What you need to know about The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, including trailers, release date, and latest news!
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Latest News
At the start of their E3 Nintendo Treehouse event, Nintendo officially unveiled the title for the upcoming Legend of Zelda game on Wii U and NX. The game will be called The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and you can check out the brand new game trailer just below.
Nintendo has dropped a new piece of concept art (via IGN):
In the spirit of E3, Nintendo is letting 500 fans on the East Coast get their hands on a Legend of Zelda Wii U demo before anyone else. The special event is being held at Nintendo’s New York store location, and sign-ups begin on June 11 at 9 A.M. EST. The first 500 people in line (with a parent or photo ID) will receive a wristband granting access to the gameplay demo.
The Nintendo NY Legend of Zelda experience kicks off on June 14 from noon to 3 P.M. EST with Nintendo Treehouse featuring a live screening from E3. Immediately afterwards, the first Zelda fans with gameplay appointments will go hands-on with the demo until 8 P.M. EST. The remaining appointments will follow during regular store hours for the rest of the week.
If you’re not lucky enough to be one of the first 500 in line for a wristband, the Nintendo NY store will also be offering guided gameplay presentations for everyone between June 15 and 19, as well as hosting a trivia event.
The Legend of Zelda Wii U was recently delayed to 2017, along with confirmation that the game will be releasing concurrently on Nintendo’s mysterious new console, the NX.
The Legend of Zelda Wii U Release Date
Nintendo confirmed today on Twitter (via IGN) that The Legend of Zelda Wii U has been delayed to 2017 and that an NX version of the game will coincide with that console's launch, which has also now been set to 2017.
"Though originally scheduled for 2016, the release of the latest The Legend of Zelda title is postponed until 2017, to allow further improvement of quality. Thank you for your understanding," said the tweet.
Nintendo added that "an NX version [of the game] is also currently in development, to release simultaneously with the Wii U version."
It was also announced in a press release that Zelda will be the main focus of this year's Nintendo E3 presentation and that the NX will be absent from the show.
"This June, Nintendo will focus its attentions on the upcoming game in The Legend of Zelda series. The Wii U version of the game will be playable for the first time on the E3 show floor, and it will be the only playable game Nintendo presents at the show, in order to provide attendees a complete immersion. Additional information about Nintendo’s E3 plans will be announced in the future."
The Legend of Zelda Wii U Trailer
There was a big surprise tucked away at the end of the Twilight Princess HD trailer in the Nov. 2015 Nintendo Direct. In the last 20 seconds or so, we’re treated to a shot of Link riding his trusty steed Epona through a dramatic landscape. It’s not much, but hey, we’ll take what we can get at this stage; and it has to be said that Zelda Wii U (as we’re currently calling it) looks quite handsome, particularly when compared to the Twlight Princess HD footage.
Creator Shigeru Miyamoto and Director Eiji Aonuma sat down to show off some of the new gameplay features in next year's The Legend of Zelda Wii U.
Here is the gameplay footage:
E3 2014 was the first time we got some actual clips of the long awaited (and as yet unnamed) Zelda Wii U. The swaying grass, the way the clouds pass overhead, shifting the lighting, and then the magic/energy effects? Just glorious. The first footage starts at about 1:27 in the video below:
From this video, we have definitive proof from the horse’s mouth (perhaps we should leave Epona out of this) that Nintendo will be making good on its promise that Zelda Wii U will have an open world, meaning no transitions between locations. While a seemingly minor detail, the effect it has on the verisimilitude of the world in which the player is engaged is significant. There are no boundaries now. Those mountains in the distance aren’t just a bit of background in one section and the main setpiece of another. You can actually walk to them from where you are. They exist in the game, active, wherever you might be standing. That’s pretty damn cool.
