If you go out of your way to interpret that paragraph in an incredibly narrow way, sure. But his point is that times changed, things became more complex, and a need for more direction necessitated more linearity. With a more intuitive, coherent world structure, and a map that leverages the GamePad to be as accurate as possible, it becomes easier to come up with an experience similar to the original The Legend of Zelda.
It's easy enough to disagree with that point, certainly, but "to recreate what was done in the original we a peripheral that wasn't available for the original" is a jarringly ridiculous summation of it, and that from-a-high-horse "It's drivel, gentlemen!" declaration is completely unearned.