FragilE^ on 09 December 2014
Nintendo have stated several times that Windwaker was an experiment to allow a huge open world, but due to the hardware and other constraints, the compromise became the islands. So basically, it is a long, more or less empty, corridor (the ocean) with a number of decorated rooms (islands). It was not as good as they had hoped, and it is not the way they wanted it to be.
The Wii U is strong enough to allow for a vast, POPULATED world. They will not make a large empty world again.
(Well, at least that is what they've said. :) They know about this and they've talked about it a lot. Don't worry so much over a beta build that is most likely quite old, for a game that still has a long time to go.)
