Legend of Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma is adamant that Zelda will be brought to movie theatres only if it is able to give audience something totally different from traditional movie-going experience.
"This is something that me and Mr. Miyamoto talked about," he said. "If we were to make a Zelda title, if we had interest in doing that, I think really what would be most important to us is to be able to play with the format of a movie, make it more interactive, like you're able to take your 3DS into the theater and that leads you into participating in it somehow. We wouldn't want to make it the same as any other movie. We want to somehow change what a movie is."
What Aonuma describes feels a lot like what Disney did with "Little Mermaid: Second Screen Live" where audience were encouraged to bring their iPads in and use a free companion app to interact with the movie. Unfortunately, this added distraction ruined the experience instead of adding to it.
"The games are distracting. Some moviegoers meeting Ariel and friends for the first time will find it hard to focus on the movie, with a new game every minute or two," Mashable's Taylor Casti. "Many games require an individual's full attention, for instance, when players quickly pop bubbles or tilt the iPad to catch Ariel's treasures in a chest. In fact, the games were so distracting, on multiple occasions key information was lost to gameplay."
"Not to mention the voiceover and inter-theater competition, where up to four characters talk over the dialogue in the film to encourage players to compete with other audience members. As someone who grew up with Ariel, sure, the games were fun. But children seeing the movie for the first time missed seeing Triton destroy Ariel's treasures; Ariel meet Eric for the first time; Ariel's visit with Scuttle."
Is Nintendo going to reinvent the same botched experience, or will it pull another Wii and succeed where others have failed. Let's wait and see.
