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Nintendo dismisses Zelda release date speculation

SantaC

SantaC

Member
Tom Bramwell 11:48 14/03/2005

GDC trailer sparks resurgence of interest in Nintendo RPG.

Nintendo "hopes" to announce more about its new Legend of Zelda GameCube title at E3 in May, the company said today as it dismissed reports that game would be released in October as "speculation".

Last week's GDC trailer for the game, which adopts a more mature graphical approach than its predecessor The Wind Waker (pictured), has re-ignited interest after its first appearance at last year's E3 trade show - and in particular fans are now drawing attention to a US retail posting of a 1st October release date.

Nintendo unsurprisingly distanced itself from the date this morning. In a statement the company said: "We haven't announced any potential release dates for the new Legend of Zelda title. Everything published to date is entirely speculation and we hope to announce more about the game at E3 in May."

This is hardly surprising as retailers regularly add speculative release dates to game postings. Although some turn out to be true, more often than not a prospective release date is just designed to encourage pre-orders.

In Zelda's case, Nintendo has said the game will appear in 2005 on GameCube, but other details - including the full name of the game, the nature of the story and gameplay changes - have yet to be announced.
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GamesIndustry.biz

"hopes"? They better mean "will" or fuck em!
 
What are you guys talking about? They have to be careful! Sony/Microsoft and Developers might steal their release date!
 
DSN2K said:
Zelda will release the day the Xenon launches I bet.
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I never understood this strategy. It will NOT stop any sales of the system, and conversely it might actually make sales of the game diminish somewhat.

Certainly it won't make people who are thinking of buying Xenon rethink their consideration.
 
Amir0x said:
I never understood this strategy. It will NOT stop any sales of the system, and conversely it might actually make sales of the game diminish somewhat.

Certainly it won't make people who are thinking of buying Xenon rethink their consideration.
Click to expand...

I agree. But I definitley think it will release in November.
 
Amir0x said:
I'm with you. November is a sound bet.
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I just hope that Nintendo would stop being so careful and foolish in their statements. Why use the expression "we hope" when we know that it will be shown at E3. Everything else would be a total failure and Nintendo knows that. Don't be so damn afraid to confirm things.
 
Amir0x said:
I never understood this strategy. It will NOT stop any sales of the system, and conversely it might actually make sales of the game diminish somewhat.
Click to expand...

This is done to remind people, "Hey, awesome games are still coming out for our system, don't forget us!" It may also be a ploy to get the game mentioned in writeups of the competition..."Xbox 360 launches in November, but faces competition on the very same day from Nintendo's new Zelda game."

I don't see any evidence to suggest it would significantly hurt sales of the game or the competition's hardware launch.
 
Catchpenny said:
This is done to remind people, "Hey, awesome games are still coming out for our system, don't forget us!" It may also be a ploy to get the game mentioned in writeups of the competition..."Xbox 360 launches in November, but faces competition on the very same day from Nintendo's new Zelda game."

I don't see any evidence to suggest it would significantly hurt sales of the game or the competition's hardware launch.
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If the game won't affect sales of the hardware - which it won't - then what is the point of saying "Don't forget us!" The game won't make people avoid Xenon at all. Likewise, Xenon's launch won't make people forget about the game. It's just silly. Gamecube is in last place, and nothing can change that at this point. Even if the game came from PS2 it wouldn't make those looking to adopt Xenon reconsider.

That's all I am saying. It's a silly strategy. Better it just be released a few weeks prior and allow people to enjoy it for a bit and allow sales to glide rather than allowing people to turn their focus to Xenon.

SantaCruZer said:
I just hope that Nintendo would stop being so careful and foolish in their statements. Why use the expression "we hope" when we know that it will be shown at E3. Everything else would be a total failure and Nintendo knows that. Don't be so damn afraid to confirm things.
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Heh, let's face it... we just want to hear them confirm things :P It's not really beneficial or unbeneficial to Nintendo to confirm it, so I really can't care :D
 
someone pointed out the other day.

GameCube
Metroid
Double Dash
Prime Echoes

All launched on November 17th in the US. So who knows!
 
Nintendo released Majora's Mask on PS2's launch date, so I almost expect Zelda to be released on Xenon's launch date.

And MM was released in the UK on November 17th. O_o
 
ThongyDonk said:
someone pointed out the other day.

GameCube
Metroid
Double Dash
Prime Echoes

All launched on November 17th in the US. So who knows!
Click to expand...
If that's the case, change mine to 17. I actually thought Metroid Prime was released on the 18th.
 
Zelda will come out in time for Black Friday. That's the only sure bet. There's nothing that could stop them from an October release, for example, but the day after Thanksgiving is a key factor to their release schedule.
 
ThongyDonk said:
someone pointed out the other day.

GameCube
Metroid
Double Dash
Prime Echoes

All launched on November 17th in the US. So who knows!
Click to expand...

According to Nintendo:

Luigi's Mansion
Category: Adventure, System: NINTENDO GAMECUBE, ESRB: E, Release Date Nov 18, 2001

Metroid Prime
Category: First Person, System: NINTENDO GAMECUBE, ESRB: T, Release Date Nov 18, 2002

Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
Category: Racing, System: NINTENDO GAMECUBE, ESRB: E, Release Date Nov 17, 2003

Metroid Prime 2 Echoes
Category: First Person, System: NINTENDO GAMECUBE, ESRB: T, Release Date Nov 15, 2004
Click to expand...
 
pretty sure echoes didn't hit til 17th, and GC released on the 17th?
Like i said i was just quoting someone else, but they are all pretty much in that ball park.
 
How is that even news?

Zelda will hit in time for holidays in the US, of this there is no doubt.
For Shameindustry.biz to take a retail stab in the dark as anything other than that is just laughable. Also, if they actually had any conections, surely they could just get a date comment off the record, rather than trotting out a tepid corporate quote as being news.
 
I'm dying to know what the subtitle is for this one, and especially the overall theme.

For me, the trailer was basically the equivalent of a gas tank to a shrinking flame.
 
Nintendo always ships its games on Mondays, which arrive in stores on Tuesdays. The exception, of course, is for hardware launches in stores on Sundays (see also the official date of 09/30/96). I'd imagine they're shipped out the prior Monday and held until launch to ensure that all of the shipments have arrived.

My prediction: Zelda will be advertised for and shipped to retailers on November 21st.
 
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