Eiji Aonuma on what he thinks the best way is for Nintendo commemorate Zelda’s 25th anniversary…
“Zelda has always been a series known for its high-quality music, so we’ve planned an orchestral concert to help people celebrate the 25th anniversary. Music is a passion of both myself and Mr. Miyamoto, and that passion connects to gameplay elements such as Link’s playing of instruments. I would like to give people an opportunity to enjoy music while following the history of the Zelda series with us all the way up to Skyward Sword.”
Aonuma on whether Nintendo considered further altering Ocarina of Time 3D beyond interface and graphics, similar to Super Mario 64 DS…
It looks like Shuhei Yoshida, president of Sony Computer Entertainment’s Worldwide Studios, has been keeping track of some of the Wii U rumors over the past few months. Yoshida told IGN that he was “surprised” by the console and that the system was “pretty close to what was being rumored.” One of his expectations is that Nintendo might consider making “a giant DS”, though that obviously didn’t happen!
“I was surprised to see the final product for what Nintendo was showing. It’s pretty close to what was being rumored. Lots of media had different interpretations of the rumors, and something I thought Nintendo might be doing was like a giant DS in your house. I was expecting them to do some demos, like Nintendogs coming from the big screen to the small screen where you can then pet the dog on the tablet controller. And finally they are going to HD graphics, which must please third-party publishers judging from what they were saying at the press conference. It’s interesting.”
Yoshida also responded to a statement made by IGN in which the publication said that “Nintendo seems to be blurring that by having a tablet controller where you can play console games both on a TV and portably.”
“We still don’t know much about the Wii U. It seems like the controller can only work with one console. When they show multiplayer they are using the Wii remotes. How games will be developed for that console we still don’t know. As I understand, the Wii U remote has to be in proximity of the console so it’s not a true portable device in a sense that you can bring it with you outside the room or house. I still can’t get my head around what it is.”
Cambridge, Mass. – Harmonix today announced that packs from Maroon 5 and Puddle of Mudd will be available beginning June 21 in the Rock Band 3 Music Store of downloadable content for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system and Wii.
Rock Band provides the deepest and best selection of artists, songs and albums through the Rock Band music platform, which features more than 900 artists and more than 2,700* tracks via disc and download purchase (complete list of tracks at www.rockband.com/songs). Rock Band’s gigantic music library dwarfs that of any other rhythm video game on the market. More than 100 million songs have been sold through the Rock Band Music Store since its launch Nov. 20, 2007.
Rock Band DLC Additions for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 system and Wii
Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure – October 14th
Spider-Man: Edge of Time – October 28th
Generator Rex – October 28th
X-Men: Destiny – September 30th
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 – November 8th
To make that title less than 500 words, I had to make it a bit more vague than I had wanted. But I highly suggest reading the interview that Game Informer conducted with Shigeru Miyamoto below, since there’s a significant amount of information. Miyamoto discusses topics including the Wii U, why the time is right for Zelda concerts and Four Swords on DSiWare, some initial concerns about Skyward Sword and how it’s a “very open world”, and a whole lot more.
The other two characters in the shot above are shown wearing Link’s tunic, albeit in different colors. It’s a bit hard to make out since the image appears briefly in an off-screen video, but you can clearly make out the hats. Nintendo hasn’t said anything about this yet, so it makes you wonder why the other characters are wearing the tunics. It could turn out to be an important story element…
One aspect of the Wii U controller that has been a concern for some fans is its analog nubs. It almost seemed as though Nintendo took a step backward by implementing sticks that are more comparable to the 3DS rather than what we’ve seen on the GameCube and Wii.
However, Shigeru Miyamoto is confident that consumers will get used to the circle pads. He says that they “are of a more advanced state than the one we created for Nintendo 3DS” and that they might be slightly more precise.
“The circle pads that we’re using for the Wii U controllers are of a more advanced state than the one we created for Nintendo 3DS. They will perhaps have a bit more precision. The mechanism that allows those circle pads to work is still very different from, for example, the mechanism we used for the control stick on the Gamecube controller. In that sense it’s very tough to compare the precision or how the circle pads will work in that sense, but personally I feel that we’ve gotten them to a point that when you sit down and play with them you get used to them very quickly and they feel very nice.”
Jimmy Fallon’s “Video Game Week” is concluding tonight with a look at The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. Like last year, Reggie Fils-Aime will be on air to show a few minutes of footage. We’ll likely see just a snippet of the E3 demo, but it’s always fun seeing Reggie in action. The show kicks off at 12:30 AM EDT.
