that's right. You're only 15 years old and Mommy won't let you get a Playstation, so you settle for jumping on Daddy's dick once a week.
Idiot. No, that's not quite right... Idiot doesn't begin to describe you...
Imbecile.
Basically, I agree with you on how all of those factors combined paint a rather bleak future for Nintendo as far as adult themed entertainment is concerned. As for the DVD, our irrational friend below is incorrect in saying the hardware is sucky compared to others. Sony's main DVD processing suite for their stand alone DVD players is the same as in the PS2. The difference comes in to play with the interface, output decoders (like audio) and other EXTERNAL factors. Meaning that you must have a good rig to use the PS2 as a quality DVD player, much like a DVD drive in a computer.
Tech savy people know that interfaces are independant of features and that software (look'n real good with the linux kit) can provide the opportunity to run circles around the best consumer electronics DVD player.
One important thing to note is that despite the market enlarging desire of Nintendo, they have claimed in recent reviews that they cater more towards the old style 'kiddie' games. So be it! I am personally disappointed, and wish that more complex gameplay and themes would be added to Nintendo's repotoir. Our angst ridden teenage friend does also make a good point (you have to dig and dig and scrape off the venom) about the cartoon and children oriented theme. I think many here would agree that cartoons are merely a medium for expression much like b&w or color. The use of cartoons does not signify a child oriented approach. In fact, it is rather annoying to me as well when parents and kids assume that anything that has a cartoon is aimed at children. (look at all them litigations).
Of course, to let you know, I am more interested in gameplay, interaction, story/plot and immersion than graphics. Pretty graphics don't do much for me, but EFFECTIVE graphics do. The easier it is to produce effective graphics, the more power (processing) and time (dev) can be put into AI, story/plot and interface. Otherwise you have a beautiful board (bored) game. Also to disclose some more, I personally am greatly interested in 3D graphics for the purpose of efficient rendering mainly to allocate more room for the above mentioned elements.
Maybe one day we'll see the Aha-ed version of Zelda, following the lead of NPRQuake
I think the next "big thing" in videogames" will be someone coming up with algorithms to calculate realistic human movement in real-time. Maybe I'm wrong, I didn't see all the games in existence (especially on PC), but I definitely didn't see anything like this on PS2 or N64 (where I saw 95% of existing games). Until that time, the best idea is to use cartoons, whose movements can be calculated in real-time much more easily. If you don't want to wait for Zelda on GameCube and want to seesimilar technique in action, check out some cartoon games from RARE on N64: "Banjo Kazooie" I and II or "Donkey Kong 64". The movement is perfectly fluid and realistic (in the "cartoon" sense) and yet the characters are fully interactive and you really have the feeling that you fully control them.
--- Frantisek Fuka (Yes, that's my real name and you have no idea how it's pronounced)
I for one applaud Miyamoto-san's decision to move Zelda back to his original design. I did not like the N64 incarnations of Zelda as much as I enjoyed the Oracles games. This was because of one thing and one thing alone-- the 3-D Zelda games (Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, for all three of you who don't play console games) did not feel like Zelda, whereas the GBC games did. Ocarina of Time did not really have the "fooling around" aspect to it that made other, older Zeldas so much fun-- that is, there'd be a phase in which you'd just wander around the world, seeing what everything does when you whack it with the Hookshot, and so forth. Zelda has always been about freedom. Perhaps that's why I never actualy finished the original one (aside from the fact that I was seven years old at the time)-- I spent too much time wandering around finding new stuff, than actually trying to go through Level 9.
I think a lot of games could do with a good swift kick in the pants. Castlevania did, after all-- look at the revolting Castlevania 64 and then look at Circle of the Moon. Everyone can benefit by taking a couple of months to step back from "what people are doing now" and take a look at "what's worked in the past" and "what made [brand name] so popular to begin with". Innovation has its place, but if something doesn't work (realism in Zelda), it just plain doesn't work.
"Why Subscribe?" Good question...
"In the game industry the people that are most sought after are the people with better technology than skill, rather than the people who love to challenge themselves to make something very fun and deliver breakthrough ideas. That kind of situation I really hate. So that's why I told my staff members that they should have more freedom to create anything they like..."
This is precisely why Nintendo has continuously released games far superior to the competition. They have always been a company focused on quality at the expense of quantity, which is something you just don't see much in the video game business.
In a way, the developers and engineers at Nintendo are a lot like dedicated open source people. They strike me as gamers writing games for gamers, not weenies releasing as much crap as possible with the hopes of making a quick buck. Everything from the design of the controllers, to the hardware itself, to the simple but powerful (gasp!) interfaces in their games, to the atmosphere they create is all well thought out and works flawlessly (or damn close to it). They consistently create something spectacular for gamers of all ages to enjoy, without having to clone other popular games or rely on gimmicky stuff like excessive gore.
Personally, I think this Zelda looks great. I'm not really into the powerpuff girl facial features, but the cinematic feel is very cool. And when you come right down to it, the best games are the ones that give you that feeling of being somewhere else, whether in your mind (pencil & paper rpgs, nethack) or in some virtual digital world.
I don't really care what link looks like. As long as they keep the classic zelda gameplay. There should be an overworld with dungeons full of puzzles, rupees, towns, people, and all that. What makes zelda games so good is that they are practically the only real-time RPGs.
However when they said cartoon I though of paper mario or anime style art. The screenshots on IGN made link look like a picasso. But as long as the gameplay stays the same I wont be royally pissed. I'm still buying a gamecube, just for luigi's mansion and Samus. Oh the Metroids.
The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
OK, I won't post the link to the old Zelda pics for fear of being redundant, but it's clear that there's already been a lot of development on a realistic, lifelike version of a Zelda game. And now here comes this jolly happy cartoon Zelda game. Somehow, the plot seems to have been lost along the way...
But why shouldn't there be BOTH in the same game? It's clear that the last few Zelda games have all dealt with an alternative world somehow, be it the Lightworld / Darkworld in Link To The Past, or the Young Link / Old Link worlds in Ocarina Of Time.
Given this pattern, perhaps we might see a Realistic / Cartoon world changeover in this next game. Remember that the actual plot of this game hasn't been published yet. So for the moment, anything goes!
OK, so maybe some people are treating Dale like he's in line for sainthood, which is a little much, but he's not just "a hick with a fast car", any more than Babe Ruth was "a fat guy with a stick" or John Carmack is a "pasty guy that types on a keyboard"
Show some respect, OK?
Want to learn about race cars? Read my Book
hehehe, I really like the FF style of the dancing and throbing characters and monsters. They all sit in a neat row like at a football game gyrating and pumping then one at a time move forward and 'slash slash'. hehehe. Then someone calls forth a 10 megaton nuclear missle, the neato graphical sequence (FMV) shows some large metropolitan area or an entire continent being vaporized, the planets axis being tilted and gravity being alterd permanently within 10 parsecs... yet the 'monster' takes only 1 HP damage!
HAHAHAHAHAHA, kids love it however!
I'm totally excited about this. I mean, 3D is cool and all, but for a while I've been wating to see cartoon-style games like this.
Imagine the possibilities of this type of animation in a game.. you could have games that completely look and play like a cartoon or anime, which to me is cool as hell.
As 3D just approaces more and more towards photorealism, it's very nice to see something like this, especially in one of my favorite series.
The PowerRangers RPG, RTS, Adventure, FPS, VR, MMORPG, Simulation.
Barney the Dinosaur RPG, RTS, Adventure, FPS, VR, MMORPG, Simulation.
Pokemon RPG, RTS, Adventure, FPS, VR, MMORPG, Simulation.
We know all our 5 year old customers will love these executive decisions. Furthermore, since we will be phasing out the 12 y.o. and older titles we will release new versions of these that are dumbed down. Expect plenty of cute little cuddly characters, limited to NO interaction, completely linear 'gameplay' and multiple references to RPG even though there is NO ROLE PLAYING involved.
Warning - parent link is to google cache of the page. Please do not click it, who will think of the children?
here here
Back when it hit the arcades most people thought it looked great but played like ass. I thought it both looked and played like ass.
I really don't know how to feel about this development. If it plays great then I think I'll get over the graphics. If not, then it will be all ass, like Dragon's Lair.
gene
(I like saying ass.)
I noticed over on Gamespot that Shigeru Miyamoto asked the press not to release screenshots or movies of the game. It seems that IGN doesn't give a damn about his wishes and just wants the scoop.
lol, I don't mean to offend any hardcore consolers out there, but Zelda is hardly newsworthy of Slashdot. I've p[layed most of the Zelda games, and new graphics aren't gonna make it any less rehash. Sorry Guys :/
Science Rules
..looks pretty damn retarted. I honestly can't tell if Link is supposed to be a boy or a girl in this version of the game, and I'd have to say I'm leaning more towards the girl side. C'mon Nintendo, you can give link a little more substance to that mug!
-- I'll cut you up so bad, you'll wish I'd never cut you up so bad!
Its cool to see an old game be reinvented into something almost completely original.
This game will give me license to punch some homosexual XBoxer in the face... just like OS X gives me the right to sock any anti-mac queer.
I call it the heat of passion. Posting in the 2nd degree.
Wait, are you going to jump on me for not using double space after a period?
Wait, are you going to jump on me for not using double space after a period?
Oh come on, HTML renders double spaces as single spaces anyway, so on a Web page it doesn't make a difference.
$x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
$x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
You will note I was not nitpicking anyone for their lack of spelling and grammer.
./
/.).
Wait a min. I miss one capitalization and you are all over me. That is so mature of you.
In case you didnt notice the first line was a continuation of the subject so IMO it makes no sense (should I spell that cense so you can go off) to capitalize the start of the first line. So all that over one word twice (a valid complaint) and one friggin "a" I missed.
I was using 1337 speak to illustrate the mindset seen here on
Post now, never bother to read and comprehend the article was what burns my grits.
You have me on spelling, but I was still able to get a mesage across.
Maybe they update slashcode and incorporate a basic spellcheck some day.
I will write a letter to CT demanding it.
Read my last line, maybe that explains it all.
BTW can I inturest you in some old sk00l 1337, grammar errors, and spelink misteaks leik these?
Then again you are nothing more then a petty little troll (just look up some of you messages on
Now while I think that this is the best looking cartoon-rendered game I know of, but still, this is NOT a good idea.
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
Zelda isn't the only upcoming game which uses a cartoon shader. Cel Damage for the xbox uses one too and I think it looks better than the Zelda shader. Source code for such a cartoon shader can be found at Game Developer Magazine (source code of the march 2001 edition).
It seems like Link gets younger in every 3D version of LoZ. I wouldn't mind a cartoony look, but do they have to make him look like a kindergartener?
If Miyamoto is worried about keeping the series fresh, he's completely missing the point. The problem is not with the LOOK of the series, it's with the CONTENT. How many Zeldas have been the same plotline, only with different graphics or on different systems? Oh yeah, ALL of them! Well, that's not true. There have been a few such as the Gameboy version and Majora's Mask that have went in new directions. And, surprisingly enough, they are considered some of the best in the series.
So, if make the next Zelda a realtime shaded toon but keep the same old story (Ganon kidnaps Zelda and link must save her), they'll completely miss the point. Yeah, the game might still be fun to play (e.g. Ocarina of Time). But enough of this will eventually wear thin.
This goes for you, too, Plumber Boy!
Woo!
Lets hear it for the "Me Too".
The lurkers support me in e-mail.
(the first gameboy one was ok I guess... haven't played the new ones)
Zelda 7: Oracle of Seasons and Zelda 8: Oracle of Ages are brought to you by the company that makes the world's most popular really expensive database management system.
Will I retire or break 10K?
In the same period, there were 0 support calls to the Sega helpline about Zelda.
Sega is now making games for Nintendo and Sony consoles; therefore, the Nintendo tip line is now also a Sega tip line.
What I really want to see is ports of Toaplan's arcade games to Game Boy Advance, especially the sideways shooter Zero Wing.
Come on, everybody, it's the Sega Dance!Will I retire or break 10K?
My heart and soul tell me that this is just a demo of the cartoon-ish shading abilities of the GameCube, among others. Cartooning, unlike more realistic polygon animation (ala Majora's Mask, if you can call that realism) is required to be sharper and crisper than its three-dimensional counterpart. With a lack of depth, one must make up for it with bold colors, elegant curves, and no blemishes that can be excused in three-dimensional texture mapping.
With the success and the ingenuity of both Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, I think Nintendo would be taking a major step back in designing their new game around a two-dimensional(ish) character system. The Legend of Zelda games have always been the test of Nintendo's gaming hardware -- games like Super Mario Bros. (and its many variants) have always been the more cartoony, appeal-to-the-kids-and-the-nostalgics releases from Nintendo.
So, that's what I think. I really do, in my optimistic thinking, think this was just an appease-the-crowd showing of some of the new features of the GameCube. Hopefully the new Zelda game will hold true to the series by creating fantastic new worlds and engulfing the user in a more realistic, storybook fantasy world. Leave the cartoons to Mario and his pals.
Ryan
"All your base are belong to this file I send in order to have your advice."
On the 27th in Japan, is the rumor.
Here's hoping for Konami.
yeah... go ahead. I think I will be anti-mac just to snap your wrists and break your ribs. Normally it takes me around 2.3 secods, but if you are good it could double.
Legend of Zelda - Sing along fun! ^^
jd
When you're that young it matters; that one year is like 17% of his life. I expect next time you will be more careful when throwing numbers around.
Out with the swords and spells and in with the falling anvils and pianos. They should make a fortune off of Acme product placement.
First off I dont' think anyone posted the subtile differences in the two demos from http://cube.ign.com/news/37692.html and http://cube.ign.com/previews/14914.html. The first demo, talks about the fight between Ganondorf and Link and how "These are all things we can expect in the final version, and probably something even more brilliant." The subtile difference is that in the second article they say "The trailer kicks off with a shot of a black, pig-like soldier, who is no doubt a minion of Ganon himself, bursting through a wooden door." Okay people is it just me or does this sound like two different stories? If what I am reading, and hopeing, they are doing is releasing two new titles of The Legend of Zelda saga. I don't believe that Nintendo would release this new system without some really killer titles from the getgo becuase they are going to be in strict competition with the Xbox. I think it would be very unlikely they would wait a whole year without some killer title such as TLOZ. After all the other highly anticipated title, Metroid Prime, doesn't look like its going to be finished anytime soon.
(Did anyone notice that the GameCube is released 5 days before the Xbox according to preordering on ebworld.com? I for one hope the 5 days helps to get the Xbox out of the market in order to keep Microsoft from takeing over yet another market.)
(I forget where I first read this. The official site now describes each game as a chapter in an ongoing saga, so I suppose the following is irrelevant. Still, it's another way of looking at things. If you don't agree then moderate me away...)
;)
Each game in The Legend of Zelda series is supposed to be a retelling of the same myth. Hence the root story is always the same (Gannon kidnaps Zelda and tries to steal the Triforce, Link must battle to save both). The games taht varied from this path (Link's Awakening, Majora's Mask) are simply tales created to bolster the legend. (i.e. Link is such a great hero he must have done more than just defeat Ganon).
With each retelling of the myth the narrative becomes more complex and more great deeds are attributed to Link (hence the increasing depth and scope of each game). As long as this holds true in Link's Game Cube excursion, I won't mind the fact that ultimately I'm just saving the princess again. Ocarina of time had so much else going on there were a few times I forgot I was supposed to be saving Zelda at all...
That said, I do hope Link isn't a child through the entire GC adventure... He's cute and all, but he may be just a little too cute...
As for Mario... Well, some things never change.
like a knight in shining armor/from a long time ago
This SNES game was VERY cartoon-ish and is regarded by most as one of the best games ever released on the SNES. Flashy graphics are nice, but if Nintendo is going back to concentrating on the plot and the gameplay - they'll have a winner on their hands.
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DRM is like antifreeze, to the MPAA/RIAA it's sweet, to the consumers it's poison.
Looks like somebody fucked up.
Here is the link to make it easier for everyone
Cube News
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I really think Nintendo is missing the point. I remember when Nintendo was more about the game than the graphics. Look at what they're doing -- they're forming a game around the graphics capabilities of the system. They're making the game to show off the graphics. The story and game itself should be shown off, and the graphics should be simply the visual presentation. Since N64, Nintendo on more than one occassion has said "[such and such a game] will really show off [a 3D effect]."
I just think they're missing the point. I'm all about 3D gaming and incredible graphics -- and yet I can't help but think much of the storyline went out with the SNES series.
The next comment I write will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and see it early!
Listen (not lisen) you 12-year old little wanna-be, you have the gall to come in here as an Anonymous Coward and insult ME of being a "petty little troll"? And where in the world did you ever learn a word like petty? Was your dad in your room helping you "flame" me? If there had only been one or two mis-spellings in your original post, I never would have replied. And if there had been some sort of intelligent and meaningful flame from you, I probably wouldn't have written this, but kid, you have provoked me again!
When ending a sentence on one line and continuing it on another, it is customary to use three periods in succession at the end of the first line and at the beginning of the second line. This I will let go, because I'm sure that's not taught in elementary school. What I will NOT let go of though, is the fact that you mispelled other words throughout this last post AND you even called Slashdot "./". Come on!! Are we gonna have to bring in your English Teacher to proof-read your dad now?? That's gonna get embarassing!!
Well, that's all for me. Time to troll another forum...
(Close-up of Neo - Look of agog on his face - Said in a half-whisper)"Whoa!"