Zelda: Skyward Sword is Half Finished, says Miyamoto

It's too vague to really set a date for sure

"So expect it next Christmas"
I found that funny.

Translations are deceptive, and so is Miyamoto. What he said could mean it's anywhere from 50.000001% to 99.99999% complete. They were targeting a release date for early next year, so I'd say we'll get it around June like Super Mario Galaxy 2.

You know what? I don't mind. If the game comes out next Christmas, then it will be polished to an extra-high degree! It will be perfect by the time it comes out! In Miyamoto we trust.

Good news. I have too many games on my wishlist already, so i may actually be able to get them all before this comes out.

Good I thought that I was going to have to buy this before a 3DS and be $50 short

Ah well, more $$ for the 3DS

dang it. oh well i wouldn't want a game thats not completely done

I highly doubt he literally meant halfway through. Like pixie said, translations are easily misunderstood. Especially after the whole "It will be out by 2010" thing, id expect they couldnt take that much longer.

pretty much what i was expecting tbqh. now if it actually does come out earlier i can be pleasantly surprised.

I don't think they'll release in it march for sure. gonna need that month for 3DS I wouldn't mind a Christmas release though. It'd be a great present.

I'll be playing Ocarina of Time on the 3DS until the release of Skyward Sword, that's ok for me.

transform into the hulk RAWR WEJF SOFOAFWEFKOWEKFALSMFAWEKOFOAFOEMFWAEOKFOALMFMSFMEOF LOL im joking i knew something was fishy about gamestop march 27 release date wouldnt make sense to release 2 zelda games at the same time anyways

They already said it could have been done in 2010 if not for the art style changes. I think that's a mistranslation or something. I'd expect it in the first half of 2010.

I hardly consider this "hopes being broken" He said "over half complete" not "half done, with loads more game left to make"

Still hoping (dreaming?) for a F-Zero and/or Starfox on the Wii before this hits....

Hope its out for July so i can get it for my birthday

So that means no early 2011 release, that's ok as long as it's not half baked (which I know it won't be).

not a big zelda fan, but if this game is like slated to come out @ the end of next year, what is nintendo going to come out with to feel in the gaps, so far the only schedule release date is mario sports mix, and last story is suppose to be coming so time next year, and maybe just maybe a pikmin 3, but not much is certain, and from the 3rd party side so far the only games to look forward to is the conduit 2 & de blob 2. Nintendo is more than likely to focus on the 3DS the 1Q but I just hope wii isn't getting neglected. But you can never be sure what nintendo has up their selves

Just as long as this doesn't end up being another Duke Nukem Forever

I'm gonna pre-order the heck out of that game.

I think the point is if it's half-finished having been in development for years, it's not likely to be out in the next six months. But hey, I'll happily eat my words if it comes out before June!

Nice. There's enough to play anyways.

I'll be buying it when it's done. Wouldn't want it any sooner.

How can it only be half complete? It's been in development for about four years. Why announce a game exists in 2009, show it off in 2010 and not release until perhaps the end of 2011? Yet another brilliant public relations decision by Nintendo; show the customers what they could have, but not give it to them for ages. All the footage seemed to suggest the game is pretty far along, looking and playing great, so what more can be done?

And before anyone shouts "he said it was over 50%" complete, if it was much more than half he would have said 60%, or 70%, etc. I mean, you're not going to say "my car is worth over £5,000" if you've got a Ferrari are you?

Gotta love the melodrama.

I think summer is a better time to expect it in. When dev teams usually say a game is "more than half" way done, they generally mean that they have the engine down, and some character models. In Skyward Swords case, they also have the motion mechanics down. From what we've seen at E3, they also have Link's model, some weapons, and a few enemies. Now they'll be plopping an overworld and dungeons in, and adding events to the game's code.

@The Man From Tallahassee When they said in 2009 that the game existed, they probably just meant that they had the plans for it.

@James: But we don't know that it's only just half finished. He said it's over half done, which is ambiguous. Miyamoto's not the most reliable guy for information anyway. Remember the whole deal with him talking up a "more adult and mature Link" and flaunting that gritty poster? And now we've ended up with a game that seems more like Wind Waker than Twilight Princess.

yawn... wake me when it's done plz :3

Oh poo.
Oh well, plenty to play in the meantime (I still need to finish Excitebots and crack open my copy of Wind Waker).

I thought he said it was all done at E3 except for graphics, lol.

NUH! D: 6 Months of no news on this particular game since E3 and they tell us that it's coming out next year by Christmas time...? ;w;

This game better be good...

Not a fan of the series, but I'm seriously keen to see how this one turns out. I really hope it's the business. I've got two Remote Pluses so I'm ready for some more swordfighting beyond Red Steel 2!

Any announcement of Zelda is good!

Huge fan of the series and am A BIT disappointed. Still, as long as its developed PROPERLY, that's the most important thing. IMHO then, this'll be a summer release. Allows the 3DS euphoria to bed in then throw another big bomb of a game into the mix to boost up the Wii 2011 library. Jobs a good 'un.

"over half finished" Thats more than half.

Well I didn't figure it was coming out anywhere near the 3DS's launch window, so summer at the earliest but I wouldn't be surprised if this was Nintendo's big Holiday game for next year.

Title:The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Release Date:"When it's done"

@ Syd-Lalak agreed I dont want it to be rushed I mean sure if they rush it would be here faster but then they wouldnt be able to take the time to put detail into the gameplay and improve on the formula we've seen in the series.

They are half done because they gotta get the Wii 2 version done too!

I expected Christmas, so no shock.

@josh: But this was supposed to be the Zelda Wii. I guess it's been a lie all along

I like how he said the 3ds can hold up to 2 hour movies.

to be honest, if the game is over half finished, and we can espect it in 2011, with christmas being the latest, it sounds to me that the game is being rushed. from what i know of game development, if you've got just under half a game to make, and it's a zelda game, you're not going to get it done in about a years time and it turn out good. $50 says this is going to basicly be an expanded variation of the phantom hourglass engine.

now i'm worried.

@lz: It's a timed exclusive

Also does he mean the whole project is over half done or maybe just part of it the rest being already complete. It could be that all or most of the graphics, story, art, coding is done and the actual gameplay is over half done in which case it won't be a huge wait.

Sitting, waiting, wishing. Nothing more to be done by us

i'm seeing a surprising amount of optimism here. do we all remember how many times Ocarina of Time was pushed back? Or Twilight Princess? Nintendo loves Zelda more than even Mario, i think, as evidenced by the EXTREME care put into it. they will take their time, and we'll whine. but does it matter to them? no. because in the end, we love Zelda, too.

Hey, as long as it's good, I'm fine with the wait. What I'm not fine with is that Nintendo has NOTHING slated for between now and then.

And before someone says "3DS", I'm talking WII GAMES. Another new handheld is not the way to supplant a system's library that already seems anemic.

Just like Windwaker, i could take it or leave it.

Am kind of glad to be honest I came late to Zelda on Wii and I've only just started playing Twilight Princess so next year for Skyward Sword is all good for me.

More time for 3DS and catch up titles. Cool with me.

I'm good with it. I hope they take their time and get it all right. I'll gladly wait until holiday 2011 if the game is everything we're hoping it will be.

This is a right bummer! I know they like taking care of Zelda titles, but this is just ridiculous. Nintendo's evil mind plan:

1) We show them some gameplay that makes the game look nearly ready to be released at E3.

2) We make them wait 6-7 months before we drip feed them more info.

3) We give them a big bomb shell that it won't be out for another years time.

4) They start feeling depressed and sad.

Nintendo are EVIL!!

well not i wont be getting this on my bday i gess february 25

next CHRISTMAS?? I CAN'T WAIT ANOTHER FREAKIN' YEAR!!!!

that reminds me--I still have to give 3D Zelda series an honest chance again. My goal is to play through all of them (starting with Ocarina) in order so hopefully I can appreciate this offshoot of the series more....to date only the top-down ones have ever held my attention to completion... There's gotta be something to most of the rest of the world liking them though.

I still don't know if I'm gonna get this one. I love the original Zelda-style artrwork, but I never really liked the 3D games as much.

D: Gamestop had this listed for April 2011! I was counting down the months!

Oh well. I want them to take their time. They delayed Ocarina of Time also...

@Dodger: how did they "delay" a game that never had a release date?

Yeah, I don't understand the title for this article. You even quote in it that he said "over half complete," then omit the word "over" in the title. :/

I believe this game is going to hit before Christmas, and I also believe this game is over 51% done, unless they decided to change up a lot of things they originally wanted. This game has been in development since about the time of TP release, which was 2006.

I'd rather have it "delayed" than rushed. Perfection needs time.

Is Sakurai really working on this game too?

I think Nintendo's learned from everyone's b***hing about Twilight Princess' delays that they shouldn't be concrete about release dates when they game isn't 100% finished yet.

@65. Yeah, the title and tagline are extremely misleading.

Well as long as the end product is amazing, it's fine with me

It's ok with me... not too much of a zelda fan

Pfff, I never expected it sooner than 2012.

This doesnt bother me as I thought it was already confirmed to be late 2011/early 2012.

I'm guessing that it will be pushed back to spring of 2012, since less than half of a zelda game is over a year of game making. I bet that by more than half, he means about two thirds or three quarters.

I'm just glad I have no hype for this game like I did with the last few. Maybe that'll solve all my Zelda problems.

Or if... they like made an entertaining game. D:

I have a feeling they might pull a Twilight Princess and release two versions, one for the Wii, one for the ? (Wii 2).
Unless the new controller is similar, then hopefully they'll just do the one version and let backwards compatability take care of it.

Yeah Nlife need to calm down on the suppositions a bit, I don't know how Miyamoto saying that the game is "over half complete" translates to a definite "will be out next christmas". He didn't say exactly half has been finished, so to suppose another entire half of the game is in need of completion is a bit much. Although all this speculation is from a single sentence Miyamoto said so we are kinda grasping at straws here.
In any case, I would much prefer an earlier LoZ: SS release than next christmas - more Zelda, sooner please!

With any luck this means it will be released for the Wii's sequel instead of the Wii, or I suppose both, like Twilight Princes before it.

@Crunc Oooooohh YES. PLEASE let that happen !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now they'll definitely release a Zelda 25th anniversary disc as they did with SMB since Skyward Sword will probably be at retailers on november 2011. This also means no new hardware at E3 2011 since my bet is that Nintendo has a at least 2-4 games they could localize easily (Project Zero, Disaster Day of Crisis) as well as 3-5 new Wii games we don't know about and they'll focus 2011-2012 on the 3DS and let 3rd party publishers have their so desired "opportunity" to not compete with Nintendo on the Wii.

Does anyone remember when Reggie said Miyamoto wants it to be the perfect game? He might be taking his time to perfect it, but with his vague language, who knows how done "over half" is....

This game has some color to it, not dark and drab like twilight princess. Whats all this talk about a wii 2 version, is it time for a new console already?

Dude. That stinks.

personally, whenever i here a release date for something I always add a year to it as when i expect it to come out (probably because of brawl and cave story...)

oh, and if it comes out in japan I add 3 years

wow

I have faith that the game will be improved and that will be a great game

Gives them plenty of time to shoehorn in as much masonic reference as possible. Capless pyraminds, All-Seeing-Eyes, etc, etc.

The last big game of Wii? I hope not. ¡I want more and good Wii games in 2011!

Obvious release date = Nov. 11th. FYI = 11/11/11.

This will coincide with the release of the WiiHD so it can come out in both SD (Wii) and HD (WiiHD) editions just like TP came out on both the GC and Wii.

Yes, I know there is no WiiHD, and maybe the Nintendo head honchos don't believe they need it with the 3DS coming out in the first half of 2011, but they DO need it to compete going forward. I saw lots of Wii consoles on shelves this year - even a couple of red ones - which I have never seen before. Zelda HD will get people to lay out another $300.

I fully expect this game to come out no later than may 1st. Miyamoto said it was OVER half finished. How did everybody instantly skip to Christmas 2011?

Why is it that these sites, all of them, only state, over and over again the interference riddled demo, despite, minutes later posting videos upon videos of the game working flawlessly in the interference free hands on demo rooms?

There are far too many people who honestly believe the game is broken and actually performs like the stage demonstration.

Way to disseminate the truth videogame media.

This game looks amazing. I thought it was all a joke at the beginning