BTW...does this mean link is nakkid!!!

...o_o

Why would the average player even care?

like I said before, Zelda has had a hint system since Ocarina, I wouldent be surprised if in the final version HINT is repalced with NAVI

 It is the same logic that is used to whine about casual games being made in general. If it is no targetted at them specifically then it is worthless. People should conform to their standards and skill level. Otherwise they can't be as elitist and use the excuse of "they just suck," to explain why someone might not like the same hobbies/style of game.

 I am in awe at your ability to ask questions that make absolutely no sense at all. What on earth are you refering to exactly? Where did the average player caring about a hint system come into play? Are you asking why the average player wouldn't care about having the game played for them?

There's a difference between being shown how to do something and actually having something done for you; the patent outlines the former, not the latter.

So, yes. The average player is the kind of person who would use a strategy guide for a really tough puzzle anyway. Why would they care about clicking an in-game box to have it shown to them rather than going elsewhere for the hint?

 You would have a point if the average player had been using strategy guides to beat Zelda games. The current line of thinking at Nintendo is that is not happening. It is not happening because the games are too hard, by their logic. So where in this does it become a good idea for Nintendo to up the difficulty of the game?

According to Nintendo, the average player never beats Zelda games in th first place, they just give up partway through.

What say you now?

It is absolutely uncanny. Everytime you try to ask a question it makes almost no sense. It is absolutely remarkable. What I would say is how is that even close to a point against what I said? I almost included that exact line of text in my last reply. I would further say given the expanding nature of the hint system that difficulty would be seen as a primary cause of why people quit. Nintendo isn't in the business of making hard games save for the Fire Emblem series. They make fun games that tend to get easier to get into with each iteration.

I know. At this point I'm messing with you: the ease with which you become exasperated with me is almost uncanny.

However, in the first place, giving people an option which will allow them to complete a game is much more likely to get them to finish, especially when it's easy-access. If they can see how it's done without making any particular effort, they're mcuh more likely to try to finish it for themselves. That's reflexive - and if it's applied to puzzles, it doesn't matter how hard they are, if we assume that about half the userbase would never finish the gamee anyway because they're too hard at their curent level. If you think they're adding in a hint system and making the puzzles easier, I don't know what to tell you except for "this seems very unlikely".

And no, Nintendo's games don't tend to get easier with each iteration. The environmental puzzles in every Zelda since Ocarina of Time... well, actually, since the first one (I am amazed by how much easier the puzzles in LttP were) have been much harder, and Phantom Hourglass harder still. The same holds true for Mario games, and pretty much every other series: they've been getting progressively harder since the N64 days, not easier.