Somewhat surprisingly, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds doesn’t incorporate a direct top-down view.
The development team implemented a “trick” so that the perspective would come off well. As a result, elements like the Link character model and rupees are actually set at an angle, which allows players to see character faces and bodies when looking above.
As revealed in the latest Iwata Asks:
Early on in the development for The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, Nintendo came up with the idea of Link being able to enter walls. The thing is, there wasn’t really a set direction as to how the team could make this element enjoyable.
One of the game’s programmers showed interest in seeing how turning corners on the walls would affect things. This eventually led to a bare-bones prototype which was completed in about a day.
The prototype (pictured above, via Iwata Asks) ended up as a very different project compared to A Link Between Worlds’ final result. It featured an angled viewpoint rather than top-down perspective, not to mention a Toon Link character model.
Nintendo has put up its full-length Iwata Asks discussion for The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma, and members of the development team sat down for a chat about the game’s development. You can find the full talk here.
Nintendo has put out a new Wii U firmware update. Starting now, system owners can download version 4.0.2.
The update is rather small, but nonetheless noteworthy. It essentially improves stability and usability of the console.
Note that you’ll need to download the latest Wii U update in order to access the eShop.
The following details are from a study conducted in the United Kingdom of 11,000 kids as young as five years old by the University of Glasgow:
– Exposure to video games had no effect on behavior, attention or emotional issues.
– Watching 3 or more hours of television at age 5 did lead to a small increase in behavioral problems in youngsters between 5 and 7.
– Neither television nor video games lead to attentional or emotional problems.
– There was no difference between boys and girls in the survey results.
In the latest trailer for One Piece: Unlimited World Red, Namco Bandai announced that the Unlimited series as a whole has sold over one million copies in Japan. The Wii titles One Piece: Unlimited Adventure (2007), One Piece Unlimited Cruise: Episode 1 (2008), and One Piece Unlimited Cruise: Episode 2 (2009) reached the mark collectively. Namco Bandai didn’t make it entirely clear if the 3DS ports were included.
