As reported by IGN, in a recent interveiw with Japan\'s monthly Nintendo Dream magazine, legendary game creator Shigeru Miyamoto unveiled that Nintendo has made some serious changes to the control scheme of the Wii version of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Now, instead of simply using the B button on the Wii remote to slash with Link\'s sword, the player will actually be swinging the controller during battle.
While Nintendo initially stated that they went with the B button sword control because they felt swinging the remote would prove too tiresome for the player, Miyamoto says that they have now changed their minds because \"Upon actually playing it, it\'s more interesting this way.\"
Something to make note of is that it was noted by many that the sword controls for Ubisoft\'s upcoming Wii swordplay game, Red Steel, were a little iffy in the E3 build. While Ubisoft has reported that their controls are still being worked on, it will be interesting to see if Nintendo can make sure everything is ironed out for their own release. Zelda fans may love their franchise and want it to be as good as possible, but another delay for Twilight Princess and Nintendo would likely have to increase their security to keep out the ensuing mobs.
Shooting Link\'s bow has also undergone some tweaking. In light of the B button no longer being used for swordplay, shooting arrows is now done by pressing the trigger-like B button instead of the d-pad. This alone should stabilize shooting and make the whole process a little more intuitive. It is currently unknown as to whether or not this new control scheme will be optional or standard for the Wii version of Twilight Princess.
In other news by Nintendo Dream, Miyamoto also mentioned the possibility of redoing GameCube games to take advantage of the Wii\'s new controls, much like Twilight Princess. \"The machine is based on GC,\" says Miyamoto. \"We\'ll be upgrading the development tools, but GameCube code can be used for the most part as is. In that sense, I believe that it would be good to remake GameCube games for Wii, and that some titles would become better with the change to the Wii remote controller.\"
Perhaps the most encouraging news is that these remakes, or \"Wiimakes\" if you will, would be priced a good deal below regular retail. \"Even now,\" continued Miyamoto, \"[GameCube titles] are sold at used shops, so we don\'t feel we could sell them for full price. However, development costs have been taken care of, so we could probably sell them at a more accessible price. If we make it so that such GC to Wii remakes can be produced quickly, it\'s possible that many titles will also be released from third parties.\"
Let the hype train build and let the message boards of the net explode with speculation. What does Miyamoto have up his sleeve? Only time will tell. Until then, all we can do is wait and get our swordfighting arms in good shape. Expect more big Wii news this week from the Leipzig Games Convention. Stay tuned.