The C-E staff give their views on gaming's most important issues.

Most reasonable people realised the advantages of Wind Waker's cel-shading. It was emotive and brought the game world to life in a gorgeous way. But the Sony and Microsoft crowds laughed at it, dismissing it as kiddie. It was childish they claimed. They wanted a realistic Zelda, a 'good' Zelda. And Nintendo gave it to them.

Is a realistic Zelda just giving into the Wind Waker-haters?

Ben:

In a sense, yes; Nintendo have listened to their fans and adjusted accordingly, but whether that is "giving in" is another thing in itself. Miyamoto has explained in interviews that the toon-like cel-shading visuals were designed to show the childish aspect of the "Wind Waker" experience- during the game Link is a young lad, something that the graphics represent. I don't think these visuals were a push towards a definite look for the series, just an adjustment to fit with an installment.

The fact that Nintendo even bothered to make a tech demo for GameCube- featuring a realistic Zelda- shows that they had looked at the possibilities of a grown-up "adult" adventure; I think that the great public demand has just pushed them to delve deeper into this project which I believe would have been brought to life in some incarnation along the line.

To be honest, once TWW came out, there weren't all that many "Wind Waker haters"- before the release there was the "nu-celda" whingers: but once they played the game most were converted. The demand for a realistic Zelda was more a coalition between all Zelda fans; not just those who disliked it's predecessor. The prospect of a grown-up Link is pant-wettingly exciting for most, if not all, Nintendo fans.

After last year's disappointing E3, Nintendo have realised that they do have to listen to their fans; and if the announcement of a new Zelda for the masses makes Nintendo have the kind of E3 they had this year- so be it. So be it.

Ah who cares if it's a copout

Ash:

In a way yes and no.

I'm sure Nintendo wanted to use a non cel-shaded (PC talk ) Zelda art style at some point, Miyamoto is often saying when there are big changes "We wanted to use it when it was right and could be done the way we want. Now that it is available we are using it". I think this is the case, and maybe Nintendo had planned it. I mean they did the GameCube demo so they may have considered it but thought that the cel-shaded art was better for The Wind Waker.

But yes, Nintendo has taken into consideration that fans want this "realistic" Zelda (which is becoming a loaded phrase) and listened to them, but can we complain about that? It's not like The Wind Waker didn't sell, it did, and phenomenally. At first people thought "ahhh it looks horribly" but it played beautifully.

And just a warning; if any body starts saying how much The Wind Waker sucks (thus being a "flip flop" if you may as most people eventually said they liked it) in the Zelda discussion I will use my mod muscles.

Dan:

Yes, but it's not a bad thing to do. Nintendo has listened to the demands and fans and people working at Nintendo to bring a 'graphically better' to the masses. Like the others said, Wind Waker was just the get the Gamecube's sales on the up, plus to get a Zelda game on the platform.

In my opinion Wind Waker was rushed because of this. It did work in the short term but the long term I think that the series has been damaged because of the boldness to change the graphics so dramatically and the shortness of the game.

This Zelda game is to sell more 'Cubes and to restore the fans love and respect in Zelda. A realistic Zelda WILL shift thousands and thousands of Gamecubes in the UK alone. Will this mean more Zelda games on Gamecube, Nintendo Revolution and Nintendo DS? YES!!

Javid:

I wouldn't call it giving in, in fact it's anything but; it's a clever move and one we probably should've forseen, as looking back it seems like Nintendo may have planned this all along. They showed a realistic looking Zelda video so the surprise of the Wind Waker would get the attention it got, and now switching back to realism brings yet another huge surprise and again a horde of attention. Zelda will always be a stunning game no matter what the graphics, but no doubt about it; the new realistic Zelda will have that special extra essence we have been longing for.

Iun:

I think the new Zelda is not giving in to Wind Waker haters. As many people liked the new Zelda as walked away from it. And even if they didn't like the style, they at least played the game and quite enjoyed it above and beyond the different graphical style.

I wasn't keen on the graphics, but I enjoyed the dynamism they brought to the game and I think they were perfectly suited for the shorter game. Let's be honest: If you'd been faced with screens and screens of realistic water, sure it will look great initially... but eventually it would have grated on your nerves.

This new games seems a lot more dramatic and powerful; the Wind Waker was just one story in a book of what will be thousands set in the land of Hyrule and featuring the Hero Of Time.

Pesten:

No. Giving in is the last thing I would call it.

This new turn is a Nintendo beginning to understand the market they are in. Listening to thousands of gamers and fans is not anything like giving in at all. It's just a smart move. Listening to the market is after all critical, if you want to succeed in, well - the market. But I'm not going to make a big speech out of it.. Let me go admire that trailer again...

Just an experiment?

Jayseven:

To be fair, people mainly disliked Wind Waker's graphics BEFORE it was out... Once it had arrived and people had played the game they realised that the graphics were well-suited to the fantasy element of the game, and the cel-shaded look was unique giving gamers the impression that they were playing something special. Personally I wasn't that into the game, but the reason was most definitely NOT the graphics side of things.

So this new style then, giving into WW haters? No, not really. I think every single Zelda fan has dreamed of this game, ever since that fabled spaceworld footage all those years ago, so from that point of view Nintendo have answered the Zelda fans' prayers, not the WW haters. I also think that Nintendo are attempting to silence some critics out there, the critics who say that Nintendo never listen to their fans (well Nintendo have seemingly picked up on the biggest request), and attempted to answer the whole "kiddy image" thing. Compare the cel-shading style to the new 'realistic' one and ask people which one looks more 'grown up' and the answer will be fairly obvious.

Tim:

I think Nintendo has had this title in the pipeline for quite some time! Remember the so called 'Zelda demo' screens? I would not be surprised if they came from an early version of this new Zelda title. The reaction to the first info and screens off Wind Waker may have woken Nintendo up a little. But then again... Wind Waker did turn out to be one of the best sellers on the GameCube!

Miyamoto already stated in an interview held recently that this new Zelda was not a direct response to the Wind Waker-haters. Developing a realistic Zelda just felt right to him. Alright realistic Zelda-haters, bring it on...!

A new kind of Zelda game

Edge:

A recently formed opinion, but an enduring mantra that has been doing the rounds since the conception of the GameCube.

The machine was designed to be easy to code for, easy for start-up developers to break into. And the advantages of this ease? Coders wouldn't need to spend months getting to grips with the hardware, but could instead focus on making more creative games. The reality may not be as creatively lucrative as the dream, but this tangential opening was written to show that Nintendo wanted stir up the growing stagnation of the release lists.

No, I'm not answering the wrong roundtable. My point is that Nintendo didn't just want the Zelda series to turn into another bi-yearly update. They wanted something more creative, more original, and more� emphatic. And that was exactly what The Wind Waker was, a classic Link adventure with added emotion and expression. (Incidentally, the same sort refreshment was attempted in another big-name title, Mario Sunshine, with the inclusion of a new gameplay concept; FLUDD.)

I don't know about the rest of you, but I can't imagine TWW with Ocarina-esque characters. The cel-shading fits the game perfectly, and I think exactly the inverse is true of the next Zelda, hence the move to a more traditional, texture-based look.

But what does this reversion mean? Have Nintendo given up on their push for originality? I very much doubt it. Instead of an aesthetical shift, expect the next Hyrulian adventure to feature a few interesting gameplay concepts.

While initial criticism of Wind Waker's graphics no doubt secured Link's next outing as a 'toon free zone, I think Miyamoto and Co. were always planning to try something different. In other words, the graphical shift might simply be a correlation with enthusing fans rather than a direct cause. But hey, I could be wrong.

So what do you think? A concession to the narrow-minded or a geniune attempt at something new?