Just a few hours ago at the Game Developper Conference in San Francisco Nintendo revealed two games which sit at either end of the game idea spectrum.

On the completely stunned end of the spectrum is Rock n' Roll Climber, which looks to be a College game design project that somehow mistakenly ended up on Nintendo's release list. You use the Wii controller and balance board to climb a cliff, and then play a guitar once you reach the top... The unanimously negative comments on Kotaku do a fine job of summing up public opinion on this announcement.

And on the "it's about time Nintendo" end of the spectrum is a new Zelda game on DS titled "The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks". The visuals look very similar to Phantom Hourglass, and the boat has been replaced with a train... so the game may be lacking a bit in the creativity department, but at this point I'll take just about anything that somewhat resembles a real game from Nintendo.

[ Screenshots at IGN ]

Rock n' Roll Climber looks like like a game design project, and more of a ragdoll physics demo. Why do all the "rocks" look the same? Why aren't you a Mii? Or Donkey Kong? Why isn't the guitar part interactive? Patience and balance and fun in very small amounts, but this... ugh.

When you said "looks like Phantom Hourglass" I thought you meant "looks like Wind Waker and it's a Wii game"...

Tough, when I played Phantom Hourglass, I really felt like if they just kept making new Zelda games that played like this, I would keep playing them... except they really have to take Link out of this, EXTREME fantasy realm he's in. Now he's a train conductor? Seriously? Too many gimicks. SIMPLIFY Nintendo.

Video. Note the lack of any applause until Link shows up, probably because people had no idea that it was a Zelda game.

When you think about it, this Zelda game is totally different from Phantom Hourglass. In that game you rode a boat, which can go anywhere, but this is a train, and it's limited to tracks. You probably have to draw the track with the stylus, and then the boat just follows that path while you shoot bombs at enemies using a cannon. Totally different.

But I agree... a more traditional theme along the lines of Ocarina of Time would make for an amazing DS game.

Thing is, there will be those who say "too much like older games, mix it up a bit". Theres just no pleasing everyone.

My first impression of Rock 'N' Roll Climber is that Nintendo is tired of our shit and is trolling us for the lulz.

Awww crap.

It's on DS. What did you expect.

Another Phantom Hourglass?

It is another Phantom Hourglass, just a train instead of a boat... and well the obvious tweaks from a game taking place after another one like it.

But it kinda sounds like they're gonna tone down the difficulty and "epicness" that was in the first one.