[RUMOR ALERT]
Here's a long German post from a known user on the Zelda Europe forum who claims to have been told some information by a friend who works at NOA. Says his/her source was right 80% of the time so far (told him about the gravity mechanic in MK8 long before the game was revealed, f.e.).
Nothing ground-breaking but, if true, offers a little bit of insight to the development process (budget cuts, delay, etc.).
http://www.zeldaeurope.de/forum/thread.php?postid=458795#post458795
Translated summary based on Ntower.de's article:
- They originally planned to show some footage at E3 but in the end decided against it because it was from an ~6 months old build and the game changed since.
- Intended release date was March 2016 then but they were afraid they couldn't make it in time and would have to apologize and delay again, so now it's planned for Late 2016 at the latest.
- There's a day and night cycle and a weather system.
- The overworld seems peaceful at first glance but there are unexpected, sudden dangers, in contrast to the dungeons where even in the dark there is light (?).
- Generally it's supposed to be some sort of Best Of Zelda with the best elements from older Zeldas (f.e. there's a Wind Waker-like sailing part).
- They are less concentrating on focusing the game on one single gimmick or gameplay-mechanic and instead want to make it an allrounder with tried and true mechanics.
- Answers open story questions from older Zeldas instead of creating new questions.
- The development process is a lot more creative and free than usual, however the game ate up a lot of budget already which led to several internal discussions at Nintendo. In 2014 there even was a budget cut, because the Wii U sold less than expected even after Mario Kart 8 and Sm4sh. The budget cuts where one of the reasons for the delay, as Aonuma decided to work longer with a smaller team though.
- Aonuma is supported a lot by Miyamoto who is very satisfied/impressed with the game and gets him more budget, manpower and time. They have some kind of friendly competition going on teasing and motivating each other. Aonuma wants to finally top OoT which he hasn't done yet in his own opinion, not even with TTP. Miyamoto drives them to surpass themselves. Both the Japanese and American employees are very impressed.