A new leak from a "source within Nintendo" reveals some alleged details about the upcoming Zelda game for the Wii U, which he describes as one of the biggest, most ambitious Zelda game to date.
The same source that, according to Wii U Daily, accurately predicted Wii U achievements and claimed Nintendo was working on a Wii U social network (which turned out to be Miiverse), is now saying the next Zelda game will be released on the Wii U in 2014.
Aside from the estimated release date, the source claims Nintendo is sticking with a similar art style as Skyward Sword as to appeal to a wide range of gamers, both casual and hardcore. It will also feature "about the same amount" of dungeons as previous Zelda games, but each will be "vastly bigger in scope" — some as big as three separate parts that will take hours to complete.
Unfortunately, the game is said to not support online multiplayer, but it will have some online features to take advantage of Miiverse. There is also a system where players can leave hints and help each other out in dungeons (probably similar to what we're going to see with ZombiU).
Zelda on Wii U will use a "new, state of the art engine that's being built from the ground up in parallel with the game," the source claimed. "It's got the most advanced visual features Nintendo has ever made, and includes a lot of third party tech like Havok for physics and rendering middleware from Umbra." The demo that was shown at E3 2011 was apparently nothing more than a tech demo made by an entirely different team with an older engine.
The Wii U's GamePad unique functionality will also be utilized in some fashion. The source claimed that the game was influential to the design of the controller and that every single feature in the controller is "used to its full potential."
I think it's safe to say Zelda on the Wii U is going to be one of the most impressive games we've seen in the franchise. Regardless if this source is correct in their assessment of the game, I think Nintendo will be going all-in with Zelda this time around. Nintendo has allegedly invested a huge amount of money into the game, which the source likened to "Rockstar/GTA territory".
"This is the biggest project they’ve [Nintendo] ever done, no way is it gonna be ready for Q3 2013. At least from where I see it”."
Zelda on the Wii U definitely sounds promising, but will it be too late? With the Wii U set to launch later this year, will it have enough appeal with its current lineup to get off to a good start?
