New Zelda game delayed
Some bad news for Zelda fans from Nintendo. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, which had been expected out later this year for the GameCube, has been delayed until 2006.
Zelda developers need more time to finish the game, said Ron Bertram, vice-president and general manager of Nintendo Canada.
The title was expected to be Nintendo’s cornerstone this year. The Canadian arm of the company planned to spend 30 per cent of its 2005 marketing budget on the Zelda game for GameCube, with Bertram hoping to sell more than 250,000 copies in Nintendo’s fiscal year (through March 31, 2006). That would have likely made it the bestselling game of the year in Canada.
“It’s not good news short-term for everyone who was expecting it,” Bertram acknowledged Tuesday from Vancouver.
“So short-term obviously, our software sales will go down a little bit. But the beauty of a game like that is whenever you launch it, it sells a lot . . . When we launch it in 2006, it will sell great guns. But (game producer Eiji) Aonuma needs more time. So they’re giving it to him.”
An announcement on the exact release date is expected later this year.
Footage from Twilling Princess, shown at the E3 trade show earlier this year in Los Angeles, showed a darker, more adult Zelda adventure.
The young hero Link, last seen in the smooth cartoon-like Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, has grown up. Now a goat shepherd, he finds himself drawn into new danger when he ends up in a twisted version of the kingdom of Hyrule.
Nintendo balanced news of the Zelda delay with an announcement Tuesday that the price of the portable DS system is dropping $30 to $169.95 come Aug. 21. The price reduction is timed to the Aug. 22 Canadian release of the DS game Nintendogs, already a huge hit in Japan.
Nintendogs puts you in charge of a dog, from feeding to training. You can spoil it with treats and teach it tricks, using the DS microphone for voice commands.
Players also can interact wirelessly with their friends’ Nintendogs by setting their DS to “bark mode,” which prompts the DS to bark whenever another DS puppy is within wireless range.
The game, which offers 18 breeds, also allows the gamer to interact with their dog via the DS built-in microphone.
Nintendogs has already sold more than 700,000 copies in Japan, and Nintendo hopes the title will bring girl gamers into play.
The game is the brainchild of Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of Zelda, Super Mario and Donkey Kong.
Nintendo has sold more than six million DS units worldwide, including more than 150,000 in Canada.
We hope to more than double that by the end of this year,” Bertram said.
Bertram reports steady sales on all of Nintendo’s platforms in 2005, with Nintendo Emerald leading the way on the software front.
“When you add it all up the last couple of months, we’ve sold more units than anyone else.”
———
Bestsellers: The Halo 2 Expansion Pack for the Xbox knocked Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Xbox version) out of top spot in the Canadian video game sales chart for July, compiled by NPD Group Canada. San Andreas, which has been in the headlines recently due to a controversy over sexual content in the game, drops to third with Nintendo’s Pokemon Emerald (Game Boy Advance) remaining at No. 2.
The rest of the top 10 was Destroy All Humans (PlayStation 2), Conker: Live and Reloaded (Xbox), Midnight Club 3 Dub Edition (PlayStation Portable), Fantastic Four (PS2), Star Wars Battlefront (PS2), Madagascar (GBA) and Destroy All Humans (Xbox).
———
Weir joins Tiger: Canadian Mike Weir is joining Tiger Woods’ crew on EA Sports’ Tiger Woods’ PGA Tour 06, set for release this fall. Other new pros featured in the game are Luke Donald, Chris DiMarco and Ian Poulter. Weir previously was hooked up with another video game, the Xbox Links 2004 game that has been discontinued.
———
Notes: Midway has released new downloadable content for Unreal Championship via Xbox Live. For more information, check out www.unrealchampionship2.com ... Shaquille O’Neal will be the cover athlete of NBA 2K6 from 2K Sports. Developers promise a host of new moves inspired by Shaq, from head fakes to fade away shots. The game is due out this fall for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and Xbox 360 ... Variety reports that DreamWorks is set to take over production from Paramount of a movie based on Ubisoft’s hit Splinter Cells series, much of which has been developed in Montreal.