The New Zelda

freakonaleash881 writes "IGN is reporting that the new Legend of Zelda for the Gamecube is going to be a cartoon...that's right, a cartoon! It's supposedly showing off the Gamecube's realtime cartoon shading abilities. I just don't know about this..." I think it looks sweet considering the general poor quality of the snapshots. I tell ya folks, the next few months are going to be really exciting for console games with the new Final Fantasy, and the release of 2 new systems.

Watch the movie

[Midnight Thunder]

If after reading the text you still think a cartoon approach is bad, check out the movie at the bottom of the page. Although not the same feel as the previous version of Zelda it certainly is a novel approach and one that might find a number of imitators.

Good animation, bad stills

[MadMilkman]

I thought the animation was incredible. Link's movements were decent, but the enemies featured in the shot were hilarious. On the other hand, the shots of Zelda standing still looked like fan-art from a very confused 12 year old. Only time will tell if this method works. But if you're looking for a more conventional game, check out the Mario Sunrise converage. Now THAT looks like a complex 3D environment.

Can't wait

[Nerds]

I really want to play this game, too bad it's not supposed to come out until next Christmas. It's kinda funny that a lot of people looked at the new Mario title and said "It's disappointing because it just looks like Mario64 but prettier" and then complained when the new Zelda didn't look like Ocarina only prettier.

I've read all kinds of opinions on this thing and it seems that everyone who was actually at the show was apprehensive at first, but by the end of the clip they loved it. That, along with the fact that there is a year of development time left, and, well, because I just think it looks cool, has convinced me that Nintendo knows what they are doing and aren't afraid to try something because they think it would be fun. Sega and Nintendo are the real trailblazers when it comes to video games, the PS2 and XBox can go take a running jump.

Cell Shading = Old News

[derrickh]

They're just using the age old method of 'cell shading'. 3D apps like lightwave have had this for ages. And the Dreamcast already did a game using cell shading(Jet Grind Radio) last year.

In fact, there's a good chance that cell shading is less intensive than regular texture mapping. You dont have to worry about moving huge textures in and out of memory and your color pallete drops from millions of colors to thousands.

D

Article directly from the man, about the change.

[Anonymous Coward]

http://cube.ign.com/news/37687.html

That article explains it and I think does a decent job of getting his message across.