Rumour: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Will Be Playable at EB Expo – With a Catch
Before you get too excited about this news, let me just start off by saying there’s a really horrible catch to this so that you’re let down a bit easier. Zelda Informer reports that a representative from EB Games has told them that the upcoming Legend of Zelda game, Breath of the Wild, will be playable at EB Expo next month. However, this demo won’t be available to everyone – only 333 people will be able to play it, and to be eligible for selection you must have bought 4 or more Zelda games from EB Games stores in the past.
The demo lasts 45 minutes, so I can understand that the number of people they can let play it will be small, but this selection process is garbage. If people are paying to get into an event they shouldn’t be locked out of what is arguably the biggest thing on show merely because they’re not a regular customer of the store hosting the event. 4 games is a lot to ask, and it’s not like new Zelda games come around that often. There’s been remakes, but not everyone wants to buy a tided-up version of a game they already own. If we’re excluding remakes and rereleases, then the last four Zelda games you would have had to buy from EB Games are:
- Triforce Heroes (3DS, 2015)
- Hyrule Warriors (Wii U, 2014)
- A Link Between Worlds (3DS, 2013)
- Skyward Sword (Wii, 2011)
Ignoring the feasibility of qualifying, people shouldn’t be punished just because they bought the games elsewhere, or haven’t ‘proven’ themselves to be fans. I buy almost all of my handheld games digitally nowadays for the convenience, and I’ll always get console games from stores with lower prices. Not to mention I think a good portion of Zelda games I own have been gifts, so they wouldn’t be tied to my account even if they were purchased from EB Games. And why are we restricting this to *shudders* ‘real’ fans? I mean, what, someone who hasn’t bought every Zelda release over a handful of years doesn’t deserve to try out a game they’re excited for? And someone who’s not normally a Zelda fan doesn’t get to see if they like this one ahead of release? Yeah, this will really make more casual fans feel welcomed, good job. This is gross on so many levels so I’m holding out hope that there was a miscommunication here.
Thanks Shannon and Press Start
