VentureBeat » The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

Nintendo launches Zelda Miiverse community for the Wii U today

Jeffrey Grubb — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 15:16:22 +0000

Nintendo is working on two new The Legend of Zelda games for its Wii U console, but it’s completely without a new Zelda title at the moment. That means the system also doesn’t have a Zelda-specific Miiverse.

That changes today.

In a streaming-video presentation, Nintendo revealed that it will unleash The Legend of Zelda Series Community on the Wii U’s Miiverse today.

“In Miiverse on Wii, communities have been created for games that have already been released,” Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said in the Nintendo Direct. “But there are no communities for unreleased games. Therefore, there has been no community available for users to discuss The Legend of Zelda or the two new games we announced in the last Nintendo Direct.”

Iwata said that he personally asked the Miiverse development team for help in creating a Zelda Miiverse community even though the system doesn’t have a specific game to base it on.

In The Legend of Zelda Series Community, gamers may discuss any game in the series.

In the last Nintendo Direct, the company announced an HD remake of The Wind Waker for the Wii U and an original game designed from the ground up for the system.

Click here for our full coverage of today’s Nintendo Direct.

Filed under: Games

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GamesBeat weekly roundup: THQ asset auction, Legend of Zelda in HD, and Atari is bankrupt

Jasmine Maleficent Rea — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 18:30:37 +0000

If you follow VentureBeat but don’t regularly check our GamesBeat site, here’s a list of the best video game stories we ran over the last seven days that you may have missed.

This week, THQ’s assets went up for auction, leaving Darksiders and its developer Vigil Games without a parent company. Nintendo threw a mini-E3 announcement revealing Wii U updates and an HD remake of The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, and the long-troubled Atari files for bankruptcy protection.

You’ll also find reviews for Tokyo Crash Mobs and The Cave, as well as previews for Phone Fight and Dead Space 3.

News:

Mobile News:

Interviews:

Previews:

Reviews:

Community Spotlight:

Pieces of Flair:

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The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD is happening

Jeffrey Grubb — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 15:45:16 +0000

Nintendo had a deluge of announcements on its semi-regular Nintendo Direct Internet show today. One of the biggest for Zelda fans is the news that the publisher will release a high-definition version of The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker on the Wii U.

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata promised the game will feature upgraded visuals. Wind Waker HD will also have great new features like the capability to play it off-TV with the Wii U GamePad.

Interestingly, the developers won’t just shift the game’s graphics to 1080p and call it a day. Iwata stated that they will “tune up the overall game experience.” That could mean the publisher will address some of its late-game pacing issues … or maybe we’ll just get a lot more Tingle!

Finally, Wind Waker HD will naturally have Miiverse compatibility. I can’t wait to see all of the amazing artwork people post to the social network.

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Don’t shake it! Admire some impressive Etch A Sketch gaming art (gallery)

Mike Minotti — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 22:13:45 +0000

I’m still working on mastering the circle with my Etch A Sketch, but others have moved on to more … advanced techniques.

The gallery below showcases some of the best gaming-themed art ever created by turning those two white knobs. You’ll see homages to characters like The Legend of Zelda’s Link, Pokémon’s Pikachu, BioShock’s Big Daddy, and more.

I wonder how mad these artists would get if someone shook their “canvases.” They might be quick to switch to a more traditional, permanent technique. Thank goodness we’ve forever enshrined these images here.

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These gorgeous gaming posters would look great on any player’s wall

Mike Minotti — Sun, 02 Sep 2012 22:51:32 +0000

Marinko Milosevski‘s gaming posters are almost too beautiful. Staring blankly at my screen while saliva slides down my chin is all I can do to keep from openly weeping.

Homages to some of the most popular entries in The Legend of Zelda series, Shadow of the Colossus, Ico, and Super Metroid are included in the set. Personally, Milosevski’s poster portraying The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is my favorite. Which one would you most like to hang on your wall?

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Gravity Rush’s beautiful open-world soars the Vita to dizzying, dazzling heights (review)

Mike Minotti — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 23:47:29 +0000

Since launching in February, the PlayStation Vita really hasn’t had that “must own” title that every new piece of hardware needs. Sure, we’ve seen ports of PlayStation 3 games (like Mortal Kombat and MLB 12 The Show) and new editions of popular Sony franchises (like Uncharted: Golden Abyss and Wipeout 2048), but Sony has yet to release something original enough, impressive enough, and — most importantly — fun enough to showcase why people need a Vita.

Well, enter Gravity Rush, an open-world, physics-bending game developed by Sony Computer Entertainment’s Japan Studio. The concept alone and the fact that it’s a new intellectual property immediately earn it top marks in the originality department, but can the gameplay match up?

WHAT YOU’LL LIKE

Oh, what a (gravity) rush

The main selling point of Gravity Rush is obviously the ability to control and play with, you know, gravity. A push of a button makes you float off the ground, and another press sends you flying in the direction you aim. Since you can stop mid-air and readjust your course, you basically have the gift of flight. Landing on a surface will readjust gravity, so the side of a building becomes as easy to walk across as the ground below.

Yes, the mechanic is as much fun as it sounds. The citizens of Hekseville, the city the game is set in, nickname the game’s protagonist, Kat, the Gravity Goddess. It’s a fitting title, because you really do feel god-like as you zip across the city and use the laws of nature as your plaything. The whole thing can be disorienting, but in the best my-mind-is-blown kind of way.

Gravity manipulation also has its uses in combat. While Kat does have some basic ground-based attacks in her arsenal, she can also send herself diving at her foes with a kick that’s more powerful the further it is from its target. She can also grab small objects in a stasis field, which she can use as ammunition to fling at the bad guys. These are all clever ideas that encourage aerial combat on a scale usually reserved for superhero movies.

A beautiful world to explore and enjoy

Gravity Rush creates a lush, living world that is a joy just to look at. Most of the game takes place in Hekseville, a large, industrial city held up far above the clouds by a large pillar. From the entertainment district, which glows with an atmospheric red light, to the downtown area, which is littered with skyscrapers, the whole world is a pleasure to explore. Plus, the city is built in layers, which encourages you to use your gravity shifting to discover out-of-the-way areas that you couldn’t easily access just by walking and jumping.

Of course, if beauty alone isn’t enough incentive to search every nook and cranny of Hekseville, exploration is also a great way to find gems scattered around the town. You can use these to level up your abilities, like the strength of your attacks or the speed of your gravity skills.

The characters look just as good as the world, thanks to a great use of cel-shading, a graphical technique where characters and objects are surrounded by a thick outline (you may have seen cel-shading in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker or Jet Grind Radio). Strong, charming personalities and well-written dialogue make the cast just as appealing characteristically as they are aesthetically.

And while we’re on the subject of beautiful things, I really have to applaud the music. The sounds of Hekseville are just as pleasing as the sights, thanks to a standout soundtrack that perfectly complements the moods of the city.

Tasteful touch and gyroscope controls

A lot of Vita launch titles fell victim to the hazardous pitfall of touchscreen gimmicks. Uncharted: Golden Abyss, for example, was a fun time except for when it made you needlessly rub your system a hundred times to simulate the “joy” of charcoal rubbings. It was beginning to feel like a rule that every game for Sony’s newest portable hardware required lame, contrived touch controls.

Gravity Rush does use touch mechanics, but it does so cleverly. For example, holding the bottom corners of the screen causes Kat to “gravity slide,” sending her gliding while you tilt the Vita to steer. Releasing one of the corners lets you drift, and shaking the system makes Kat jump. It’s a fun way to get around quickly that actually works better and is more functional than it would have been with just buttons.

Technically strong

Open-world games like Gravity Rush are usually plagued with technical glitches and performance issues (like a woman’s face getting replaced with a donkey’s in Red Dead Redemption), so it’s surprising how proficient the title is, especially since it’s on a portable system. Slowdown is rare, and I didn’t notice any major graphical blemishes during my 10 hour playthrough.

SOE Japan Studio even does a great job of handling the the issue of draw distance, which determines how far away you can see objects. Buildings and landscapes further off lose their detail (thus taxing the hardware less) but gain a thicker outline, a brilliant artistic method that helps the game look like a comic book brought to life.

Loading can sometimes take awhile, especially before and after side missions, but that’s a pretty small annoyance that is easily overlooked.

WHAT YOU WON’T LIKE

Unanswered questions

The plot does a good job of progressing the action and allowing the characters to grow and interact with each other, but you’ll still have a lot of unanswered questions after the credits roll. I guess these were left vague for a potential sequel or maybe downloadable content, but major conflicts introduced in the very beginning of the story and confusing concepts about the origin of the game’s world are never explained. In fact, if the title didn’t tell you when it was about to end, you’d probably be surprised that things were wrapping up already.

This isn’t to say Gravity Rush is short, and if you’re going to have a problem, I suppose leaving your players wanting more is a good one to have, but I still can’t help but feel a little unfulfilled by the ending.

CONCLUSION

Gravity Rush is one of the best open-world games available, portable or otherwise. The atmospheric world, likable cast, and clever, entertaining mechanics make it a title that you can easily sink many joyous hours into, even if you spend a lot of them just flying around the city and hunting for gems. I don’t know if anyone is going to go out and buy a Vita just for this one game, but if you already own the new system, you really should experience all the gravity-shifting mayhem for yourself.

Score: 93/100

Gravity Rush comes out on June 12, 2012 for the PlayStation Vita. A copy of the game was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.

Filed under: Games