E3 Day 3 Report

Day 3 #E32016 

Nintendo: Just Call Us Zelda
by Bea

Here’s a top 10 list to briefly summarize Nintendo's presentation.

1. The Day of Link.
2. The Zelder Scrolls.
3. 50 shades of Zelda.
4. 200 of summers of Link.
5. Pokemon named Link.
6. Grand Theft Zelda
7. I can’t believe it's not Zelda.
8. Agenda of Zelda
9. Zelda should really have a game by herself, but here's one of Link...Again.
10. THIS POSSIBLY THE BIGGEST GAME OF ALL E3, because the game finally changed. Phew

One of the most iconic franchises of all time blew everybody out of the Zora-infested waters with its presentation of Zelda: Breath of the Wild this year. Nintendo's booth at E3 this year could have been better described as a bespoke shrine. Let me explain why the hype surrounding this particular game is legitimate. I mean, there's a new Zelda game nearly every couple of years, why should we discharge our fully-healthy swords over this one?

The newest game breaks away from the slow moving evolving Zelda formula and revolutionizes the game in a lot of ways. Breath of the Wild is the natural evolution of the series. It moves away into the current age of gaming by, ironically, becoming as close as it’s ever been to the original…if the original were made today. It brings a focus on sprawling exploration, puzzle-solving, discovery, and interesting mechanics made available through obtaining items that made the original so beloved.

1. It takes place in a vast open-world. You're officially free to roam around the cabin and explore wherever & however you like with no predefined path boxing you in.

2. Elements of crafting. Build new weapons from gathered resources, and cook food to replenish your health. There are survival features that add a touch of realism. For example, heat and cold will affect Link unless he changes clothes (YES HE CAN CHANGE CLOTHES AND YES WE NOW KNOW THAT LINK IS A NEVER-NUDE.  That little elven outfit was so 1986, anyway.)  Link now has to think about noise for the first time (sounds of other gaming characters dependent on their skill trees high fiving each other in the background).

3. I mentioned landscape. Think Studio Ghibli meets Zelda. It's breathtaking, it's beautiful, it's an a true MFEO meant for each other situation. Studio Ghibli did not make the artwork but in my head they did and Ponyo is a Zora and Kiki will fly me up to Totoro hiding up in a huge tree and I’ll be best friends with Princess Mononoke and her forest friends will be my friends and…

…wow…um…sorry, that got weird. *ahem* What I’m saying is that for the first time in a long time, I want to play a Zelda again.

In OTHER News…

Pokémon Go, A mobile game from Niantic, will be available this July. Nintendo announced the release window during its second day 2  live stream, but didn't give a concrete day. The company did say the game's accessory, a wrist-worn wearable called Pokémon Go Plus that lets you play the game without using your smartphone, will be available for $34.99.

NX

But what of a console? Why isn't there a new console? Isn't that how it’s done when it’s E3?

The very quiet, subdued, kept on the down-low announcement of Nintendo’s next console, code-named NX, will be launching globally in March 2017. That's a quick turnaround from the Wii U, which launched in November 2012. However, even though it's releasing in less than a year, very little is known about what the NX actually is. Nintendo has been very quiet about what the device will be but thanks to a number of reports, carrier pigeons, smoke signals, and rumors this is what can be pieced together some details on the Wii U's successor:

        Uh…it’ll exist?

        *crickets*

        HEYWOULDYOULOOKATZELDAHAHAHA *smoke bomb*
The only thing Nintendo has really said about the NX so far is that it will be “very different” from the company's last two consoles. They’re building the next version of Wii or Wii U, and it’s something unique and different. It's something that is intended to appeal to the ever-gnawing demand hungry consumer base. Maybe it’s to recover slumping sales and waning interest. Whatever it is they piqued everybody's interest with how coy they were playing at E3. It's a very “Thank you Mario, but your princess is in another Castle” vibe. Which only gives me hope that maybe they’ll drop the mic at Pax Prime West in September in Seattle. Go ahead and fight me on this but with Nintendo's offices located here in Seattle, a girl can only really, really, really plead..ermm I mean hope.

But what will the NX actually look like you ask? Ok you didn't (yet), but I have because I care about you. According to a report from The Wall Street Journal in October, the device will "likely include both a console and at least one mobile unit that could either be used in conjunction with the console or taken on the road for separate use." This leads to the idea that it will be some kind of hybrid console / portable device that brings together those two sides of Nintendo's business.

So there you go… E3 2016. Though you didn’t really blow me out of the water with hype there was enough to be excited. About a great. many. things. This only gets me even more pumped for PaxPrime West and I’ll see you on the floor in Seattle when it happens.

Until then, Roll dirty, take side quests in life  and stay caffeinated.

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