Julius

Personally I think it's possible that we see their Star Wars gaming rights put to good use here, alongside the sport franchises. Other than that, I don't really care for EA on the Switch. Yes, it would be great to have them onboard, but I think this is one of the many reasons Nintendo have to have a contingency plan. We know that 80+ other titles are in the works from other parties, but at the end of the day, I don't play Nintendo systems for the latest shooter in the greatest resolution: I play for the heart in their own games. So again, as important as third parties are - and acknowledging how well utilised their policy on indie gaming is working for them when compared to other systems - after what happened with the Wii U, I'll be surprised if they don't have some back-up plan of their own to keep the system in the green. That could mean spreading games out for optimal revenues (such as distancing tentpole releases and having VC and indie games fill the gaps between those first party tentpole games), but unlike the Wii U, tent pole games seem to be every 1-3 months as opposed to 3+ months. Just a thought. But Ubisoft and many other developers seem to really be onboard. Let's see how they manage with first party titles (this will be what decides how we view the launch year, in my opinion, not the third party titles) between now and next March before passing judgement. EA are known for poor servers and going against fan wishes too, let's not forget.

It's probably the red lettering. In the films, we've had three different titles with red text at some point (before being abandoned later on in the marketing campaign): Return of the Jedi, it's preceding title Revenge of the Jedi and Revenge of the Sith. Just looking at RotJ and RotS, in the latter Luke is born (and Anakin "dies", becoming Vader), and in the former Luke is realised as a Jedi, and despite his father's short turn back to the light, he dies (for real this time, though I mean, Force Ghost, right?). I personally don't get it, seeing as we've already had official word on it, but I agree with most people here: I hope it signifies the end of the Jedi, even if Luke doesn't die. I have a feeling Rey will be resistant to his training methods and want to find an alternative way to do things (because I see Luke pushing her to kill Kylo, and not wanting to mirror his father by perhaps cutting off his nephew's hand).

Aonuma-san announces the Zelda weeks sale in preparation for BotW! Enjoy 30% off all Zelda titles (for those with a My Nintendo account, which I assume is most if not all people here) across the 3DS and Wii U eShop, from January 26th until February 9th! Smart move Nintendo, smart move.

So, the My Nintendo pre-orders in Japan went up and, unsurprisingly, sold out within hours (the site also crashed). On the upside, a certain message came up while the site was down, and so meet Nintendo's newest meme: "Nin-Zilla";

I love the title for this reason alone. The Force Awakens resulted in an almost unanimous questioning of "well, why was it asleep?". The Last Jedi, on the other hand, in title alone, makes you ask who this is in reference to. Could be Luke. Luke could die, and it could be Rey. It could be plural and referring to them both. It could imply that the Jedi will come to an absolute end, and perhaps transform in purpose and name. Perhaps more telling is that, once again, the Star Wars Twitter has referenced the saga as "the Skywalker saga". This was a point of contention for many fans after TFA, and could be taken to imply that Rey is Luke's daughter. But Luuke

"We can forgive them". You're kidding, right? This console has had hundreds, if not thousands, of people work on it, and hundreds, of not thousands, of livelihoods depend on it. People have poured time, energy, blood, sweat and tears into this thing. And we have to forgive them? As for 10-12 big hitters, let's have a look at the confirmed, potential and rumoured "big hitter" titles (totally subjective, of course) for 2017 - which would not cover the launch year - shall we? Confirmed • Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild • Mario Kart 8 Deluxe • Splatoon 2 • Xenoblade Chronicles 2 • Fire Emblem Warriors • Super Mario Odyssey Potential (announced) • ARMS • 1-2 Switch • Shovel Knight • Minecraft • Minecraft Story Mode • Skyrim Potential (rumoured/not dated) • Pokémon Stars • Smash • Metroid/Donkey Kong (Retro Studios Project) • Project Octopath Traveller (2017?) • Project Sonic 2017 • Pikmin • Mother 3 (GBA VC) • Melee (GC VC) • Skyward Sword (Wii VC) • Pokémon Gold/Silver (GBC VC) And so on.

My bad. Should I just bring this up on that one and continue from there? As for that thought, that's what I'm thinking. Anakin was a Jedi, and their Code (along with his attitude and thirst for power) is what, in the end, resulted in him becoming Vader. Luke attempted to rebuild the Order his father almost completely destroyed, and it certainly did not go according to plan. I think we see a new sect of Force users announced at the end of this trilogy, with the Jedi Order finally put to bed. Well, technically speaking, it's been dead for the thirty years since Vader's and Sidious' end in RotJ. Along with what happened with Kylo Ren and Luke's crumbled new Order, I think Luke will accept that the Jedi must end in the way the Sith have. It invites challenge and loss to have one extinguished from the galaxy, and could imbalance the Force. I think we see a Legend of Korra style thing here, whereby we just see a general good vs a general bad, as opposed to pure good vs evil. It'd certainly be reflective of today's society, too. EDIT: thanks for merging the threads, the Force is strong with you!

And so it begins...

I think this game could very easily serve the role of being either a prequel or sequel to an already existing game, though I'd prefer them to go the route of a direct sequel to this game. It feels like it could definitely have a Princess Mononoke styled ending (I know, I keep coming back to this, but alas, that film is great) with Zelda aiming to help rebuild Hyrule for a new era, and to learn from their previous mistakes, alongside her father (the Old Man, who would probably be well within his rights to abdicate after so long - technically, at least - on the throne). Link could then be set up for another adventure somehow. In this age of sequels, prequels and remakes, it'd feel like they'd be missing a chance to add even more layers to the Zelda lore, in my opinion. Having *mostly* self-contained games is great, but the pay-off for lifelong fans of Zelda in this game alone will be great. Oh well, just a hope :P

Part of me now wants it to end with "The Beginning"

Fingers crossed we don't suddenly just fall off the map and die. That would be a pain... Also, let's be speculative: how does everyone think this game will end?

If only you could milk cows online with 1-2 Switch... that'd solve all the problems

The artwork is absolutely beautiful. It's stuff like this that makes me think that Lucasfilm made a mistake by giving the rights exclusively to EA; I hope against all hope that, eventually, something like this pans out, but the upcoming Maul comic makes that increasingly unlikely. That stormtrooper helmet looks like a predecessor to the Death Trooper helmet design; it's very Vader-esque!

The only reason I mention it as a possibility is that it's like something we've seen before from them: the Ganondorf amiibo being used in TP Wii U to make the game much harder. It's not like we're getting a Bokoblin or Guardian compatriot (or, rather, I doubt it and hope not).

Agreed. The real spoiler is that Zelda is a Bokoblin : But anywho, seriously: I think the Guardian amiibo will unlock a "Hard" difficulty and that, perhaps, the Bokoblin amiibo could unlock an "Easy" difficulty.

The Collector's and Standard Editions of the guide are now available for pre-order on Amazon UK. Going to spoiler tag the CE's bonuses, as it includes mild spoilers for the exact number of shrines, side quests, etc.

Right then, we're less than 6 weeks away! What does everyone think we could see in the coming weeks in terms of press statements, hands-on/gaming events, and Directs from Nintendo? And, to those who aren't currently planning on purchasing a Switch at launch: what pre-launch announcement could possibly entice you to at least reconsider? Or are you dead set on steering clear of launch?

That may well be true, but until we get further confirmation (whether from Nintendo or ourselves playing) on this, the Switch should run loading times better. Since E3, I'll be surprised if they've done too much to clean up the Wii U version, unless they went the route of having a separate team for enhancing it? Which I wouldn't at all put past Nintendo :P

If I recall correctly, some comparisons between the Wii U (at E3 2016) and Switch at the NY event had the former clocking in at 29 second load times compared to the Switch's 13. Yes, they may have improved the Wii U version's performance since, but let's not forget that it's mainly the card-over-disk strategy that gives the Switch the edge here. And that's quite a large edge. But to be fair, the Wii U version looks - and will perform - great; if I had a Wii U to begin with, then I'd probably be waiting to Switch later on in the year.

There's no official word on this yet to my recollection, but I'll be surprised if there isn't. GAME seems the most likely to carry any Switch try-outs at this point, if anyone; if they're planning on doing so, we'll probably hear something by the end of the first week of February.

The 128GB MicroSDXC Card is back down to £34.99 on Amazon, for those of you who are interested in getting some extra storage for your Switch!

Great read on gamesindustry about DFI Intelligence thinking the Switch will sell 40 million units by 2020 http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2017-01-20-nintendo-switch-to-sell-40m-units-by-2020-dfc I think it comes down to this Holiday season to be honest. If they can get out Pokémon alongside Mario Odyssey, have the console drop down to £220 or so and have NBA 2K18, FIFA, Pokémon (if it's coming) and Mario bundles out (the latter two prime candidates for a special edition console makeover), and a decent catalogue of games has already been built up (Smash port, Mother 3, Metroid (?), Pokémon G/S, etc.) alongside already announced games such as obvious GOTY candidate Zelda: BotW, MK8 Deluxe and Splatoon 2? It'll be a home run, they'll push ahead with first party development as always, and if some publishers haven't already jumped on board, I'm sure they'd want to if it sells great this Christmas. And when your main rivals are going to be a potential £400/500+ (!) hardcore gaming console in the Scorpio (which will likely alienate casual and younger gamers) and VR (which has yet to really take off)? I'm excited for Nintendo. I hope they give us some more stuff in the coming year to prove my excitement was earned!

Considering how little they've said about online functionalities and the eShop, and that we've still got six weeks to go (and information regarding new titles was withheld: see Fire Emblem) I'd say there aren't enough announced right now, but that seems subject to change. We know that GAMEFREAK are working on a Pokémon title for the Switch, and we also know that Retro have had something in the works for quite a while now (Metroid or Donkey Kong?). And let's not forget the potential other titles, such as VC GC ports (Melee), VC GameBoy ports (Mother 3, Pokémon Gold/Silver), Wii ports (Skyward Sword anyone?) and other potential Wii U ports (Smash, Pokken, etc.). The potential for first party games alone is incredibly high. If they act on it, then the number of gumdrops could potentially double or even triple in the first year of launch when compared to what is currently slated. Fingers crossed! EDIT: knew I forgot something! Potentially Pikmin too!!

I'll be surprised if they give it an official RRP of anything below £49.99 in the event that it's selling for €49.99.

Argh Part of me wants to pre-order, but another part wants to wait until we know what they each actually do in the game (part of me says that Wolf Link and Epona amiibo are definitely the way to go, especially seeing as we already know about the former) Also: ouch my wallet EDIT: Huh Now, my Zelda knowledge isn't as far-reaching as some other folks here, but I thought this was interesting (taken from the Link (Rider) and Link (Archer) descriptions). Meh, going to spoiler tag it just on the extremely small chance that I might be right (don't want to ruin the experience for anyone)