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Forums - Nintendo - Zelda U is highly unlikely to release next year

 

When do you think Zelda U will release?

Second half of 2014 83 31.32%
 
First half of 2015 40 15.09%
 
Second half of 2015 105 39.62%
 
After 2015 22 8.30%
 
Results 15 5.66%
 
Total:265
curl-6 on 09 December 2013
kekrot said:
DerNebel said:

Now even if we for a second assume that Nintendo could get the game ready in 2014, would it even make sense to release that year? We know that the Wii U is not doing so hot, so it might sound weird to some people that Nintendo should not release all their games as fast as possible, but look at what is coming out for the console in 2014 already: MK, Smash and DK plus a couple third party exclusives. 2014 looks good for the Wii U at least from an exclusive games perspective, so why should they fire all their big guns at once and release Zelda that year as well? Give people Zelda U plus a new 2D Mario and the new IP Nintendo is working on in 2015 and you have 2 great years softwarewise back to back. 


Please not that. We already has one, plus one in a three dimensional space.

But I hope that Zelda U gets released late next year, with DK in February, MK in April, and Smash in summer. They can't drag Smash until fall when they have no big first party games in May-October. It can very well for all we know be very far along in development, and be released november 2014. Skyward Sword was 2011, TP 2006, WW 2003, and MM 2000. I mentioned MM because it shows how long it took to a completely new generation, three years. Then three years to TP. Like another said, they could drag SS as long as they would due to Wii selling really really good in the meantime. And it took too long in my opinion. I remember when Wii launched, they announced at the launch of TP that the real Zelda Wii had been in the first stages of development for a year, from November 2005. That's something to think about.

Then there's this year's Pikmin 3, first announced as in development in 2008.



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TheLastStarFighter on 09 December 2013
Dulfite said:
TheLastStarFighter said:
Dulfite said:
Zero999 said:
TheLastStarFighter said:
Dulfite said:


Skyward Sword was the most enjoyable Zelda experience I have ever had. The painted art style was so unique and so aesthetically pleasing it's not even funny. The level of exploration, flying, feeling like I'm visiting vastly different areas all was awesome. I loved how each level kept expanding as you progressed, instead of just introducing new areas for each progression point. The Wii motion plus with the sword was an absolute blast to play (very unique and much better than TP). I loved the story most of all. The best story in a Zelda game ever in my opinion. Demise and the introduction of so many other things was so awesome (especially after reading Hyrule Historia comic at end of the book).

It's good you enjoyed it, and I thought it was pretty good but most of us (Zelda fans and gamers in general) found it to be a little sub-par by Zelda standards.  There were few people calling it the greatest game ever made, grounbreaking or even game of the year, which has been the case for a number of Zeldas from the past.

I think that while not perfect, skyward sword was amazing. the 1:1 motion controls gave me the awesome the feeling of being inside the game. it will be a step back going back to  button only fights.

Didn't they basically say every console Zelda game from here on out would use motion controls because of how amazing SS was? WWHD doesn't count cause it was a remake and it wouldn't have worked I don't think. But I fully expect Zelda U to use motion controls.

No.  They did state that WWHD was the trial run for how to control a Wii U Zelda, however.  Expect gamepad controls for the new Zelda.


"In an interview with the Official Nintendo Magazine, Skyward Sword lead developer Eiji Aonuma said that he can't see Nintendo returning to the traditional button controls format for playing Zelda games: 'I honestly think we cannot go back to button controls now, so I think that these [Wii Motion Plus] controls will be used in future Zelda titles, too.'"

http://www.wiizelda.net/wii-u/zelda-continue-motion-controls/

WWHD was a remake of a game. Games are designed around controls, so they couldn't use motion plus with WWHD as that would totally change the feel of that game. I'm convinced, based on the quote above, that Nintendo will continue to use motion plus as the main controller option for console 3d Zelda games. That being said, I could also see them allowing pro controller as well as somehow utilizing the gamepad (along with wii motion plus) if people want. 

Lol. That's from 3 years ago when they were pushing SS 1:1 motion and before Wii U existed. He has said recently that WWHD was a trial run on implementing the Gamepad. Zelda U will be Gamepad focused.



kekrot on 09 December 2013
TheLastStarFighter said:
DerNebel said:
TheLastStarFighter said:

I'm pretty sure EAD has much more than 350 employees and the Zelda team is probably well over 100 people.  Not that it matters, small teams make incredible games in a short time very often.

FYI, WWHD was made by 4 guys in 6 months, with a little outsourced help.

Well it does bother me abit that that 350 people number is unsourced, so if you'll find another source saying something else than I'll gladly retract my statement regarding the number of people working on Zelda (I'll still stick with 2015 though)

No one can say for sure.  But your Wiki source is simply >350 which does not mean there are around 350 by any stretch.

To give a ballpark, Nintendo employs directly over 5000 people.  It's safe to say that most work in production, but if we say only half do that's 2500 employees.  If we were to divide into around 10 divisions (6 in EAD, 2 in Tokyo and a few others) that's around 250 per division.  If that is all the Zelda EAD group had, they could have 125 working on handheld and another 125 on Zelda U... and that's being very conservative.

To put more perspective on things, Retro has over 100 employees and they have been referred to as a small studio in the past that is just now big enough to handle two games at a time.  Monolith also employs over 100.  It's safe to say Nintendo could allocate 100-200 people to the Zelda projects.

Aonuma has repeatedly said that the Zelda team is very flexible when it comes to working on either console or handheld. In the last year of a handheld Zelda development cycle, more people gets allocated to that. They go back and forth.



Yep.

whatever on 09 December 2013

I hope it's sooner than 2015. I'll be getting a WiiU when this comes out (hoping for a nice bundle).



DevilRising on 09 December 2013

If it doesn't, it doesn't, but I really don't understand some of you folks claiming that it ABSOLUTELY will not release in 2014. I still think it's a very strong possibility that it comes out late 2014, perhaps even December.

Some of you seem to be assuming that they didn't start development until after WWHD and/or ALBW was finished, which isn't true at all. It's been in development since shortly after SS was finished all the way back in 2011. That means as of this moment it has been in development for around 2 years, and by the time fall 2014 rolls around, it will have had a good 3 years in development, which is more than enough time. Combine that with the fact that the smaller teams that were working on WWHD and ALBW have since been absorbed into the main Zelda U team now that those games are finished, and the rumor that this is the largest development team Nintendo has ever assembled working on this new Zelda..........and yes.

That all pretty much adds up to the very strong possibility of it being a 2014 title. So bet all you want, proclaim all you want. Just don't act too shocked when they announce it for late 2014. Why? Because they need all the big titles they can get, and that one might arguably be the biggest, depending on which direction they take it in.



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curl-6 on 09 December 2013
DevilRising said:
If it doesn't, it doesn't, but I really don't understand some of you folks claiming that it ABSOLUTELY will not release in 2014. I still think it's a very strong possibility that it comes out late 2014, perhaps even December.

Some of you seem to be assuming that they didn't start development until after WWHD and/or ALBW was finished, which isn't true at all. It's been in development since shortly after SS was finished all the way back in 2011. That means as of this moment it has been in development for around 2 years, and by the time fall 2014 rolls around, it will have had a good 3 years in development, which is more than enough time. Combine that with the fact that the smaller teams that were working on WWHD and ALBW have since been absorbed into the main Zelda U team now that those games are finished, and the rumor that this is the largest development team Nintendo has ever assembled working on this new Zelda..........and yes.

That all pretty much adds up to the very strong possibility of it being a 2014 title. So bet all you want, proclaim all you want. Just don't act too shocked when they announce it for late 2014. Why? Because they need all the big titles they can get, and that one might arguably be the biggest, depending on which direction they take it in.

Skyward Sword also had the largest dev team of any Nintendo game ever when it was made, but still took 5 years.

And even if they try to step up the pace this time, HD development takes longer than Wii-level development.



Dulfite on 09 December 2013
curl-6 said:
Dulfite said:
curl-6 said:

It should be noted that now that they're dealing with HD-level development,it will take longer to make than an equivalent Wii-level Zelda.


It's pretty clear that they have learned some things and are much quicker at it now. WWHD did only take 6 months (I know it's a remake but that is still really quick for a pretty small team of developers).

All that really needed was a graphical overhaul though.

A new game requires everything from ground-up asset creation, to dungeon/world/character design.

Yes but let's not forget that most of the remakes as of late have been games from more recent, and more graphically intense games. It's much easier to take Halo 1 and graphically upgrade it than it is to take WW and make it HD because the graphical difference between WWSD and WWHD is far greater in my opinion than that of Halo and Halo Anniversary Edition. 

On top of that, they integrated Miiverse into this game and changed some features. Again, all with probably a pretty small team considering the Zelda team has been split up between working on ALBW, WWHD, Zelda U, and the porting of various Zelda games to Virtual consoles on both consoles.



megafenix on 09 December 2013

not surprised, they always take their time with zelda games, maybe will be relased in 2015 or even next year



Dulfite on 09 December 2013
curl-6 said:
DevilRising said:
If it doesn't, it doesn't, but I really don't understand some of you folks claiming that it ABSOLUTELY will not release in 2014. I still think it's a very strong possibility that it comes out late 2014, perhaps even December.

Some of you seem to be assuming that they didn't start development until after WWHD and/or ALBW was finished, which isn't true at all. It's been in development since shortly after SS was finished all the way back in 2011. That means as of this moment it has been in development for around 2 years, and by the time fall 2014 rolls around, it will have had a good 3 years in development, which is more than enough time. Combine that with the fact that the smaller teams that were working on WWHD and ALBW have since been absorbed into the main Zelda U team now that those games are finished, and the rumor that this is the largest development team Nintendo has ever assembled working on this new Zelda..........and yes.

That all pretty much adds up to the very strong possibility of it being a 2014 title. So bet all you want, proclaim all you want. Just don't act too shocked when they announce it for late 2014. Why? Because they need all the big titles they can get, and that one might arguably be the biggest, depending on which direction they take it in.

Skyward Sword also had the largest dev team of any Nintendo game ever when it was made, but still took 5 years.

And even if they try to step up the pace this time, HD development takes longer than Wii-level development.


I feel like I'm becoming a fanboy of the idea that Zelda will launch in 2014... Oh dear... well back to fanboying...

SS had a LOT of newer things that developers probably had to spend a lot of extra time, resources, and people on; a brand new art style (TP in many ways was a slightly darker but mostly graphically superior version of Ocarina of Time's art style and obviously all the windwaker style games [WW, Minish Cap, Spirit Tracks, Phantom Hour Glass] are vastly different), much more advanced control system (first demonstrated with TP, but in a much less advanced way), an actual origin story that was very indepth compared with other Zelda games, and a ton of really interesting game features/concepts that I haven't seen before. In terms of new things introduced to the series, I can't think of a Zelda game that had more new things in it than Skyward Sword, which is why it took so long to make and why they had to have so many people working on it.



curl-6 on 09 December 2013
Dulfite said:
curl-6 said:
Dulfite said:

It's pretty clear that they have learned some things and are much quicker at it now. WWHD did only take 6 months (I know it's a remake but that is still really quick for a pretty small team of developers).

All that really needed was a graphical overhaul though.

A new game requires everything from ground-up asset creation, to dungeon/world/character design.

Yes but let's not forget that most of the remakes as of late have been games from more recent, and more graphically intense games. It's much easier to take Halo 1 and graphically upgrade it than it is to take WW and make it HD because the graphical difference between WWSD and WWHD is far greater in my opinion than that of Halo and Halo Anniversary Edition. 

On top of that, they integrated Miiverse into this game and changed some features. Again, all with probably a pretty small team considering the Zelda team has been split up between working on ALBW, WWHD, Zelda U, and the porting of various Zelda games to Virtual consoles on both consoles.

But the workload for a ground-up HD Zelda would be massively larger than for a HD remake.

And we don't know that the new Zelda won't use a new art style, mechanics, etc, just like Skyward Sword? Plus it's in HD graphics now, so those will take longer to make than SD assets.