Are we talking about different games here? People lost their shit when Zelda U was unveiled, and have done so every time it's been shown since.
Which people are you talking about? Aside from the world 1) actually appearing to be open and 2) not looking totally like shit, there's basically nothing of substance for people to be "losing their shit" about at this point. And that's why I think the general tone even from people positive on the game is one of wanting to learn more, not one of "I'm utterly satisfied with what I've seen."
What negative feedback has there been for them to even consider?
Some samples from The Game Awards footage:
"Jermaine Prince1 year ago
Looks like a pretty empty and boring world... In times of a Witcher 3 where the world feels really alive, this is too outdated..."
adrian rios1 year ago
There is nothing to do. What's the point of exploring nothing?
Makoto Mikami1 year ago
So, it's like Wind Waker but with a horse instead of a boat, welp, it's official, I won't be getting the Wii U ever after all.
Kashaku31 year ago
The First trailer was way more impressive than this light gameplay demo of arrows on horseback and slow mo jumping. the game looks good i have to say, but I was waiting for a "holy fuck this is goddamn amazing" (other than just the view) moment like the original twilight princess trailer. if they wouldve teased a boss and a dungeon instead of some trees and some arrows it would've been better. but alas im sure they will have a moments like that at e3
reallybeenfar1 year ago
if it wasn't Zelda, this game wouldn't be getting any attention at all lol
Even Miyamoto said during The Game Awards video, "Are you sure this will be ready in 2015?"
I think all of that is a very apt summary of how most non-diehards probably have received this game so far.
They're not showing it because they've had numerous Zelda projects that they want to focus on.
As of last year's E3, this would have meant...Tri Force Heroes?
They did confirm that they had "great footage" to show at last year's e3, but chose not to show it because they delay meant it wasn't really necessary to hype the game up yet.
That's PR spin.
Here's what Aonuma actually said:
As I said in the video, we would like to take this time so we can bring you a very special experience, by making the ultimate Zelda game. Since we’d like to focus on developing the game we’ve decided to not show the game at this year’s E3.
They wouldn't need to take the extra time if the game was already turning out well within its original timetable. They "would like to take this time [the delay] so we can bring you a very special experience, by making the ultimate Zelda game."
So either
1) they previously weren't aiming to make the ultimate Zelda game, and now are (not good news for the game they were previously aiming to make)
or
2) they were previously aiming to make the ultimate Zelda game, and they need the extra development time to achieve that vision (which means that vision wasn't going to be achieved in the original timetable)
Which of these scenarios sounds like they were happy with the way the game was going?
They also may not be showing it because porting to NX may have changed things in a way that they're not ready to reveal yet.
Going by Twilight Princess, this is pretty much absolutely not the case.
The only reason they'd do this for any reason related to NX is if they decided not to bank on the Wii U version and focus on promoting the NX version instead.
And, above all else, not showing it has allowed people's imaginations to fill in the blanks and it's been very good for them. People are so hyped up for this game and we know fairly little about it- not even the title.
The more you let people's hype build without any actual information, the more easily disappointed they are.