While playing The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, you may stumble upon a fairly significant horse-related Easter egg / secret. If you’d like to see what it’s all about, head past the break for a video.
Nintendo has made a big deal early on about how third-party development tools are very compatible with Switch. This is a big contrast to previous Nintendo hardware, as some engines and technology weren’t supported until later on. And when they were, such as with Unity on Wii U, they weren’t in the best of shape. Nintendo made sure to rectify this with Switch.
Speaking with GamesIndustry, Zoink CEO and creative director Klaus Lyngeled talked about how Unity is well supported on the new console:
“When we tried to do Zombie Vikings for Wii U – when I got Unity I could see it just wasn’t going to work, it was too slow an engine; then we got Unity for Switch and we saw directly, ‘wow it’s actually working’ and the tools are much better. So that part is very important for most indies. Most indies are using Unity and that makes a huge difference. It feels like they are pushing Unity more to make it good from the beginning.”
On a similar note, Image & Form CEO Brjann Sigurgeirsson spoke about how developing for Switch is easy thanks to its straightforward nature and power.
“We’ve made games for the 3DS, the DSi, for the Wii U and they all had some issues – the 3DS and DSi were just weak. Since we were developing for them specifically it wasn’t like we were watering down our games, but all the time through development we had to think about how not to overtax the system. With the Wii U there was more power but you had the gamepad where you could use the [screen] and TV at the same time and so you had to show different things and take that into consideration. This is straightforward, period. What you see on the big screen is what you’re going to see on the handheld as well. It’s very simple and powerful, and ingenious – it’s a home console and a portable unit. Everybody’s wanted to say that in the past but here it is now. It’s powerful and really easy to develop for. There’s not very much wrong with the system.”
If it wasn’t clear that Axiom Verge creator Tom Happ wants to port the game to Switch, it should be now. Happ already reached out to Nintendo “many times” in hopes of being approved to develop on the system, but that hasn’t happened. “As soon as we get the green light, we’ll drop everything and get right to work on the Switch version,” Happ told Nintendo Life.
Nintendo has previously stated that the company is prioritizing newer experiences over ports for Switch during the system’s early days. When that begins to change, we should be getting Axiom Verge on Switch.
Kotaku has more comments from Zelda: Breath of the Wild director Hidemaro Fujibayashi. His remarks are pretty darn interesting, as we’re able to hear about some of the ideas that were cut during development – including the Hookshot and Beetle from Skyward Sword. Aside from that, Fujibayashi spoke about having to rearrange the game when Switch came into the picture, and always wanting to make the next best Zelda title.
Read up on Fujibayashi’s comments below. You can check out Kotaku’s full article here.
Lobodestroyo was funded on Kickstarter way back on 2013. We’re still waiting on its release, but Wii U owners will be happy to hear that it’s still on track for the console.
Lefthanded Games wrote in a website update that Lobodestroyo will eventually hit Wii U so long as development on the platform remains open to indies. However, if the team is forced to migrate to Switch by the time work finishes, then that would be the next move. Kickstarter backers will also be able to change their platform if they aren’t satisfied with the final result.
Lefthanded Games’ full comments on the matter:
“With development running past the transition between Nintendo consoles we are going to need to modify our initial promise to backers. We absolutely intend to have Lobo playable on your Nintendo, whatever the console of the time might be. If Wii U development is still open to indies, then we will still push to Wii U. If we are forced to migrate to Switch by the time Lobo is in a releasable state, then we will release there. If those platforms are not what a backer originally intended/wanted we will endeavor to migrate their copy to a console they will be happy with.
It all comes down to the simple fact that despite being stuck in development limbo, we want to keep everyone happy. And to that effect, when it comes time to start sending out our game to the world, we will do whatever we need to so that our dedicated supporters can enjoy it how they would like.”
New concept art from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has emerged from the game’s guide. Characters, enemies, and more are shown. Just to be on the safe side, we’ve posted the gallery after the break.
Update: Zelda Dungeon is also putting together an interactive map. Take a look at it here.
Original: Hyrule Legends and Zelda Universe are working together with the Zelda community at large to create an interactive map for Breath of the Wild. The project is currently in its first iteration, yet already looks promising. Zelda players can find locations for side quests and points of interest among many other things. Additional content should be added over time.
3D models will be used for future versions. Moreover, the team is interested in transforming the map into something along the lines that you’d see on Google Street View.
If you have a place of interest to suggest for the map, you can do so on the Google form here. The map itself can be found here.
Nintendo has picked up “a resounding win” in a case against Jeramie King and his affiliated business, Go Cyber Shopping Ltd. – the seller of circumvention devices. A Canadian federal court ruled in favor of Nintendo of America, determining that the distribution of circumvention devices including “flashcarts,” “modchips” and “game copiers” (like Sky3DS, Gateway 3DS) is illegal.
Nintendo has been awarded $12.76 million (CAD) against Go Cyber Shopping, including $1 million in punitive damages. According to the big N, this marks the first time that Canadian Copyright Act’s Anti-Circumvention law has been put to the test. King will also be issuing an apology on his website for the damage that he caused to Nintendo as well as its developers and partners.
Devon Pritchard, Nintendo of America’s General Counsel and Senior Vice President of Business Affairs, said in a statement:
Are you a customer of the Nintendo UK store? If so, you may find an email containing a special code. The code provides early access to the Yo-kai Watch 2 demo along with a free 3DS theme.
Yo-kai Watch 2 made its way to North America at the end of September last year. In Europe, the RPG is scheduled for April 7.
Thanks to Louis J for the tip.
