Do you think Zelda Wii U will release in 2015?

[Screamapillar]

curl-6 said:

Screamapillar said:

curl-6 said:

Screamapillar said:
Yes, because Nintendo has confirmed it will

To be fair, Nintendo have confirmed release dates before then delayed them.

True, which is why I spent the rest of my post giving supporting arguments and theories to support my hypothesis. :)

I hope you're right, but after so many delays I don't have a lot of faith in Nintendo's ability to hit deadlines.

In my opinion, it's not so much Nintendo's ability to hit deadlines as it is them losing focus, and trying to make too many games at once.  My firm belief is that had they not spent 1.5 years developing ALBW with part of the staff that would have otherwise been working on Zelda U, we'd be playing it this holiday season, or at the very least, first half 2015.  They do that kind of thing all the time.  3DS really needed a "banner" core (non Pokemon) game last holiday, and so it made short-term sense for them to get ALBW out the door, particularly for the West.  Even if they claim it had no impact, that's simply disingenuous, because of course it had an impact.  It was made internally by the EAD Zelda team. 

And I suppose we can't really blame them.  I mean, 3DS has an install base of 44+ million, and software sales are going to reflect the giant userbase.  Wii U has a base of barely 7 million, and software sales outside of Mario Kart are comparatively weak.  So, I understand that they have to have priorities.  Having said that though, four years between core installments of Zelda titles is way too long.  It needs to be three at the most.  People are leaving junior high and basically graduating from high school in the time it takes Nintendo to put out a mainline Zelda title.  Not good.

Partner with Retro, delay other EAD titles with less priority, do whatever you have to do.  But don't "take as long as you need" on Zelda titles.  Zelda titles make people want to go out and buy hardware.  Last year, after seeing that 3D World and the price cut were not causing explosive Wii U sales like they had expected in the west, should have caused Nintendo to go into a state of emergency to get Zelda U done within a year.

Wind Waker was amazing.  It was lengthy, had tons of sidequests and things to do, and it took Nintendo two years to make.  So, it's not like there's no precedent for it.