DescentBB

...has been pushed back til next year. >_>

Linky

Aw man!

That right there just sealed Nintendo's fate as far as the Gamecube is concerned. With 360 coming this fall and Playstation 3 sometime next year, it's going to be harder for Nintendo to get some good numbers on the board.

On one hand, Nintendo would be criticized for releasing a shortened game a la Wind Waker.

On the other hand, they're not going to generate the sales they need to keep the GC profit stream going before the Revolution hits.

I expect MS to gain a lot of the market share that Sony got when it released the PS2 earlier than the Xbox. Obviously it will be less, considering that only a few months separate the releases rather than a year, and a lot of people are going to buy Sony's new irrespective of whether they buy the 360.

Bleh... This is no different than Final Fantasy XII and that it was supposed to be released nearly a year ago originally, and now it's been bumped all the way up to "TBD '06". At least Xenosaga Episode II came out when it was supposed to, and it appears Kingdom Hearts II will be out in November/December, along with Dragon Quest VIII. Not to mention the upcoming U.S. release of Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 2, and the DVD/UMD release of Final Fantasy: Advent Children in September.

noooooooooooooooooooooo

I'm somewhat disappointed (even though I don't even have a Gamecube yet ), but I'd rather that Nintendo took the extra time to make the game as incredible as they can rather than rushing it out half-finished for Christmas. From what I've heard, this by no means kills their holiday season; they have several strong titles coming out in December, including two Mario ones, apparently. From the screenshots and vids I've seen, this Zelda looks like it has the potential to be the best one of the series, if not one of the best games ever made. It may take a little longer, but something this good is worth the wait.

Admiral Thrawn wrote:That right there just sealed Nintendo's fate as far as the Gamecube is concerned. With 360 coming this fall and Playstation 3 sometime next year, it's going to be harder for Nintendo to get some good numbers on the board.

I think it will work for them. Surely they weren't planning on selling a ton of Cubes with Zelda over the holidays with all the next gen systems coming out next year. Rather, since they have the comfort of backward compatibility with the Revolution, they are opting to create a game that - if it is all that they say it will be - will become a legend in itself. Think of the people that didn't have an N64. They buy the Rev, and Nintendo will make even more money on OoT because it is one of the top 5 games ever made. I'd personally rather have an exquisite game.

Commercially, of course, it doesn't sound so hot. But I think that DS and Micro sales will carry Nintendo through the holiday season.

With a title like Zelda, they can't rush it. Zelda in many ways it thier "Halo" for thier game cube. Nintendo has also radically changed some of its business stratagies of late. We should see some great things from them in the future.

Rather, since they have the comfort of backward compatibility with the Revolution

Ah, didn't know that. That might help a bit. Although I do still predict that the holiday delay is going to hurt them bad though.

Duper wrote:With a title like Zelda, they can't rush it. Zelda in many ways it thier "Halo" for thier game cube. Nintendo has also radically changed some of its business stratagies of late. We should see some great things from them in the future.

I thought Mario was the Halo of Nintendo.

well sorta, but they haven't produced a central Mario game in years. Just a lot of "party " games.

Zelda sucked after Link's Awakening anyway

SilverFJ wrote:Zelda sucked after Link's Awakening anyway

After having finally played Ocarina of Time for the first time this year, I'd have to say you're nuts. It was one of the greatest games I've ever played, and I think it deserves every bit of credit it's received, if not more so. If Nintendo can duplicate the feel of that game, I have the feeling that they've got another classic on their hands. As I've said before, while Sony and Microsoft may have the uber-powerful systems, I know who's the expert at making games that are absolute fun to play.

bad nintendo!

The thing is duplication of the feel of a Zelda game should never happen because they've all been so different up until the 3D age.

What makes the Zelda games unique from game to game isn't necessarily the style as much as the setting. Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, for example, were visibly identical, but the nature of the game was completely different, and as such the devices were changed. Majora's Mask's downfall, however, was that the game frankly sucked.

Wind Waker's departure from the serious style of Zelda was the nail in the coffin of me not getting a GameCube. In my opinion, releasing the new game on the GC so close to the Revolution's launch is a very bad move. It would have made a kickass launch title for the Revolution, and given Nintendo back some of the wind that Microsoft robbed.

Nintendo is still stuck in the mindset that the gaming console is a "toy". With the advent of services such as Xbox Live, consoles are more of an entertainment piece alongside a DVD player rather than a toy that is pulled out from the chest when one wants to play. Both MS and Sony have been driving to integrate the console into the rest of the customer's entertainment center, while not losing sight of the primary goal of the machine. Nintendo hasn't grasped that concept yet.

i thought that revolution was reverse compatible, so, effectively, the new zelda game almost is a launch title.

Ocarina of Time was superb, but when you get right down to it, there just ain't **** in Hyrule. I speak from the viewpoint of an OOT fanfiction writer using that tiny plot of land as the central / start setting.

Majora's Mask was an improvement in what-is-there-to-do-today, but ultimately its countless inconsistencies with regard to going back in time made it too "bleh".

DCrazy wrote:What makes the Zelda games unique from game to game isn't necessarily the style as much as the setting. Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, for example, were visibly identical, but the nature of the game was completely different, and as such the devices were changed. Majora's Mask's downfall, however, was that the game frankly sucked.

Hey, I liked Majora's Mask!

DCrazy wrote:Nintendo is still stuck in the mindset that the gaming console is a "toy". With the advent of services such as Xbox Live, consoles are more of an entertainment piece alongside a DVD player rather than a toy that is pulled out from the chest when one wants to play. Both MS and Sony have been driving to integrate the console into the rest of the customer's entertainment center, while not losing sight of the primary goal of the machine. Nintendo hasn't grasped that concept yet.

That's actually the philosophy that Nintendo's head has endorsed, and it's one I happen to agree with. I don't want a console that can play DVDs and CDs, record TV, and connect to the Internet worse than existing devices I already own. I want a system designed for nothing else than playing games, its primary function. As has been said before, the more capabilities you add to something, the worse each capability is. (See cell phones ) Sony's president went so far as to say that the PS3 "wasn't a gaming system;" I find that to be a laughable philosophy. Nintendo hasn't lost sight of what makes a console truly enjoyable: the games that you play on it. I have no need for XBox Live; I don't have any network to hook an XBox up to. I don't need the teraflops of graphical performance that the PS3 can supposedly dish out. What I need is an end to the crappy games that have flooded the market. Maybe Nintendo can pull it off.

What're you smoking? Majora's Mask was amazing - the gameplay was solid and the storyline was very intricate and drew you in despite the cartoonish animations.

DCrazy wrote: Nintendo is still stuck in the mindset that the gaming console is a "toy". With the advent of services such as Xbox Live, consoles are more of an entertainment piece alongside a DVD player rather than a toy that is pulled out from the chest when one wants to play. Both MS and Sony have been driving to integrate the console into the rest of the customer's entertainment center, while not losing sight of the primary goal of the machine. Nintendo hasn't grasped that concept yet.

Actually, in Japan, ninendo is/was used for all that. And browsing the net and more. It was never released in America. I would imagine that a lot of that will change with thier next system.

Top Gun wrote:
That's actually the philosophy that Nintendo's head has endorsed, and it's one I happen to agree with. I don't want a console that can play DVDs and CDs, record TV, and connect to the Internet worse than existing devices I already own. I want a system designed for nothing else than playing games, its primary function. As has been said before, the more capabilities you add to something, the worse each capability is. (See cell phones ) Sony's president went so far as to say that the PS3 "wasn't a gaming system;" I find that to be a laughable philosophy. Nintendo hasn't lost sight of what makes a console truly enjoyable: the games that you play on it. I have no need for XBox Live; I don't have any network to hook an XBox up to. I don't need the teraflops of graphical performance that the PS3 can supposedly dish out. What I need is an end to the crappy games that have flooded the market. Maybe Nintendo can pull it off.

In Japan, space is a premium, so the PS3 is a tantilizing option(even Nintendo partened with Panasonic for a full out dvd/gamecube combo). For NA's, people only bought the PS2 because it was the first one out the door, not because it can play DVDs.

Im with Top Gun - I want a machine to play games, and not do anything else but play games.

And they are seroisly overestimating HDTV adoption rates in NA. Unless you can get a wide screen HDTV thats 27" for the same price as a 27" crt By 2007, most people won't have HDTV capable sets before the xbox 360 is near the end of its lifespan.

fliptw wrote: And they are seroisly overestimating HDTV adoption rates in NA. Unless you can get a wide screen HDTV thats 27" for the same price as a 27" crt By 2007, most people won't have HDTV capable sets before the xbox 360 is near the end of its lifespan.

good point. I'm wondering if they are hoping that it will "push" the HDTV market a bit. Just a thought.