The famed creator of many of Nintendo’s biggest franchises recently commented on the idea of a first person Zelda. During the development of Ocarina of Time, Miyamoto himself suggested the use of first person to further envelope the player as well as give the CPU a little break from rendering the character model the entire time.

Interesting to hear this from the big guy himself. Could this perhaps be what he meant when he said Twilight Princess was the last Zelda game of its kind?

Iwata Asks
via Joystiq

Remember a few days ago, where we mentioned that one of Nintendo’s rarities was the N64DD? Well, it’s up for your taking on eBay; but it’s not just a N64DD — it’s the entire collection. All nine games created for the N64DD come included in this bid, in their original boxing, making it all the more special. As of this post, the bid is at GBP 460.00 ($908.45).

eBay

One of the few things more successful than Nintendo’s DS and Wii is Second Life. Millions of people worldwide frequent the service and enjoy living their second life (get it?) through their computers. So, it would come as no surprise when we hear the creation of Nintendo Island. While there’s no confirmation from Nintendo themselves just yet, DMCA’s enforcement policy wouldn’t allow any stranger to create such an island without proper licensing. Mark this isle under “rumor” for now; if and when Nintendo releases a statement we’ll update you.

GigaOM

Time asked its readers who they thought was the most influential person of the year. Nintendo’s own Shigeru Miyamoto rose as the victor, defeating over 199 other candidates all while receiving nearly 2,000,000 votes — 300,000 votes over the runner-up, Rain. Seems as if Nintendo’s lead in the gaming industry is migrating over to other areas of the world.

So, what’s next? Cover of GQ? Two-page spread in Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Issue? Congrats, Miyamoto.

Your TIME 100

This months Nintendo Power concluded with that picture of a fiery moon. Below the scan, it says: “As we head into summer, expect things to heat up in the pages of Nintendo Power. July’s issue will include big updates on Ghostbusters, Sonic Chronicles, and Time Hollow. We may even have a surprise or two. Can you find the clues we’ve hidden in the moon? See you in 30!”

Well, get to guessing, Tanooki readers. A new Harvest Moon title would be too easy a guess. Anyone have one of those paper 3D glasses laying around?

Kombo

How much would you pay for a rare gaming item? $10? $10,000? How about $15,000? James Baker, a video game memorabilia collector, paid $15,000 for only one of the 26 gold-colored NES cartridges in existence today. Manufactured in 1990, these uber-rare gold (not real gold, might I add) cartridges were made for the Nintendo World Championships. Other notable items in his massive collection are the N64DD, NES Deluxe Edition and a mint Atari Pong system.

When asked if he played the game after receiving it he said:

Well, when I first got it we fired it up at the office and played it for a while – and I didn’t even need to blow on the end of it to get it to work. But I have a friend who’s an architect and eventually we’re going to collaborate on building a really cool installation to put it into.

Ahh, I remember the days of blowing into cartridges to get them to work; few years later that myth was refuted on MythBusters.

NextGen

It’s no secret that the Wii is the most innovative console in the gaming realm. It offered a new way for gamers to interact with their video games; rather than button bashing, we can now wave our arms franticly whilst controlling our protagonists, being poked fun of by people peeping in our windows wondering: “What are they doing?” But how did it rank up against other companies like Google, GE and Toyota? Extremely well.

Nintendo came in at an impressive 7th, being topped by Apple, Google, and Microsoft. That new voice activation system included in Ford’s must’ve gave Microsoft the edge, but that’s not video games, so who cares.

BusinessWeek

Have extra space in your house? Or better yet, how about an entire attic? Great, then you should check out this NES collection up for grabs on eBay. It’s not like any ol’ collection, it’s an amassment of every single North American NES game released; a whopping 670 in total. If you’ve misplaced a game over time or gave away your entire weak, pathetic excuse of a collection of NES games from when you were a kid, I bet you would find it here.

eBay

Everybody remembers blowing into their NES cartridges in an effort to make NES games playable over time, but a user named Kotomi, has placed an entire NES system inside one. This Super Mario Bros. cartridge is complete with LED, composite output, reset button and controller ports. It also has a top loading connector to prevent future cartridge damage that caused many of us to use the “blowing” technique at the expense of console damage.

Would anybody else use a different cartridge? I personally would use a Super Mario Bros. 3 cartridge, but the thought of gutting such a priceless game is enough to give me nightmares. On second though, I should probably use a “M.C. Kids” game instead.

technabob

With the release of Mario Kart Wii next week in Australia will come the birth of Club Nintendo; a good one-two punch if you ask me. I’ve always yearned for the opportunity to partake in Club Nintendo, especially since I own almost every piece of hardware from Nintendo and possess quite the software library. All of that would surely rack up enough points for a great Nintendo-themed gift.

Please, Nintendo, bring Club Nintendo to America!

Aussie Nintendo