I see where you're coming from, but I still have my reserves; SS was a step onto a different kind of zelda that I enjoyed, I felt in some sense they ran from solving problems like the overworld thing, that they'll have to address, but it worked pretty well so I'd like to see a spiritual sucessor to it, in order to perfect it. I think wii U turns that into a dificult assignment seeing they'll probably have to compromise.
I don't have solutions, I just think it's probably too soon for the idea to be executed as it should; same was true for the wiimote in 2006 actually, it took the wiimotion plus to be able to do well most of the things the original controller unveilment video promised; and it could be improved further.Hmm... I doubt Nintendo is thinking of anything like that; unless it's a new 4 swords move/thing.
They wouldn't make a main title, main quest dependent of that.That sounds like a MMO of sorts, no?
Actually remember discussions of those possibilities after E3 2004, seeing the trailer featured hords of orcs and fighting them horseback and the series had various races already (I also believe that would have been around the time WoW was taking off).
Yeah it could work, but I wouldn't be interested; that's not zelda for me.
One of the things that really thrilled me on SS was how they turned enemies into puzzles; that was very zelda-ish. I don't see how they could pull something like that in a cooperative scenario of one on one or something mmo.
Then again, something 4 swords or lost vikings'ish could be other story. (as an extra mode/spin-off)
It will be difficult But I do hope they come up with 2 control methods somehow. With Zelda, I wouldn't want it to become an MMO what I meant is that instead of having a midna character, the second character can also be controlled by a co-operative player. Their role would involve solving puzzles for link. In single player mode you will be limited to either a classic control system where the secondary character is controlled specifically by the console but in co-op mode and have a choice of wiimote or subscreen controls. The co-op plyaer however, can on one half of the game be playing one character in the story such as midna for example then controlling sheik in another part of the game. Maybe in the one player mode you can swap and give the console control of link while you play the role of sheik to solve a certain puzzle but that might take away from the immersion of the hero's journey.
On the other hand, and this is more general, not related to Zelda; I believe we're going too fast; 3D needed two generations to achieve a certain level of maturity (imo there's not many "regular" games whose gameplay this gen couldn't be recreated on a 128-bit console), I genuinely believe we could have another generation to perfect the wii concept and only then needing something else because that "core mechanic" has been perfected.
I honestly think the concept to present then could be the wii U, but we have to have in mind that this concept could change the way things work.
My point being: current gen consoles are limited at this point, but still can recreate pretty much anything that the wii-u/current PC's will do/are doing running on a game per game basis; the question being how far the developers want to go (I'd like to point out how Xenoblade managed to be so ambitious on a underpowered console) current gen developers are shrinking the scope of their games so they can pull better local detail (doom 3 logic) but they also could do so much more with it.
My point is, at this point power doesn't really matter anymore, hence why Nintendo chose to bid for something new; the wiimote. The competitors recently had to do the same thing, and will have to do it for the next console; because power is not what's gonna sell them anymore (I'd also point out that Sony seemingly didn't understand this just yet looking at Vita and how they couldn't make it a focused product on some functionality rather than focusing on graphics and adding everything else they could think of)
wii U, though, changes that paradigm; it's a thing with the potential of having various controllers plugged to it so the first thing you'll want to do is having 4 controllers and player one being able to do mario kart co-op with a friend, a third gamer playing some tetris/angry birds from the wii-u-ware store and a fourth playing a virtual console/wii game. It's a game streaming workstation; except it can't really be executed this gen, because they brought back the power paradigm, from the situation any game is doable for the ballpark the platform is in, to the fact that the platform lacks the power to do so.
As a result wii-u can only be done properly when OnLive-type setups become viable or when the platform is so dammed powerfull they can assign 1/4 of the power to each app, allowing 4 people to do different things on it, and still developers not feeling like they're very limited with that cap.
You touch on some very good points. User experience is the main key and the visual department is now starting to become a commodity much like how sound has now become a commodity in games where it is
content and not technology that will become the driving force.
Even where technology can still be a driving force is in the area of control mechanics you still need some software to back it up such as the balance board and wii fit, the Wii remote and Wii Sports/Wii Play. We definitely need another generation to get the whole wii idea of multiple assymetrical control options. The WiiU will be the next balance board/Wii Play in that it will come packaged with software and everyone in the family will have a personalised one integrated with their Mii.
I mentioned A while back about the possibility of
playing wiiware on one tablet and a virtual console game on another tablet while the main TV plays a WiiU game and the WiiU with four players splitscreen against another team in a team deathmatch game acting as a master processing all three games at once. It is not hard to fathom being able to do that and providing these subscreens even more usefulness around the house in things not even gaming related. It will save having to spend $800 for an ipad if all people want to do is play games and read books or browse the net for videos and articles.
Wii have all witnessed the nintendo revolution where control is king. Look at kinect and its sucess and look at how sony has jumped into motion/touch controls twice due to knee jerk reactions, first with the six axis/move and now with VITA. This revolution all started before the DS came out and nintendo knew they needed to compete in the gaming industry hat went away from the graphics arms race which they were already losing during the N64/GC era that SONY and Microsoft became big players in.
Once 2004 came and the new touch control method was introduced by nintendo into gaming I think the wriiting was on the wall in regards to which direction nintendo would go to in the next decade. Then came the wii in 2006 and it only confirmed this even more with Motion Controls. Since then we have had the balance board which has introduced even more women into using consoles like the DS did before it and now We have the WiiU which will have a new tablet control method that although is an extension of the DS paves the way with online and social interaction like never before.
This is where WiiU becomes interesting. Yes tablets are around now, but They are expensive and usually used by only one person around the house. Having Cheap tablets that can do the job of browsing/watching/reading/listening/playing/socialising using proprietry and standardised apps may provide less choices but if the majority of people are already used to these options you will find that not many will complain about having less choice. Sure we may not have 1000 fart apps but 999 is enough.
