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DS impressions: Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
After sitting down with Zelda: Phantom Hourglass for a few minutes, we feel the verdict is still out. Granted, we didn't get to sail Wind Waker style with the stylus, and were kicked off early, so take criticism with a grain of salt. The game feels like a traditional top-down Zelda title only you direct Link with a stylus rather than a directional pad. We cruised around a mini dungeon for a bit and could see right away that the game has potential with touch controls.1-on-1 Battle Mode versus another E3 attendee was a good time. One player guides Link to collect and safely return Triforces to base, while the other controls three "baddies" that try to stop Link from doing so. Though it felt like a rehash from gaming's past, it was fun to play. More to come.
Magazine scans of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
French website Jeuxfrance has scans from Japanese gaming-mag Nintendo Dream of Nintendo's upcoming DS-megahit, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. The in-game images don't appear to reveal anything new beyond the demo video shown during Iwata's GDC keynote in March.There are some new things, however, like the drawing above which would seem to indicate that Link's spin-attack will be controlled using the stylus. We're all for stylus integration and all, but that makes us nervous in a Metroid Prime: Hunters demo sort of way. The questionably accurate machine translated page says we can expect a playable version at E3, so we'll try and pencil Link in while we're there...[Thanks, Einhanderkiller]
GDC Recap: Disrupting Brains
The keyword that was bandied about during Satoru Iwata's speech at the Game Developer's Conference was "disruption". Through the DS, Mr. Iwata illustrated how Nintendo was disrupting the mechanistic game industry by creating new and unusual games, some which may not even have been considered as games if Nintendo hadn't pushed the idea that maybe, just maybe, exercising your brain was just as fun as exercising your trigger finger.Brain Training formed a large part of the presentation, with Iwata providing some background info as to how the game came about and how successful (1,7 million units sold) it's been ever since Nintendo and floaty-head Dr. Kawashima put their heads together. Getting people together was an equally important topic, with Iwata noting that simplicity and ease of use was a priority with the Nintendo Wi-Fi service, no doubt a contributing factor to its rapid growth rate that has surpassed even Xbox Live (though to be fair, the latter and very different service isn't free and requires a larger initial investment). To round off the DS part of the conference, Nintendo showed off some footage of The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, a brand new and cel-shaded adventure for Link and his eternally in peril princess pal. We were instantly enamored by this one, but we're still quite disappointed that no new information regarding the US launch of the DS Lite surfaced. Oh well, E3 should tell us how accurate wildly incorrect our predictions were.For more coverage on Iwata's keynote, check out Chris Grant's ramblings over at Joystiq by clicking the "Read" link.
High quality Zelda: Phantom Hourglass footage
The British Gaming Blog has nabbed a video showcasing the just-announced Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass. The video is pretty high quality, and definitely not some amateur bootleg from a keynote attendee. The footage shows off a multitude of ways DS gamers will use both the touch-screen and dual-screen features we've come to know on our handheld. The one that has us most excited is where you actually draw the path of Link's boomerang.Graphically, the game looks impressive--it is amazing how much of the cel-shaded look they managed to fit into a little DS cartridge. We are definitely looking forward to getting some hands-on testing with this title.[Thanks, JonathanEx]
Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass video
The British Gaming Blog has obtained a spectacular video trailer of the newly announced Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass and we insist that you download and watch it immediately. The game seems to be a follow-up to Wind Waker, boasting colorful cel-shaded graphics and exploration of the open seas.It looks like the action mostly takes place from a top-down perspective and incorporates plenty of touch screen activity. We're particularly amused by the ability to draw the trajectory of Link's boomerang and scribble notes on his crusty dungeon map. No word on a release date yet, but we think "now" would perfectly suffice.[Thanks JohnathanEx!]
Zelda DS: Phantom Hourglass Revealed
Our Joystiq informant, Christopher Grant, informs us straight from Iwata's GDC keynote that a new Legend of Zelda game, Phantom Hourglass, is destined to be released on the DS. And yes, we get to use this old chestnut:Zelda? More like Celda!More news as it breaks.[Update: The conference is now over. It was...kinda boring. An epic post summing up all the DS details from the conference will be uploaded shortly.]
