QTEs

Quick time events can be a great tool when executed properly. The Greek-era God of War games, for instance, used them to great effect to punctuate high octane action sequences in a great blend of cinematic and gameplay. The problem is, games that do that are very rare. QTEs more often than not feel unnecessary and arbitrary, and for every God of War, we have a dozen games that fall on the other end of the spectrum.

A new trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword was shown during Nintendo’s TGS conference. And all those who though the game looks bad, be prepared for a shock. A huge shock. The game looks brilliant. Not just artistically, but technically as well. The graphics are really sharp and clean, and it just looks beautiful. Looks like Nintendo is finally pushing the Wii to its maximum.

Nintendo also announced that Skyward Sword will have about 50 to 100 hours of gameplay. That’s huge.

A second playthrough and a boss challenge mode, along with the main, first playthrough, will all add up to above 50 hours of gameplay, and maybe much more. Skyward Sword is also supposed to have a hint system like in Ocarina of Time 3D.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword will release later this year on the Wii.

Nintendo has announced a Limited Edition bundle for their upcoming The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, and it will include a shiny, golden, Zelda-themed Wii Remote. The d-pad and A button will also be golden, and a Zelda royal crest will be painted over the speaker. The remote will be, of course, the Motion Plus remote.

The bundle will cost $70 in total, the game and the remote collectively.

A free soundtrack of the game will also come with every copy of Skyward Sword- not just Limited Edition- in the initial production run.

Nintendo explains: “As an additional 25th anniversary treat for fans who purchase the game early, every copy in the initial production, whether sold by itself or as a part of the limited-edition bundle, will come with a free CD featuring select orchestral arrangements of iconic music spanning the history of the franchise which will be performed at The Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary Symphony Concert performances in October 2011.”

It has not been confirmed if this same bundle will release in UK, but it will be launching in US on November 20th, the day the game releases.

The many whimsical, innovative items in Link’s arsenal are some of the most lovable things one can come across in a Zelda game. Nintendo has now announced that these very items will now be upgradable.

Nintendo’s Bill Trinen told Gamespot: “What we’ve done with the game this time that I think is a little different is we’ve built an entire upgrade system into the game. Link has his traditional shield, but you actually get a lot of different shields in the game. You start off with a very basic one, and as you fight enemies you’re recover these treasure or artifacts that you then use as resources to upgrade your items. “You can do that with the shield, you can do that with the beetle, and some of the other items that you have. You’ll be combining your collection of rupees and your collection of these resources and improve the items you have.”

On the harp in Skyward Sword, series producer Eiji Aonuma said, while talking to Nintendo Power (via Nintendo Charged), that the Harp is a very central tool in the game this time.

“The harp is sort of the central instrument hat you’ll see this time,” he said. “With a lot of previous Zelda games it has been about inputting specific notes to compose things. Given the nature of what a harp is, and the fact that it’s an instrument that one strums, this time we’re using the Wii MotionPlus to really make it based on the rhythm of strumming to get across the musical element.”

When asked what purpose the colourful birds and flying sections serve in the game, Aonuma said they’re similar to the boats in Phantom Hourglass/Wind Waker and trains in Spirit Tracks.

Stay tuned to GB for more info.

However, speculation has been rife on the point that Skyward Sword will feature a flying Link, in part due to Aonuma’s own comments, and partly because the game is set on a kingdom in the clouds. However, in a recent interview, Aonuma laughed off the suggestion. While he confirmed that the game is set in an airborne land, and that there will be considerable travelling between the sky kingdom and the ground kingdoms, he said that Link will not ‘sprout a pair of wings, and start flying.’

In his own words, ‘I hadn’t thought of [Link or Epona flying]! You surprised me with that one! Of course, you know, Link does have to travel between Skyloft and the land below, and back and forth, so he’s obviously going to have to do that via some sort of conveyance.”

However, as with pretty much everything else about the game, Aonuma prefers to keep the specifics under wraps: ‘That being said, I’d like to reveal that at a later time, so I don’t want to give away too much other than to say that he is going to be travelling between the two. However, I can guarantee he’s not going to be flying around like  Kid Icarus!’

Interesting. The more I learn about this game, the more optimistic I become. Undoubtedly, Nintendo have planned something big for us.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword releases early next year, exclusively for the Wii.

The game is the latest instalment in the long running Zelda franchise, and only the first since 2006’s widely acclaimed Twilight Princess, handheld titles notwithstanding, and thus, has an almost unreasonable level of hype and hysteria surrounding it. While many fans were left disappointed at the game’s E3 unveil, which was marred by several technical issues, others were left equally disppointed that the game was not releasing in 2010, instead having being given a 2011 release date by Miyamoto. Aonuma is now confirming the same.

“The basis we have now is very, very solid,” Aonuma said. “Early 2011 – that is what we’re aiming for.”

Of course, for once, Wii fans shouldn’t be left assuming they’ve been left out in the lurch, since there’s plenty releasing on the console in the meanwhile. Games like Kirby’s Epic Yarn, Donkey Kong Country Returns, Epic Mickey, Metorid: Other M and Goldeneye 007 are all due for release within the next few months, so for the first time since its release, the Wii can loom forward to a steady stream of quality titles.