While I have no doubt that a Zelda game for the Wii U is being developed right as we speak, could it be out in 2014 as this rumor suggest?
According to Wii U Daily's "source in Japan," Nintendo is scheduling the next big Zelda game to come out in 2014. What's more, this same source claims to have seen the game in action and was quite impressed with what he saw.
In addition to the purported release window, the source claims that Nintendo has assembled the biggest team ever to work on a game at Nintendo EAD 3 in Japan. Furthermore, he states they have hundreds of people working on Zelda for the Wii U, with Eiji Anouma once again leading development duties. Supposedly, Anouma has been working on this game with his team since 2010.
This Zelda game was originally scheduled to come out in 2013 to combat Microsoft and Sony's next-gen offerings, but the source states they (Nintendo) quickly abandoned this goal once they saw how big the project is. The source is even claiming that this "will end up being the most expensive game they've made to date;" and that this is in "Rockstar/Grand Theft Auto territory."
Want to know big it is in comparison to past Zelda games? According to the source, one of the dungeons is said to be an entire forest. It's allegedly bigger than the Hyrule field in Ocarina of Time and this is just one dungeon. He adds that some of the dungeons are so big, they're broken up in 3 parts and will literally take hours to complete. Concerning storage space since it sounds like the game will be massive, the source also claims that the game wouldn't be possible without the 25GB Blu-ray media format the Wii U uses.
While the game is aiming to be as big as a Grand Theft Auto game, don't expect multiplayer in it. According to the source, multiplayer was "never on the drawing board," but it will incorporate some online features like the Miiverse and some sort of system that will allow players to hints and help each other out in the game's various dungeons.
Lastly, remember that Wii U Zelda HD footage we saw last year at E3? Well, scrap that as the team is going back to Skyward Sword's artstyle. The source states, "Nintendo is sticking to the core values of Zelda, while trying to appeal to a wide range of gamers, casual and hardcore…They feel they’ve found the sweet spot with Skyward Sword, and they’re continuing this approach with the Wii U Zelda game."
Now, before you jump for joy or rage until your nose bleeds, keep in mind that this is still very much a rumor and should be treated as such. Although I have to be honest, what we've heard so far sounds really good.
Based on the details you've just read, do you want this rumor to be true or should Nintendo make that E3 2011 Zelda tech demo a reality instead?
