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E3 - Nintendo Shows DS Details, Realistic Zelda
An anonymous reader writes "Following the earlier leak of Nintendo DS pictures, there are hands-on details regarding Nintendo's handheld console over at GameSpot - Cube-Europe also has a list of Nintendo's first-party DS games, including 'Animal Crossing DS, Mario Kart DS, Metroid Prime: Hunters, a new Super Mario Bros game, Super Mario 64X4, and WarioWare Inc. DS'." Elsewhere, xDCDx writes "Nintendo just showed at their E3 conference a trailer of the new Zelda game for the Gamecube [there are also screenshots available], this time using a more mature visual look, rather than a cel-shaded one."
"Nintendo just showed at their E3 conference a trailer of the new Zelda game for the Gamecube [there are also screenshots available]"
Ok, those look damn smoooooth if I say so myself BUT are those in-game shots or the dreaded "let's show the incredibly breath taking cinematic art and make it LOOK in-game even though we will soon find out after dropping 50 bones that the in-game graphics are as bad as ET the Extra Terrestial on the Atari 2600!"
As long as there's third party support, I've got a feeling that the DS will succeed.
Goo goo g'joob.
This guy is just another guy blabbing about how *he* doesnt like the visual effects of a particular game.
Tons of people (myself included) lived the look of Wind Waker, and besides, the game isn't about the graphics, its about the fucking GAME.
no comment
You know that the Spaceworld 2000 demo you're talking about was a tech demo, right? Or were you also expecting a game where you could manipulate hundreds of Marios on-screen at once? Maybe a Meowth game too?
The reasons for the cell-shaded Zelda have been mentioned before....they wanted to play with the expressiveness of the characters. They did a good job with that, and now they're going in another direction. Hardly worthy of criticism.
If the average gamer wants his franchises like they remember them, I would think that Cel-da would be THE game to own.
Compare the visual style of Zelda I, Zelda LTP, and even the N64 versions to Celda.
Now compare it to Real Zelda.
Yeah the first batch were cartoony, not realistic. So the realistic version is going to be trying something different.
Me personally remembers the storylines and gameplay of previous zeldas before I think of graphics. That's what I like about my franchises, continued excellence in the game, not the graphics.
-- taking over the world, we are.
Wow! As much as I loved the cel shading in Wind Waker, I'm glad to see Nintendo taking a different approach for the next title. Part of Nintendo's problem is their image of being a kiddy game company. Games like Wind Waker, though VERY impressive visually, only help to cement that image in peoples' minds.
There is no way in hell anyone's going to look at this new game (assuming those aren't pre-rendered shots) and say, "That's for kids! I don't want to play THAT!"
This is not CGI we're talking about. This is engine-rendered stuff. Wouldn't make much sense to pre-render something that you can do on-the-fly.
Rob
Okay I was aware that it was coming but surely allowing a product to mature (much like what has been done with the playstation) would be a bit more beneficial?
So far I've got a GameCube, GameBoy Advance and GameBoy Advance SP and to total off the collection I guess I'll be getting the DS now but there appears to be alot of potential in the current platforms that is being ignored.
For example, broadband on the GameCube could be pushed further to actually selling the adaptors and membership as retail. Why not sell Games and online memberships (and top up kits) for connecting to online servers? Games set you back ~$99AU an online gaming pack could sell for around $40AU for something like 40 hours of gaming or more.
A company recently released a GPS connector for the GBA SP, okay it looks a bit cheesy driving around with a GBA on your dashboard but how about a more slimline, perhaps mature, design?
Wireless connections are a big thing with Nintendo (Wavebird wireless controller and GBA wireless) imagine being able to link up your GBA with the BroadBand adaptor then downloading games to your GameCube memory card for transfer to your GBA; perhaps make blank GBA Paks available for downloading cartoons or tv shows via the GameCube?
So early next year or there abouts we will have the GameCube NEXT platform (or whatever they plan on calling it) pretty much leaving people with a pile of 2-3 year old Nintendo consoles that may never be looked at again. Any ideas on what to do with them???
It wasn't the cell shading that made Wind Waker look so kiddified. Take a look at games like Robotech Battlecry for instance. Cell shading can look damned cool. The problem was that Link was a fat little 6 year-old.
I'm tired of the issue being polarized into two camps. Not everything Nintendo does is aimed expressly at children, and that certainly doesn't disqualify them from making a great game. But on the other hand, just because people want a more adult feel to their games doesn't mean everything needs to be blood and guts. Personally, I just don't want to be insulted by the game I'm playing, I don't want to strangle someone to death with his own intestines.
And that's the problem that I had, and I'm sure many other people had with Wind Waker. It was a good game; I don't think anyone who played it would say otherwise. But I grew up on Zelda. Ever since the NES days, I had envisioned Link as a hero, a champion; something I thought of as cool. Chubby children aren't cool. Their friends that have foot-long boogers hanging from their noses are even less cool.
I'm looking forward to this Zelda. I was so disgusted with the connectivity 'features' of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles and the absolutely dismal game line-up on the GBA that I traded both in and bought Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow and another year's subscription to Xbox Live. This Zelda just may redeem Nintendo in my eyes, because Mario 8614: Now He's Got a Vacuum Cleaner Ha, Look How 'Innovative' We Are sure isn't going to cut it.
But anyway, the point being.... an existing franchise can still be the basis for very innovative games.
As much as people complain about all the sequels, the reality is, it is infinitely easier to sell a game, new ideas or not, if it builds on a franchise people already like. Just as with movies, when you have a built-in fanbase, it makes sense to use it. As unfortunate as it is, it becomes a lot more difficult to be successful with a wildly new game if the characters and setting and world are completely known..... certainly not impossible, but it IS more difficult.
If it means that Nintendo develops some very cool new game but puts Mario in it, rather than some unknown character, in order to help make sure it does well, I say more power to them.
-Tom
Fine. We'll connect the dots then.
For months prior to this E3, there has been constant speculation about how crappy the DS will be, and how stupid the designers were/are for including two screens. "How can they do that without making it look stupid?" people asked. Over and over and over again.
Then everyone sees it and realizes Nintendo isn't staffed by a bunch of total morons. Then, in the space of one web page, it goes from "Sony will win. Give it up. Gamecube sucks. Blah blah blah" to "wow, the DS is cool. Zelda isn't cel-shaded any more, so that's also cool, and the PSP is a giant pile of crap."
Over the next week, the game media and technology pundits will also, grudgingly, realize that Nintendo, like Apple for PCs, is the market leader in video games. Sony succeeds with volume. Nintendo succeeds with innovation.
By the way, I have 9000 karma.
Business isn't willing to pay for products, innovation and careers, so we get brands, mortgage commercials and layoffs.
this time using a more mature visual look, rather than a cel-shaded one.
I've watched the new Zelda video about three times, and I firmly believe that Wind Waker looks more "realistic" than this new Zelda. What I mean is this: watch the trailer for Wind Waker and if you didn't know any better you'd swear it's an animated feature. There is little difference in Wind Waker's presentation, if any at all, and a well drawn cartoon. Watch the new Zelda trailer, the "realistic" Zelda, and there's little realism. You can tell, immediately, even from a screenshot that this is a video game. Sure, the graphics are fantastic. But the bar to which you're holding it too, reality, is much higher than that of the animated Wind Waker. Miyamato is well aware of this, and cited this in defense of Wind Waker. I am curious what he thinks of this new design.
What's more is that the graphics in the new Zelda are not stylized. They're generic, to be frank. It's a guy in green riding on a horse out of a generic look fantasy castle. This is a scene that could've dropped straight out of the ass of LOTR, with its trolls and army of orcs with clubs, massing on poorly textured hills. In fact, until you see Link up close, this may very well have come from any number of E3 firstlook videos. Even the vaporware Fable has more style than this Zelda.
I suppose this is closer in style, perhaps, to Ocarina of time. But technology was what limited Ocarina, and Nintendo bravely sidestepped that ever present technological limitation with Wind Waker by animating it. This is a step in the wrong direction for the Zelda franchise. Will it sell more? Sure. Is it more creative? Based on this trailer, no.
Mark my words: this Link will have collision detection problems. You'll spin the camera and see the inside of something else. Because this new world is trying to look realistic, when something happens that defies realism, a box falling awkwardly, or enemies disappearing, or whatever number of usual video game annoyances, it will break the spell. We're used to it because it's video games. But that rarely happened in Wind Waker, and that's part of what made it so great. When enemies disappeared in Wind Waker, for example, it was acceptable and perhaps even more dramatic that they disappeared in a puff of dark evil smoke. Why? Because it was not a "real" world, the animation style created a sense of surreality. I may be too harsh on an early video here, but I see not even a sliver of the emotion in "realistic" Link that I saw in Wind Waker's "Link." The graphics are unquestionably impressive. However, this new Zelda has no character, no style, no color, and no artistic focus to it.
And I take offense to the original poster claiming that this is more "mature." It isn't. Animation does not equal immaturity and (perceived) realism does not equal maturity. In fact, Wind Waker was one of the most emotionally jarring and touching games I've played in a long, long time, and I would argue was far more "mature" than GTA3 and its derivatives. The ability to connect through the television screen and the beyond the controller, to transcend the game on an emotional level, demonstrates far more maturity than better graphics. Shame on you for thinking otherwise.
You mean Nintendo, the champion of online connectivity?
Also the only one who's done it right with the Nintendo DS? Nintendo has said for a long time that they have their own strategy for online gaming. Who wants a keyboard while you're in the middle of playing a game?
The first one that jumped to optical media?
And optical media is better than solid state? Optical media is only cheaper (more capacity is cheaper).
And who could forget how fast they made a color portable with a backlight.
Which is still more expensive and more costly than the portable they still sell without a backlight, and still has shorter battery life.
Don't forget that they're the first company with a system that did full 3D graphics and analog control with force feedback (with pixel shaders and anti-aliasing to boot), with 4 controller ports. And the company that set the standard for 3D third person games with Mario 64 and Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The first system to offer 1st party wireless control. And did optical storage right with fast load times. Hell, even the Dreamcast has far better load times than the PS2. And the 3DO has significantly better load times and far better audio than the PSX (SF2 for the 3DO lets you start a fight within 30 seconds of turning it on. PSX takes two minutes). Sony can't learn from their mistakes. How useful is two joysticks compared to analog L and R buttons, which started with the Dreamcast?
You can't develop everything; every feature has a trade-off. At least when Nintendo brings something to market, they do it right.
Moderators should have to take a reading comprehension test.