I found a pair of news clips that I thought were necessary to shove your way.
First off, we said before that Nintendo was on target to have two million consoles ready for the worldwide launch this November. Turns out they’re doing one better. According to Joystiq, Nintendo has already passed their two-million console launch figure as of the end of September and is now working on making a surplus stock ready for the launch. In fact they’re saying that it is quite possible that there will be worldwide seven to nine million Wiis ready for purchase by the year’s end in addition to their current stock. In short, instead of only having four million units available for purchase, we could easily see 9 to 11 million consoles on the shelves this holiday season. Compared to PS3’s initial stock of 500k and possible 2 million by the end of Q4, you can do the math as to which console will be able to be found this Christmas.In addition, there are some neat statistics over at Go Nintendo covering how the Japanese developers are feeling about the upcoming next-gen consoles. Overwhelmingly, the Wii is the console with the highest hopes for the upcoming next-gen race with 99% of developers giving it a good thumbs up (or better!) and 60+ percent believing that it’s going to be the best selling and most fun console. This all equals good news for us
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Zelda’s too romantic
Gaming is too romantic on the whole, and The Legend of Zelda is no different. Now, I can imagine the faces that all of you are pulling at this moment in time. You’re all a little on the confused side, I mean, seriously, The Legend of Zelda – romantic? Of course it’s not. We could argue many things in this world, but that’s one thing that it is most certainly not. There’s only ever one real incident where there could have been a kiss in the land of canon. Yet, I still stand by my point that The Legend of Zelda is far too romantic.Well, when I say romantic, I mean romanticism. For those of you who aren’t too clear on what this actually means, here’s a definition: Romanticism was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in late 18th century Western Europe. In part a revolt against aristocratic, social, and political norms of the Enlightenment period and a reaction against the rationalization of nature, in art and literature it stressed strong emotion as a source of aesthetic experience, placing new emphasis on such emotions as trepidation, horror, and the awe experienced in confronting the sublimity of nature.Yet in reality, what does this actually mean? Well, the answer is actually clearer than you think. When you look at the romantic era, it’s simply defined by horror and strong emotion. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein could be described as a romantic novel, as it was the start of the full movement into the horror of the human psyche and it depicts incredibly strong emotion, in a very dark archetype. This archetype, simply put, is darkness.When we think of horror, or evil, we always see darkness. This is the standardised method of depicting a protagonist or anti-hero in foreboding and limiting situation. This is no different within The Legend of Zelda series; in fact, it’s no different in the majority of all video game industries. Although throughout time the typical romantic element of most horrors have left us, the basis remains for it. When a character is dark the character must be the evil one.This can be seen within The Legend of Zelda in every sense. All of the main ‘big’ enemies, Ganon, Ganondorf, Vaati and Agahnim are all in the literary sense, very romantic. Each of these characters are defined by their dark attitudes and how they go around making everything ‘dark’. The first real sense of romanticism within The Legend of Zelda video games is when Link becomes an Adult in Ocarina of Time. Although we may see that Ganondorf is a dark creature from the off, as The Great Deku Tree shows him to us, surrounded in darkness aside from flame, we truly see how the game has progressed when we see Ganon’s Tower. This tower is dark, in every sense of the word. In fact, some may even go as far as to call it Gothic, and not in architecture either.This classic form of making your character evil I feel is wearing a little on the thin side. I don’t want to know who’s the evil character from the off of the game, I want to take some time to work out who is evil within the game and who may be a friend, and yet in reality, turns out to be the main enemy of the game. What a twist would it have been in The Minish Cap, if Ezlo turned out to be the main evil character that you should have been destroying, and you were simply destroying one of his lesser enemies by removing Vaati? All the way through the game, the quirky little character would have been helping you, and then he’s actually the biggest evil in the world. However, he didn’t suddenly become the Dark Ezlo, like Dark Link but he would have retained the strong and somewhat irritating presence that he had created throughout the game. This would have been a remarkable twist.
The game that must be noted for it’s basic lack of romanticism is The Wind Waker. The irony of this game is that it is probably one of the most deepest and darkest storylines of all The Legend of Zelda games, and yet, it uses the brightly coloured, and the very controversial, chibi style of characterising all of the inhabitants of the world. This way of portraying the sense of evil within the game was missed by many people unfortunately. However, that being said, the game still used classic elements of romanticism by making the entire evil characters far darker than the rest of the characters, and by making The Foresaken Fortress and Underwater Hyrule’s Ganon’s Tower darker than dark.Yet, this is The Wind Waker still retained many elements that could easily have been removed, such as the darkness surrounding the evil of the game. After all, they went far enough to draw attention to the chibi style, and thus actually bringing more attention onto the storyline itself. We all know that to ignore something pushes more attention upon it, and as such, if we were to ignore the classic evil styles within The Legend of Zelda, there would be far more attention put upon the evil within the game.Yet, this is not what is happening. It would appear that Twilight Princess is heading down an even more romantic path! This is not necessarily a bad thing, as it appears to be going back to the classic routes of romanticism. Concentrating on the human emotions and the pure horror around the protagonist. From the official art alone we can see that there is a level of mourning from Princess Zelda, and the game looks very gothic in style and as such, this has brought about a new sense of romanticism that hasn’t really been seen in recent times. Aside from the up and coming Wii game Sadness.This move away from something unexpected and thought provoking enemies is a depressing one in my mind. I would like to see an enemy that I didn’t know would be an enemy until the very end of the game. Possibly a creature like Navi actually turning out to be the main enemy, as she is helpful and is not in anyway dark at all.
The game that must be noted for it’s basic lack of romanticism is The Wind Waker. The irony of this game is that it is probably one of the most deepest and darkest storylines of all The Legend of Zelda games, and yet, it uses the brightly coloured, and the very controversial, chibi style of characterising all of the inhabitants of the world. This way of portraying the sense of evil within the game was missed by many people unfortunately. However, that being said, the game still used classic elements of romanticism by making the entire evil characters far darker than the rest of the characters, and by making The Foresaken Fortress and Underwater Hyrule’s Ganon’s Tower darker than dark.Yet, this is The Wind Waker still retained many elements that could easily have been removed, such as the darkness surrounding the evil of the game. After all, they went far enough to draw attention to the chibi style, and thus actually bringing more attention onto the storyline itself. We all know that to ignore something pushes more attention upon it, and as such, if we were to ignore the classic evil styles within The Legend of Zelda, there would be far more attention put upon the evil within the game.Yet, this is not what is happening. It would appear that Twilight Princess is heading down an even more romantic path! This is not necessarily a bad thing, as it appears to be going back to the classic routes of romanticism. Concentrating on the human emotions and the pure horror around the protagonist. From the official art alone we can see that there is a level of mourning from Princess Zelda, and the game looks very gothic in style and as such, this has brought about a new sense of romanticism that hasn’t really been seen in recent times. Aside from the up and coming Wii game Sadness.This move away from something unexpected and thought provoking enemies is a depressing one in my mind. I would like to see an enemy that I didn’t know would be an enemy until the very end of the game. Possibly a creature like Navi actually turning out to be the main enemy, as she is helpful and is not in anyway dark at all.
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Wii Details Tonight or Tomorrow?
I've decided to give you a little time chart to help you,you could also do your homework off of it too! ^_^
Tokyo Event: Thursday, September 14
Australia: 11am - 5pm, Thursday (EST)/9am - 3pm, Thursday (WST)
Japan: 10am - 4pm, Thursday (UTC+9)
Europe: 3am - 9am, Thursday (CEST)/2am - 8am, Thursday (BST)
USA: 9pm Wed. - 3am Thu. (EDT)/5pm Wed. - midnight Thu. (PDT)
New York City Event: Thursday, September 14
Australia: 11pm Thu. - 6am Fri. (EST)/9pm Thu. - 4am Fri. (WST)
Japan: 10pm Thu. - 5am Fri. (UTC+9)
Europe: 3pm - 10pm, Thursday (CEST)/2pm - 9pm, Thursday (BST)
USA: 9am - 4pm Thursday (EDT)/6am - 1pm, Thursday (PDT)
London Event: Friday, September 15
Australia: 9pm Fri. - 3am Sat. (EST)/7pm Fri. - 1am Sat. (WST)
Japan: 8pm Fri. - 2am Sat. (UTC+9)
Europe: 1pm - 7pm, Friday (CEST)/noon - 6pm, Friday (BST)
USA: 7am - 1pm Friday (EDT)/4am - 10am, Friday (PDT)
Tokyo Event: Thursday, September 14
Australia: 11am - 5pm, Thursday (EST)/9am - 3pm, Thursday (WST)
Japan: 10am - 4pm, Thursday (UTC+9)
Europe: 3am - 9am, Thursday (CEST)/2am - 8am, Thursday (BST)
USA: 9pm Wed. - 3am Thu. (EDT)/5pm Wed. - midnight Thu. (PDT)
New York City Event: Thursday, September 14
Australia: 11pm Thu. - 6am Fri. (EST)/9pm Thu. - 4am Fri. (WST)
Japan: 10pm Thu. - 5am Fri. (UTC+9)
Europe: 3pm - 10pm, Thursday (CEST)/2pm - 9pm, Thursday (BST)
USA: 9am - 4pm Thursday (EDT)/6am - 1pm, Thursday (PDT)
London Event: Friday, September 15
Australia: 9pm Fri. - 3am Sat. (EST)/7pm Fri. - 1am Sat. (WST)
Japan: 8pm Fri. - 2am Sat. (UTC+9)
Europe: 1pm - 7pm, Friday (CEST)/noon - 6pm, Friday (BST)
USA: 7am - 1pm Friday (EDT)/4am - 10am, Friday (PDT)
The Phoenix
When we consider Zelda, we consider Zelda, Link, swords, bows and arrows, bombs and Ganondorf. This is what is at the forefront of almost all Zelda games, and is what keeps the passion of Zelda alive, the continuity. However, there are many other areas in which we must delve a lot deeper in before we can uncover any form of truth or speculation. In this event, we must use our common knowledge, as many canon sources as possible and a level of experience that only comes with debating and playing Zelda.In this case, I’m going to be discussing the Phoenix in Zelda, well, what I believe represents a phoenix, and it always occurs near the Triforce. It is much like the symbol of the Triforce. There has been much fanon surrounding the Phoenix, and it has been believed that the Phoenix is protecting the Triforce. However, as I stated, this is simply fanon and it is something that really needs to be ignored. After all, there’s also a fourth Triforce piece there as well, does that mean that there is a fourth Triforce piece. Of course not. Too many powerful sources have made influential statements against this.In regards to the Phoenix, the first time that anything in regards to the Phoenix that comes to life is very early on in the series. It starts in A Link to the Past, and that is simply by the shield design. If we look at the image (inset left) we can see that there is a clear, something, underneath the Triforce on the shield design. This could be interpreted as a number of things. It could be read into as little as it’s merely a shield design and is nothing to take into serious consideration.This is usually the stance that I would take on this; it is simply, and purely, decoration. However, if it were purely decoration, it would not then occur again, and again throughout the Zelda series. We can see that this is a symbol that is clearly meant to be in direct comparison to Zelda as it occurs again, however, not as far into the future as say Ocarina of Time, but within the same game. The Japanese Player’s Guide for A Link to the Past has a level of artwork that is not often seen within the Western counterpart. Within the Japanese Player’s Guide, there are certain pictures of Princess Zelda, in royal regalia.When looking at the picture (inset right) we can see that the Triforce has a clear mark underneath it. This mark looks like it could be Japanese writing; it also looks like something rising up from far below. This furthers my belief that it could be the Phoenix.The next game, historically speaking, that has any real references to the Phoenix is Ocarina of Time, as Link’s Awakening has the same official art as A Link to the Past in the most part. Ocarina of Time has a fair few references to the Phoenix within the artwork, and as this was the first game where we could see any real detail on the characters themselves. As such the character design had a huge step up, after all, these designs were meant to be there, they are not some random act of any Zelda character designer. The first real reference that we see to a Phoenix is when we see Ganondorf riding through a flame filled area.However, this does not really mean that there are any real references to a Phoenix there, after all, fire does not equate directly to a Phoenix. Yet, once we move to see the Princess Zelda in Zelda’s Courtyard, we see her dress, and we see her directly for the first time. The imagery we see is a Phoenix (inset left). This creature is in no doubt now. It looks like a bird rising up. In mythology one of the most powerful birds is a Phoenix and it would make sense that the Royal Family and the Triforce would have connections to a Phoenix, as a Phoenix is eternal.This is not the lone symbol within Ocarina of Time of the Phoenix either. Adult Zelda has the same symbol on her regalia and the Hylian Shield has the same symbol (inset right). This can only be considered further evidence that there is some sort of strong connection with Hyrule and the Royal Family to the Phoenix.There is now one more image that I’m going to direct our attention too, just to further reiterate the point that the direct reference to the Phoenix is an act of mistake. There are many more references to this character design within The Wind Waker, Four Swords, Four Swords Adventures and The Minish Cap. However, the next image I’m going to direct us too is obvious, it is the only game that we’ve not touched upon yet, which is Twilight Princess. If we consider the fact that Twilight Princess is going to be the most realistic Zelda game that we’ve seen to date, we can safely assume that the creators have poured a lot of time and effort into the game as a whole. If we look at the design on Zelda’s dress (inset left), we can see that there is a clear correlation between that character design and the Ocarina of Time design.This correlation is clearly not uncommon, after all, we’ve now seen this symbol, if not slightly evolved along the way, appear in at least eight Zelda games, which clearly shows that this is not a random act of odd character design, but it is a symbol that is meant to be within The Legend of Zelda, and there is little that doesn’t hold a deeper meaning to something else. Although, if we are to believe that the character design is a strong direction of what the Zelda mythology is, then we can clearly see that the fourth piece of the Triforce has fallen out of favour with the character design, and as such, we can believe that this is Nintendo’s way of destroying that beliefThis is unquestionable evidence to lead us to the conclusive proof that there is a definite trend with the Phoenix within The Legend of Zelda. However, why have I decided that it is the Phoenix, and why is it known as the Phoenix throughout a large part of the Zelda Community.Well, I’ve been in the community for many years now, which makes me feel very old, however, in my time, I’ve not come across an interview that has given the Phoenix a definitive name, or even if it is truly the Phoenix. The grounding behind my belief is not simply because it makes sense, but it looks like an interpretation of classic Phoenix design. If we look at the Phoenix from the Aberdeen Bestiary we can see that the design looks similar to the main design of the Phoenix within the egg. It has the classic open winged pose, and it is looking up towards, in this case the Sun, in the case of Zelda, usually the Triforce. There are many other Phoenix designs throughout history that are similar in stance and style, which is why I believe that it is a safe assumption to guess that the Phoenix in Zelda is actually a Phoenix.Yet, how can we really call it a Phoenix, when there is really very little relevance of the Phoenix within The Legend of Zelda. Well, the Phoenix has incredible power, according to the Harry Potter world; it can lift heavy loads and can heal someone with their tears. In most mythological senses, the Phoenix is a powerful symbol of immortality and rebirth. Which again can be linked to The Legend of Zelda, as there are many times when the land of Hyrule has been at near destruction and has been reborn by our Hero saving the land. However, this is not the only representation that the Phoenix has. Throughout recent religious history, the Phoenix has become a strong symbol to Christianity, and in many cases has become a sign of Jesus Christ and his rebirth and immortality.This would not be the first reference to Christianity within Zelda. The Legend of Zelda’s shield design is a simple cross, which has been linked to Christianity many times before, and been reputed before as well. However, within A Link to the Past, there is Official Art of Link looking up toward a person on a Cross, which can be clearly referred to as Jesus; however, this was more than likely to be a concept created by the artist rather than a piece of canon source evidence that we can clearly use as a link between Zelda and Christianity.Yet, the link between the Phoenix and Zelda remains strong. The very fact that it is always around the Triforce has led to more than one belief that there is a Phoenix guarding the Triforce; however, if that is the case, one must wonder why there has been little discussion of the Phoenix from Ganondorf within Ocarina of Time when he dived into the Sacred Realm to gain access to the Triforce.At the very least, we can make the clear correlation between the Phoenix and The Legend of Zelda, and we can also make the assumption that the Phoenix is used, not as a factual piece of evidence to state that there is a Phoenix guarding the Triforce, but to understand it’s use of symbolism. The Phoenix represents rebirth, immortality and purity, which can all be linked to The Legend of Zelda, the very fact that it appears that Link is reborn many times, Ganondorf appears to be immortal and the Triforce much be touched by someone pure otherwise the world falls into disrepute is a simple, and shallow use of symbolism. Yet, this shallowness does prove one thing, that there is obviously something much deeper waiting to be uncovered with the Phoenix within The Legend of Zelda, and that may be released to us in Twilight Princess.
One-Stop Shop for Wii Updates
After a fiasco earlier today involving people reporting on a “live feed” that was several months old, it looks as if things are settling down for the big push. I’d call this a liveblog, but I don’t know how “live” it’ll be. (3am is rather late, and I know work would be unhappy if I liveblogged from there.) So consider this post to be the place to read up on all the updates that I manage to glean off of everything I can find. Things may not be put on the ‘Blog in real-time, but everything I find out will be put up. The three goddesses willing, after all is said and done with, we will know release dates and prices for everyone who reads this ‘Blog.Check behind the cut for updates, and please be wary of refreshing the blog non-stop; as I said, I am not guaranteeing that I will be marking updates every five seconds, and bandwidth is a precious thing.(Note that all times are Eastern Daylight Time.)
Tokyo Conference
* Release Date: December 2
* Cost: 25,000¥
* Virtual Console Cost: 500¥ for NES, 800¥ for SNES, 1,000¥ for N64
* Virtual Console Titles: 30 Nintendo titles and 30 Genesis/TurboGrafx-16 titles by end of year, 10 titles of each each week
* Launch Titles: 16 from 10 different companies
* Twilight Princess: At launch for 6,800¥
* Game Prices: 4,800-6,800¥
* Comes with: Console + stand, Wiimote + strap, Nunchuck, AC adaptor, A/V cable, sensor bar + stand, two AA batteries
New York City Conference
* Release Date: November 19
* Cost: $249.99 (includes Wii Sports)
* Virtual Console Cost: US$5 for NES, $8 for SNES, $10 for N64; you will get 2,000 Wii points (US$20, CDN$24) free at purchase
* Controller Cost: $40 for a Wiimote, $20 additional for a Nunchuck
* Virtual Console Titles: Roughly 30 at launch; Opera must be purchased to browse the Internet
* Launch Titles: Confirmed 17 at launch; 52 confirmed by end of March
* Twilight Princess: Wii version At launch for $50; GCN version December 11
* Game Prices: $50 or less for first-party titles; third-party developers will choose their own pricing, but with hope they will be affordable
* Comes with: Console + stand, Wiimote + strap, Nunchuck, AC adaptor, A/V cable, sensor bar + stand, two AA batteries
LondonConference
Australia Details
* Release Date: December 7
* Price: AUD $400
* Includes: One controller + nunchuck, Wii Sports
* Launch Titles: 20 by end of year
* Zelda: At launch
Europe Details
* Release Date: Dcember 8
* Price: €249 / 179£
* VC Launch Titles: 15 at launch, 5-10 released per month subsequent
* Launch Titles: Around 15-20 third-party titles
* Includes: Wii Sports
* Game Pricing: €49-59 / 34-39£
* Zelda: At launch
Miscellaneous Details
* Mii Channel: Avatar creation
* Photo Channel: Showing pictures off of SD cart, picture manipulation, doodling, video playback
* Weather Channel: Free
* News Channel: Free
* Messageboard Channel: Talk on messageboards, send messages to PC and cell phone users, download updates
* Internet Channel: Opera must be purchased, but once you own it, you own it forever
* No DVD Playback
* Region-Free: Games from other companies will work on your Wii
Tokyo Conference
* Release Date: December 2
* Cost: 25,000¥
* Virtual Console Cost: 500¥ for NES, 800¥ for SNES, 1,000¥ for N64
* Virtual Console Titles: 30 Nintendo titles and 30 Genesis/TurboGrafx-16 titles by end of year, 10 titles of each each week
* Launch Titles: 16 from 10 different companies
* Twilight Princess: At launch for 6,800¥
* Game Prices: 4,800-6,800¥
* Comes with: Console + stand, Wiimote + strap, Nunchuck, AC adaptor, A/V cable, sensor bar + stand, two AA batteries
New York City Conference
* Release Date: November 19
* Cost: $249.99 (includes Wii Sports)
* Virtual Console Cost: US$5 for NES, $8 for SNES, $10 for N64; you will get 2,000 Wii points (US$20, CDN$24) free at purchase
* Controller Cost: $40 for a Wiimote, $20 additional for a Nunchuck
* Virtual Console Titles: Roughly 30 at launch; Opera must be purchased to browse the Internet
* Launch Titles: Confirmed 17 at launch; 52 confirmed by end of March
* Twilight Princess: Wii version At launch for $50; GCN version December 11
* Game Prices: $50 or less for first-party titles; third-party developers will choose their own pricing, but with hope they will be affordable
* Comes with: Console + stand, Wiimote + strap, Nunchuck, AC adaptor, A/V cable, sensor bar + stand, two AA batteries
LondonConference
Australia Details
* Release Date: December 7
* Price: AUD $400
* Includes: One controller + nunchuck, Wii Sports
* Launch Titles: 20 by end of year
* Zelda: At launch
Europe Details
* Release Date: Dcember 8
* Price: €249 / 179£
* VC Launch Titles: 15 at launch, 5-10 released per month subsequent
* Launch Titles: Around 15-20 third-party titles
* Includes: Wii Sports
* Game Pricing: €49-59 / 34-39£
* Zelda: At launch
Miscellaneous Details
* Mii Channel: Avatar creation
* Photo Channel: Showing pictures off of SD cart, picture manipulation, doodling, video playback
* Weather Channel: Free
* News Channel: Free
* Messageboard Channel: Talk on messageboards, send messages to PC and cell phone users, download updates
* Internet Channel: Opera must be purchased, but once you own it, you own it forever
* No DVD Playback
* Region-Free: Games from other companies will work on your Wii
Saturday, September 16, 2006
GameFAQs Character Contest 5
It’s that time again! GameFAQs started a few days ago their fifth annual battle of videogame characters. Sixty-four characters will be thrown into the ring, but only one can be the best of them all. And as a community, we’ve always loved to see our Zelda characters come out on top. The competition will continue all the way through November 18, right up to the American launch of Wii.This year, as the past couple have been, is split up into two rounds. The first is a classic Battle of the Sexes which pits 32 lovely ladies against 32 gaming gents to see who will conquer the rest. Then, the winner and runner-up of that contest will be thrown into the second and final round: The Battle Royale. The winning male and female character will be thrown into the ring with the four previous winners of the character battles past—Link, Mario, Cloud, and Sephiroth—and each day the character with the least votes is ousted from the competition. It should be a wild ride.This year, we’ve got three Zelda characters in the mix with Zelda for the ladies and Ganondorf and Tingle for the gentlemen. You can vote for them on the following dates:
Zelda (1st seed, Triforce Division)
Round 1: September 20 vs. (8) Carmen Sandiego
Round 2: October 18 vs. (4) Terra Branford (projected)
Division Final: November 1 vs. (2) Aeris Gainsborough (projected)
Quarterfinals: November 8 vs. (1, Aeon Div.) Yuna (projected)
Semifinals: November 11 vs. either (1, Spazer Div.) Samus Aran or (1, Limit Div.) Tifa Lockhart (both projected)
Tingle (8th seed, Destiny Division)
Round 1: October 2 vs. (1) Sora
Round 2: October 24 vs. (4) Phoenix Wright (projected)
Division Final: November 4 vs. (2) Mega Man (projected)
Quarterfinals: November 9 vs. (1, Patriot Div.) Solid Snake (projected)
Semifinals: November 12 vs. either (1, Blast Div.) Sonic the Hedgehog or (1, Time Div.) Crono (both projected)
Ganondorf (4th seed, Blast Division)
Round 1: October 7 vs. (5) Vincent Valentine
Round 2: October 26 vs. (1) Sonic the Hedgehog (projected)
Division Final: November 5 vs. (2) Luigi (projected)
Quarterfinals: November 10 vs. (1, Time Div.) Crono (projected)
Semifinals: November 12 vs. either (1, Patriot Div.) Solid Snake or (1, Destiny Div.) Sora (both projected)
Finals: November 13
Battle Royale: November 14-18
(Click on the title to go to the real deal)
Whenever we go through a match, I will bump this topic to the top of the blog so you can see the next battle. Also, the countdown clock at the top of the main page will be proudly displaying the time before the next competition.
Zelda (1st seed, Triforce Division)
Round 1: September 20 vs. (8) Carmen Sandiego
Round 2: October 18 vs. (4) Terra Branford (projected)
Division Final: November 1 vs. (2) Aeris Gainsborough (projected)
Quarterfinals: November 8 vs. (1, Aeon Div.) Yuna (projected)
Semifinals: November 11 vs. either (1, Spazer Div.) Samus Aran or (1, Limit Div.) Tifa Lockhart (both projected)
Tingle (8th seed, Destiny Division)
Round 1: October 2 vs. (1) Sora
Round 2: October 24 vs. (4) Phoenix Wright (projected)
Division Final: November 4 vs. (2) Mega Man (projected)
Quarterfinals: November 9 vs. (1, Patriot Div.) Solid Snake (projected)
Semifinals: November 12 vs. either (1, Blast Div.) Sonic the Hedgehog or (1, Time Div.) Crono (both projected)
Ganondorf (4th seed, Blast Division)
Round 1: October 7 vs. (5) Vincent Valentine
Round 2: October 26 vs. (1) Sonic the Hedgehog (projected)
Division Final: November 5 vs. (2) Luigi (projected)
Quarterfinals: November 10 vs. (1, Time Div.) Crono (projected)
Semifinals: November 12 vs. either (1, Patriot Div.) Solid Snake or (1, Destiny Div.) Sora (both projected)
Finals: November 13
Battle Royale: November 14-18
(Click on the title to go to the real deal)
Whenever we go through a match, I will bump this topic to the top of the blog so you can see the next battle. Also, the countdown clock at the top of the main page will be proudly displaying the time before the next competition.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Deciphering the Mystery of the Sleeping Princess
Recently, the more popular Zelda fan site began once more providing articles on the subject that has made their corner of the internet so popular; articles that dealt with what is arguably the most debated subject in the known Zelda-verse: that of the games’ storyline. Being a fan of Zelda Legends’ past storyline articles, and a bit of a storyline junkie myself, I eagerly read what the new author, a young man named Arturo, had to offer. His first task, revisiting the tale of the Sleeping Princess, mentioned only in the second NES console game, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. In the article, Arturo came to a rough timeline and placement within that timeline of just when the Sleeping Princess was initially cursed. That timeline being: ALttP > OoS/A = (The Sleeping Princess) = TMC > FS > FSA. To come to this conclusion he based his theory upon one very simple principle: that the dying King mentioned in the fable and the writer of the scroll outlining what must be done in order to achieve the Triforce of Courage are in fact one in the same.It’s a rather bold and not entirely unfounded conclusion. There is plenty of information to support such a statement. However, I ask the question: are the facts Arturo provides in his article enough or are there more beneath the veil not mentioned in his findings which contradict this line of thinking? With that in mind I will attempt to take on the task of not only providing an identity to the writer of the secret scroll but also create a logical, and sound, timeline to place the fable of the Sleeping Princess, that most mysterious of all Hyrule’s legends. I do this not to undermine any of the hard work Arturo over at Zelda Legends has done but in the hopes of providing a more complete picture regarding this particular issue so as to encourage healthy debate amongst all those who love the series Zelda.
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Smash Bros. for PC? Intense!
One thing I’ve been doing more often on ZeldaBlog is pointing out various interesting projects made by members of the greater Zelda community (or at least people online who love Zelda enough to do something cool with it). Even though the Internet has made communication so much quicker, the Internet is a huge place, and it would take forever for one person to search every nook and cranny to find every last cool thing somehow related to Zelda. So when I find something that simply blows my mind, I feel the need to share it all with you, you know, just in case you haven’t heard about it yet.I found today’s cool thing thanks to the zelda_lovers LiveJournal community.Today’s cool thing: Super Smash Bros. on your PC.The game is Super Smash Flash, and you can find it over on NewGrounds or, even better, at the developer’s site McLeod Gaming. Wonder of wonders, if you have Adobe Flash 8 on your computer, get ready for a melee like you’ve never seen. (Or rather, you’ve already seen it, just on the N64 and the ‘Cube.)This fangame is not just some senseless port of either of the two versions. In fact, I would dare say that it’s the creator’s fantasy of what SSB:B would be (but won’t be, due to a few missing characters) or what SSB:M should have been (but wasn’t, for much the same reason). The classics are all there: Mario, Luigi, Kirby, Link, Zelda, Pikachu, Jigglypuff, Samus, Fox McCloud, and Captain Falcon… but unlike the previous versions of Smash Brothers, this one dips heavily into other game series, other game consoles… and (don’t groan, please) animé series. Just to name a few, you’ve got Sonic from the Sonic series, Cloud from Final Fantasy VII, and Inuyasha from his TV program.(All the characters. Batteries and some unlocking required.)Most of the familiar characters from SSB and SSB:M have their familiar moves. Link has his sword and boomerang, Mario has his fireballs and spin attack, and Zelda has her wonderful kick and her conversion to Sheik. But this is a Flash game, not a commercial product; the controls have had to be simplified (since there’s no analog stick on your keyboard with which you can smash attack). As such, you’ve got a jump button and an attack button, giving you five major attacks: Attack, Up+Attack, Down+Attack (aerial), Down+Attack (ground), and Left/Right+Attack. (Some lucky characters actually are able to attack just by jumping; unfortunately, none of our Hyruleans are in that group.) So just because you can kick butt with character X doesn’t mean it’s still possible. (I think Samus and Kirby personally got the short end of the stick in this.)As far as “single player” goes, you’ve got pretty much the standard options. They’ve ported the Classic, Adventure, and All-Star Modes from SSB:M, although there are heavy changes in the levels and the characters you battle. (Master Hand is still, as always, the final boss.) You can also do the Target Test and the Multi-Man Melees, and you’ll be spending time in both to unlock all 28 characters. “Multiplayer” mode allows you to go head to head with a second player (if you have a second player who is geeky enough to play SSF with you) and/or up to three computer players at various difficulty levels. (Or you can lock four computer players in a closet and see which one comes out alive. That’s just as entertaining, really.)The most surprising part of the game is that there is some semblance of AI in the game. (How you can code that in Flash completely boggles me; I wouldn’t have believed it possible!) The computer can be pretty easy to fool, so I’m sure you’ll easily find about a thousand cheap ways to send the computer players off the screen. (Hint: Anyone with projectile weapons is extremely deadly.) At the same time, the computer can also be insanely cheap at times as some characters have a virtual immunity to flying off the screen (*cough* Fox *cough* Kirby).The game probably won’t take eons of time to get past (I unlocked everything within four hours of gameplay), but it’s still incredibly fun to at least mess around with. It’s probably not the most elegant or finished fangame out there, but it is one of the very few that have drawn me into playing it beyond the first 15 minutes.So play, smash, and be merry! Enjoy!
The Power of Gold
I remember a while back hearing a quote about the movie The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring from some member of its production staff. In it they referred to the party that marched to Mordor to really be ten in number rather than the otherwise obvious nine. He mentioned that they chose to personify the One Ring itself as a member in their party, a member with its own personality–its own way of being–such that its influence could be felt as if it were a real entity and not just some ordinary artifact.I’ve often wondered about whether the Triforce could be viewed in much the same way as this. The Triforce, however, unlike the One Ring, always has seemed to be much more a mysterious artifact, playing the role more often as a mere prize to be held by the winning party at the end of the day. In many ways it acts as a non-participant in the minor war games between Link and Ganon, good and evil. In short, an artifact and nothing more.At the same time, however, the Triforce’s true nature is still something of a mystery. In many of the games, it doesn’t get the chance to say its mind or demonstrate any sense of will. After all, it’s not like we actually get to see the Triforce 90 percent of the time, and when we do, we usually don’t get a moment to interview it because, well, Ganondorf is there. (Cheeky jerk. All I need is an interview with the Triforce and I’d be a professional reporter! No more silly ZeldaBlog for me!) But seriously, there have been times when it has shown some sense of spirit, some proof that it isn’t just a thing that silently does the willing of its owner, and the emphasis here is on the “silent” part. It has shown the ability to speak, and we have heard from it precisely twice over the past games. Without any other way to determine the true nature of the Triforce, this is all we have to go on.As such, let us dig into the first quote, which comes from the ending sequence to A Link to the Past:
Welcome, Link[.] I am the Essence Of The Triforce….The Triforce will grant the wishes in the heart and mind of the person who touches it. If a person with a good heart touches it, it will make his good wishes come true[.] If an evil-hearted person touches it, it grants his evil wishes. The stronger the wish, the more powerful the Triforce’s expression of that wish.Ganon’s wish was to conquer the world. That wish changed the Golden Land to the Dark World. Ganon was building up his power here so he could conquer the Light World and make his wish come completely true. But now, you have totally destroyed Ganon. His Dark World will vanish.The Triforce is waiting for a new owner. Its Golden Power is in your hands[.] Now, touch it with a wish in your heart…Hearing this for the nth time puts me into two minds as to why the Triforce speaks to Link. One side of me is chomping at the bit to say, “Look here, friends and neighbours! That’s proof of sentience! The Triforce is alive!” But things aren’t as simple as they seem, and that’s where the other side of my gut resides. If the Triforce indeed was created by the goddesses on their departure from Hyrule (which it was… (or was it? Dun dun dun!)), this could very well be the analogue of the answering machine left by the goddesses should someone ever happen upon the Triforce. I mean, with the exception of them saying Link’s name, it sounds almost identical to something like this: Thank you for saving the Triforce! Your wish is very important to us, so please stay on the line while we wait for the next available triangle to process your transfer of ownership…. Have you ever had a wish that you wanted granted? With the Triforce, you can do all that and more! Whether you’re wishing for serene peace or wanton power, the Triforce is ready to suit your needs at any time, day or night! With a few simple words, your heart’s content will be yours! …The average wait time from this point onward will be… seventeen… screens’ full of text…. How passionate are you to have your wish granted? You should know that Triforce Incorporated cares about you and your desires! The stronger your wish, the more we will do to make sure that you, the customer, is pleased. If you really are passionate, make sure to mention your interest in our Extreme Wish Combo Package…. Please continue to hold; our next available triangle will be with you shortly….Honestly now! It just drones on, reciting the laws that bind its otherwise supreme cosmic power, revealing how to care for it, feed it, and change its diaper. Now don’t mistake me; I’m not disparaging the quote or calling it silly; it really is a befitting end to what I personally believe to be the greatest Zelda title on the planet. But from the perspective of analysing the Triforce, the dialogue is drab, it shows no emotion or motivation. For all we know, it could very well be a lifeless, monotone object… or Ben Stein, your choice.The second quote comes to us from the opening sequence of Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons. Get ready for it; it’s a doozy:Accept our quest, hero!Did you catch that? Let me repeat that for you again, in case you missed it.Accept our quest, hero!Yup, that’s it. Four little words. You might think that this is a little off-kilter for what we expect of the Triforce (it is; I blame Capcom), but nevertheless it’s canon, and we’ve got to stomach it. This one little sentence is all we have to tell us everything and more about the Triforce’s persona, but believe it or not, these are probably the four most telling words in the Triforce’s entire repertoire. How so? Let me explain.We cannot say for certain what Link wished for on the Triforce when he obtained it (or indeed which of the Links the Oracles Link might be). However, we know that the Link in the Oracles games must be “pure of heart” because he is able to wield the Master Sword in the games (after a very convoluted exchange of complex passwords between the two cartridges). So Link’s wish is almost certainly something that would be quite beneficial for Hyrule and not something that is self-serving. In short, he wouldn’t be begging of the ol’ Triforce, “Please, I beg you! Make me have a life full of quests to solve because I have needs! I don’t care if I endanger Hyrule or anywhere else! I need quests! Now!” Thus, for the Triforce to elect for him to go on what could very well be the longest quest of all the Zelda titles (since Ages and Seasons together tell one story) is a very odd interpretation of whatever in the world Link wished upon the Triforce, especially when you consider, as we saw in A Link to the Past, that the Triforce can pull an I Dream of Jeannie and just poof things back to Happyland with the nod of its head… er… upper triangle.So what’s its game here? “Hero! Glad to see you, pal! Look, I wanted to tell you that there’s some bad things going down over on some islands way out there; some people you know are up to no good. And I know you wanted me to do this whole ‘peace’ thing and be all wonderful for everyone, but you messed up and said your wish was just for Hyrule. Too bad, so sad! Next time, read the fine print on the Wish Contract, mmkay? But look, I’m willing to make you an offer you cannot refuse! I’ll just poof you over there and start you out with no items, and then you can take it from there! What do you say? No? Well, I said you couldn’t refuse it, so off you go! Poof!” Sure, that sounds rather ridiculous when put into whimsical speech, but honestly, what else could it be? The Triforce is all-powerful, is it not? Can’t it just make things all happy again?Well, if it could, why wasn’t Ganon able to fulfil his wish? Did he not follow the Terms and Conditions Clause? It’s a hard sell since he’s gotten several Linkwhopin’s over the past few centuries. (At the same time, Ganondorf only was able to snag all three pieces of the Triforce once in his entire career–talk about leaving a bad legacy for his kids!–so theoretically, he might not have known? Shrug.) Either way, there’s an escape clause written into the Triforce which puts restrictions in place. Where there’s a villian, so there must be a hero… and vice versa. Ganon and Link have played this dance of temporary victories for all too many games now. Ganon always comes back at that opportune moment, cheating death many times. Link always has to go back and put the smackdown on Ganon to seal him away for another century or three. Wishes aren’t perfect.But the Triforce seems to know what Link is driving at, even though it’s only given “semi-phenomenal, nearly cosmic powers.” And so it’s willing to help out in its limited way. It’s “I’ll get you what you want, but you have to do it yourself this time, bucko.” But this is just really more of the same, more of what the Triforce just does. It takes in the wish of its holder and expresses it in proportion to the weight of the need. In the Oracles, Link doesn’t know of a master scheme to resurrect the King of Evil; thus, no automatic Hulk Smash on Ganondorf. (Link so should have brought the Triforce along to Holodrum and Labrynna when he went on this quest. Imagine seeing what would happen when he found out Ganon was coming back. Ah well, his mistake. Whoops!)So for this reason, what little true sentience the Triforce seems to have can be explained away by a simple disembodied voice left behind by the goddesses to “be the ball Triforce” and a simple automaton following a set of rules that governs what the Triforce does for a living. With so little other evidence (read: none) that the Triforce could be a living, breathing entity, I am left to conclude that our Triforce, the Power of Gold, is just another treasure.At least until the next Zelda game comes out to challenge that
Welcome, Link[.] I am the Essence Of The Triforce….The Triforce will grant the wishes in the heart and mind of the person who touches it. If a person with a good heart touches it, it will make his good wishes come true[.] If an evil-hearted person touches it, it grants his evil wishes. The stronger the wish, the more powerful the Triforce’s expression of that wish.Ganon’s wish was to conquer the world. That wish changed the Golden Land to the Dark World. Ganon was building up his power here so he could conquer the Light World and make his wish come completely true. But now, you have totally destroyed Ganon. His Dark World will vanish.The Triforce is waiting for a new owner. Its Golden Power is in your hands[.] Now, touch it with a wish in your heart…Hearing this for the nth time puts me into two minds as to why the Triforce speaks to Link. One side of me is chomping at the bit to say, “Look here, friends and neighbours! That’s proof of sentience! The Triforce is alive!” But things aren’t as simple as they seem, and that’s where the other side of my gut resides. If the Triforce indeed was created by the goddesses on their departure from Hyrule (which it was… (or was it? Dun dun dun!)), this could very well be the analogue of the answering machine left by the goddesses should someone ever happen upon the Triforce. I mean, with the exception of them saying Link’s name, it sounds almost identical to something like this: Thank you for saving the Triforce! Your wish is very important to us, so please stay on the line while we wait for the next available triangle to process your transfer of ownership…. Have you ever had a wish that you wanted granted? With the Triforce, you can do all that and more! Whether you’re wishing for serene peace or wanton power, the Triforce is ready to suit your needs at any time, day or night! With a few simple words, your heart’s content will be yours! …The average wait time from this point onward will be… seventeen… screens’ full of text…. How passionate are you to have your wish granted? You should know that Triforce Incorporated cares about you and your desires! The stronger your wish, the more we will do to make sure that you, the customer, is pleased. If you really are passionate, make sure to mention your interest in our Extreme Wish Combo Package…. Please continue to hold; our next available triangle will be with you shortly….Honestly now! It just drones on, reciting the laws that bind its otherwise supreme cosmic power, revealing how to care for it, feed it, and change its diaper. Now don’t mistake me; I’m not disparaging the quote or calling it silly; it really is a befitting end to what I personally believe to be the greatest Zelda title on the planet. But from the perspective of analysing the Triforce, the dialogue is drab, it shows no emotion or motivation. For all we know, it could very well be a lifeless, monotone object… or Ben Stein, your choice.The second quote comes to us from the opening sequence of Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons. Get ready for it; it’s a doozy:Accept our quest, hero!Did you catch that? Let me repeat that for you again, in case you missed it.Accept our quest, hero!Yup, that’s it. Four little words. You might think that this is a little off-kilter for what we expect of the Triforce (it is; I blame Capcom), but nevertheless it’s canon, and we’ve got to stomach it. This one little sentence is all we have to tell us everything and more about the Triforce’s persona, but believe it or not, these are probably the four most telling words in the Triforce’s entire repertoire. How so? Let me explain.We cannot say for certain what Link wished for on the Triforce when he obtained it (or indeed which of the Links the Oracles Link might be). However, we know that the Link in the Oracles games must be “pure of heart” because he is able to wield the Master Sword in the games (after a very convoluted exchange of complex passwords between the two cartridges). So Link’s wish is almost certainly something that would be quite beneficial for Hyrule and not something that is self-serving. In short, he wouldn’t be begging of the ol’ Triforce, “Please, I beg you! Make me have a life full of quests to solve because I have needs! I don’t care if I endanger Hyrule or anywhere else! I need quests! Now!” Thus, for the Triforce to elect for him to go on what could very well be the longest quest of all the Zelda titles (since Ages and Seasons together tell one story) is a very odd interpretation of whatever in the world Link wished upon the Triforce, especially when you consider, as we saw in A Link to the Past, that the Triforce can pull an I Dream of Jeannie and just poof things back to Happyland with the nod of its head… er… upper triangle.So what’s its game here? “Hero! Glad to see you, pal! Look, I wanted to tell you that there’s some bad things going down over on some islands way out there; some people you know are up to no good. And I know you wanted me to do this whole ‘peace’ thing and be all wonderful for everyone, but you messed up and said your wish was just for Hyrule. Too bad, so sad! Next time, read the fine print on the Wish Contract, mmkay? But look, I’m willing to make you an offer you cannot refuse! I’ll just poof you over there and start you out with no items, and then you can take it from there! What do you say? No? Well, I said you couldn’t refuse it, so off you go! Poof!” Sure, that sounds rather ridiculous when put into whimsical speech, but honestly, what else could it be? The Triforce is all-powerful, is it not? Can’t it just make things all happy again?Well, if it could, why wasn’t Ganon able to fulfil his wish? Did he not follow the Terms and Conditions Clause? It’s a hard sell since he’s gotten several Linkwhopin’s over the past few centuries. (At the same time, Ganondorf only was able to snag all three pieces of the Triforce once in his entire career–talk about leaving a bad legacy for his kids!–so theoretically, he might not have known? Shrug.) Either way, there’s an escape clause written into the Triforce which puts restrictions in place. Where there’s a villian, so there must be a hero… and vice versa. Ganon and Link have played this dance of temporary victories for all too many games now. Ganon always comes back at that opportune moment, cheating death many times. Link always has to go back and put the smackdown on Ganon to seal him away for another century or three. Wishes aren’t perfect.But the Triforce seems to know what Link is driving at, even though it’s only given “semi-phenomenal, nearly cosmic powers.” And so it’s willing to help out in its limited way. It’s “I’ll get you what you want, but you have to do it yourself this time, bucko.” But this is just really more of the same, more of what the Triforce just does. It takes in the wish of its holder and expresses it in proportion to the weight of the need. In the Oracles, Link doesn’t know of a master scheme to resurrect the King of Evil; thus, no automatic Hulk Smash on Ganondorf. (Link so should have brought the Triforce along to Holodrum and Labrynna when he went on this quest. Imagine seeing what would happen when he found out Ganon was coming back. Ah well, his mistake. Whoops!)So for this reason, what little true sentience the Triforce seems to have can be explained away by a simple disembodied voice left behind by the goddesses to “be the ball Triforce” and a simple automaton following a set of rules that governs what the Triforce does for a living. With so little other evidence (read: none) that the Triforce could be a living, breathing entity, I am left to conclude that our Triforce, the Power of Gold, is just another treasure.At least until the next Zelda game comes out to challenge that
The One-Two Knockout Punch for Sony?
Sony has been having some horribly bad luck of late; not that I mind since I feel that their arrogance and their significant non-contribution to the gaming market would make them deserve last place in a heartbeat. (They won PS1 because of sheer quantity and PS2 because of the DVD player and backwards compatibility.) Recently, Sony has been in dire straights when it came to the PR department. However, my waking moments today were spent at Joystiq reading their most recent two-part guffaw… and this could very well stymie what little faith people had for the console… thus making this metagame console war Microsoft’s and Nintendo’s to win:Sony trims their initial release of consoles back from 2 million to 500 thousand. Apparently starting their production of PS3s in September (you might recognise that as this month) was a bad idea, and due to a severe lack of blue laser diodes (which makes Blu-Ray possible, of course), they’re not going to be able to make their forecast. The 500k units will be distributed by sending 400k to North America and 100k to Japan. For reference, Microsoft had 400k in the US during their launch, but the game isn’t the same now as it was last year. Last year, the 360 was the only available “next-gen” console; this year, should Nintendo still be on track for November Q4, there’ll be two competitors for Sony. And since Microsoft hasn’t fared well in Japan so far, Nintendo (again, if they launch) will have a very strong hand indeed with PS3s so rare.If you think that’s bad, you haven’t heard the half of it:Sony has delayed the launch of the PS3 in Europe until March 2007. Yup, you heard it: March 2007. First off, this is a huge blow to Sony’s marketability in Europe being that it launches after the Christmas sales rush, but that just gives Microsoft an even longer lead time before the PS3 launches… and it gives Nintendo a several month advantage itself (again, pending September 14, when we find out Nintendo’s global plans for the Wii). So much for the global release; so much for the end of delays. Europe is likely to be pretty upset over this.Nintendo, the ball is in your court. I hope you’ve got your game face on. There’s eight days until we know everything; knock this one out of the park.
Wii to Appear in Full Force This Holiday Season
We’ve just heard the horrible news for Sony that they’ve been having in getting PS3s manufactured for launch. We’ve laughed, we’ve mocked, and we’ve hurled well-deserved insults. But… what about Nintendo? What of their plans? Will Wii be released before the New Year?Answer: Nintendo is right where we (and Wii, for that matter) want to be.We(my friends and I) reporting major news that the IBM processor behind the Wii, codenamed the Broadway, has been being manufactured since July–giving Nintendo a full two-month head start over their competitor Sony–and that many of them are already in Nintendo’s hands.Translation: Nintendo probably has a few hundred thousand consoles already in stock, just waiting to be sold this holiday.Nintendo has stated that by the end of the fiscal year 2006 (up until the end of this coming March), they will be shipping six million Wiis worldwide. They have confirmed that they are on track to meet this number. For comparison, this is precisely the number of PS3s that Sony was aiming for starting on its Japan launch on November 11 through the end of FY06 (that will no longer be met due to production shortages).Note that this says NOTHING about Wii’s release date; it merely reconfirms what we already know, that Wii should be be launching in Q4, or more precisely prior to (American) Thanksgiving (November 23). The details will likely be released at the upcoming Nintendo press conferences held worldwide next week. But at least for now, we can breathe a sigh of relief that Nintendo’s silence isn’t just simply a bluff.
The real Great Deku Tree has been found
Scores of people are flocking to a village in northern Malaysia to see a betel nut tree which has sprouted a human-like face.Newspapers carried pictures of the green face on a frond of a seven-meter (23-foot)tall tree. The unexplained phenomenon has led villagers in Kampung Paya to dub it the “ghost tree,” the News Straits Times said.All joking aside, it actually does kind of look like the Great Deku Tree. Creepy!
Saturday, August 26, 2006
Soundtracks
I’ve heard from several people that rather than turning to the radio or music store for their tunes, they’ve been listening to video game soundtracks. I, myself, frequently find myself putting one in rather than listening to whatever the radio has to offer (which, unless you’re listening to satellite, is usually only commercials). There are several reasons why videogame music has been steadily gaining in popularity … I’ll attempt to go through some of them here.
1. As the video game consoles improve, so does their sound hardware. This allows for a much higher sound quality than has ever been heard before. While the blips and bloops are music to a lot of people’s ears (including my own), there is definitely something to be said for realistic instruments. In many cases, the instruments sound better than real. Not only has MIDI-programmed sound in games gotten better, but the use of digital music has become commonplace on many game systems. This opens the door for literally anything the composers and sound team can think of.
2. We’ve grown up with videogame music. Most of the people that read this blog are in the 30 and under crowd, and we’ve grown up with these games. They’re not strange to us, like they are to older generations. The sound isn’t (usually) annoying or grating. Play some blips and bloops for someone in their 60’s, and watch them squirm. Most of us don’t think a thing of it.
3. Repetition is the key. How many times do you hear the Zelda overworld theme repeated? If you’re playing the original Zelda, it’s about once every 30 seconds if you’re roaming around. It’s natural to “get used” to something and even like it if you hear it enough times. They say that you have to taste a new food ten times to like it. If music is the same way, then you only have to play Zelda ten minutes or so to like the music!
4. Videogame music is a lot more available than it used to be. We can download it at our favorite sites or P2P networks, we can import it a lot easier from common sites like Amazon, etc. Not only that, but I dare say that most of the MIDI files on the internet are videogame-related. People who like videogames generally like computers.
5. For the most part, video game music is actually getting BETTER. More composers are being added to the mix. Composing for games is now a real career, not something that random people just “fall in” to. Games are being treated more like movies, and more care is given to their graphics, marketability, and yes, their music.
6. Some secular music is actually getting worse. Boring beats, stupid lyrics, cliché songwriting … for some people, it’s time for a change.
It should also be noted that game music is being appreciated in another way: people are remixing it. There are several people out there who spend a great deal of time putting fresh spins on video game themes. There are concerts put on to celebrate game music. But yeah, all of that will probably be explored in a future post.
Articles here don’t usually actively ask for the reader’s opinion, but I’d like to know some things. Do you spend a lot of time listening to music from games? If so, why? If not, why not?
1. As the video game consoles improve, so does their sound hardware. This allows for a much higher sound quality than has ever been heard before. While the blips and bloops are music to a lot of people’s ears (including my own), there is definitely something to be said for realistic instruments. In many cases, the instruments sound better than real. Not only has MIDI-programmed sound in games gotten better, but the use of digital music has become commonplace on many game systems. This opens the door for literally anything the composers and sound team can think of.
2. We’ve grown up with videogame music. Most of the people that read this blog are in the 30 and under crowd, and we’ve grown up with these games. They’re not strange to us, like they are to older generations. The sound isn’t (usually) annoying or grating. Play some blips and bloops for someone in their 60’s, and watch them squirm. Most of us don’t think a thing of it.
3. Repetition is the key. How many times do you hear the Zelda overworld theme repeated? If you’re playing the original Zelda, it’s about once every 30 seconds if you’re roaming around. It’s natural to “get used” to something and even like it if you hear it enough times. They say that you have to taste a new food ten times to like it. If music is the same way, then you only have to play Zelda ten minutes or so to like the music!
4. Videogame music is a lot more available than it used to be. We can download it at our favorite sites or P2P networks, we can import it a lot easier from common sites like Amazon, etc. Not only that, but I dare say that most of the MIDI files on the internet are videogame-related. People who like videogames generally like computers.
5. For the most part, video game music is actually getting BETTER. More composers are being added to the mix. Composing for games is now a real career, not something that random people just “fall in” to. Games are being treated more like movies, and more care is given to their graphics, marketability, and yes, their music.
6. Some secular music is actually getting worse. Boring beats, stupid lyrics, cliché songwriting … for some people, it’s time for a change.
It should also be noted that game music is being appreciated in another way: people are remixing it. There are several people out there who spend a great deal of time putting fresh spins on video game themes. There are concerts put on to celebrate game music. But yeah, all of that will probably be explored in a future post.
Articles here don’t usually actively ask for the reader’s opinion, but I’d like to know some things. Do you spend a lot of time listening to music from games? If so, why? If not, why not?
Interview without a Vampire
It seems to be an in-thing to do to requisition your opinions, so I’m going to follow up with that with an idle curiosity of mine.
Being just a lowly webmaster of a fansite, I know I have about all of zero chance of getting to interview the likes of, say, Reggie or Miyamoto any time soon. In fact, so long as any of us webbies are part of the community proper, I don’t think we’ll ever get the privilege of getting a truly exclusive interview with anyone important… at least within the vein of famous Zelda people.
As a result, several webmasters have went for the second best strategy when it comes to interviews: interviewing each other.
I’ve always found this practise of interviewing “big names” in the community rather strange. For starters, in the grand scheme of things, us webmasters (at least in my opinion) are virtual nobodies, no closer to Nintendo than the rest of the community, even though we’d love to say such. (We just have a lot more free time to burn–HA!–and a propensity to writing vast quantities of HTML, CSS, and PHP.) I’ve never contributed anything to the official world of Zelda in my life, and, though I’d love to change that some day, the chances of changing that are slim at best.
Beyond that, my personal view is that us webmasters are really no different than the readers of all of our sites. Perhaps it’s just that I don’t think that I have an exciting life or anything. (No, I don’t go where no man has gone before. No, I am not part of any super secret Zelda club. No, I’m not Wisconsin Indiana Jones.) The only reason why people know my name–and really, they only know my Internet moniker at best–is that I happen to try to entertain you with some random thought about Zelda every few days. What’s so special about that?
Yet even then, I’ve never turned down an interview request from another webmaster. I know there are several out there, one being over at The Hylia and another at Zelda Radio and at least another being somewhere else. I don’t know why I do; I figure maybe someone will get a kick out of what I say.
So I’m curious. I’m turning the mike over to you; is this a silly practise that should be stopped immediately, or do you guys have some burning questions that you’ve been dying to know about me?
Being just a lowly webmaster of a fansite, I know I have about all of zero chance of getting to interview the likes of, say, Reggie or Miyamoto any time soon. In fact, so long as any of us webbies are part of the community proper, I don’t think we’ll ever get the privilege of getting a truly exclusive interview with anyone important… at least within the vein of famous Zelda people.
As a result, several webmasters have went for the second best strategy when it comes to interviews: interviewing each other.
I’ve always found this practise of interviewing “big names” in the community rather strange. For starters, in the grand scheme of things, us webmasters (at least in my opinion) are virtual nobodies, no closer to Nintendo than the rest of the community, even though we’d love to say such. (We just have a lot more free time to burn–HA!–and a propensity to writing vast quantities of HTML, CSS, and PHP.) I’ve never contributed anything to the official world of Zelda in my life, and, though I’d love to change that some day, the chances of changing that are slim at best.
Beyond that, my personal view is that us webmasters are really no different than the readers of all of our sites. Perhaps it’s just that I don’t think that I have an exciting life or anything. (No, I don’t go where no man has gone before. No, I am not part of any super secret Zelda club. No, I’m not Wisconsin Indiana Jones.) The only reason why people know my name–and really, they only know my Internet moniker at best–is that I happen to try to entertain you with some random thought about Zelda every few days. What’s so special about that?
Yet even then, I’ve never turned down an interview request from another webmaster. I know there are several out there, one being over at The Hylia and another at Zelda Radio and at least another being somewhere else. I don’t know why I do; I figure maybe someone will get a kick out of what I say.
So I’m curious. I’m turning the mike over to you; is this a silly practise that should be stopped immediately, or do you guys have some burning questions that you’ve been dying to know about me?
Can You Feel the Love Tonight?
I have a theory. Feel free to debate and discuss this in the comments section.
My speculation: Nintendo will not (and should not) actually hook up Link with anyone in Twilight Princess.
Now, let me confess to you all that, yes, I am a shipper of sorts. I have always been a huge fanatic within the sageshipper crowd (that’s Link/Zelda for all of you not in the know) since my step into the Zelda fandom (which happened a long tim ago in a galaxy far, far away…). Since then, I’ve come to terms with nearly every other possible shipping pair their is (except for the ones that Masamune probably came up with); yes, I can even accept the validity of such “abominations” as Link/Ruto. However, I hear the warning bells alerting me that I am starting to go off-topic, so let me steer this train back to the crux of this article.
Nintendo, in recent games, has tried to spend a lot of its time these days creating oodles and oodles of plot for its Zelda titles. I mean, if you look at the general progression of the primary console Zelda games, you always seem to be getting more and more useful information per game with each successive game. In The Legend of Zelda, people spoke to you in broken Engrish; Link to the Past basically used text as a plot device to shove you towards Ganondorf;Ocarina of Time actually bothered to create a brief history of the world of Hyrule, while Wind Waker created rich backstory for its characters that would rival those of a few lesser-known superheroes and villans.
“But TML, that’s what you’ve said was great about video games! They’re just like novels! And novels have romance in them all the time! That’s all the better reason to have it in a Zelda game, right?”
Well… yes and no. (I bet you never tire of me saying that, don’t you?) Sure, those of you who are responding predictably to my theory are absolutely correct, but allow me the small indulgence (though I guess you really don’t have a choice in the matter… unless you stop reading now, but you guys are nice enough not to do that, right?) of relating to you my experiences from another game… a game which included a relationship between the protagonist and a certain someone else in the game. That game (dare I say it?) is Final Fantasy VIII.
The first half of FF8 made the game look as if it was going to be something that I would always look back upon fondly. Sure, it was more clichéd than a cucumber is cool, but even I have to admit that the beginning was fairly rock solid. Sure, an absolutely atrocious “plot twist” (plot destruction is probably more apropos to this) takes over in the beginning of Disc 4 when time gets compressed (whatever that means), but the beginning was still good.
Yet that wasn’t the thing that really stuck out in my mind; the thing I absolutely hated about the game was that Squall falls for, out of all the girls flinging themselves at him in the game, Rinoa. On what planet to those two even possibly make sense? Alright, alright, some people probably will take offense to that, but I just do not get them. At all. I’m sure someone finds the idea perfectly agreeable, but, as for me, I always believed that Squall and Quistis made such a better match than the pair that was forced upon us players. Every time someone ever made mention of the fact that it was Squall and Rinoa forever, I just wanted to toss my cookies to the floor. (Perfectly good waste of six white chocolate chip macademia nut cookies… grr…)
Ahem. Anyways…
Even though games are becoming more novelesque as the days and years pass by, I do believe that there is some risk involved in having the game developers make such important plot choices for us, the gamers. Though our perception of the protagonist (and all characters, for that matter) is driven by his or her actions and lines of dialogue (and occasionally thought), there is still a lot of characterisation work that is done within our own minds. I feel fairly safe to say that, when gamers play games, they make assumptions about characters beyond the scope that mere words and voice acting can convey about them. Video games are, unlike movies and novels, interactive; the fine line between reality and fantasy, at least for me, becomes very fuzzy the moment I set foot into any RPG.
This goes doubly so for Link since Nintendo doesn’t let him speak; gamers fill in Link’s lines of dialogue within their own head, coming up with their own image of who Link is and how he acts. By the time such a romance would come along in the game… our perception of Link’s character will already be formed, and our notion of the character could very well be shattered by Link’s sudden(!) change of heart for character X, a decision that we very well would not have made for Link. Such a shattering of plot could very well ruin the experience for a good number of gamers since the plot since plot is liable to be one of the biggest projected components of Twilight.
Yet is having Link remain purely celibate a proper alternative? Let’s face it, he’s a young adult… a teenager. Nearly every single one of you reading this will know what it’s like being that age. Yeah, you know what I mean. Hero or not, he’s human Hylian, and I doubt he’s a eunich either. No more needs to be said.
The only way I truly thing this aspect can be properly brought into a Zelda game is if the player gets a lot more control over the fate of our beloved hero’s future. I’m talking about something like Harvest Moon, where you, the lovely and talented player, get to choose your spouse-to-be. Sure, this definitely tilts the game’s genre away from RPG and more towards a love simulation (certain someones would be happy about that!), but I think this also is (a) more realistic given our extended insight into Link and (b) a much safer way to make sure that all the players of Twilight Princess will enjoy the game.
Because, let’s face it, I could very well be wrong. After all, not all of you would jump at the chance to date a certain princess. Even if she were real.
My speculation: Nintendo will not (and should not) actually hook up Link with anyone in Twilight Princess.
Now, let me confess to you all that, yes, I am a shipper of sorts. I have always been a huge fanatic within the sageshipper crowd (that’s Link/Zelda for all of you not in the know) since my step into the Zelda fandom (which happened a long tim ago in a galaxy far, far away…). Since then, I’ve come to terms with nearly every other possible shipping pair their is (except for the ones that Masamune probably came up with); yes, I can even accept the validity of such “abominations” as Link/Ruto. However, I hear the warning bells alerting me that I am starting to go off-topic, so let me steer this train back to the crux of this article.
Nintendo, in recent games, has tried to spend a lot of its time these days creating oodles and oodles of plot for its Zelda titles. I mean, if you look at the general progression of the primary console Zelda games, you always seem to be getting more and more useful information per game with each successive game. In The Legend of Zelda, people spoke to you in broken Engrish; Link to the Past basically used text as a plot device to shove you towards Ganondorf;Ocarina of Time actually bothered to create a brief history of the world of Hyrule, while Wind Waker created rich backstory for its characters that would rival those of a few lesser-known superheroes and villans.
“But TML, that’s what you’ve said was great about video games! They’re just like novels! And novels have romance in them all the time! That’s all the better reason to have it in a Zelda game, right?”
Well… yes and no. (I bet you never tire of me saying that, don’t you?) Sure, those of you who are responding predictably to my theory are absolutely correct, but allow me the small indulgence (though I guess you really don’t have a choice in the matter… unless you stop reading now, but you guys are nice enough not to do that, right?) of relating to you my experiences from another game… a game which included a relationship between the protagonist and a certain someone else in the game. That game (dare I say it?) is Final Fantasy VIII.
The first half of FF8 made the game look as if it was going to be something that I would always look back upon fondly. Sure, it was more clichéd than a cucumber is cool, but even I have to admit that the beginning was fairly rock solid. Sure, an absolutely atrocious “plot twist” (plot destruction is probably more apropos to this) takes over in the beginning of Disc 4 when time gets compressed (whatever that means), but the beginning was still good.
Yet that wasn’t the thing that really stuck out in my mind; the thing I absolutely hated about the game was that Squall falls for, out of all the girls flinging themselves at him in the game, Rinoa. On what planet to those two even possibly make sense? Alright, alright, some people probably will take offense to that, but I just do not get them. At all. I’m sure someone finds the idea perfectly agreeable, but, as for me, I always believed that Squall and Quistis made such a better match than the pair that was forced upon us players. Every time someone ever made mention of the fact that it was Squall and Rinoa forever, I just wanted to toss my cookies to the floor. (Perfectly good waste of six white chocolate chip macademia nut cookies… grr…)
Ahem. Anyways…
Even though games are becoming more novelesque as the days and years pass by, I do believe that there is some risk involved in having the game developers make such important plot choices for us, the gamers. Though our perception of the protagonist (and all characters, for that matter) is driven by his or her actions and lines of dialogue (and occasionally thought), there is still a lot of characterisation work that is done within our own minds. I feel fairly safe to say that, when gamers play games, they make assumptions about characters beyond the scope that mere words and voice acting can convey about them. Video games are, unlike movies and novels, interactive; the fine line between reality and fantasy, at least for me, becomes very fuzzy the moment I set foot into any RPG.
This goes doubly so for Link since Nintendo doesn’t let him speak; gamers fill in Link’s lines of dialogue within their own head, coming up with their own image of who Link is and how he acts. By the time such a romance would come along in the game… our perception of Link’s character will already be formed, and our notion of the character could very well be shattered by Link’s sudden(!) change of heart for character X, a decision that we very well would not have made for Link. Such a shattering of plot could very well ruin the experience for a good number of gamers since the plot since plot is liable to be one of the biggest projected components of Twilight.
Yet is having Link remain purely celibate a proper alternative? Let’s face it, he’s a young adult… a teenager. Nearly every single one of you reading this will know what it’s like being that age. Yeah, you know what I mean. Hero or not, he’s human Hylian, and I doubt he’s a eunich either. No more needs to be said.
The only way I truly thing this aspect can be properly brought into a Zelda game is if the player gets a lot more control over the fate of our beloved hero’s future. I’m talking about something like Harvest Moon, where you, the lovely and talented player, get to choose your spouse-to-be. Sure, this definitely tilts the game’s genre away from RPG and more towards a love simulation (certain someones would be happy about that!), but I think this also is (a) more realistic given our extended insight into Link and (b) a much safer way to make sure that all the players of Twilight Princess will enjoy the game.
Because, let’s face it, I could very well be wrong. After all, not all of you would jump at the chance to date a certain princess. Even if she were real.
Phantom Hourglass Likely Next Year
The simply fabulous people over at Joystiq have brought us the first-party games lineup for the rest of this year for the Nintendo DS and GBA. While there are some fantastic titles on there that I am excited about, you will notice the lack of a certain Zelda game that we’re desperately waiting for information on.
Yes, Phantom Hourglass doesn’t appear to be in the crystal ball for release this year. Truth be told, that isn’t entirely surprising for me. We know precious little about the game other than a single video, an interview or maybe two with Nintendo folk not giving us much substantial, and a notion that this will be somehow tied to Wind Waker. Beyond the basic framework, I’d say the game is still several months away from completion, much less release. Plus, it could easily get overshadowed by Twilight and the Wii (although we wouldn’t forget you, Hourglass!). So this is expected. Trust the TML.
Yes, Phantom Hourglass doesn’t appear to be in the crystal ball for release this year. Truth be told, that isn’t entirely surprising for me. We know precious little about the game other than a single video, an interview or maybe two with Nintendo folk not giving us much substantial, and a notion that this will be somehow tied to Wind Waker. Beyond the basic framework, I’d say the game is still several months away from completion, much less release. Plus, it could easily get overshadowed by Twilight and the Wii (although we wouldn’t forget you, Hourglass!). So this is expected. Trust the TML.
First Paper Mario… Now Paper Zelda?
It’s now confirmed; all you naysayers who’ve been saying that 2D is better than 3D are just plain wrong.
Who could possibly say that having one these babies isn’t at least 10 times as cool as a mere 2D Zelda poster, hmm?
I found the link to this over at The Hylia. They’re currently highlighting a very talented individual by the way of Ninjatoes who makes papercraft models of people, vehicles, or whatever floats his (or her?) boat from various video games, TV programs, and animés. He’s made tons of models from the Advanced Wars series, Tomb Raider, Star Trek… and most recently, everyone’s favourite video game (or at least everyone who reads this!), The Legend of Zelda.
Currently, there are models of young Link, young Zelda, and Majora’s Mask. You can find the other finished models for both of them below. Each of the models are incredibly detailed, emulating the polygonal polyhedral models of the N64 characters remarkably well (as you can obviously see with your own two eyes). Even as bad as I am with hands-on activities, I am highly tempted to go steal borrow from my “sources” the materials needed to (attempt to) make these.
You can find his Zelda models here.
Somehow, I never cease to be amazed by what fans will come up with. Next thing you know, people will be modding the GameCube in an attempt to make it portable…
Zelda NES!
There is a French Blog online in the land of the bloggers, and within that blog is the Zelda NES. A very talented person has managed to get ahold of a NES, and completely Zeldafy it. The unique, Zelda NES is the same coloured gold as the GBA SP Zelda console; however, instead of using the typical, and more known symbol of Zelda, the Triforce. The creator opted to use something a little different.
The symbol is one that has been debated about within the Zelda Community for a long while, and this is where we see it come to shape
If you head on over to Go Nintendo, or my own site, you’ll see that this news is being reported. As these images are on the chunky side, you can probably already see that they’re awesome looking.
Zelda NES
The creator has opted to use the Hylian symbol of the Triforce and the Phoenix, arguably. This makes a change from the usual Triforce, and is not unwelcome in my opinion.
Zelda NES!
When the NES is switched on, we can see that there is a blue light coming out form the inside, almost like a completely pimped out car. Which is something to worry about!
I just want to know if they’re going to make more the one so someone out there can have a limited edition version!
The symbol is one that has been debated about within the Zelda Community for a long while, and this is where we see it come to shape
If you head on over to Go Nintendo, or my own site, you’ll see that this news is being reported. As these images are on the chunky side, you can probably already see that they’re awesome looking.
Zelda NES
The creator has opted to use the Hylian symbol of the Triforce and the Phoenix, arguably. This makes a change from the usual Triforce, and is not unwelcome in my opinion.
Zelda NES!
When the NES is switched on, we can see that there is a blue light coming out form the inside, almost like a completely pimped out car. Which is something to worry about!
I just want to know if they’re going to make more the one so someone out there can have a limited edition version!
The End of E3?
[UPDATE: Joystiq is reporting that the head of the ESA has decided to keep E3 around despite the fact that the major players in the expo are moving out. They’re going for a more “intimate” experience, or so they say… whatever that means. Even though E3 will still be around, it remains to be seen if it’ll just be there to hobble on one foot or if it will be as good as it once was.]
[UPDATE 2: Also in the news is that the “new” E3 will be pushed back two months to July rather than May in order to give the companies more of a chance to prepare their holiday lineup. I think this is good… considering that it will happen during the traditional summer slump when nothing comes out. If we cannot get games; we might as well get news about games.]
A bombshell was dropped in Los Angeles today, and it’s still got the pundits reeling. No, it isn’t an act of terrorism; it’s just the highly speculated death of E3.
According to a lot of media sources, major publishers (read: The Big Three, although that probably includes other larger companies as well) have come to the conclusion that the millions of dollars being spent on renting convention space, constructing booths, and sending employees to man said booths for a week is too expensive for the return, namely gathering the hype of hundreds and thousands of E3 goers… and inevitably the gaming universe at large. Instead, there’s talk about focusing on the smaller shows, such as GDC among others as well as publisher-specific venues (that could be open to the public).
The official announcement of E3’s permanent closure has yet to come, but analysts are expecting some form of announcement either Monday or Tuesday. There is the possibility that E3 will live on–if only just in name–carried by the weight of smaller developers who are willing to come, but at that point the event becomes something quite different than the E3 we all know and love.
Joystiq is reporting a few plusses and minuses about the news, and they’re analysis on this is worth the read. Simply put, never again will people like us be reading and writing information 24/7 about what has just been announced just an hour ago (e.g., less stress!), but at the same time it’s as if Gamers’ Christmas has just been taken away (e.g., no presents).
Be that as it may, I’m expecting many things to come directly over the online components of the “next-generation” consoles. Microsoft dumped HUGE amounts of content over Xbox Live on the 360 this year, and with the WiiConnect24 service with Nintendo and the vaporware blatant idea theft speculative online component of the PS3… well, we’ll probably get the goods delivered directly to our living rooms anyways.
Expect this to get updated and bumped when the announcement comes in.
[UPDATE 2: Also in the news is that the “new” E3 will be pushed back two months to July rather than May in order to give the companies more of a chance to prepare their holiday lineup. I think this is good… considering that it will happen during the traditional summer slump when nothing comes out. If we cannot get games; we might as well get news about games.]
A bombshell was dropped in Los Angeles today, and it’s still got the pundits reeling. No, it isn’t an act of terrorism; it’s just the highly speculated death of E3.
According to a lot of media sources, major publishers (read: The Big Three, although that probably includes other larger companies as well) have come to the conclusion that the millions of dollars being spent on renting convention space, constructing booths, and sending employees to man said booths for a week is too expensive for the return, namely gathering the hype of hundreds and thousands of E3 goers… and inevitably the gaming universe at large. Instead, there’s talk about focusing on the smaller shows, such as GDC among others as well as publisher-specific venues (that could be open to the public).
The official announcement of E3’s permanent closure has yet to come, but analysts are expecting some form of announcement either Monday or Tuesday. There is the possibility that E3 will live on–if only just in name–carried by the weight of smaller developers who are willing to come, but at that point the event becomes something quite different than the E3 we all know and love.
Joystiq is reporting a few plusses and minuses about the news, and they’re analysis on this is worth the read. Simply put, never again will people like us be reading and writing information 24/7 about what has just been announced just an hour ago (e.g., less stress!), but at the same time it’s as if Gamers’ Christmas has just been taken away (e.g., no presents).
Be that as it may, I’m expecting many things to come directly over the online components of the “next-generation” consoles. Microsoft dumped HUGE amounts of content over Xbox Live on the 360 this year, and with the WiiConnect24 service with Nintendo and the vaporware blatant idea theft speculative online component of the PS3… well, we’ll probably get the goods delivered directly to our living rooms anyways.
Expect this to get updated and bumped when the announcement comes in.
Legend of Zelda Vs. Final Fantasy
GameFAQs, that site we all love to love, is having one of their annual mega-polls, the like where characters, villains, and games face off against each other, one by one, in elimination-style to find out which character, villain, or game is the best darn character, villain, or game there ever was! (Provided that the polls actually have scientific meaning and such, of course.)
This year, they’re going with the best videogame series ever made. After seeing so many solid series get clobbered by still better series, we’re down to the final two: The Legend of Zelda series versus the Final Fantasy series. It seems that, in nearly every GameFAQs mega-poll, that these two are always facing each other, whether it be Link versus Cloud or Ocarina of Time vs. Final Fantasy VII.
I’d say go and vote Zelda, but I know the vast majority of readers here already swing that way, so just go vote for your favourite series. Right now, Zelda is up 54.5 percent to FF’s 44.5 percent, but it is still very early with only some 2,000 votes separating the two. So what are you waiting for? Hop on over! Show your Zelda pride!
This year, they’re going with the best videogame series ever made. After seeing so many solid series get clobbered by still better series, we’re down to the final two: The Legend of Zelda series versus the Final Fantasy series. It seems that, in nearly every GameFAQs mega-poll, that these two are always facing each other, whether it be Link versus Cloud or Ocarina of Time vs. Final Fantasy VII.
I’d say go and vote Zelda, but I know the vast majority of readers here already swing that way, so just go vote for your favourite series. Right now, Zelda is up 54.5 percent to FF’s 44.5 percent, but it is still very early with only some 2,000 votes separating the two. So what are you waiting for? Hop on over! Show your Zelda pride!
Twilight Tingle? Nooooooooo!
From what I heard 10% of people say I want Tingle to be in the Twilight Princess,30% said I don't care if he's in it or not,and 60% of people said i'd be anoyed,forget him.Please tell me if you do or not or whatever.
Our friend, Tingle
A lot of people say bad things about Tingle. A terrible, terrible thing to do. I mean in reality, besides charging you obnoxious prices for stuff you absolutely need, what has Tingle ever did to you? People overcharge you for stuff you don’t need in life all the time and they don’t get knocked as nearly as much as Tingle does. And you know what? It’s not fair.
But you know what? Tingle knows. He hears what people say to him. Do you think he cares that you say horrible things about him? Yes he does. Do you think he is ignorant to your insinuations that he’s as gay as a pile of wood? No, he’s not. He knows that you guys don’t want him in Twilight Princess and he can’t fathom why. Tingle doesn’t spread hate… he only wants to bring joy - and hey, if charging you a little extra in pursuit of his own dreams hurts… maybe you should look at your own life. What’s your dream? Be a astronaut, lawyer, or president?
Tingle has a bigger dream. A great dream. One that goes beyond just the Legend of Zelda. One that surpasses Ganon’s dreams to rule all of Hyrule. A dream that - yes - surpasses that century long one Mad Batter has been having about Batgirl. Tingle wants to be a fairy. You say, “Oh yeah. That’s totally not questionable.”
Maybe people should think about that. What does it mean to be a fairy? It means FREEDOM. Any person can look at Tingle and realize this guy ain’t got much going for him. He’s in his thirties and is a map salesmen. Does he have a chance with the ladies? Not likely. Everything is against him - but here is a man who perseveres and dreams of something bigger. And rather than go out and rant about it on his online journal, he goes out to DO something about it. Link may save all of Hyrule, but Tingle reaches out to real people. Us. Those that aren’t perfect, good looking, or look good in tights. He’s right there, with us, struggling to exist in a world completely against him.
So yes, Tingle knows what you say about him. But in the end Tingle continues on his dream. A dream bigger than all of us. And I think he deserves our full support. So go up, give Tingle a hug, and don’t steal his magic words, or so help me.
But you know what? Tingle knows. He hears what people say to him. Do you think he cares that you say horrible things about him? Yes he does. Do you think he is ignorant to your insinuations that he’s as gay as a pile of wood? No, he’s not. He knows that you guys don’t want him in Twilight Princess and he can’t fathom why. Tingle doesn’t spread hate… he only wants to bring joy - and hey, if charging you a little extra in pursuit of his own dreams hurts… maybe you should look at your own life. What’s your dream? Be a astronaut, lawyer, or president?
Tingle has a bigger dream. A great dream. One that goes beyond just the Legend of Zelda. One that surpasses Ganon’s dreams to rule all of Hyrule. A dream that - yes - surpasses that century long one Mad Batter has been having about Batgirl. Tingle wants to be a fairy. You say, “Oh yeah. That’s totally not questionable.”
Maybe people should think about that. What does it mean to be a fairy? It means FREEDOM. Any person can look at Tingle and realize this guy ain’t got much going for him. He’s in his thirties and is a map salesmen. Does he have a chance with the ladies? Not likely. Everything is against him - but here is a man who perseveres and dreams of something bigger. And rather than go out and rant about it on his online journal, he goes out to DO something about it. Link may save all of Hyrule, but Tingle reaches out to real people. Us. Those that aren’t perfect, good looking, or look good in tights. He’s right there, with us, struggling to exist in a world completely against him.
So yes, Tingle knows what you say about him. But in the end Tingle continues on his dream. A dream bigger than all of us. And I think he deserves our full support. So go up, give Tingle a hug, and don’t steal his magic words, or so help me.
Tingle Tower
It seems that the Tingle news this month just won’t stop! First of all we have the Tingle survey for Nintendo.com, then we’ve got release dates, box arts and previous magazine scans. We also had Masamune’s update just a few days in defence of Tingle. Well, that’s not it. The magazine, Coro Coro has had two of it’s pages scanned, and thrown into the Zelda world. It’s very loud, and it’s very bright. Who knows what to make of it.
As you can see, it’s loud, and it’s proud. Ironically enough, it’s gay pride in Brighton this weekend. Does anyone see a correlation? Nah, seriously though, I’d like to see what the Japanese means in English, but that’s about all I can write on this really.
Who knows how the Japanese read their magazines if they’re all like this, I’d end up with a headache or some sort of seizure.
Update:
Upon threats to my life by Masamune, I’m also informing you all that the Tingle RPG official Japanese website has opened up, instead of the silly game found at /tincle. It’s pretty good for a official site. Shame English ones are never that good…
As you can see, it’s loud, and it’s proud. Ironically enough, it’s gay pride in Brighton this weekend. Does anyone see a correlation? Nah, seriously though, I’d like to see what the Japanese means in English, but that’s about all I can write on this really.
Who knows how the Japanese read their magazines if they’re all like this, I’d end up with a headache or some sort of seizure.
Update:
Upon threats to my life by Masamune, I’m also informing you all that the Tingle RPG official Japanese website has opened up, instead of the silly game found at /tincle. It’s pretty good for a official site. Shame English ones are never that good…
Nintendo Tour Hints at Wii Release Date?
Nintendo of America has just launched their website for the fourth annual Nintendo Fusion Tour. For those of you who have never attended these events (myself included), apparently they’re venues to bring new age music and gaming (particularly of the Nintendo variety) together for reasonably big shindigs across the United States. The musical aspects of the tour are being provided by bands that I have never even heard of before. (At my “venerable” age of 25, I am no longer remotely “hip” or “with it”.) The gaming aspect will be provided by Nintendo, of course.
However, even if you’re not a fan of whatever “noise” or “racket” the bands will be playing, there is something you may want to note in Nintendo’s official press release.
The tour, headlined by emo-rock band Hawthorne Heights and produced by Live Nation, will visit some 40 cities nationwide between Sept. 27 and Nov. 11. In addition to live music, each venue will showcase the hot-selling Nintendo DS Lite and provide a sneak peek of Nintendo’s upcoming console, Wii.
Yes, you heard it: Wii. With the exception of fighting amongst tens or hundreds of fans at the local game store to get your hands on a test version of the Wii, this will be your best chance to play (after you fight hundreds or thousands of people at the concert for the opportunity, of course). Imagine being able to test drive what will likely be the final versions of Super Mario Galaxies, Twilight Princess, Red Steel, among many others. (You know you want to.) You may not have been the first one ever to play it, but you’ll still be ahead of the launch date…
…Or will you? Notice when the tour ends: November 11. Somehow, my spider-senses are tingling here about this. It’s hard for the Wii to launch prior to November 11… yet still have this be a sneak peak. At the same time, according to Sony Corp., the PS3 will be launching precisely on November 11, and I cannot believe Nintendo would be foolhardy enough to come out after Sony releases their next-gen system. Of course, Nintendo is Nintendo, and they very easily could just say that, “Eh, we got most of the cities before the launch date; that’s good enough for us,” but that would force the last cities on the tour to draw the proverbial short straw. (Sorry Illinois… Iowa… Wisconsin… nearly all the Midwest…)
At any rate, I’ve drawn a handy-dandy map for you to show you where the tour will be stopping, along with roughly when you’ll be seeing Ninty’s tour buses in your area. (All I can say is that, for the first time in my life, it’s good to be living in Ohio.)
However, even if you’re not a fan of whatever “noise” or “racket” the bands will be playing, there is something you may want to note in Nintendo’s official press release.
The tour, headlined by emo-rock band Hawthorne Heights and produced by Live Nation, will visit some 40 cities nationwide between Sept. 27 and Nov. 11. In addition to live music, each venue will showcase the hot-selling Nintendo DS Lite and provide a sneak peek of Nintendo’s upcoming console, Wii.
Yes, you heard it: Wii. With the exception of fighting amongst tens or hundreds of fans at the local game store to get your hands on a test version of the Wii, this will be your best chance to play (after you fight hundreds or thousands of people at the concert for the opportunity, of course). Imagine being able to test drive what will likely be the final versions of Super Mario Galaxies, Twilight Princess, Red Steel, among many others. (You know you want to.) You may not have been the first one ever to play it, but you’ll still be ahead of the launch date…
…Or will you? Notice when the tour ends: November 11. Somehow, my spider-senses are tingling here about this. It’s hard for the Wii to launch prior to November 11… yet still have this be a sneak peak. At the same time, according to Sony Corp., the PS3 will be launching precisely on November 11, and I cannot believe Nintendo would be foolhardy enough to come out after Sony releases their next-gen system. Of course, Nintendo is Nintendo, and they very easily could just say that, “Eh, we got most of the cities before the launch date; that’s good enough for us,” but that would force the last cities on the tour to draw the proverbial short straw. (Sorry Illinois… Iowa… Wisconsin… nearly all the Midwest…)
At any rate, I’ve drawn a handy-dandy map for you to show you where the tour will be stopping, along with roughly when you’ll be seeing Ninty’s tour buses in your area. (All I can say is that, for the first time in my life, it’s good to be living in Ohio.)
The Annual Zelda Family Reunion
I threatened with a post about this in the comments section of a previous post. Today, I follow through with my threat.
I’m sure you’ve all been to a family reunion at one point in your life. (I actually missed mine this year thanks to a certain business trip, and I’m not sure if I got the better end of the deal in the end.) Every year, my family gathers together about an hour from my place of residence to once again share news from the farthest reaches of the family tree; remember how everyone looks; or–in my case–hopelessly fail to remember who these people are, what their names are, and just how in the world they’re related to me. (I’ve failed the pop quiz of this five years running, and I’ll be going for the world record next year!)
When I play the more recent Zelda titles, I cannot help but think about our annual family reunions down in the Middle of Nowhere, Ohio. Back in the older days of Zelda, characters were just random pixels that had been spntaneously grouped together to form a sprite that somewhat resembled a human being. Rarely were they given names, and never were they pulled from a previous game into the next game in the series. The likes of Error, Sahasrahla, Marin, Joe NPC, and the ubiquitous Old Man were never to see the likes of Zelda again outside of their original context, and the Goddesses Three declared it good.
But ever since Ocarina, characters have shown this amazing resilienace to death by mass forgetfulness. I need only mention a few of them before you’ll quickly see where I’m going with this:
* The Oracles: Starred in Oracle of Ages and Seasons; had a cameo in Minish Cap.
* Dark Link: Debuted in Adventure of Link, brought back in Ocarina, totally abused in Four Swords Adventures
* The Gerudo: Invented in Ocarina, recast as pirates in Majora’s Mask, then converted back to Gerudohood in Four Swords Adventures
* Anju: Formerly the Cucco Lady in Ocarina, officially named in Majora, then pulled straight into Minish
* Dampé: Tending graves in Ocarina, Majora, Minish, and beyond (where no gravekeeper has gone before!)
* Tingle: Introducing weirdness in Majora, cameoed in Ages, allowed to commit highway robbery in Waker and blatant theft in Adventures, then brought back to the side of sidequest in Minish Cap… and is only bested by
* Malon: Starred in Ocarina, had TWO roles in Majora, cameoed in Seasons, pulled into Adventures, and then put as an obstacle in the main quest of Minish
This, of course, is just a very small list of the repeated characters; if you want more, just play Minish Cap; I think they’ve thrown every character that ever existed save for Saria into that game. Seriously, what gives?
Other than throwing timeline enthusiasts into absolute conniptions, I’ve always found the reappearance of a memorable character in a completely unrelated game… well… not all that exciting. Take Malon, for instance. Sageshipper though I am, I liked and respected Malon for her role in Ocarina of Time. Now while her appearance in Majora’s Mask (as Cremia and Romani) was there largely for convenience in getting the game out quickly, her roles in Seasons, Adventures, and Minish were not. She was merely thrown into the game in order for us to resurrect some sentimentality for her based upon our opinion of her from her original appearances in the series. Yet in each of these last three games, each time she serves merely as a placeholder NPC; all she’s worth is either one step along a trading quest or as a piece in some puzzle for our hero Link to solve. It could have been anybody in that position, but someone on the development team decided upon Malon.
Here we see Malon, a fully developed character from one of the greatest acclaimed Zelda titles of all time, converted to slaving away as just another random NPC, saying perhaps three or four lines each time, and then doing nothing else. (This should cause ranchshippers–you Link/Malon fans out there–some serious ire.) All of this is done simply for the hope that we, the gamers, will draw upon our love of the character from the previous game, associate it with this game, and thus consequentially completely and utterly cherish the new title.
Maybe it’s just me, but this seems a bit artifical. What’s really going on here is the subtle art of distraction. It’s the classic game of Hey-Look-over-There, whereupon we, being naïve cast a passing glance over at something pretty tossed into the game… only to look back and completely miss the glaring weaknesses of the game because it escaped out the back door when we weren’t looking. For the Oracle games, that was the lack of a deep plot; for Four Swords Adventures, to make the stages of the game less boring; for Waker, the Triforce Hunt quest; for Minish Cap, the poorly designed overworld/plot device. Granted, these weaknesses in the titles are by no means enough to say that the game isn’t worth the silicon it’s printed on. They are decent Zelda titles in their own right; at the same time, though, it is an attempt to fool us into thinking the game is better than it is.
At a deeper level, however, the constant reuse of characters in subsequent games prevents new characters from suddenly appearing within the series. Now while I do believe that this will not be a problem in Twilight Princess and, likely, console Zeldas in the future, I don’t believe we’ll ever find a portable Zelda title as rich as Link’s Awakening… at least until this trend reverses itself. Portable Zeldas will seem to be a derivative work off of some previous Zelda title, and while we’ll still like it, they’ll never rise to being our favourite Zelda games of all time, if only because of lack of originality… and creativity, two things which I feel made Zelda the big success it is today.
Maybe I’ve been spoiled by the older Zelda titles; maybe I’m just longing for the way Zelda used to be. But when it comes down to it, I just cannot see all the hubbub over Tingle this or Malon that. I believe it’s time to stop obsessing over characters that once were and put some new blood into our characters.
Agree or disagree?
I’m sure you’ve all been to a family reunion at one point in your life. (I actually missed mine this year thanks to a certain business trip, and I’m not sure if I got the better end of the deal in the end.) Every year, my family gathers together about an hour from my place of residence to once again share news from the farthest reaches of the family tree; remember how everyone looks; or–in my case–hopelessly fail to remember who these people are, what their names are, and just how in the world they’re related to me. (I’ve failed the pop quiz of this five years running, and I’ll be going for the world record next year!)
When I play the more recent Zelda titles, I cannot help but think about our annual family reunions down in the Middle of Nowhere, Ohio. Back in the older days of Zelda, characters were just random pixels that had been spntaneously grouped together to form a sprite that somewhat resembled a human being. Rarely were they given names, and never were they pulled from a previous game into the next game in the series. The likes of Error, Sahasrahla, Marin, Joe NPC, and the ubiquitous Old Man were never to see the likes of Zelda again outside of their original context, and the Goddesses Three declared it good.
But ever since Ocarina, characters have shown this amazing resilienace to death by mass forgetfulness. I need only mention a few of them before you’ll quickly see where I’m going with this:
* The Oracles: Starred in Oracle of Ages and Seasons; had a cameo in Minish Cap.
* Dark Link: Debuted in Adventure of Link, brought back in Ocarina, totally abused in Four Swords Adventures
* The Gerudo: Invented in Ocarina, recast as pirates in Majora’s Mask, then converted back to Gerudohood in Four Swords Adventures
* Anju: Formerly the Cucco Lady in Ocarina, officially named in Majora, then pulled straight into Minish
* Dampé: Tending graves in Ocarina, Majora, Minish, and beyond (where no gravekeeper has gone before!)
* Tingle: Introducing weirdness in Majora, cameoed in Ages, allowed to commit highway robbery in Waker and blatant theft in Adventures, then brought back to the side of sidequest in Minish Cap… and is only bested by
* Malon: Starred in Ocarina, had TWO roles in Majora, cameoed in Seasons, pulled into Adventures, and then put as an obstacle in the main quest of Minish
This, of course, is just a very small list of the repeated characters; if you want more, just play Minish Cap; I think they’ve thrown every character that ever existed save for Saria into that game. Seriously, what gives?
Other than throwing timeline enthusiasts into absolute conniptions, I’ve always found the reappearance of a memorable character in a completely unrelated game… well… not all that exciting. Take Malon, for instance. Sageshipper though I am, I liked and respected Malon for her role in Ocarina of Time. Now while her appearance in Majora’s Mask (as Cremia and Romani) was there largely for convenience in getting the game out quickly, her roles in Seasons, Adventures, and Minish were not. She was merely thrown into the game in order for us to resurrect some sentimentality for her based upon our opinion of her from her original appearances in the series. Yet in each of these last three games, each time she serves merely as a placeholder NPC; all she’s worth is either one step along a trading quest or as a piece in some puzzle for our hero Link to solve. It could have been anybody in that position, but someone on the development team decided upon Malon.
Here we see Malon, a fully developed character from one of the greatest acclaimed Zelda titles of all time, converted to slaving away as just another random NPC, saying perhaps three or four lines each time, and then doing nothing else. (This should cause ranchshippers–you Link/Malon fans out there–some serious ire.) All of this is done simply for the hope that we, the gamers, will draw upon our love of the character from the previous game, associate it with this game, and thus consequentially completely and utterly cherish the new title.
Maybe it’s just me, but this seems a bit artifical. What’s really going on here is the subtle art of distraction. It’s the classic game of Hey-Look-over-There, whereupon we, being naïve cast a passing glance over at something pretty tossed into the game… only to look back and completely miss the glaring weaknesses of the game because it escaped out the back door when we weren’t looking. For the Oracle games, that was the lack of a deep plot; for Four Swords Adventures, to make the stages of the game less boring; for Waker, the Triforce Hunt quest; for Minish Cap, the poorly designed overworld/plot device. Granted, these weaknesses in the titles are by no means enough to say that the game isn’t worth the silicon it’s printed on. They are decent Zelda titles in their own right; at the same time, though, it is an attempt to fool us into thinking the game is better than it is.
At a deeper level, however, the constant reuse of characters in subsequent games prevents new characters from suddenly appearing within the series. Now while I do believe that this will not be a problem in Twilight Princess and, likely, console Zeldas in the future, I don’t believe we’ll ever find a portable Zelda title as rich as Link’s Awakening… at least until this trend reverses itself. Portable Zeldas will seem to be a derivative work off of some previous Zelda title, and while we’ll still like it, they’ll never rise to being our favourite Zelda games of all time, if only because of lack of originality… and creativity, two things which I feel made Zelda the big success it is today.
Maybe I’ve been spoiled by the older Zelda titles; maybe I’m just longing for the way Zelda used to be. But when it comes down to it, I just cannot see all the hubbub over Tingle this or Malon that. I believe it’s time to stop obsessing over characters that once were and put some new blood into our characters.
Agree or disagree?
A Cornucopia of Zelda Stuff
I’ve found two itsy bitsy things that I felt worth mentioning, but, instead of making two separate posts talking about them, it makes much more sense just to cram them all into one post.
First, I found it first over on The Hylia that First 4 Figures has revealed the first of the collectors’ statues based upon the Legend of Zelda games. Their first statue is none other than Oni Link himself; yes, the Fierce Deity has been painted in glorious splendor, and Link looks absolutely wonderful with his double helix sword. But don’t take my word for it; look for yourself:
First, I found it first over on The Hylia that First 4 Figures has revealed the first of the collectors’ statues based upon the Legend of Zelda games. Their first statue is none other than Oni Link himself; yes, the Fierce Deity has been painted in glorious splendor, and Link looks absolutely wonderful with his double helix sword. But don’t take my word for it; look for yourself:
Zelda on TI
It would appear that we have some incredibly creative and intellegent Zelda fans in our community. Well, that statement isn’t exactly a new, or unfamilar thing to us. After all, I’m here typing this to you! But seriously, we do have some amazing people in our own community, such as those who create Zelda fangames. Each of those games have something that’s incredibly unique and brilliant, even those who are making their first gaming projects.
However, when we come across people who can manage to recreate one of the best handheld Zelda games, on a calculator, it makes me take notice.
However, when we come across people who can manage to recreate one of the best handheld Zelda games, on a calculator, it makes me take notice.
Wii love Zelda
I’ve been meaning to get an editorial up the past few days, but insanity has been ruling my life, and I haven’t had a chance to finish it. As much as I know many of you dislike getting two posts in a night, I want to finish it so it’s not hanging over my head. So expect another post tonight. But I digress; on with the news…
Joystiq is issuing news straight from Camp Hyrule that the Wii version of Twilight Princess will only support the Wii remote. Apparently, with the knowledge that Super Smash Brothers: Brawl allows you to use a GameCube controller on a Wii title, many people had hoped that the new Zelda game would allow you to have your choice of input devices, either the Wii-mote or the GCN controller. Apparently… no such luck. Once you buy into Wii Zelda, you’re stuck with Wii Zelda.
Joystiq is issuing news straight from Camp Hyrule that the Wii version of Twilight Princess will only support the Wii remote. Apparently, with the knowledge that Super Smash Brothers: Brawl allows you to use a GameCube controller on a Wii title, many people had hoped that the new Zelda game would allow you to have your choice of input devices, either the Wii-mote or the GCN controller. Apparently… no such luck. Once you buy into Wii Zelda, you’re stuck with Wii Zelda.
Zelda Club
It is quite apparent why you come here to my little corner of the web to read this blog; you’re all avid fans of the Legend of Zelda. (Now how I keep fooling you into coming back day after day is still a mystery to me though!) You and I have all found some deep passion within the pixels and lines of code that has made one of the greatest videogame series of all time. The games and us share some unexplicable symbiotic relationship; we thrive when we play them, it seems.
The Darker Side of Tingle
If you’re paying attention, you’ll notice we have a lovely little countdown timer on the main page for Mogitate Tingle no Barairo Rupee Land, otherwise known as Tingle RPG. Let it be known that this is merely the Japanese release date; it’s not coming to America or Europe or anywhere else… yet.
Since there’s only 15 days to the new game, the Nintendo overseas PR machine is now picking up steam and has brought us a commercial for the new game. (YouTube video is after the cut.)
Since there’s only 15 days to the new game, the Nintendo overseas PR machine is now picking up steam and has brought us a commercial for the new game. (YouTube video is after the cut.)
Monday, August 21, 2006
Some Twilight Princess News
After being kept in the dark for months now Nintendo has leaped into the light with a barrage of information concerning…changes to the Twilight Princess controls.
The changes have to do with the Wii version shown at E3. According to IGN, instead of pressing B to swing the sword, movement is now regulated to actually swinging the controller around. Nintendo believes that this change will not tire the player and make the game much more interesting.
In addition, the bow has now been moved to the B button instead of the awkward position of the d-pad. From this we can infer two things. One is that it will be much easier to call up the bow and shoot an eagle or something. And two, the bow is such a very important item to be placed in such a prominent spot.
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