Here’s a pet peeve of mine; people with a rose-tinting deification of Ocarina of Time. For me, that game, along with Mario 64, will always symbolize a personal low-point for my feeling of connection to videogames as a whole. Of course, I understand why people love both of those games, and it’s totally understandable that they’d be a lot of people’s favorites, but to unequivocally state that either of those games are “the best” in their respective series is just poppycock.

It’s nice to hear that Eiji Aonuma, current overseer of the Legend of Zelda series, seems to agree with me. According to a current interview (translated from Japanese to Spanish to English, so take it with a grain of salt), Aonuma feels that “If you play Ocarina of Time nowadays, you notice that it’s not that good. Sometimes it doesn’t move as fast as it should, graphics aren’t as beautiful as they should be; there are some confusing parts… Any present Zelda is technically better.”

Hear hear, Aonumu-san. Personally, I feel that each 3D Zelda since OoT has been a big improvement over the series’ original outing into the third dimension. I still like Zelda in 2D, but if I’ve to play a “newer” one, I’d rather it be Majora’s Mask, Wind Waker, or Twilight Princess.

For more on Aonuma’s take on Zelda past and present, and the rumors of an OoT remake, hit the link below.

[via Gonintendo]

source Destructoid

Yes, I said dance, because the game is about dancing, acting, love, and piloting transforming steam-powered psychic robots. For Chrissakes, your squad is called the New York Combat Revue!

Anyway, NIS America sent us a load of screenshots for Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love. Being the resident fanboy, it was my duty to make you look at them. So look at them.

The screens mostly show off the ARMS (for “Active Real-time Machine System”) battle mechanics, and display how amazingly moderately the graphics have held up in the five-odd years since the original release. As you can see the bar below represents the character’s action points. Action point costs can depend on the team’s battle stance. Offensive stances make it cheaper to charge super moves but more pricey to defend, and so on.

So far the only interface being shown is from the PS2 release, so we don’t know yet what’s going to be changed for the Wii version. I’m pretty sure that both versions will still have that picture of a girl bifurcating a robot with a sword while riding a horse. Sold.

Oh, and the official site has been updated with more character profiles, screens and wallpaper. They’ve also provided a nice, detailed explanation of the game’s LIPS (”Live & Interactive Picture System”) dialog mechanics.

Check the gallery for hot picture action, and get under the cut to watch the game’s intro.