There is much talk lately about the ‘development time’ of Zelda Wii. This is because there is an uneasy sense from Zelda fans that Zelda Wii is being rushed or being tossed out there.
It was very odd for Iwata to announced Zelda Wii for 2010. So why did he do it? Why not wait a few months for E3 2010 where it could have been a fun surprise?
The reason why Iwata was speaking in the first place was to say that Wii has momentum. He is saying this against the drumbeat of Industry declaring Wii “dead” (despite Wii breaking sales records. This “Industry” has gone completely insane where they now make believe sales figures they want to believe).
Clearly, the Zelda Wii announcement was to suggest a reason why the Wii momentum will continue. As NOA did their press release at the start of the year, Nintendo appears to be furiously combating people saying “Wii is teh doomed”.
But it is funny with Aonuma wondering what art style Zelda Wii should have to Iwata then declaring it will be released in 2010. What in the world is going on with Zelda Wii? Oh, I can’t wait for the Iwata Asks interview on that.
If Motion Plus is part of Zelda Wii, then the development time for the game has to be very short (for the Motion Plus parts). This would mean that the Motion Plus parts are merely supplements to the game. They are not the skeleton that the game revolves around. I’m thinking more of Twilight Princess where Link suddenly has to start snow boarding or canoeing or fishing.
E3 is where Nintendo tests out certain ideas before the public. For example, Miyamoto watched carefully to see how people responded to Mario 5’s motion controls and whether there would be a backlash against that. One would figure Nintendo would want to see how the people respond to motion plus controls in Zelda first before shipping the game months later. Zelda is a very touchy subject after all.
So I still think the game is being *dumped*. Not rushed but *dumped*. When a game has no definition, like Zelda, you either have a game that mimics an older game (like Ocarina of Time) or you have a train wreck (complete with trains in Spirit Tracks).
I believe there has been much philosophical differences at the top concerning Zelda. However, there has already been much development done already. Iwata tends to have the attitude of, “OK, fine. Let’s ship it then. You have until this year.” Iwata is the same guy who assigned Nintendo employees three months to make Brain Age. I suspect this is an Iwata decision to release the game in 2010.
We are receiving enough information to indicate that Spirit Tracks is underperforming (Thank goodness for that!). If you and I can see that the Zelda franchise is broken, clearly the guys at the top like Iwata can see it too. Since Zelda Wii was being developed in the same spirit as Spirit Tracks, Phantom Hourglass, and Twilight Princess, the game is going to continue on the same trajectory into mediocrity. I imagine it to be more of a case of Iwata telling the Zelda team to “wrap things up”.
I don’t know any of this. It is just speculation.
We don’t know much about Zelda Wii at all or even Metroid: Other M and Mario Galaxy 2. We’ll have to wait until E3 2010.
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