Destructoid has learned that Sega is planning to bring out another of the Sonic and the… games sometime later this year. We’ve already had Sonic and the Secret Rings and Sonic and the Black Knight on the Wii, and hopefully we’re getting another one. Seeing as Wii owners have missed on Sonic Generations, this will no doubt come as a welcomed surprise. Apparently Sega are looking to make the games into a trilogy. Any guesses on the next games title?
Bethesda Vice President Pete Hines has told journalists that the company is always looking to make their games available on as many consoles as possible, as long as they’re graphically capable of running them. Bethesda clearly don’t have any development kits, as Hines pointed out that he knows absolutely nothing about the technical capabilities of the new system. What Bethesda franchise would you most like to see on Wii U?
“So to whatever extent new consoles fit with the kind of games we are making and support them technologically, we would certainly [try to release them for those systems.]
“The Wii wasn’t even an option – we would have to make wholesale changes to the games we were making on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC to make them work on Wi.”
“I honestly know nothing about the tech specs of the new platforms and whether or not they are a good fit for what we are making with say Rage and Skyrim and Prey 2.”
“If they are a good fit for the kind of games we are making then absolutely, we would look to put them out for those. But beyond that I can’t get into specifics.”
The Wii’s online offering is something that Nintendo knows that it needs to improve, that’s why the company publicly announced that it has recruited a third-party to help develop the online infrastructure behind the Wii U. Recent comments coming from Activision boss Bobby Kotick are extremely promising, as Kotick believes that ’it’s now more possible to do deep rich multiplayer games’ on Wii U. Hopefully this means that those who are looking to play games such as Call of Duty on Wii U will be offered a similar online experience as those playing the game on Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3.
“Well, without telling you our title plans, it’s now more possible to do deep rich multiplayer games – we need more clarity from Nintendo on the online capabilities, but we’ve had development systems for a while now and we’re very enthusiastic about it.”
Capcom has announced that the controversial decision not to allow users to delete their save file on Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D wasn’t a move by the company to prevent secondhand sales. Capcom say that it’s not a “secret form of DRM”. It’s just the way they designed the save system to work with the intense arcade gameplay. Do you agree with Capcom’s explanation?
“In Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D, all mission progress is saved directly to the Nintendo 3DS cartridge, where it cannot be reset. The nature of the game invites high levels of replayability, encouraging fans to improve mission scores. The save mechanic ensures that both original and unlocked game content will be available to all users.
“Secondhand game sales were not a factor in this development decision, and we hope that all our consumers will be able to enjoy the entirety of the survival-action experiences that the game does offer.”
According to Capcom, the arcade-style gameplay lends itself to this save system. “There was no intention of lessening the experience of the game. “Essentially Resident Evil The Mercenaries 3D was treated like an arcade fighting game. You unlock characters, levels, etc and they just stay unlocked as they would in an arcade machine. There was no hidden motive to prevent buying used copies. It’s not some secret form of DRM. It’s simply the way we designed the save system to work with the arcade type of gameplay.”
“Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D consists of 30 time-based missions, through which the player unlocks skill upgrades as they progress through the game. Anyone purchasing a copy of the game secondhand would have access to all the missions and skills that the original owner unlocked, in addition to the content that was available to the original user.”
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword producer Eiji Aonuma has told Famitsu that the game is basically complete and that Nintendo are aiming for a simultaneous worldwide release sometime later this year! Aonuma also revealed a whole host of exciting new information about the game which you can read below. I’m fairly positive that this game is on everyone’s most wanted list this year.
- In this game, Zelda starts out as a childhood friend of Link’s — and not royalty. “She’s not a princess this time,” Aonuma said, “which is something I’ll pretty much have to put forth right now in order to talk about this title. She’s a childhood friend, but she goes away in the midst of the game and it’s Link’s job to search for her.”
- The starting plot unfolds quite a bit differently from other Zeldas. “This game’s plot is something like a school drama, you could say,” Aonuma noted with a laugh. “The flying sequence at the E3 demo is Link competing against his classmates. One of them looks kind of a like a bad guy, as you saw, and he shows up in other ways in the game too, since he has a major thing for Zelda.”
- Despite this, though, the game progresses in a somewhat similar fashion to a previous Zelda title. “The game starts in Skyloft, this city that’s floating in the air, and you’ll come back to this town multiple times,” Aonuma said. “Things are always proceeding along in town, and in that respect it’s very much like Majora’s Mask. Like with Majora, there are a lot of game events involving the townspeople that get intertwined with the main story. Link, Zelda and their other friends all go to the same boarding school, and you’ve got teachers and a principal as well. It’s a bit of a different setting from previous Zeldas.”
- Aonuma’s team is making a deliberate effort to give Link new items — like the boomerang-beetle in the E3 demo — early on in Skyward Sword. “With previous Zeldas,” he said, “the common pattern was that the really neat items wouldn’t show up until later on in the game. You need to have the basic item set or it wouldn’t be Zelda, so the new items tended to get shunted to the latter part of the game. [Shigeru] Miyamoto said that had to change, like ‘This is neat, let’s bring it out from the start.’ So a lot of neat new items will show up pretty early on.”
- Is Skyloft the entire ‘world’ in this game? “Yes, it’s only the people in Skyloft,” Aonuma responded. “Nobody on there thinks anything of it, though, because living in Skyloft and flying around on birds is normal to them. They don’t have any awareness of there being a mainland beneath the clouds and so forth — that gets expanded upon once Zelda goes missing, and you get access to the areas under the clouds.”
- Does everyone in Skyloft have their own personal avian transport? “It’s the custom for each person to have one bird. Link has a red one, and it’s actually a special and very rare breed of bird — which is something that makes him get picked on, like ‘Why do you get this fancy bird and we don’t?!’ But it turns out that you need that red bird in order to access the mainland. So the hand of fate gets involved here, like it always does in Zelda games sooner or later.”
- Ghiraham, the enemy Link fought in the E3 demo’s boss battle, is definitely going to be an important character in Skyward Sword. “The demo shows when you first meet him, and plainly he’s looking down at Link, stopping his sword with his fingers and so forth,” Aonuma noted. “In terms of story image he’s kind of like Dark Link [from Ocarina of Time]; he sees right through Link’s moves in battle. You can sort of swing your sword wildly and still hold your own against a lot of foes, but there’s no way you can beat Ghiraham like that. You need to keep your distance and watch his moves, and it’s something you’ll need to change your strategy for. I think he’s a pretty good change of pace as bosses go, and he’ll change gradually throughout the game.”
- Will Ganon show up? “This game talks about the birth of the Master Sword, and it touches on why Ganondorf showed up. If you play it, I think you’ll get some understanding on that. It connects to Ocarina, so if you play Ocarina of Time 3D and move on to this game, I think you’ll catch on to a lot of things.”
- How’s development going along? “The whole game is complete, and we’re fine-tuning the balance right now. We were going to have it wholly done by around E3, but there’s so much volume to it, neither I nor Miyamoto have gotten to fully play out every aspect. The non-English localizations are proceeding along now, and we’re trying to make this a simultaneous worldwide release. You have to put Zelda all out at once or else the story’s going to get spoiled — although, really, there’s a ton to enjoy here even if you know a little about the story beforehand.”
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata informed the attendees at Nintendo’s shareholder meeting in Kyoto that the company acknowledges that it had a low software output for the 3DS launch and is seriously looking to work on that with Wii U. It’s widely accepted that the first party launch titles for the Nintendo 3DS weren’t strong enough to continuously drive 3DS sales, so it’s great that Nintendo have acknowledged that and are determined to avoid making the same mistake second time around. What would you like to see launch with Wii U?
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has admitted that the Wii wasn’t too big a hit with the ‘hardcore’ gamers out there, but the company is looking to rectify that with its new console, the Wii U. Iwata seems to be under the impression that the reason ‘hardcore’ gamers abandoned the Wii was due to the consoles unique motion controller, and the lack of HD visuals. What do you think?
“Wii was not accepted by core gamers because they did not want to abandon their preferred control approach.”
“Additionally, Wii did not use HD because HD cost performance at the time was low.”
“Wii U makes it easier to use conventional controls. Also, the Wii U controller is not as big or heavy as it looks.”
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D has been a labour of love and dedication by the development team Grezzo and it clearly shows. Everything about it just oozes class; from the initial introduction, to the final credits. It wouldn’t be too difficult to say that this is one of the greatest remakes of all-time, and it’s most certainly the game that justifies purchasing a Nintendo 3DS.
So how has the game aged?
Initially this was something I had worried about. I haven’t played Ocarina of Time since I purchased it on the Nintendo 64 back in 1998. I was curious as to whether the game was still relevant given that it was released so long ago. But I’m happy to report that the gameplay mechanics are still extremely robust and the interface is now more intuitive than ever thanks to the 3DS touchscreen. The game literally grabs you from the start and whisks you back off to the many familiar locations you became acquainted with in your past; next thing you know the hours have completely disappeared and you’ve become completely engrossed in a timeless classic.
How do the visuals stand up?
The sharpness and the sheer clarity of the visuals are the first thing you’ll notice. Gone is the fuzzy and muddy Nintendo 64 look, which is now replaced by vibrant colours and razor sharp visuals. It looks impressive and makes you wonder how this game might have looked if the developers had fully harnessed the power of the Nintendo 3DS. Still, the game looks visually impressive. Character models have been rendered beautifully and the shops and houses are teaming with minute details. You really notice the the painstaking lengths Grezzo have gone through once you visit some of the games many interiors.
How’s the 3D, is it put to good use?
I’ll admit I’m not the biggest fan of 3D, so I generally play my Nintendo 3DS with the 3D settings off. With Ocarina of Time I’ve fiddled around and played with the slider to get the optimum image and have come to the conclusion that the 3D isn’t really necessary to enjoy this game. The 3D does look amazing during some of the gorgeous cut scenes, but I haven’t felt like I’ve missed out by not using the 3D. It’s all down to personal preference. That said the 3D does give a tremendous amount of depth if the sliders set to maximum, but I did find it can cause issues with ghosting.
Closing Comments
If you’re looking for a game that’s going to stay glued to your Nintendo 3DS and a game that’s going to occupy many hours of your time then The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is a must buy. Many of the Nintendo 3DS games have been criticized due to shortness in length. I couldn’t tell you how many hours I put into Ocarina of Time 3D, but however many it was, it has been worth it. This is without a doubt the definitive game for the Nintendo 3DS.
9.5/10
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has informed shareholders that the incredible Legend of Zelda tech demo that Nintendo showed off at this years E3 just wouldn’t be possible on any other console available on the marketplace. The demo was built specifically to show off the Wii U’s graphical capabilities and genuinely wowed attendees at the event. Nintendo has already stated that they’re currently hard at work transforming the demo into a brand new game, but have declined to comment on whether or not it will be a Wii U launch title.
Square Enix has announced the release date for its Dragon Quest collection which is scheduled to arrive September 15th, and priced at ¥4,440. The collection comprises of the first three Dragon Quest games in their original Famicom form, and the Super Famiciom Dragon Quest I&II and Dragon Quest III remakes. The big news is that the collection will come with footage of the long-awaited Dragon Quest X. Hopefully Square Enix will see sense and release the collection over here in the West.
Tip: Adam Spalsbury
