As an installment of their ‘VS.’ series, IGN is asking, “Can any game surpass Ocarina of Time?” As the video states, it was the first game to receive a perfect 10 rating from IGN. Since then Skyward sword has also gotten a ten, and is the game most likely to beat out the classic. The match up will be decided based on views from this video so follow the annotations to vote for which game you think is better. Click ‘Read More’ for the match up criteria and my thoughts on the outcome.
In the recent Hyrule Historia scans over at History of Hyrule, there are a few things that you might have noticed if you browsed through the limited scans that are available. One of these is original concept artwork for the character of Midna from Twilight Princess. Believe it or not, the image that you see to the left was actually one of the early concepts of what Midna could potentially look like. That’s not the only concept either, as there are several other altered concept variations just for Midna. After looking at some of these, I think they could pass for alternative fan artwork. It’s pretty astonishing how unique some of these pieces of artwork are. It makes me wonder, how many of these hidden gems are there to be found in the Hyrule Historia book? Perhaps we’ll get concept artwork for several other Legend of Zelda characters throughout the history of the games. Jump inside to see larger images of some of the other variations of Midna.
The follks at IGN have started their very own 2011 people’s choice awards. Voting has just begun for all categories and Skyward Sword is in the running for several of those categories including Game of the year. So now all you have to do is go over to their site and vote on each category. Here is what they had to say.
Is Dead Space 2 a better action game than Portal 2? What’s the best shooter, Battlefield 3 or Modern Warfare 3? And what developer was best in 2011? Our overall awards will bring answers to all of these burning questions and many more. We’ll also give you a chance to weigh in with our annual People’s Choice awards, decided by you, on each award’s page. So make sure to make your voice heard by voting on your favorite before we announce all the winners on January 17th.
Yesterday we reported on the first translations available for the Hyrule Historia Japanese book. We are surely going to be seeing more scans and translations over the next couple of days, as the book is now available in stores over in Japan. Until then, the folks over at New Nintendo have translated a second page from the initial batch of scans that were posted at History of Hyrule. Of the two pages you see in the image to the left, the translation covers the page on the right side. You can see a large version of the translated page, as well as the translation itself after the jump.
Our friends over at History of Hyrule have posted some partial high quality scans of the Hyrule Historia book that is set to release tomorrow in Japan. The book has stirred up a lot of controversy as it is rumored to be a reveal of the Zelda Timeline.
While we don’t have too much information just yet, Beno from the Legends Alliance forums has posted a translation of some of the pages. If you make the jump, you can see the high quality scans as well as Beno’s translation. While there isn’t anything major revealed just yet, this does give us a previous of the level of detail that will be included in the Hyrule Historia book. This particular page focuses around the child ending of Ocarina of Time, as well as some material from Majora’s Mask.
A few days back we reported on a book entitled Hyrule Historia that is set for release on December 21st. The book is being published by Shogakukan, the official publisher for Nintendo of Japan. Recently, a member over at the GameFAQs Forums has translated the table of contents of this book and has discovered somewhat of a secret. Deciphering the translation, it appears that the long sought out Legend of Zelda Timeline will be revealed. You can find the translated table of contents below.
“History of Hyrule
~Finally Revealed, The Genealogy of the [Legend]~
The Timeline of Hyrule, Kingdom of the Gods………………………………… 68
The Legend of Gods and the Hero of Time…………………………………………… 70
The Downfall of Hyrule and the Last Hero………………………………………… 92
The Twilight Realm and the Hero’s Descendant……………………………… 110
The Hero of Wind and the New World………………………………………………………… 122
Audrey Drake is one of the editors over at IGN and she’s also a huge Zelda fan. She’s written so many Zelda pieces over the last few months and her latest one is entitled, Why Zelda Endures. In this article Audrey highlights five reasons why the Legend of Zelda series has been able to endure the test of time. She talks about how the series has a strong foundation, very few direct sequels, always stays fresh, and just offers some damn good games. She also talks about how the series has been live on, largely due to it having a A Tale That Spans the Ages. Here is what Audrey had to say.
One of the most brilliant (and at times confusing) things about the Zelda storyline is that it leaves itself open for infinite sequels without having to stretch. Rather than the developers having to continually contrive a new reason for the same hero to be needed over and over again, Zelda’s various creators set-up a timeless tale that is told across centuries, and a plotline that is truly eternal. With the unbreakable spirit of the hero, Link, being reborn ad infinitum – and great evil always waiting to arise – it’s a story that easily justifies its repetition, with each new installment only strengthening the overall lore.
Nintendo of Japan recently announced the upcoming release of a hardback collector’s edition artbook chronicling the history of The Legend of Zelda. The book contains not only artwork from throughout the series, but contains a history of the series, character and costume design notes, production images including scrapped costume ideas, and concept art for Link and various items. Fans will get a chance to see some of the more wild designs that did and did not make it into some of the games as well as a few notes from the developers. Also included is a preview of new official Skyward Sword manga. The book will go on sale December 21 and have a price of ¥32,55 ($41). Unfortunately there is no word at this time if it will be released outside of Japan just yet. We have a few pages to preview so jump inside to check out the pictures for yourself.
In a recent interview with Official Nintendo Magazine Eiji Aonuma mentioned that during development there were a few more ideas they had in mind with the motion controls in Skyward Sword that did not make it to the final version. Since these were scrapped they had decided to hold on to those ideas and use them in a later Zelda game in the future. Jump inside to check out what he had to say.
Although Skyward Sword has been receiving much praise for its amazing innovations and new approach to gameplay, a lot of the smaller details may be been inspired by things present in earlier games in the series. It is because of this the folks over at IGN have decided to take another look at the many elements present in the game and compare them to similar things found on previous Zelda games. They discovered that there are quite a few references to previous characters and situations in Skyward Sword. Including some gameplay elements and phrases heard in the very first Legend of Zelda. In this article they are going through the series one game at a time and comparing the many referenced they find from Skyward Sword. And it turns out there are a lot of references contained within this game. Warning, there are a lot of Skyward Sword spoilers within this article, so read at your own risk. Jump inside to see what they had to say.
The January 2012 issue of Game Informer is now available to subscribers across the country and it has some Zelda goodies for us. In particular there is a two-page interview with Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma and sound composer Koji Kondo. Both of these gentleman are two of the biggest names when it comes to the Zelda series and they talk about a range of topics. This includes motion controls, the story of Skyward Sword, romance in the game, the Zelda Timeline, orchestrated music, voice acting, and more. I’ve taken the time to type up the interview in its entirety and you can check it out after the jump. If you aren’t a subscriber to Game Informer, you can get a subscription for just $14.99 at any GameStop in the country, in which it comes with tons of other goodies as well.
The folks over at IGN have released their special Zelda Spoilercast where they talk entirely about the Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. The crew at IGN talks pretty extensively about the storyline, changes to the timeline, the games ending, and much more. If it isn’t clear enough, this podcast will completely spoil the storyline for you. After talking initially about the story, the crew takes live calls from fans. It’s a pretty good listen for any Zelda fan. These particular IGN folks are core Zelda fans so this isn’t just a casual podcast. They talk extensively about the Zelda lore and make plenty of references to the rest of the series. Make the jump to take a listen.
Amber had been dating her boyfriend for six years and been talking about getting married for about one. She had the thought in her head that something was going to happen, but didn’t know when. On a Friday night her boyfriend had made plans with her to go out on a date to a fancy French restaurant which made her suspicious since it wasn’t really an important day like an anniversary, so when talking about it with a coworker she realized the date was 11/11/11 and knew something had to happen, but didn’t want to get her hopes up.
When returning to her boyfriends apartment later that night she became suspicious when she realized his roommates were conveniently gone and everything was cleaned and dusted. He had been playing the classic The Legend of Zelda for the NES and had recently beaten it, so when he asked Amber if she wanted to start the second quest with him she quickly realized her suspicions were correct. When walking up to the Old Man that says the famous “It’s dangerous to go alone. Take this!” she was surprised by the question she had been waiting for. Be sure to make the jump to read more.
The folks at IGN have decided to take a look at the various pros and cons of including voice acting in video games. Of course one cannot bring up the subject of voice acting in games without thinking of Legend of Zelda. The Legend of Zelda is one of the last great holdouts due to Nintendo’s reluctance to make a fully voiced sequel to the series. With the recent release of Skyward Sword it is again asked why does Link remain the silent protagonist in an era of fully voiced games?
They compare the histories of video games and movies talking about the evolution of technology allowing for more options that were previously unavailable. Later on there are some comparisons made between the Zelda series and other series that did eventually adopt voice acting. Taking the fan receptions as an example, listing which series were successful and why. Check out some more just after the jump.
IGN has posted an unboxing of the Limited Edition Zelda 3DS bundle that includes a copy of Ocarina of Time 3D. The 3DS is Cosmo Black with the gold Hylian Emblem on the top, along with a pretty cool pattern on the corners. For those of us that don’t have a 3DS yet, this seems like a perfect excuse to go out and buy one. It’s on sale tomorrow for 199.99, not bad all things considered.
I hope you all are enjoying the Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. We’ve been waiting for 5 years for this game, and it was certainly worth the wait. However, in a recent Iwata asks, Shigeru Miyamoto reveals that Skyward Sword could of been released last christmas. He implies that the the reason for the wait was because he thought the fans are more important than making money.
If we’d only been thinking about what was most convenient for the company when we made this new game The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, we probably would have put a half-finished product on sale last Christmas by saying that we have managed to make it on time just because it was the order from the company.
About a month ago in their Replay segment, Game Informer magazine played through the original Legend of Zelda in its entirety. Having watched many of the videos, I found it was a bit entertaining, but seeing them fail quite often was a bit frustrating. I always find it tough to see people struggle at Zelda games, since I’m always inclined to want to jump in and explain what they really need to do. Well, if seeing people get stuck in Zelda is something you like watching… then this is for you. For Game Informer’s latest Replay, they are playing two of the Zelda Games for the CD-i. This includes Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon and Link: The Faces of Evil. Perhaps not the best thing to watch in the last hours before Skyward Sword… but hey, it’s part of the Zelda series’ 25 years of history. Make the jump to see the video embed.
IGN has finally posted their second Zelda: Skyward Sword special Podcast! This podcast features minimal spoilers; so minimal that they are more impressions and opinions on the game in general. It does have a little amount of swearing, so be warned. This time Rich and Audrey are joined by Sam, another Nintendo IGN editor, and Jose from 1Up.com, who gave Skyward Sword a B+ rating. Jump on in for the link to download or listen to the podcast followed by my own little recap.
Official Nintendo Magazine has posted their next installment of their interview with Zelda Williams to celebrate Zelda Week. Over the course of these videos she has talked about why she loves Majora’s Mask, the bad pick up lines she frequently hears, and her favorite video games. This time, she shares her favorite video game characters with us, ultimately deciding that Mario has a special place in her heart.
Have you ever had any questions for anyone who has experienced Skyward Sword in it’s entirety? Well you might find some of your answers in IGN’s latest article in which they answer some of the questions their readers have been itching to ask. This is meant to be a spoiler free article, which is good news for some of you avoiding plot details. Most of the questions IGN answers concern the reasons why they thought the game deserved a 10 out of 10, and their opinions on how it stacked up against previous installments.
For more information on the IGN article jump inside.
Here is the third video from Official Nintendo Magazine from their interview with Zelda Williams. Today, Zelda talks about what kind of games she typically likes to play, saying that games such as Grand Theft Auto bore her and that she much prefers old school games like Super Mario Land and Tetris for the Gameboy. There are still a few days left in Zelda week so you can expect a couple more videos. Be sure to keep checking back the rest of the week to see them all. If you missed the previous videos, follow the links to see what Zelda had to say about bad pick-up lines and Majora’s Mask.
An article was posted up on GameInformer by Dan Ryckert and in the article he talks about Four Swords Adventures, the Zelda game on the Gamecube where you could play with three other friends while adventuring around Hyrule. It had a single player mode, but it wasn’t as fun to play when compared to the multiplayer aspect. But in order to play the multiplayer mode, you had to have a Gameboy Advance for each player as well as a Gameboy to Gamecube cord for each GBA to use to connect the two machines to each other. He mentions this during the article and describes how annoying it was just to have to get those things to play with friends.
Jump inside to see the quote and my comments on the article.
Official Nintendo Magazine continues their Zelda Week with another video featuring none other than Zelda Williams. This time she discusses that she had a choice when deciding to like the series or not and was not forced to just because her father named her Zelda. She then talks about how Majora’s Mask was the game that got her heavily into the series, what she loves so much about it, and why this is a series that men and women alike should play. If you missed yesterday’s video be sure to check it out here.
As another part of their 25th Anniversary celebration, GameInformer has published an article looking back at Majora’s Mask. The article looks at the interesting ways Majora’s Mask departed from the Zelda formula while still keeping many things fans loved about it. Including various looks at some of the masks in the game as well as thoughts on the moon’s unique manner of reminding you of the time limit, this is a great way to look back on one of the Zelda series’ more unique entries. Read more…
Can Skyward Sword look different than Uncharted 3 and still have good graphics? Duh.
Audrey Drake of IGN has written an article that will surely become a weapon for Zelda fans everywhere against gamers who discredit games because of their graphical power, or lack thereof. Comparing Zelda’s artistic graphical style to classic paintings, she emphasizes that a game does not need to look realistic or sharp to look truly good. Read on to see more. Read more…
Official Nintendo Magazine is getting ready for the Skyward Sword launch by turning this week into Zelda week. Every day they will be posting a new and exclusive video featuring Zelda Williams. Today, she talks about how it is to be named after a videogame legend and all the bad pick up lines she has heard as a result of it. Be sure to check back tomorrow for more videos from Official Nintendo Magazine and Zelda Williams.
The folks at IGN have finally posted their video review of Skyward Sword. The video was posted along with their other more detailed review on IGN.com and covers their thoughts on the game.
The iconic RPG franchise has been going strong for decades without ever becoming stale or boring. Nintendo has somehow managed to keep the magic going, and they’ve once again cast a spell over us with Skyward Sword.
See what makes this title so magical, and why it continues to carry on the series’ legacy with grace and skill.
GameTrailers brings us another episode of their podcast, Invisible Walls, where they share their thoughts on the newest videogames. Among them was The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword and it appears these guys have not been enjoying the game. They discuss how the game feels too old, the areas feel too empty, and while some things look stunning with the new graphics, others look old. They also think that Nintendo should step up their game to the level of their competitors and start incorporating voice acting in Zelda.
What they spent the majority of their time analyzing was the motion controls. Some of the things they mentioned were having to recalibrate the WiiMote too often, and that this is not a game you can play while relaxing. Overall, I feel that they were not too impressed with the latest installment to the Zelda series. After the jump, you can listen to the podcast in its entirety. The people in the podcast will not be doing GameTrailers official review. It is simply their opinion. They start talking about Skyward Sword at around the 9 minute mark.
An article was posted on GameInformer talking about the infamous CD-i games and the popular Oracle games. It talks about how the two types of games are similar in that they were both developed by people outside of Nintendo and that they differed by how at the end of their development they both became known for different reasons. The writer first talks about the Oracle games and that Capcom was able to develop the games wonderfully.
Most gamers willingly acknowledge Capcom’s skill at working with the Zelda formula as proven by the Oracle games and Minish Cap, but I think it deserves even greater recognition. On the same day, Capcom released two fully fleshed out Zelda titles of such quality that most fans would have no trouble believing they came from Nintendo itself. It was an incredible, expectation-defying feat by any measurement.
IGN has a new article up which has Koji Kondo talking about the music featured in Skyward Sword. He talks about how music as a whole affects the player’s experience as they play the game.
“What makes music special in a Zelda game is the idea that, that within those, as the games are changing and evolving and you have those new moments in every game, we’re continually trying to find sort of these new perspectives that will help deliver the excitement of those moments to the player.”
We reported a few days back about Game Informer giving Skyward Sword a perfect 10 out of 10, but today we have some more information. While we don’t have scans or a full transcript of the magazine, we do have some snippets from the review that we can report on. These come courtesy of a NeoGAF user who posted them in a Skyward Sword thread. Make the jump to read about the new goodies.
The Offical Nintendo Magazine have released tons of Skyward Sword screenshots and artwork. Sadly, almost all of them are what we have seen from the last few weeks. However, we did manage to pick out a few new screenshots, so if you want, make the jump to see those. While I’m on that note, if you want to view the 180 screenshots and artwork, then either go to the Skyward Sword Image Gallery or go to the Offical Nintendo Magazine page. Jump inside to see those new screenshots.
Skyward Sword’s release date is fast approaching and IGN now has released their final impressions of the game. In this new article Chief Nintendo editor, Rich George gives us his input on his experience with Link in the Lanaryu province. Not much was revealed in this new article except a few interesting tidbits that can be seen after the jump. Besides a few more positive comments you could tell that George was attempting to keep a lot of details under wraps for their review set to release on Friday, November 11th.
For more information on IGN’s impressions please jump inside.
A few weeks ago, EDGE Magazine gave The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword a 10 out of 10 for it being so perfect. I turns out that GameInformer also gave Skyward Sword a perfect 10. In their review, they explain why Skyward Sword was perfect, but since GameInformer will be putting the review in their December issue and they cannot reveal anything on the website until the 8th of November, they were very limited in giving full details. However GameInformer did release a snippet of their review, so jump inside to have a look.
IGN has recently released a new video preview for Skyward Sword. Editor Audrey Drake, states a lot of early thoughts for the game and gets us ready for what’s to come in their full review on November 11. What stood out the most to me in the video was Audrey’s statement at the end of the video saying that the game is a mix between A Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time but with enormous scale. I believe those are big words seeing how those seem to be some of the most highly regarded Zelda games. The video along with Drake’s thoughts contain a ton of gameplay, new and old, so if anyone is trying to avoid spoilers I would not click the video above.
December 21st, 2011 by TheGreen
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