Got a call about my reservation today, saying that Nintendo pushed back Zelda to after March '06. A little checking brought up this.
Apparently they’re adding more levels. Unless someone knows more, I’m betting that they had a really beautiful game that was about an hour long. Rather than put out a flagship title that would totally sink them just before the next gen releases, they’re putting more in it.
Regardless, are you listening Lucasarts?
I’m disappointed about the delay, but I know I have enough on my plate that it’s for the best. It’s refreshing to see a developer put quality of content above seasonal/fiscal timing considerations. I hope the delay doesn’t hurt sales too much, though if it’s arriving that late the implication must be that Revolution won’t be out til at least the fall. Shucks.
Dissapointing, but necessary I’m sure. Wind Waker in actuality could have used a similar delay to eke out a few more dungeons and tidy up those nagging flaws that cluttered gaming forums post release. That is a nice prospect at least.
This doesn’t leave very much on the plate for the struggling Gamecube this holiday though.
I think the “new levels” is marketing speak for “we need more time.”
They’ve been promising a huge game all along (much longer than WW and even longer than OoT) so it might have been too much for them.
I’m surprised though. The versions of the game they’ve been showing since E3 seemed pretty polished and I never would have guessed it wasn’t going to make it out this holiday.
Then again, maybe they think it will sell more in the Spring when it won’t have to compete for attention with the 360 and Kingdom Hearts 2. Wind Waker did very well for itself in the spring.
I’m pleased, if only because my game will have shipped by then and, well, I’ll have time to play the thing.
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo…
… ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
Damn. That was easily my most anticipated this game for fall.
Is Nintendo going to compete with their own new hardware? Seems crazy to release this so late in the cycle.
Since we’ll see their new hardware in Fall '06 at the absolute earliest, I don’t think they’ll be competing with it at all. This is interesting in that it pins Nintendo’s holiday season entirely on the DS. Given the PSP’s lackluster lineup for the remainder of 2005 (with the notable exception of GTA:LCS), it just may turn out to be the big winner of the year.
Advance Wars Dual Strike
Nintendogs
Mario & Luigi 2
Age of Empires DS
Animal Crossing DS
Pretty damn hard to beat that lineup. And that’s just off the top of my head.
Still I was hoping for Zelda this fall but I’d rather have it finished.
More likely, they are just running behind schedule. (which happens to a lot of people, don’t get me wrong)
Smoke and mirrors.
Advance Wars Dual Strike
Nintendogs
Mario & Luigi 2
Age of Empires DS
Animal Crossing DS
Pretty damn hard to beat that lineup. And that’s just off the top of my head.
Still I was hoping for Zelda this fall but I’d rather have it finished.[/quote]
I’d have to add Castlevania, Trauma Center, Sonic Rush, Lost in Blue, and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney to that list. The DS has the most impressive holiday lineup of any system this year so far. (Although Shadow of the Colossus is #1 on my wanted list…)
Wasn’t the Revolution supposed to be fully backwards-compatible? If so, Zelda might double as a launch game for the Revolution…
…so people are reminded why they don’t need to buy a Revolution? :?
Not too many people have a Cube anyway. If they were going to get a new console for that game they might just as well get a Revolution. It’s marketing genius! :)
Exactly, that’s probably what I’ll do.
I’m thinking the same thing. Hope they’re trying to avoid the obviously axed dungeons from Wind Waker, really was a shame about those fire and ice islands.
This is a big disappointment to me, not as much as it is to my 16 year old brother in law, but still disappointing.
As long as the finished game is as good as Ocarina of Time turned out, I think this is a great move. I have no doubt that it’s going to be top notch in the end.
BTW, in EDGE last month, they have more info on Battalion Wars and it looks and sounds pretty damn good!
–Dave