The-Legend-of-Zelda-Skyward-Sword
Latest
What motion controls could do for JRPGs
This is a column by Jason Schreier dedicated to the analysis (and occasional mocking) of his favorite genre, the Japanese role-playing game. Whether it's because they're too antiquated or just too niche, he believes JRPGs don't get enough attention in the gaming industry today. It's time to change that. While plowing through the last few sections of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword several weeks ago, I realized that I didn't want it to end. Not because I wanted to keep playing -- the action-adventure game had already stolen more than 40 hours of my life -- but because I wanted to continue waving my arm up and down to kill things. I was completely enthralled by the game's motion controls. And I used to hate motion controls. You see, Nintendo's latest Zelda uses the Wii controller's MotionPlus accessory to recognize the precise movements of your arm. Slash horizontally, and hero Link will do the same. Slash vertically, and Link's sword will follow suit. Slash diagonally? Well, you can probably guess. As a cranky longtime gamer with a crippling fear of change, I spent a long time thinking that this sounded terrible. Waggling my controller in games like Super Mario Galaxy and Twilight Princess felt more like inconvenience than innovation. Would Skyward Sword really feel all that different? Yes. Yes it would. It felt phenomenal. And it made me start asking another question. Could motion controls add some flavor to JRPGs?
Nintendo to repair buggy Zelda: Skyward Sword save files
While Bethesda scrambles to control unforeseen events born from thousands of characters, objects and dragons interacting with each other in the sprawling land of Skyrim, Nintendo addresses a game-breaking error that occurs if you complete one of three quests in the wrong order ... and then talk to a guy twice. "If you are experiencing this situation, we are able to repair your saved data," Nintendo writes on its support page for The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. If you couldn't avoid triggering the bug (here's how), you can now send in your save file to be repaired. The company also intends to release "a program that will repair save data for those who have their Wii connected to the Internet." That sounds almost like a patch, filtered for technical terminology, but Nintendo only refers to it as a "program." (Aside: The mythical Wii game patch does exist in some cases!) We'll let you know as soon as we hear more about this restorative download. If, in the meantime, you feel paranoid about Link's bugs, you can keep up to two duplicates of your save file -- just select "copy" from the main menu every now and then.
Get a golden nunchuck to go with your golden Wiimote from Japan's Club Nintendo
Admit it: Your flair for fashion, design and symmetry has prevented you from fully appreciating the gold-colored Wii Remote Plus that came bundled with special edition versions of Zelda: Skyward Sword. Hey, we're not judging! Take one look at our wardrobe and you'll know our meticulous approach to color coordination. We're here to tell you there's a solution to your dilemma -- Japanese Club Nintendo members can now spend their hard-earned credits on an equally golden Wii Nunchuck. The faux-metallic peripheral will run you 600 Points, while the other new addition to the rewards catalog -- a 3DS game case which holds up to 18 titles -- will cost you 150 Points. You can check out the new Nunchuck in the image posted above; just try not to let the shameful color mismatching get to you. We've contacted Nintendo to see if these new products are coming stateside.
Shigeru Miyamoto 'retiring from current position' at Nintendo, working on smaller games [update: Nintendo denies]
Update: A Nintendo spokesperson tells Reuters that the report of Shigeru Miyamoto stepping down to a different position is "absolutely not true." The company asserts the story is a "misunderstanding," and that Miyamoto has "no intention" of stepping down. Original story: "I'm not saying that I'm going to retire from game development altogether. What I mean by retiring is, retiring from my current position," Nintendo head of development and long-time game industry figurehead Shigeru Miyamoto told Wired's Game|Life blog in an interview this week. It appears, after a lengthy career spent creating some of the game industry's most popular and important franchises, Miyamoto is altering his role at the company. "What I really want to do is be in the forefront of game development once again myself. Probably working on a smaller project with even younger developers. Or I might be interested in making something that I can make myself, by myself. Something really small," he explained further. Miyamoto isn't quitting development, though. Apparently he's looking to start a new project in 2012, and hopes to show it publicly by year's end. "In other words, I'm not intending to start from things that require a five-year development time," he added. While he won't be changing roles immediately, the idea behind announcing his retirement is to spur the less veteran devs at Nintendo to step up. "I'm interested in doing a variety of many other things," he teased.
Oops! Game-halting bug in Skyward Sword (and how to avoid it)
If you're currently many hours deep into The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword -- say, around the "Song of the Hero" quest -- you'd better be careful. According to an email from Nintendo sent to Zelda Informer, you may encounter a game-breaking glitch if you complete tasks in a certain order during the "Song of the Hero" quest. If you save after the bug is in effect and don't have an earlier file as a backup, you'll have to start Skyward Sword over. If you complete the quest's desert leg first and speak to a Goron gentleman not once, but twice, the game locks out completion of the other two portions, halting all progress in the game. That said, it's pretty easy to avoid: just don't talk to the Goron more than once. Done! (Alternatively, do not complete the desert part first.) Nintendo gets more specific in describing the glitch in its letter, which we've dropped below the break. We've reached out to Nintendo to see if a patch will be issued for the game, but the company's official release unfortunately didn't indicate as much.
Wii, Zelda, and Super Mario 3D Land set records on Black Friday
Breaking, obvious news: Mario and Zelda games are popular. All right, it gets more interesting upon getting into specifics: Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime told USA Today that Super Mario 3D Land has become the fastest-selling portable Mario game ever, moving over half a million copies since its November 13 launch. As a result, 3DS system sales have spiked, as well. According to info provided by Nintendo, system sales are up 325% for the week of November 20 over the previous week, and sales that week were up 49% over the week of November 6. Fils-Aime told USA Today that the surge in 3DS interest allowed the system to cross the DS's first-year sales threshold (2.37 million units) in eight months, even before Mario Kart 7's release. In crazier news, the Wii had its best Black Friday ever, with Nintendo reporting over 500,000 systems sold just on Black Friday, including early store openings the night before. The combination of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword -- which is itself the fastest-selling Zelda in history, at 535,000 copies -- and rock-bottom prices helped propel the system to its record-breaking feat. See, Nintendo, there's at least enough life left in the system for Rhythm Heaven Fever to be worth releasing! If you didn't get that subtext, we'll lay it out: give us Rhythm Heaven.
Indie composers craft The Legend of Zelda tribute album
OC ReMix revisits the grand history of Zelda with a new tribute and remix album, "25YEARLEGEND." The project draws together 18 experienced indie musicians, including the producer of Minecraft's tunes to spelunk by. It's available as a free download here. Even though Zelda's music has been remixed umpteen times in successive games, this buoyant compilation surprises with a few creative interpretations, and a good selection of the most sacred songs. We've placed two of our favorites after the break. If you listen to the whole album, keep an ear out for a cameo by an infamous Nintendo commercial.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, in HD thanks to emulation
Whenever a new Wii game comes out, players set to work opening up the PC-based Dolphin emulator, upscale the graphics to HD resolution, and take screenshots for us to drool over -- like the Skyward Sword images posted on the software's forum. The normally soft, watercolor-y backgrounds look a little strange in HD -- we can't decide if it's more of the intended effect, or just oddly blurry. But there's no such conflict when it comes to the characters -- they look amazing. We're just going to cross our fingers for upscaling functionality when the Wii U comes along.
Get Zelda: Skyward Sword a day early at launch event, get Penny Arcade comic now
You won't have to go on a treasure hunt through dungeon-like NYC game stores to get a head start on The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. If you're in the city, you'll be able to purchase the game a day early, and celebrate the launch with some fellow Triforce enthusiasts while you're at it. Nintendo will host a launch event on Saturday, November 19, from 9am to 1pm at its Nintendo World Store in Rockefeller Center. During the event, people who pick up copies of the Wii game (one day before its official release date!) will get a "limited-edition poster." Nintendo will also unveil a "Master Sword replica," give away prizes, and offer demos. If you can't make it to the event, at least you can ... look at some pictures of Link. Try doing that at the launch event ... ! Nintendo has partnered with Penny Arcade to produce a special weekly Skyward Sword comic, and the first page is up already online.
Wear a tie and watch this video of the Legend of Zelda orchestra recording a CD
It's difficult to compare to a live symphonic performance, but a CD that comes free with initial printings of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is a close contender, followed by anything that we would have to pay for, and ending with "Buying the songs on iTunes for a long ride on the New York subway with only one headphone in our right ear and a wet Doberman Pinscher growling into our left the entire way." A five-minute video showing the recording of the CD falls somewhere between "Free CD" and "Going to Best Buy to buy the CD, finding out they don't have it, driving across the street to Target and buying it plus $100 worth of stuff we didn't know we needed that day." We'll take it.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword review: Such great heights
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is a game that is going to mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. For the base which took hold of Nintendo's initial vision for the Wii console, imagining future games where the controller in your hand was -- hey! -- not a controller, but the Master Sword itself; it is that. For those who simply imagined a narrative evolution of the long, long-stagnant Hylian franchise, it is that, too. For Wii owners who just want something to play, it is that as well. It must be that. As the flagship component of the Zelda franchise's 25th Anniversary, you couldn't ask for a better identikit of the series. As it moves through the all-too-familiar cycle of temples, tools and time-travel, it touches on the franchise's lowest points, adopts its most stellar attributes and, at frequent intervals, taps into a kind of magic that no game ever has before.
Zelda concert series comes to Dallas January 10
If you missed the recent Zelda concerts because of their unfortunate non-Texan location, take heart (containers) because Nintendo is kicking off its touring series of symphonies next year in Dallas on January 10. Tickets are available directly through the Dallas Symphony, with a 15% discount available through Club Nintendo. To get that code, just sign into Club Nintendo and look for the special offer on the front page. This is only the first concert in the tour; Nintendo will hold more performances for the "The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses" concert throughout 2012, with dates and locations to be announced. You'll have plenty of time to buy something nice to wear. It's the symphony, after all.
Latest Skyward Sword assets put Link in a trial by fire
Despite the obvious perils of venturing into volcanoes and "fire sanctuaries," our hero Link (of Zelda's lengthy legend) takes to both potentially fatal locales with his usual aplomb in these latest trailers for The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. Be careful, little Link!%Gallery-137841%
Two new Skyward Sword trailers are a feast of gameplay
Tired of seeing Link prance his way through context-free cutscenes involving giant birds and inscrutable floating cities? The Japanese trailers for Zelda: Skyward Sword posted above and below should be more to your liking: They're chock-full of honest-to-goodness gameplay.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword - Proving Skyloft wrong
Why is everyone being such a dick to Link? Zelda, her father -- heck, just about everyone in Link's hometown (this time) of Skyloft was giving him crap. The townspeoples' attitude painted a very specific picture for me: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword's Link is apparently the Spicoli of Skyloft. You can imagine my surprise, considering how many Legend of Zelda games I've played (which would be just about all of them, CD-i games notwithstanding). It's like nobody in Skyloft expected much of Link beyond sleeping in, even today, when his chance to become a knight-in-training rests on flying (and winning) in the big race. Suddenly, I felt more invested in Link that I had in my entire life. I wanted to prove all of these jerks wrong -- and I did, competing (and winning) in the big race. My prize was a one-on-one rap session with Zelda and a homemade parachute in the game, but the more important prize was my attachment to Skyward Sword. From this moment on, I was hooked. %Gallery-135205%
How The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword begins
The intro to The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, found on the game's Japanese website, builds the world of the game with a slow spread of ink. Though the specific art style is different, the whole thing reminds us of the intro to Wind Waker, which is a good sign!
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword has fully orchestrated soundtrack
Put down your recently sharpened number two pencil and that crisp piece of parchment, there's no need for strongly worded letters. Unlike The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Link's final adventure on Nintendo Wii will have an entirely orchestrated soundtrack. Nintendo of America confirmed as much to me this morning during a brief play session with the upcoming sky-bound Hyrulian romp, Skyward Sword. It's not as though the news is entirely unexpected, however -- Nintendo production head Shigeru Miyamoto hinted at the possibility earlier this year during E3, when he told attendees of his developer roundtable, "I don't think we could do what we did with Mario Galaxy 2 and not try to match that with Zelda." And hey, considering that Nintendo brought out a full orchestra just for its E3 presser, we're glad that the company would deem its big upcoming Wii title worthy as well.
Nielsen taps most anticipated games, Modern Warfare 3 on top
The Nielsen firm has compiled a list of the top twenty most anticipated games this holiday season. The survey ranks games based on the percentage of players that ranked them in their top five choices for the holiday. Unsurprisingly, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 was at the top of the list, with fully 27 percent of those surveyed placing it in their top five. Rounding out the top five, Gears of War 3 and Madden NFL 12 both pulled 19 percent, Assassin's Creed Revelations made 17 percent and Batman: Arkham City reached 15 percent. The holiday's major Wii exclusive, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword made the sixth slot with 14 percent. Battlefield 3, Modern Warfare 3's major competition, reached number seven at 12 percent. Also worth noting: Dead Island, at 7 percent, marks the only game on the entire list that isn't part of an established franchise. The survey also includes a fascinating peek into the psyche of various players, making note of the online conversations surrounding each title. For example, Modern Warfare 3 fans are looking forward to launch parties, and Skyward Sword devotees are hoping to rekindle that old Ocarina of Time feeling. Madden armchair quarterbacks, meanwhile, are planning to call in sick in order to squeeze in a few more touchdowns.
Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword media sets the scene
Link, a young boy from the floating island of Skyloft, sets out on a journey to find his childhood friend in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. Both he and Zelda ultimately find themselves on a destined mission handed down by an ancient goddess. At Link's side is a magical sword possessing the spirit of Fi, a servant and aid sent by the goddess herself. %Gallery-135205%
Hyrule's Market Village getting brought to life in the UK
The Legend of Zelda's iconic Market Village is being brought to life for an upcoming Nottingham, UK game festival, GameCity6. But don't worry about ReDeads, as the real-life recreation won't represent the village from Ocarina of Time's adult Link world, but rather a pastiche of several games. Attendees can get their fetch questing on with a Triforce piece collection game, they can create swords and shields (we're guessing of the wooden or cardboard variety), and they can even go lips-on with an ocarina. If that weren't enough, you could always hang with the Hyrulian droogs in the LonLon Milk Bar. The entire day is actually dedicated to Zelda-themed activities, so perhaps this is finally a chance to bake those Navi-shaped sugar cookies. After waiting for what seemed like forever, too!
