E3 2016: Sony's Shuhei Yoshida Can't Wait for Zelda Either

It looks great, almost as if Zelda decided to take a trip down modern western RPG lane.

That being said, I felt burned by both the Wii and Wii U, so I probably won't buy it unless the NX happens to be a portable that replaces the 3DS as well.

I thought the trailer for this looked a bit boring to be honest but the game play videos I've seen show it to be a very good game, my only real concern is do they have enough to fill it. The environments looked quite empty and the map seems huge, I just hope it's not big just for the sake of it.

Still excited for it, just excited for Horizon more 😃

@carlos82 I love the emptiness and loneliness of it! Reminds me of Shadow of the Colossus

@YouSeemFRAZZLED seems like an odd thing to do, it's not as if Zelda plots have ever been mind blowing and we've waited a long time to see some pretty but largely empty fields. What game play we saw does look very good I just wish we saw more of it, especially as this would be the main reason for me to get an NX or another WiiU if they ever lower it to a sensible price

I have no problem with Nintendo i'll get Ps4k and NX same time

Whoa, @rjejr gets his own article! You are quite a celebrity here. Maybe Tom would do the same if you ever write "Nintendo" correctly

This Zelda looks amazing. This and another Splatoon will be enough to have me get the NX day 1.

I like how Yoshida admits to liking other games. The way it should be, it is the same industry and developers inspire each other. Plus he could plug his own game so pretty clever. Win-Win.

Nintendo should be worried. Whenever Shu has liked something they've made, Nintendo has done poorly.

@get2sammyb Nintendo confirmed that this E3 demo isn't a good representation for the final game; there were no regular NPCs and villages in the demo in order to avoid story and character spoilers.

I think we can only judge on the ''emptiness'' once we've seen some more of this game. I'll admit, I would've loved an NPC here and there, but we've already seen people herding goats in the background in the initial trailer, so that's quite reassuring. And when Aonuma, the director, was questioned about this, he said something along the lines of ''of course there will be plenty of NPCs and towns, it's a Zelda game after all.''

@carlos82 I heard somewhere that the dev version has less enemies, towns, etc to emphasise the exploration aspect of the game. The full game will fill the emptiness.

"so that @rjejr can comment about Zelda without going off-topic for once."

Haha thats still going to happen.

To me it didnt really get my juices going, Im unsure why, maybe openworld fatigue - I cant even bring myself to play Witcher 3 anymore.

@get2sammyb Seems to be the case I liked the parallels to the original Zelda of the feeling of loneliness and discovery.

@Octane Then again, there's Skyward Sword.

@get2sammyb Well they did take out all the towns and NPC's besides the one old man you meet for this E3 demo.
The point of this was to make sure nothing could be spoiled when it comes to the plot.
So the only thing we were able to see at this point was overall world design and gameplay systems.
I wouldn't worry about the whole world being empty, although it's quite clear something significant happened in the time period between this and the previous Legend.

I can hear @get2sammyb regurgitating in the distance from every time he wrote "Nintendo" "The Legend of Zelda" "Miiverse" and "Wii U". If I missed any let me know.

Also don't go to work for 24 hours, and only eat bread.

I wonder what the game would've been like had they stuck to the original 2015 release date. Either way, like I said in another thread, it's crazy to see what they've managed to achieve with the barely-there specs of the Wii U. Those futilely hoping for the NX to match the Xbox Scorpio are in for a shattering disappointment (and a slap from the reality stick). Yes, the financial aspect is obvious - but think of it from a marketing view; Nintendo got people talking with one game from a last-gen system (in terms of specs). Just like they did with Wii Sports or Wii Fit, and what Sony proved with the PlayStation and PS2, or up to Minecraft today - marketing is absolutely key, no matter how technologically inferior your product really is. If it wasn't, then we'd be seeing PC master racers dominate the industry - but they don't (thank Christ).

I'm not saying Breath of the Wild will sell billions and dominate the market; what I'm saying is that it's it got such positive word of mouth despite being nowhere near the technological feat of its peers. A well designed, aesthetically pretty game isn't beholden to the latest in horsepower - and this applies to Sony and Microsoft, too. The games that were running on their soon-to-be-outdated machines looked perfectly fine, yet they've fallen foul with the Digital Foundry generation of snotty graphics whores (man, I remember that term from 20 years ago), and have let the whiney minority dictate their business. PS4 is doing great. Xbox One is doing fine. There is absolutely no need to splinter the marketplace by emphasising haves and have-nots. Nintendo did it with the New 3DS, and look what happened (though it wasn't exactly cutting edge tech).

My point is; don't let 'power' be the mantra of these consoles. It's a self-defeating mindset. That's not to say they shouldn't BE powerful, just that gameplay and innovation shouldn't be forgotten as the cornerstone of what makes gaming great. Nintendo proved this (once again) with Zelda and its other games, and so did the the Indies. Fortunately, other companies stood up to the plate this year. Ubisoft's Steep was an open-world game devoid of violence (very refreshing), and PSVR (seen as the 'cheap end' VR model) showed some really cool stuff, despite its perceived lack of power (sounds familiar... is PSVR the Nintendo of the VR market?).

Despite my ideological grievances, I really do think E3 was a great showing of the future of gaming - from all companies. I dived in whilst avoiding internet comments in general - and my god, does it make a difference. Felt like a kid again.

Nothing worse than snobby digital foundry graphic whores.......sniffle sniffle cough......you can't even run at 30 FPS!!?? The game slows down to 28 FPS!! during at least three fight scenes!! UNACCEPTABLE!! Look at those low quality console textures. UNACCEPTABLE!!

That's why USGamer is a better site than the popularity contest that is the Eurogamer community.

@kyleforrester87 i loved the sailing, helped me relax between dungeons, sometimes i would just sail and explore instead of doing the actual game

i can see why it would bore others though

@sub12 Yeah. DF is very anal about that stuff, though I suppose that's what they're there for. It's really the community that uses their analyses as ammo which is the big problem. Back during the N64 vs. PlayStation days, it was all about FMV and anti-aliasing... which basically meant N64 was blurry, and PS pixilated, lol.

Also, Shigeru Miyamoto was spotted playing as Crash Bandicoot in Skylanders at E3. Even he loves the 'coot

Looks amazing. Considering Nintendo only brought one game to show off, it should be incredible, though.

@get2sammyb In fairness, Nintendo has stated that they removed all of the towns and NPCs from the E3 build of the game so as not to spoil the plot, which would explain why it seems so empty.

@get2sammyb I know youre more of a joker compared to others on the site regarding the company, but I cant help but wonder if you legitimately hate them or not XD

Even though I like some aspects of the Wii U (like off-tv play) to tell the truth it felt somewhat outdated from the start. Super slow boot-up and menus, non existent internal hard disk, digital games tied to hardware, strange virtual console treatment from Nintendo with no cross-buy, having to pay again to play wii VC games on the gamepad. In the end of the day when the only games I have (except VC) are Toad and some Avengers fighting game clearly there is something wrong. I mostly played retro vc games on it.

The new Zelda looks cool but I am too afraid that the vastness of the world may not work great. In Wind Waker there was this boring sailing sections, in the new the world seemed empty like having boring walking instead of sailing. I will surely check the game though when it is out. However the idea that Nintendo may become irrelevant in the gaming future may not be that far-fetched.

I know we're on a Sony site and a lot of gamers here don't olay Nintendo, but, I hope this attention will encourage some to branch out and game on both Sony and Nintendo. There's alot of great games on both and they seem to compliment each other nicely (Sony has games Nintendo doesn't while Nintendo has the types of games Sony doesnt).

I tell Nintendo fans the same. Branch out. Go buy a PS4 and see what you've been missing. PS4 gamers, branch out, go buy a 3DS or Wii U (or wait for NX) and see what you've been missing!

@get2sammyb haha meanwhile its the only post @rjejr hasn't posted Zelda on

@JaxonH A smart gamer doesn't have simply one place to play game. You don't have to explain that to anyone. I mean unless you're a kid you could get every console there is if you wanted to.

Can't wait for Breath of the Wild.

i want to play the new zelda but the wii u price is to high want to pay 250 or 199.99 US moneys for a nintendo console .That mario kart looks sweet too .😊

@Remito
They should have dropped price to $250 by now. I imagine they'll either drop prince around the NX reveal in a few months, but even if they don't, price will drop this holiday season as retailers try to move stock for their next generation console.

I think $250 is a solid price of entry for what's offered in the Wii U library. My personal recommendations would definitely be DKC Tropical Freeze, Pikmin 3, Xenoblade Chronicles X, the Platinum trio (Bayonetta, Bayonetta 2 and Wonderful 101), Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, Yoshi's Wooly World (this is the Yoshi's Island SNES sequel we've been waiting on for 20 years- they NAILED it), Splatoon, Super Mario Maker, the GameCube Zelda remakes (Windwaker and Twilight Princess), your 2D and 3D Mario games, and of course Mario Kart 8 and Smash. And if you really like to venture out, Captain Toad is a fine piece of work, and Kirby Rainbow Curse is a very unique game.

@JaxonH awesome game selection there thanks a lot JaxonH 😀

@Remito I don't know if the offer is still valid, but for a while, Nintendo was selling refurbished consoles on its website for $200. I got one, and it looked pretty much new when I bought it. Even came with a game!

EDIT: Just looked on Nintendo's website, and they're selling a $225 refurb bundle that comes with digital copies of Nintendo Land and Super Mario 3D World. If you're VERY generous with the price and estimate these games as being worth about $50 together (unless you're buying them new, they're probably worth more new), that drops the cost of the machine itself to $175

@Ralizah whao thanks a lot Ralizah those looks like a great steal ☺awesome.

@JaxonH
And I'm the opposite. I believe everybody should expand their horizons but that's something people should be doing on their own, not getting encouraged to do by people who are working for companies that have competing hardware on the market. Aside from the NES days, I've never been a one console guy, hell I've even owned Game Gear, PSP and Vita when Nintendo was offering far and away superior experiences in the handheld market. But I firmly believe that under no circumstances should Yoshida and Spencer be actively plugging the competition like they do. It's tacky and sickening. You're competitors, you should be trying to crush eachother. You don't see Reggie giving anything more than respectful, but backhanded compliments and for that I applaud him. It's one thing I think he actually does right when talking to the media. He's there to sell you on Nintendo, he's not going to do Yoshida's or Spencer's job for them. I'm sure he likes that the other two are making what he has to do easier.

The combat is soooooooo boring, and skilless in zelda. I sold my wii u 2 years ago, cos it had zero games, ps4 horizon zero dawn is my zelda.

@Gamer83
Business is business, but that doesn't mean people can't give compliments or admit they have an affinity for a competitor's products. Especially in the gaming industry where a comment like that can really turn alot of people on to Sony.

It makes me think well of them that they're not so elementary school minded that every comment has to be a swipe at someone else. If they have good product, they shouldn't have to attack anyone else to show it. The product and value speaks for itself. And admiring a game from another platform once in a while isn't going to hurt anything. Like I said, I think if anything it really turns people on them for it.

But in particular, I think he recognizes Sony benefits from a successful Nintendo in the long term. Nintendo- more than anyone else, brings in new players. And today's new players are tomorrow's core gamers.

Zelda development has been 8 YEARS which has coincided with both the Wii yoo's birth and death. Infact a whole console generation for nintendo without a zelda game. It's too late now.

@Bazza78
Pretty sure two years ago Wii U had more than zero games- I know cause I've been gaming on it since launch. Of course it's not a system for AAA, it's a system for exclusives you can't play anywhere else. But I never understood people selling consoles over not having enough games. Not enough games - console = even less games.

Bayonetta 2 mario kart 127, Zzzzzzz

@JaxonH nintendo are dead. I hate saying that but they are. They're so far behind the times it's untrue.

You're competitors, you should be trying to crush each others hopes and dreams and eat your rivals desert while they are screaming and kicking like demons from the E3 hell . Fight to the dead my creatures of gaming hate jajajajaja.burn burn.!!!!!😶

Zelda comes 5 YEARS after Wii u launch. shakes head

@Bazza78
Dead? I've gotta respond to that because it's simply not true.

Idk how you come to that conclusion. The Wii U sold poorly, yes, dead? 60 million 3DS doesn't sound like "dead" to me.

That's like saying Sony is dead because Vita was no more successful than Wii U. Disregarding their successful platform and focusing only on the one failed attempt.

You may not like their games, and they may not be the dominant force in console gaming anymore, but you're using extreme after extreme to exaggerate points.

Nintendo is not dead. They are struggling in the console space, yet still hold onto a foothold with roughly 15 million this generation. Which is paltry compared to what Sony and even MS will do but, it's still far more than what I would consider possible from a "dead" platform manufacturer.

Ultimately, it's about the games. And as long as Nintendo is still making great games, dead is not applicable. If the day comes they bow out of both handhelds and consoles, then I will agree with you. But Sony is not dead for bowing out of handhelds with the failed Vita, so how can Nintendo be dead for Wii U.

There's been a ton of great games on 3DS and Wii U these past few years. In fact, some of my absolute favorite of all time. Not bad for being dead, wouldn't you agree.

EDIT
"Zelda comes 5 YEARS after Wii u launch. shakes head"

Just a tad over 4 years, actually. But agreed- Wii U may have fared better with a day one launch. But considering Skyward Sword dropped one year before Wii U released, so there was no way to turn around a brand new entry in less than 12 months. Most games take developers 3-5 years (or in Sony's case with The Last Guardian or SE with FFXV- an entire decade). The game was targeted for 2015, so either way it was still going to be several years after launch- only question was how many. They should have developed Skyward Sword for Wii U day one, but too late for that now. At least that's what they're doing with Breath of the Wild and NX.

@JaxonH fair point. I personally am not going to repurchase the Wii u just for zelda, it's FIVE YEARS too late. I got VR and 4K to think about.

@JaxonH
The average person who just doesn't care for Sony's game may say 'that's nice to compliment Nintendo,' but they're not going to suddenly become interested in trying Uncharted, God of War, Gran Turismo, Gravity Rush, MLB The Show, etc, because of it. I know most people on this trio of websites prefer Nintendo and love to see Sony and MS kissing Nintendo's backside, but that's mainly because they can brag and say even Yoshida and Spencer think Nintendo is the best. It's all stupid. I like Reggie's approach. Hype up your own product, zip it about everything else because helping other companies to possibly sell more hardware than your own is stupid and not what you're being paid to do. In fact, you're not being paid a single cent to help the other side move even one system off shelves. The only company that benefits from Shu's comments here is Nintendo and he's absolutely allowed to say what he wants but as a PlayStation fan first, I don't really give a damn if he loves Nintendo, he's being paid by Sony and I'd prefer he keep getting good games on the PS4 and talking that up. Hell, he should still be talking about the failed Vita. He's just given Wii U more positive press with one comment than he's given his own company's handheld system in the last 3 years. It may make him look like a nice guy but it does nothing for the PS brand.

Horizon zero dawn >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>zelda .Let's be honest.

@JaxonH but zelda aint released yet, by the time it is Wii u will be 5 YEARS old.

@Bazza78
I'm more interested in Horizon but that's mainly because we get so few new IPs these days, and despite the fact she talks to herself way too much, I like that we have a new protagonist that is easily as badass as Link. The reason I simply can't put anything above Zelda though is that it's the most revered franchise in gaming history, and even a 'bad' Zelda game is better than at least 90% of anything else on the market at the same time. Horizon is unproven and while Guerrilla has some good games to its credit, only Killzone 2 qualifies as truly great.

Push square should have more Nintendo articles 😉
Zelda is shaping up very nicely

@Gamer83
I get what you're saying. Of course some people only care about it so they can tout it like a badge of honor, but you're gonna get that from that certain segment of the fanbase on any console. I just think it shows confidence, honesty, and a maturity above the console wars. I hate how Reggie is always so scared to admit Sony has a great system. Like come on, it just makes Nintendo look lame when they pretend otherwise. I particularly liked to see Miamoto play Tearaway. It may have been just a "let's see what the other guys are offering" but still, idk.

But ya the Vita is a situation where they just pretend like it never existed. Definitely agree he should have addressed it first. Even if it's selling like a Japanese Xbox there are still customers who bought it, day one, and they deserve (we, deserve) acknowledgement at the very least. Even if Sony isn't making any games for it, show us a little spread of what's coming from 3rd parties. Take an interest, even if for just one day a year.

@JaxonH
I guess we just have a situation here of agree to disagree. Your point of view on this makes sense to me as well but I don't know, I guess I just view competition differently. I think part of it is I'm a very sports oriented person and my friends and I used to do a lot of trash talk growing up whether we were competing in sports or just doing something fun like playing video games and I feel like with something where there are high stakes (and there are in the games industry) it doesn't hurt to throw a little shade from time to time. And it can be in a respectful way. Reggie was asked about the competition at E3 2015 and answered frankly. He admitted games like Halo 5 and Forza 6, Gears of War, etc were great but then quickly brought things right back around to his company and only got sidetracked because he was being pestered. I think it actually shows more confidence when you pretend like you don't have competition, like your product is so good nobody need bother with anything else. I go back to E3 2006 when MS had a great showing, everybody was crapping on Sony and Nintendo made a big impression with Wii and Peter Moore made a joke about for the price of a PS3, people could buy an Xbox 'Wii60' (incredibly lame joke btw). Somebody brought that quote up to Reggie and he was like 'yeah... we think our console is going to stand out on its own.' It was a great brush-back pitch. And that's what I'd like to see these companies do. It's like I said, I can see your view point as you'd rather not deal with the console wars. I just think the nice guy acts by the people at Sony and MS are incredibly lame PR tactics. People who aren't geeks that follow this stuff like those of us who frequent game websites don't give a rat's ass what Phil Spencer or Shu Yoshida think about the competition and I'd be willing to bet many of us don't either. I actually would much rather hear about PSVR from Shu. I have no interest in it myself but it is presumably going to be a big part of the PlayStation ecosystem. His thoughts on it and how he plans to help make it a success are much more interesting to me than the fact he loves Nintendo. I think Reggie comes off as a bit of an arrogant a-hole sometimes but one thing I will give him, even if I don't always agree with his actions, he's extremely invested in his work at Nintendo and I genuinely believe he's trying to do his best for the fans. He's just misguided sometimes and maybe hamstrung by his Japanese bosses at others. But I prefer his style of leadership to that of Spencer (who was part of Don Mattrick's staff) or Shu Yoshida.

@Gamer83 i know but i'm sick of the "ehh oooh itzzz abitsda" zelda voice acting. Bout time it had some real acting. I'ts incredibly lazy and cost cutting to have every NPC sound like a monkey stepping on hot coals. It's 2016

You know he's got confidence in his system when he keeps genuinely and publicly complimenting the competition. Nice thing to do.

@Bazza78
I don't know, I'd rather no voice acting than poor voice acting. Although at this point I think they've painted themselves into a corner where they could get a who's who of voice actors/actresses and it wouldn't live up to what people would have built up in their minds. That's part of why Metroid: Other M didn't go over well. Granted the writing wasn't great either. Zelda's writing is usually pretty good.

Can you possibly imagine is zelda had to do voice acting and motion capture ? It would take 15 years to land.

@Gamer83 i dunno man, it's 1980's text boxes We're talking about here, considering it's 2016 and how games have moved on, i think you may be confusing laziness with nostalgic authenticity .

@Bazza78
All I know is I've never played a Zelda game I didn't like. Voice acting or no voice acting, I'm going to keep buying the games.

@Gamer83 Fair point, but you complain about horizon zero dawns character "talks to herself way too much" atleast she's not mute. Or says "ehh oooh itzzz abitsda"

@Bazza78
It's not really a complaint. I think she could end up being one of my favorite new characters. She just talks a lot.

@Kidfried
Sounds like you're kinda upset with them.

With the whole amiibo thing, I really don't understand why people get upset. You say paywalls but, it's not like a season pass is amiibo content. It's usually little 50 cent add on trinkets, like one constume per amiibo in MK, or rupees in Hyrule Warriors, or hearts in Zelda... it's all stuff that could never be paid for because it's just not worth anything (there are a few like exceptions like Den of Trials in Zelda TPHD but, it's still extra content)

So ya I just don't see the comparison. The Witcher DLC was awesome but there's a reason it made news. Almost no one does that, on any console. You could vilify anyone for not giving free DLC. But Nintendo is actually kinda generous. Free Pikmin DLC, free Mario Maker DLC, Fire Emblem Awakening, FE Fates, NSMB2... the season pass for MK8 increased content by 50% but only cost $11.99. So ya, idk.

I also think they have the most output beyond any other developer. Sony definitely doesn't release more games than them. They do release a lot but not as much. The difference comes from the 3rd party games which Wii U didn't get. So PS4 got many more games total.

Idk, I just game for fun. Nintendo hasn't done anything to piss me off more than Sony or MS. And none of them are perfect. I just play games and ignore the rest.

@Gamer83 Why he is not a American the culture is different much more respectfull at least the companies are.

That's cool that the president's so open. I think the new Zelda looks better than Horizon: Zero Dawn, but I still can't wait for Horizon. Zelda Breath of the Wild looks like it could be the best game ever made.

Looks good, I haven't played a Nintendo game in well over a decade. And I'm not gonna start now. Sorry Link, better luck next time.

I can't wait for Zelda AND Horizon Zero Dawn. both are day one purchases.

"we'd post this article so that @rjejr can comment about Zelda without going off-topic for once."

Haha, Ironically though he's not even posted yet has he?!