My Predictions for Zelda Wii… and More

The internet has been blazing with predictions about almost everything at E3. Everyone has their own thoughts on what is to come, and likewise that is the same here at Zelda Informer. Each staff member at ZI is expecting completely different things tomorrow so I figured I would throw a series of my own predictions together and explain why I think each one “may” or “should” happen.

Before I get into my predictions, however, I figured I would go on a little rant. ZI has been ablaze the last few days over some mystical rumors and our “confirmation” of said rumors. I have sat back and watched, as well as occasionally participated, in what has become a 200+ comment war. There are a piss loads of new people around the site right now, and of course a hell of a lot of the same old usual visitors. They have been going at it, and in a sense going at us. It’s to be expected, especially with the nature of the evidence provided as well as the fact that “people didn’t like what they were hearing”.

One word I keep seeing thrown around is “how credible ZI is as a site” and that “ZI’s credibility is on the line”. A fair point. Let me pose this to our long time fans – how credible are we? What have we done to earn any credibility? Credible, by definition, is “offering reasonable grounds for being believed “. Naturally, over a course of time, this builds up to a point where you can reach IGN level – where them just saying something is most likely true without providing any proof or evidence simply becomes true, and by that point they are right… about 90% of the time. That makes them credible.

To this point, I am not sure I would say we are a credible website. No, this isn’t some sort of retraction on the “confirmed” post, it’s simply stating how I am not sure how people find us credible. What have we done to earn this reputation? We are a site that posts editorials and news – news that is 100% never in house. We are just posting other people’s stuff, over and over and over again. How does this make us credible? It doesn’t, it just makes us a great place to find a collection of news and articles versus visiting 30 different sites a day to find it.

Sure, we do have a PR contact with Nintendo, most gaming sites have one or can get one. Yeah, we did get sent a pre-release copy of Spirit Tracks and thus provided videos and a walkthrough for the game just days before it came out. Sure, we can do stuff like that because Nintendo themselves enabled us too. What we can’t do is really post any ground breaking news that originates from us. It isn’t possible because we don’t make Zelda, and there is no exclusivity deal in place with our website.

So when you start thinking of the credibility of this site you think back to the three rumor posts. I said this in a previous article, but 2ch is wrong… a lot. Something like an astonishing 90% of the time they are wrong. If one of you were to sit down and make enough guesses about all the games coming out at E3, even you can be right 10% of the time. They generally provide zero evidence to conform to their credibility – they just got a handful of things right before so everyone wants to ignore that they are wrong most of the time. So again, what makes us credible? What makes 2ch credible? What makes any site credible?

The truth is, to be credible you have to prove it. The only way proving it happens is by simply being right. To be right, the information has to become known, and that is what happens tomorrow at E3. To a point, I agree our credibility as a site is on the line – we have a unique chance to gain it. If were wrong what do we lose credibility wise? We were never credible to begin with.

That being said, people want to know “why they should believe what Damir stated” – I can’t tell you what to believe or why you should believe it. Of course I am going to back up my fellow staff member most the time, but in the end not even I am 100% convinced on the validity of the rumors. If I was, why would I bother making predictions?

I guess the point of this rant before the prediction is just to say how exhausting it is reading comments with credibility mentioned in every other sentence. We are not a credible site until proven thus. I am elated to see we have so many passionate fans willing to come to our defense, but please I think it’s time to put the defense to rest. We are in no position to be defending ourselves, since we have nothing to actually defend. We have no reputation, no credibility to defend. Our reputation is as an editorial source, not a breaking news source. If you get the “idea” we are a breaking news source because we posted a slew of rumors… since when were rumors news? They are simply fun to talk about. If the stuff Damir posted ends up being true… More power to him then.

So, with all that said, what are my predictions?

The title of the game is going to be something none of us expected.

Call this a copout if you want, but at this point two major things are flying around this community: The Prophet of Light and The Legend of Zelda. Personally, it could be either, but I think it will be something totally refreshing. Though I admit I do like TloZ simply because I think it would signify a new beginning.

As for the Prophet of Light, that little tale came from a lonely user on Reddit. In talking to him personally, it turns out he has evidence of predicting a lot of stuff for Twilight Princess and turning out to be right on all accounts, and thus he has made similar predictions for Zelda Wii. How much stock do we put into it? Not much really. He admits he is openly guessing. So why did we go with it? For fun mostly. The original title people caught wind of was TloZ: PS – which stood for The Legend of Zelda: Publicity Stunt. It was never meant to go beyond that, but since we had these loose predictions with a reputation for being right, we figured we would let it fly a little. It was fun, and the users on the forums especially had a jolly old time with it.

This was talked about in some of the rumors, but I honestly believe this is something that is going to happen. It makes too much sense in my head to really go against it. It does go a tad against tradition, but it fits in well with a break away from “dungeon-field-dungeon”, something they apparently are changing by their own admittence.

This may disappoint people, but to me it’s just something I have come to accept with the series. Zelda is easy… and it’s not going to get any harder. I hope I am wrong and it is harder, but I think of all the console games it will end up being the easiest. Still, despite this, I think the game is going to be extremely entertaining. I think there is a lot of ideas for side quests and minigames that can be done with the motion controls, and I think combat is still going to be an enjoyable experience. How easy the game is can be a direct contribution to the introduction of what Zelda is going to be for the next decade… and that is something I can live with.

Nothing really to go on for this, I just think it’s going to happen. Sword missing from the art was extremely significant, and I think Nintendo has finally realized that new fans today need a new reason to call this series “The Legend of Zelda”.

And thats it! I didn’t really want to go too specific because it would show I am buying too much into all the rumors (hey, I’m a fan too!), but I think these 4 things are going to happen. What do you think? What are your predictions for tomorrow’s big Zelda Wii revealing?