1333 replies to this topic

[Eddard McHorn Van-Schnuder]

As stated, the game will probably come out with multiple versions, one with the Wii Motion Plus packaged in, one without. Nintendo could say forget it, though, since a lot of people are thought to have the addition now, but I dunno if they would want to do that.


Yes. They've been wrong multiple times. Though, most of those times are with 3rd party games. But, regardless, the holiday season just makes the most sense. If it were as early as August, I'm pretty sure Nintendo would have gone out and said the release date at E3 since that's so soon.


I claim bulls*** on that. Not that it necessarily is happening this time, but I know for a fact that game stores at least in the US slap on random dates that are roughly around the time of the released. They are often wrong. Again, not saying that it's the case in this situation, but it has happened before, so I wouldn't be surprised if it happens again.

No, not true. I have worked in a game store myself, and I know how these things work. No bulls***, fact

That doesn't mean they're always right of course, cause the thing is they often get very early date-estimates, which is also often changed due to delays and so on. Would I trust the date completely? No, what I said is that chances are it's coming directly from Nintendo themselves, and thus that means that they said that was the date, at one point in time. Simple as that, and it is, in fact, a fact. No getting around that one.

[LinktheMaster]

Well, perhaps European game stores are better than those in the US. I just know GameStop / EBGames here in the US have nearly made up some dates before.

[Eddard McHorn Van-Schnuder]

Well, perhaps European game stores are better than those in the US. I just know GameStop / EBGames here in the US have nearly made up some dates before.

Perhaps. I doubt it very much, but of course, Scandinavia and America is not exactly the same thing It's not impossible that we have different ways of doing these things, but bleh, it doesn't really matter. One thing to point out though; more often than not, release dates are leaked from GameStop, EBGames and other large video game suppliers over the world, which of course indicates that they do have some credibility

What does matter, is that www.tothegame.com is the most reliable source you can find when it comes to game releases, and at the moment it hasn't listen anything but Q4 for Skyward Sword

[Radien]

Awww, shoot. Someone said Q4? And here I was opening this topic to share my personal good news about the game.

So what I wanted to say is that I got a $20 video game gift card, and along with the $50 gift card I've been hanging on to, now I have enough gift cards to buy the Skyward Sword/Motion Plus bundle at release. (I'm assuming it'll be $70.) Now I'm sad that I'm going to have to hang on to those two gift cards for another 3-5 months. I hope Zelda doesn't run up against December; I don't want them to unnecessarily rush it to make the pre-Christmas release...

Haha, I just always used the BALL AND CHAIN to take out like 20 at once. Boy I'm pretty subtle on "useless" items.

I'm hoping they'll bring in some kind of new "heavy" weapon, honestly. I wouldn't mind the return of the ball and chain merely because its range well makes up for how weighty it is, but I'm tired of hammers, and they're not really my style (yes, I can have a style in Zelda, and it's called quick and efficient). I'm wondering if a few items from OoT will make a return though, considering we have a prequel on our hands.

Yes, I've done that too, but I don't see how the Ball and Chain could be considered subtle in any way.

And if you can take out 20 at a time, you have INCREDIBLE aim. (I know, I know: exaggeration.)

I agree about hammers. The Skull Hammer was a nice change, but seeing how TP was less cartoony, it was nice have a badass weapon like the Ball and Chain for once.

I have a strange affinity for Deku Sticks and Deku Nuts. I wouldn't mind if the Deku Sticks, at least, would return. (Deku Nuts are largely unnecessary thanks to the addition of shield bashing.) Oh, and the slingshot is always fun. I enjoyed having an alternate projectile weapon, even after acquiring the Bow (extra throwaway ammo!).

...Oh, and a side note about WW's Skull Hammer: if the super-slow overhand attack annoys you, try Z-targeting and using horizontal swings, or press A to jump attack. Both of those execute much. MUCH more quickly than the normal hammer pound.

This worries me a lot. Because Zelda is still really successful in America, it just doesn't sell that well in Japan. I would hate for Nintendo to stop the series just because bad Japanese sales.

Anyway, I haven't been this excited for a game in ages. Skyward Sword just looks fun, and it's a really pretty game despite not being HD and having anti-aliasing. I really can't wait until this December!

December... Ack... =_=;

Don't worry too much about Japanese sales. You know Metroid? It sells even WORSE in Japan than Zelda. That series has been kept alive entirely because of American interest, and it has received the MOST attention recently. Also, keep in mind that it had even fewer game releases than Zelda between the first game and its revival in Metroid Prime. (Didn't it not even appear at all on the N64?)

So my point is, even though Zelda DOES sell in Japan (though it's mostly the toony handhelds), even if it didn't, Japan really has a large reason to pay attention to American sales. They may wish they could stick to their native audience, but America is just too big and too willing to buy games for them to ignore. The American game and movie industries are both mammoths.

Yes, the Japanese numbers for Twilight Princess weren't that impressive at launch. Still, I think that Nintendo still sees Zelda as one of its flagship franchises, and it hasn't done financially poorly by any stretch. By now, surely Nintendo sees that its market is global and low sales in solely one region shouldn't justify the conclusion of a franchise (although in the 90's, that might be the case).

I think the biggest hurdle that Twilight Princess had to overcome was the explosion of the casual market around the Wii in Japan. Remember how scarce it was to find a Wii after its launch? A lot of the people that bought the console at its launch (when Twilight Princess was released) were in the "casual" crowd that was not necessarily interested in a story-driven adventure game; they bought a Wii for games like "Just Dance" and "Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games" (which are the 18th and 11th best-selling Wii games at the time of this writing). I'm willing to bet that a lot of people who had been Zelda fans jumped ship to Sony or Microsoft to avoid this. Maybe now that this generation of consoles has been around for a while, more of the old guard will have a Wii and make Skyward Sword more successful, but that's just speculation. In any case, I'll be doing my part to make it successful stateside.

Yeah, I strongly suspect that many, many Wii owners simply bought the console and played mostly Wii Sports with it, never delving very far into the rest of the Wii's game library.

Now, when I say that, I'm not implying "haha, stupid noobs." I, too, have bought very few Wii games. Nintendo and their 3rd party publishers just haven't provided enough incentive. I didn't get a Wii just so I could sit around playing WarioWare alone all day, and I was not fond of the Wii implementation of Twilight Princess. The under-implementation of the classic controller also leaves me disappointed.

Anyway, now that Nintendo has had a chance to regain their balance after reeling from the sudden success of their targeting of the casual market, I hope they'll be able to consolidate their business goals and satisfy both large demographics.

[LinktheMaster]

First of all, pay no attention to me saying December. Most likely Skyward Sword will have an early to mid November release. At this point, assuming it doesn't get post-poned, then I would be 90% sure that it'll have a November release.

August is just too early for them not to have publicly announced a release date, and anything between then and November is just an awkward time to release a big game. November, though, is the prime time to release a game.

Don't worry too much about Japanese sales. You know Metroid? It sells even WORSE in Japan than Zelda. That series has been kept alive entirely because of American interest, and it has received the MOST attention recently. Also, keep in mind that it had even fewer game releases than Zelda between the first game and its revival in Metroid Prime. (Didn't it not even appear at all on the N64?)

Well, most of the recent interest has been stand along Western-related. Metroid Prime was all made by an American company for Americans. So you can't really use that as an example. Metroid: Other M was also not made by Nintendo. It was another re-envisioning of the series. Nintendo itself has pretty much given up on the series.

My main concern is that I remember Nintendo basically saying that they were severely disappointed in the sales of Twilight Princess. As in... they pretty much considered it a flop. However, if you look at the sales, it sold really well in the US. It definitely was no flop. So, Nintendo is worried about the series, obviously. And if they start changing too much to "recapture" the market, we may have another Other M on our hands. Granted, hopefully Nintendo would make it and it be a good game, but still. It could happen.

[Sheik]

Every so often it seems websites and retailers are updating their release date for the Legend of Zelda: Skyward and the latest to do so is the folks over at Best Buy. While the official word from Nintendo is still Holiday 2011, Best Buy has dated the game for release on September 25th, 2011. Unlike most other arbitrary dates that have been set in the past, this date is actually a Sunday, which is when Nintendo releases their new products here in the states. Perhaps there is some legitimacy to this one, but it could just be a date to encourage fans to reserve the title at their store. More after the jump.

Zelda Dungeon

I sure hope that's a true date but I sort of doubt it.

[Jared]

Am I the only one who's still upset about no lefty feature? Nintendo says they want it to feel like you're ACTUALLY controlling Link, yet how are lefties supposed to? It will still work, but it just won't "feel" right. Know what I mean?
I mean, SS looks AMAZING, and I'm definitely getting it. But still, it's so unfair to people like me.

[Moonbread]

Lefties are simple a minority. I think that's about all there is to it. Also, I'm left-handed in a lot of things, but I've tried putting the wiimote in my left hand and the nunchuck in my right- and it's uncomfortable like crazy. Using the joystick with your right hand is incredibly difficult if you've been used to moving the joystick with your left hand for years and years.

[Jared]

Really? Not for me. After playing SMG and 2 for a long time, I'm used to it. It's still unfair.

[SpacemanDan]

I'm a lefty too. :3

Honestly, it shouldn't be that difficult for them to include something for left-handed people; just flip the game. That's what they did with TP on the Wii, right? (That is, since Link was actually left-handed in the GC one) It'd be nice, anyway. It won't break the game for me though.

[Jared]

Couldn't they just make another model for Link, or something, though? Cheap

[Moonbread]

I'm sure having an option where he's left-handed normally might mess with some puzzles or something along those lines. And flipping the game for the lefties would require them to put the same game twice on the same disc, something I doubt could happen. But at least you guys are taking this well. I've seen people who are boycotting the game just because Nintendo is making Link being right-handed canon. And they're still right-handed themselves.

Anyway, I've said this before, and I'll say it again. Where the frack did all the lefties come from?

[Jared]

They came from EARTH!!!
It didn't matter if someone was left handed or right handed until motion gaming came around.

[SpacemanDan]

I'd say boycotting is waaay to extreme...

I would have thought flipping the game wouldn't be that difficult. But if it entails putting the game on there twice... O_o Yeah, I can see why they wouldn't. I mean, I thought Link being left-handed was cool, being left-handed myself. So yeah, I'm a little disappointed, but it's not like it's the end of the world. In other words, I'll get over it and easily forget about it when I'm actually playing it. Not only that, but if I want left-handed Link, I can play the many-a games where he is a lefty...but that would be kind of a silly reason just to go play a specific game.

Also, to answer your last question. You see, when one lefty loves another lefty very much...

(Please don't take me seriously. )

[Jared]

Nice one Dan xD

Chances are, Link will still be left handed in the next 3DS and Wii U game, anyway