My Wii News Triforce: What we want to see in the next Zelda game

I think that it’s safe to say, for the majority of Nintendo fanboys (like myself), The Legend of Zelda is their favorite Nintendo franchise. We love this series so much because it hasn’t been “just another game,” but rather a ground-breaking franchise that has shaped the world of gaming itself. Designed and developed by Shigeru Miyamoto and the team at Nintendo, the Zelda series takes gamers into the land of Hyrule where you are given the task to save Princess Zelda and your beloved homeland from the evil ruler known as Ganon. With the Triforce power of courage by your side, you make your way through epic dungeons ranging from gloomy forests, to the heart of a volcano, and even the depths of the sea. The formula is perfect and the story is inspiring so the game leaves us always longing for more.

How do you top perfection? That’s what we have been asking ourselves about this nearly perfect series we all know and love. Which is why we have a new segment for the site called My Wii News Triforce in dedication to this masterpiece of game that Miyamoto has created. Roughly each week, expect three of us to give you a little piece of our minds in a couple of short paragraphs, letting you guys know what we think about the games that we love and can’t wait to love. The answers vary depending on the topic, this one centering around the next Zelda title to grace the Wii.  Triforce, go!

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Last second guesses: Chris Evans

E3 has begun and Nintendo’s press conference is just hours away. That leaves us just enough time for some final guesses on what they will announce.

With the Wii MotionPlus already unveiled in a sneak preview on Nintendo’s website, they are bound to have a game to go with it, much like they did with the Wii Zapper and Link’s Crossbow Training. It could be another simple game bundled with the device (Link’s Sword Training perhaps?) or we could have the dream announcement of a brand new full Zelda title that uses the MotionPlus for true 1:1 sword control. They may also have a new version of the Wii Remote that has the MotionPlus built in, but that will more likely be something for the future.

It’s widely believed that a new Animal Crossing is on its way, with some speculating that it will have MMO elements. Personally though, I think it is more likely to be an evolution of the previous games, but with the ability to send gifts and visit other players’ villages online. I’m also expecting this to be the first retail title to feature downloadable content, as Nintendo have already used with Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles on WiiWare.

I think we can look at Super Smash Bros Brawl for clues to returning franchises (no, they aren’t going to bring back R.O.B.). Kirby has suddenly been joined by two other main characters from the series, along with Captain Olimar from Pikmin, despite neither having a home console release in four years. Rumours of an unreleased Kirby title on Gamecube being moved to Wii have been around for a long time, and the Wii Remote seems perfect for controlling Pikmin, so either could make a comeback.

Something I’m not expecting is different coloured Wiis. As much as we may want them, Nintendo won’t waste them while the Wii is still selling as well as it is. They will probably be at next years E3 when sales have started to slow.

Finally, there has to be a solution for the storage problem, especially as E3 is bound to see a barrage of new WiiWare titles. My gut feeling is that they will use SD cards, but there is still a chance they will go for a hard drive. If they do, I picture it being a similar size and shape to the Wii itself, and that it would come with a new silver base to replace the one you get with the Wii, that would hold the console and hard drive next to each other.

Ultimately though, I’m expecting the unexpected. Nintendo have a habit of blindsiding us with products that no one saw coming (who predicted the Wii Remote or Wii Fit?) and there’s no reason why this year should be any different. Tune in later for all the news from the show.

Why Nintendo will win the E3 War

While some may oppose, I would say that last year’s E3 press conference was an epic failure on Nintendo’s part. Although they had some exciting news such as the revelation of Mario Kart Wii and the announcement of 32 player online for Medal of Honor: Heroes 2, the majority of the conference was spent talking about the Wii’s success and how great Wii fit was. Forget about last year.  Lets talk about how awesome this year’s press conference will be. I would go as far to say that Nintendo will steal the show this year.

This last week has shown some surprises already for the Wii. And while we’ve had our fair share of guesses, at E3 we can expect more surprising announcements. Pikmin 3? Perhaps. A storage solution? Most definitely. A Zelda trailer? Highly probable.

It may sound, stumbling, but let me explain. This article from PureNintendo, which shows when all the 3D Zelda games were announced and released, crossed my path. A good read, but here’s a summary:

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Announced- December 1995
Released- November 1998

The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask

Announced- June 1999
Released- October 2000

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

Announced- August 2001
Released- March 2003

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Announced- May 2004
Released- November 2006

Now according to the article, every 3D Zelda game was announced one year after its predecessor. Plus, this is the longest time we have waited for Nintendo to announce a Zelda game on a console in over 13 years!

We are overdue. Nintendo will announce a Zelda game at E3 and it will be the most exciting announcement of all three of the console company E3 shows.

If that is not enough for Nintendo to win (which, it is) we can hope for an announcement or an indication of voice chat for the Wii. The DS has it, why not the Wii?

That’s been the question of all online Wii gamers, and Reggie has also been hinting at it for a while. He has noted that he “wouldn’t be surprised” if voice chat made its way onto the Wii. Can we consider that straight confirmation for an announcement?

One last reason why Nintendo will win is the innovation. Nintendo has done some amazing stuff, but nothing to truly show off what the Wii Remote can do (not like Johnny Lee has). Nintendo wants to prove that the Wii Remote is the best controller available, and they are definitely coming up with a game that will show it off. Maybe we’ll see a brand new IP? Or we’ll see them take another existing IP and make a great game perfect for the Remote.  And seeing their repitoire of past titles, that would be just fine with me.

Nintendo will do all they can to “win” E3 this year. And while it isn’t a competition per se, we know that it is close, and we can expect some major announcements.

What do you guys think? Will Nintendo win E3 this year? You have less than two weeks; give us your input in our forums on what will make this year a great year for Nintendo at E3.

Have A Game On Us!

In order to show everyone how much we appreciate having you as loyal readers, we are having a contest that gives you the opportunity to win The Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess and the Prima Strategy Guide to accompany it. The guide will show you where every single item is in the game, and the earliest possible time you can pick them up. It will become invaluable in your quest to exterminate Ganon.

Each of you can get yourselves five chances to enter. Here’s how.

1. The first way to get yourself an entry is to simply create a comment after your read this. Be sure to give us lots of love, and you get one entry.
2. If you have a blog or a website and you give us a link* and you get another entry. When you leave your comment here, be sure to leave a link to where you gave us a link, otherwise we won’t know about it!
3. If your a member of some forums somewhere (and who isn’t?) give us a link* and you get another entry. Don’t be spammy either. If a forum owner complains that you spammed their board for this contest, your entry will be disqualified. Same as above, you have to tell us where you left the link so we can verify it.
4. Subscribing to our RSS feed will get you an entry.
5. Subscribing to our daily email feed delivery will get you an entry. When you leave your comment, the email you enter must match the one that you used for the daily feed delivery. The links to both our RSS feed and email feed delivery are located in the top right corner of every page.

(*Feel free to mention the contest in your blog posts and forum links, but links should vary. We don’t want everyone linking to this solitary post. For example, you could link to our homepage or your favorite posts, columns, or categories. This feature article by Ilchymis is a great article to link to!)

There you have it, five chances to enter to win a great game and guide to go along with it. The lucky winner will be chosen at random on the first day of March 2008. Something such as this list randomizer will be used, and the drawing will likely even be recorded.

The winner will be contacted via the email address used to leave comments, so it must be valid. If the winner cannot be contacted, or does not reply to the winning notification email within 2 weeks, the prize will be forfeited and another winner will be randomly selected.

Mywiinews.com authors are not eligible for entry.

AND THE WINNER IS….

A couple of days late, I know. So here is what I did. I assigned everyone a number. Those who had more than one entry got more than one number assigned. If you had five entries, you got five numbers. Got me? I then entered the numbers into Random.org. So, who had the winning number? That would be none other than Jeff Delano!

Congratulations Jeff. I will send you an email to finalize things.

Be sure to check back soon everyone. I expect another contest before long!

Nintendo Tattoos

Well, while our servers are still reeling from the onslaught of people checking out our recent Nintendo-themed weddings. The time seemed right to address the die-hard fans, while marriage is increasingly temporary - tattoos are still pretty permanent. So, without further ado - here are a collection of the best Nintendo tattoos we could find. Once again, if you want to submit any to the collection - well give us a shout!

My fave is for sure the last one above - lotsa LOVE for the glove! To all the tattoo artists out there, you are gonna want to make sure next time that a customer comes in and tells you that they want ‘to get ink done’ that they haven’t really said that they want ‘to get Link done’. Happy playing Nintendo fans and all the best!