Zelda Wii and First Person Hybrid Gameplay

After the news about Metroid: Other M and it's classic 2D and first person hybrid gameplay, I had a thought about something similar in Zelda Wii. No, not exactly the same controls of course, but before I was thinking in two extremes here. One was that the full game would be in first person similar to the Metroid Prime games, but at one point I dismissed this idea for several reasons. The other extreme was that everything would stay the same except for the MotionPlus controls. But what if they do something like a hybrid? The normal gameplay could be third person, but you can switch in first person perspective (or maybe over-the-shoulder) for sword combat or archery. Basically in the case of archery this always has been done in 3D Zelda games. You could always switch into first person mode to look around and use certain items like the Bow or the Hookshot. But this was always stationary, they could enhance this for sword combat or different things, so that you can move around in first person mode as well. That way the game wouldn't change too much from the previous 3D Zelda games, but it would still offer a new perspective and a new way of experiencing Zelda.



But this is just a thought...

Metroid: Other M Release Date and Screenshots

The Nintendo Media Summit is currently happening and there are some news about upcoming titles for this summer. One of them is Metroid: Other M, which will be released on June 27 in the United States. There is also a demo playable at the summit and there are some new screenshots, like those three:



There are also news about the controls and I'm somehow skeptical. The game is played with the Wiimote only. You hold it sideways for the 2D parts and you use the pointer for the first person perspective, which you can always activate by just pointing at the screen. However, this sounds like you can't move during the first person gameplay (like in the 3D Zeldas for example) and like you only can shoot in eight directions in the 2D gameplay sections. I was more hoping for a Nunchuk control scheme, where you always use the pointer to aim.

UPDATE: Looks like I understood it right, you can always switch into first person mode, but it will be stationary. The rest will classic Metroid gameplay. It sounds like an interesting hybrid, but I'm not sure if it works well. I guess you have to try it out for yourself.

The game will take place on a giant space ship and there's more word on how deep the story will be. This sounds a lot like Metroid Fusion, which isn't exactly my favorite Metroid game. It was too linear and exploring the space station wasn't much fun. It's nowhere as good as Super Metroid was. And since Other M looks more like the successor of Fusion I remain very skeptical.

Nintendo also releases Super Mario Galaxy 2 in May. This makes perfectly sense considering that both of those games are not MotionPlus titles and that Nintendo really should focus on MotionPlus from now on. A lot of people bought MotionPlus, but all they got so far from Nintendo was Wii Sports Resort. Zelda Wii, which uses MotionPlus, is anticipated and a Christmas 2010 release looks even more likely after today. But I'm also expecting some nice surprise titles this E3.

UPDATE2: Apparently the European release date is "third quarter". I really hope, it's the early third quarter, somewhen in July. But I guess the European version will take its time because of the localization.

Source: Kotaku.com

Spirit Tracks Concept Art Leaked

Sorry for the silence lately, but I'm in the middle of my exams.

An employee at Nintendo posted some concept art for currently released games on 2ch. Some of it includes concepts for Spirit Tracks, so take a look:



The concept art for the Tower of the Spirits looks beautiful, but the most interesting ones are train ideas, that didn't make it into the full game. The BOAT train gives me the impression, that they originally had a different approach for the Ocean Land, maybe with no rails running over water and this special boat train that works like the boat from Phantom Hourglass. But the most crazy thing is the Tingle train. I mean, seriously? :D It looks totally gay, as much as I like the humor that comes with Tingle, this is too much. So, no wonder that this didn't make it into the full game. I mean it looks like he's getting it doggy style. But a Tingle train would have been awesome, maybe they just should have used the face.

And Nintendo really should release Zelda artbooks with all the concept arts from the games. Definitely would be a must-buy.

Source: NeoGAF Forums

A Second Golden Link and Epona Statue

Nintendo really likes me. Two years ago, I participated in a German Zelda quiz sponsored by Nintendo, scored first place and won one of the those golden Link and Epona statues amongst other prices, see my blogpost here. Recently there was a lottery inside the Spirit Tracks Preoder Deal box and I participated as well. First place was a black Nintendo Wii and I wanted to get one, because the black Wii looks sexy. And I was somehow lucky. Today I was woken up early by the post, who got a huge package for me with "Nintendo of Europe" as sender. I was like "OMFG, I won the black Wii". Well, I didn't win the black Nintendo Wii, but I got the 2nd prize, which was yet another one of those very precious Link and Epona statues. Which isn't bad, because I got the other one over at my old room in my parent's house, so this one is for my student apartment. One for each place. :D Well, and two are better than one anyway. I also got a Spirit Tracks mouse pad, a Spirit Tracks Nintendo DS case and yet another Spirit Tracks preorder box with those figurines, which is ironic, because you had to get one of those boxes to participate in the contest. I wonder, if there's another lottery inside. :D Well, I guess they had some leftovers and didn't know what to do with them. And like I said, two are better than one.

Here are some pictures of the prizes:



The number of the statue is 587/3800, in case you're interested in these things. The first statue was number 3313/3800.

Actually, the first prize was the black Nintendo Wii Resort bundle and additionally all the prizes, which I've got. Meaning one of those statues and all the extras. Whoever got this, must have exploded in luck this week. :D