Miyamoto Talks Revolution and Zelda

1up reports that Shigeru Miyamoto has, almost offhandedly, confirmed that the upcoming Zelda title will utilize the Revolution's wand functionality. From the article: "When asked about Twilight Princess' progress, Miyamoto said everything coming along well, and that 'because Revolution can run GameCube software, when you play Twilight Princess on Revolution you can take advantage of the Revolution controller.' Whoa, whoa, whoa. Stop the train. We already knew Twilight Princess would be playable on GameCube, but it's mighty odd for Miyamoto to simply announce such a feature on a whim - but apparently he has. Not only that, but Miyamoto made sure to underscore that 'almost everything' about Revolution will be revealed at E3 in May."

Comments

"Almost everything"?

[RyoShin]

Not only that, but Miyamoto made sure to underscore that 'almost everything' about Revolution will be revealed at E3 in May.

I think this makes me more curious than anything else. Considering that the Revolution is supposed to be released this year (and, since TP has a fall release, and we are now certain that it will use the Revolution controls, we can be fairly sure that the Revolution also has a fall release date), I'm not quite sure what would be so important that they'd keep it under wraps until near release time.

E3 is such a large event in the gaming world that it's used as a "step up" in creating pre-release hype as a release approaches. Keeping back details could hinder this, unless they're planning a super huge revealing a month or two before the Rev hits streets. So what would they keep back? We already know there's "one major surprise" still in store (as if the controller itself wasn't enough), so what else lurks behind the shadows?

Or are they going to keep the actual hardware specs to themselves? We already know that it will only be between three and five times as powerful as the Gamecube, while the 360 and PS3 are supposedly much more than that from their own predecessors. Perhaps Nintendo is worried that having gaming reporters compare hard static numbers might dwindle the hype? But that doesn't seem like Nintendo.

So what else could there be? (Hopefully, not the return of the Virtual Boy.)

Also, on TP having Rev capabilities: YES!

Re:"Almost everything"?

[Anonymous Coward]

I think this makes me more curious than anything else. Considering that the Revolution is supposed to be released this year (and, since TP has a fall release, and we are now certain that it will use the Revolution controls, we can be fairly sure that the Revolution also has a fall release date), I'm not quite sure what would be so important that they'd keep it under wraps until near release time.

You're forgetting: E3 is an American event, Nintendo is a Japanese company.

Could it be that they're waiting for this fall's Tokyo Game Show before they make the real blockbuster announcements? (But that's September, so it would mean quite a late release if it's the case.)

Re:"Almost everything"?

[Anonymous Coward]

You don't remember the E3 prior to the release of the Gamecube do you?

Essentially Microsoft went to the event with a large portion of the details about the XBox known (including details about Halo and several other launch games), Sony went with tons of information about upcomming games on their (already relased) platform, and Nintendo went with nothing known about their system except that it was named Gamecube and had some cool tech demos at Spaceworld (nearly a year before E3). What happed was, because everyone already knew about every other product, Nintendo got most of the press at the event for games like Luigi's Mansion, Super Smash Bros. Melee, and Lucas Arts' Star Wars: Rogue Squadren 2 : Rogue Leader.

People forget that E3 is (primarily) a Press event and that the gaming media is (only) interested in new details. If Nintendo releases enough information they will be able to gain a massive ammount of free "advertizing" within 4 months of the system launching; but at the same time they have to keep enough unknown so that over the next few months they can maintain a presence in all of the gaming media.

Essentially E3 is a big enough soap box to get the attention of people not typically interested in gaming, but you have to keep a person's attention after you have it.

Re:All Games?

[Chris Burke]

Is it just the way I'm reading this, or does Miyamoto-san's statement here sort-of imply that *all* GCN games will be able to use the new controller in some way?

Well, with little more than speculation to go on, I'd say it's quite possible that they designed the Revolution controller such that it could easily work in place of the Gamecube controller, at least for Gamecube games. With the motion-sensor and analog-stick nunchuck setup, this may not be unreasonable if they just calibrate the motion sensor correctly.

Now, since apparently you will be able to use a Gamecube controller with the Revolution, it isn't completely clear that he really meant that all GC games would be useable with the Rev controller. It may just be Twilight Princess -- which if my first paragraph is incorrect would make sense to further tie together sales of TP and the Rev console. Since I can't get at the actual interview without signing up for the "VIP lounge" of Nintendo Europe, I don't know what the wider context was or whether the original statement was even made in English.

Re:All Games?

[shoptroll]

I think he's saying that Twilight Princess is being developed with the ability to use the Rev. controller. Which is interesting because this is the second time a rumor on the internet was repeatedly denied and then later confirmed (DS Redesign/Lite anyone?) in recent months.

I'm not surprised by this. Nintendo is notorious for having games near the end of the life cycle of one system having some extra functionality coded in for the newer systems. A lot of early Game Boy Color games did this, the two Zelda Ages games for GBA had an extra store that only appeared if you were using a GBA, and let's not forget the Super Game Boy peripheral for the SNES that enhanced the sound on some games (Kirby's Dream Land 2, Donkey Kong) or unlocked extra stuff (Space Invaders for true Arcade rendition, or Wario Blast for up to 4 players on one cart).

I think it would be cool if they had little patches you could download to play GCN games with the Revolution controller, although I don't know how well that will work with some since you are going to end up sacrificing many of the buttons on the GCN controller in the switchover. However, certain games could and should definitely have the option to convert. Since Metroid Prime 2 was adapted to use the controller as part of their e3 tech demos, I have no doubts that and the first game would be high on the list of conversions.