The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

[Drake Tungsten]

Legend of Zelda preview

This game looks pretty damn sweet. I'm particularly intrigued by the sailing in the game; it should add an interesting twist to the familiar Zelda format. Anyone else as excited about this game as I am?

If I spoke a little more Japanese, I would import this game right now. The anticipation is killing me. Only three more months...

[Drake Tungsten]

Another Zelda Preview

A little more information on the controversial graphics in this preview.

[Drake Tungsten]

More impressions on the game from Gamespot.

http://gamespot.com/gamespot/stories/previews/0,10869,2901877,00.html

And the IGN preview is no longer Insider-only.

http://cube.ign.com/articles/380/380217p1.html

Now if only someone else would post in this thread...

[Drake Tungsten]

More news.

http://gamespot.com/gamespot/stories/news/0,10870,2901949,00.html

Nintendo has confirmed that it will include the Ocarina of Time/Ocarina of Time Ura bonus disc in America along with every pre-ordered copy of The Wind Waker. Basically, if you pre-order The Wind Waker you'll get a complete GameCube port of Ocarina of Time and the harder Ura version of the same game. A good bonus, especially for those of us who don't have an N64.

Looks like I'll be pre-ordering my first game ever.

[Asher]

Gimick to encourage people to pre-order makes me more suspicious if anything.

I'm going to rent it first. I downloaded a couple dozen videos off IGN of the game and I think the graphics are going to totally put me off.

Kudos to those who like the graphics, though, I bet you'll be in for a treat.

[Drake Tungsten]

Gimick to encourage people to pre-order makes me more suspicious if anything.

I don't think it is a gimmick. They did it in Japan, where bonus-items like that are extremely common, but didn't have any plans on doing it in North America at first. They only decided to do it in America after a ton of people wrote them asking for it.

I'm certainly glad they're doing it, as I wouldn't mind having my own copy of Ocarina of Time, for free no less. Seems like a good deal.

[Asher]

I played OOT on the N64 so it's not a big selling point for me...

[Drake Tungsten]

So did I, but I wouldn't mind playing it again. And it's always nice to add a classic game to your collection.

[pg]

i just hope it has a bit more advanced and deeper gameplay than the zelda 64 games. if it just turns out to be a deluxe version of the zelda 64 games(like how mario sunshine was mario 64 deluxe) i'll be quite disapppointed.

[Drake Tungsten]

Zelda's flying out of stores and pushing GameCubes in Japan.

Zelda Sells 400,000
Nintendo's legendary franchise debuts on GCN with grand sales.

December 18, 2002 - According to Bloomberg Japan and tracking service Media Create, Nintendo's Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker has debuted in Japan to sell over 400,000 copies within its first week of release. This bolstered sales of the console to over 65,000. Compare that to the roughly 25,000 it sold in Media Create's last report, and it can be assumed that this spike is a result of the release of Zelda, one of the most recognized franchises in the industry. In contrast, Sony's PlayStation 2 sold over 115,000 units and Microsoft's Xbox over 13,000.

And the Xbox is still selling like crap in Japan. Good news all around.

[Asher]

Tell us the UK sales figures, Drake

You know, with the Gamecube selling ~1/3rd as well as the Xbox

Also interesting to note is 13,000 is a huge improvement over the 2,000 a couple weeks ago

What the hell is going on?

(And if 13,000 is crap, then the Gamecube's been selling like crap for the vast majority of the year -- look at the sales stats. GC sales hovered around 10K-13K most of the year)

[Drake Tungsten]

Tell us the UK sales figures, Drake

Who cares about the UK? It isn't the home of most of the major console game developers; Japan is. Selling consoles in the UK won't have nearly as much benefit for MS as breaking into Japan would. Looks like they're doomed to third place in the land of the Rising Sun, however.

[Asher]

It doesn't matter if Japan is home to whoever, they make games for the largest markets.

Japan is now the smallest market behind Europe and North America.

Xbox has been doomed to third place in Japan since it launched. It's a large American console trying to break into a Japanese-entrenched country that's suffering from a shrinking game market with a sinking economy. Go figure that it's not doing well at all.

In the UK and the US, however, the GCN is doomed to third place. That would worry me far more than Japan.

PS: The game that sold the most worldwide last year was made by a UK company.

PPS: Japanese influence in gaming is dropping pretty rapidly. Mario is no longer the blockbuster, but GTA3... Japan is virtually the only market still clinging on to the Japanese style games en masse (duh), which is why the Xbox flops there and does well everywhere else.

The "GCN is doing better in Japan so it's in a better position" is absoutely laughable. The people who say it are living in the past. Look at the game selection: Xbox has sold more hardware and software titles in every other market BUT Japan than the GCN throughout 2002 -- the fact that the Xbox is flopping in Japan means jack **** to those outside of Japan.

Welcome to the new world of video game entertainment. Dominated by American giants like Electronic Arts (who sell 1 out of every 4 games world wide) and quickly taking the place of the oldstyle Japanese companies (Capcom, Konami, etc).

[Drake Tungsten]

The "GCN is doing better in Japan so it's in a better position" is absoutely laughable.

Look, it's Asher putting words in my mouth again! Yeah!

I never said this. I merely said that the Xbox is selling like crap in Japan and that Japan is a more important market than the UK. I stand by my statements.

America and Japan are the two vital videogame markets. The US is the most important market just because of its sheer size; to make a profit you have to do well in America. Japan is vital not because of its size, but because success in Japan gains the support of Japanese developers, who are still crucial even if you don't want to admit it. The UK and Europe as a whole are a sideshow; a profitable sideshow, but a sideshow none the less.

Doing well in Europe is nice for MS, but I'm relatively sure that they would prefer some success in Japan. If the Xbox keeps selling like this in Japan, MS is going to have an impossible time pulling Japanese developer support away from Sony. Without that support, MS can't supplant Sony as the leader in consoles, which is Microsoft's goal.

PS: A large percentage of EA's business is made up of games from Square. Where's Square from, Asher?

[Asher]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten

The "GCN is doing better in Japan so it's in a better position" is absoutely laughable.

Look, it's Asher putting words in my mouth again! Yeah!

I never said this.

Dose of irony: Where did I say you said it.

Japan is vital not because of its size, but because success in Japan gains the support of Japanese developers, who are still crucial even if you don't want to admit it.

Japanese developers don't care how well it does in the Japanese market, just in their target game market. If they're going to make a game that will sell well in North America, it doesn't matter if the console doesn't exist in Japan...

PS: A large percentage of EA's business is made up of games from Square. Where's Square from, Asher?

Define "large percentage".
And sources.

Final Fantasy games sell significantly less than games like Madden, and Madden comes out every year...