I’ve discussed it before - we’re getting some kind of a Zelda unveiling sometime in 2009, because it’s been way too long not to have had one. Now, there’s cold, hard proof. It seems that this will be the first year since 1999 that we’ve not received a Zelda title in North America, according to this list.

• 1998 - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX
  
• 1999 – No releases
  
• 2000 – The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask
  
• 2001 – The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages and The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons
  
• 2002 – The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords: A Link to the Past
  
• 2003 – The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time/Master Quest
  
• 2004 – The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures
  
• 2005 – The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
  
• 2006 – The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
  
• 2007 – The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass and Link’s Crossbow Training

Granted, some of these are mere ports of older games, others were developed by Capcom’s Flagship studio and not EAD, but the fact remains that they’re due to announce something majorly Zelda-ish soon. Not even a localization of Freshly Picked: Tingle’s Rosy Rupeeland will suffice at this point.

The Game Reviews

I must say, I’m with Luke Plunkett on this one. Fan covers of video game music gets old after a while, even for a music major such as myself. The exception, however, is when we get a performance that’s so good, it would be wrong not to tip your hat. That’s the case with Freddie here. I sure hope this kid’s considering some type of career that embraces music, because he’s got the talent and creativeness to go far.

The video above is of Freddie, as many as 19 times over, performing the theme to The Wind Waker. He throws in a little bit of extra treats as well, including a 9/8 allusion to the Dark World theme, and you can’t help but enjoy yourself and just watch. Merry Christmas!

YouTube
via Kotaku

Let’s look at a few facts. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess was revealed a merely year to year-and-a-half following the release of The Wind Waker, and released a whopping three-and-a-half to four years after its predecessor’s release. The only other time we’ve seen a longer development cycle between console Zelda games was the five year wait for Ocarina of Time.

Since it’s in Nintendo’s best interest to hype a Zelda game for a good amount of time prior to its release, you’d have to expect that even if a new Wii Zelda were announced at the next E3, it wouldn’t be out until sometime in 2010 - nearly four years after Twilight Princess. Nevertheless, Colin Sebastian, an analyst at Lazard Capital Markets, thinks we’ll not only see a new Zelda game revealed in ‘09, but we’ll see its release as well.

Sebastian doesn’t necessarily say it will be a console Zelda, but considering we just got Phantom Hourglass a year ago, I’m inclined to think we’ll be seeing that Wii Zelda first. But when?

GameSpot
via Pure Nintendo

Christmas is almost here, and I’m sure each of you has some type of gaming-themed decoration as part of your personal festivities for the season. In case you don’t, Icthus7 is back with some Ocarina of Time papercraft, this time of Princess Zelda. Just to get into the holiday spirit, it’s been modified with Christmas colors and a giant snowflake for adult Zelda to hold.

You can download the template here and make it for yourself. It’ll go great with that golden Triforce you used to replace the star on your tree. Thanks to Mickey for the heads up!

PaperKraft
via WiiNintendo.net

More developers should be like Eiji Aonuma. After serving as the Zelda series director from Majora’s Mask through Phantom Hourglass, Aonuma told Nintendo Power magazine that he would continue working on the series until Ocarina of Time is no longer considered the greatest Zelda game of all-time.

I’m happy that a title I worked on some time ago remains highly praised to this day, but that also shows how none of the subsequent games in the series have surpassed it. As someone who is still working on the series, I have mixed feelings about that. Because I haven’t yet surpassed it, I can’t quit. Surprisingly, that simple motivation may be the reason I continue to work on the Zelda series.

Even now in the era of Halo, The Orange Box, and Grand Theft Auto IV, 1998’s Ocarina of Time ranks above all on sites like Game Rankings, and Aonuma will keep making Zelda games until OoT is bumped to #2 by one of his. Now that’s what we gamers like to hear.

Wii Fanboy

Sure, the Ocarina may have come along well before The Legend of Zelda embraced them, but there is no denying that the series has shoved the little instrument into the limelight. Now there is an iPhone app to prove it.

What appears to be a fully functional Ocarina can be played using the touch screen and microphone on the device. No coincidence that the song being played is only one of the best Ocarina songs in the whole wide world of Ocarina songs.

Youtube
via Kotaku

Club Nintendo magazine has a new interview with the Regginator regarding storage solution for your undoubtedly full refrigerator. Basically, they’re not sure what form of storage the end product will be, but if they’re going to provide one, they’re going to do it the right way. Online storage perhaps?

I want the people to have the right expectations. We have never said that it will be a hard drive, nor have we mentioned how we will fix this issue, but we are going to deliver a better way to store games.

The same magazine confirmed a new Zelda game, reconfirmed a new Pikmin game, and a “no comment” regarding Wii MotionPlus being utilized in either. At the same time, expect the Wii MotionPlus to be the last major first-party controller peripheral for a while.

Wii Fanboy

Stained glass art of Link made by Lynda Macrae of the The Glass House in Ontario, Canada. It’s actually based on artwork by a Kelli, for whom the stained-glass version was made as a birthday present. Awe-inspiring. You think this is what they put up in the Temple of Time windows after the whole adult Link timeline?

Flickr
via Aeropause via GoNintendo

I might have had a dual Super Mario Bros. and Legend of Zelda blanket set growing up, but it has nothing on what a Etsy user by the name of Punzie has created. It is made from 2 inch cotton squares filled with a polyester batting and has a plain black backside. She was selling them for $135.00, but at the moment she only has one that is already reserved to a lucky customer. Fortunately, she is taking pre-orders if you would like a Link blanket of your own.

Punzie also has a bunch of other Nintendo bedspread items for sale that are currently available. At the moment, I am actually “eye-ing” a baby Luigi blanket for my Chihuahua at home.

Be sure to check other patterns after the break.

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Flickr user iVolkswagen snapped this photo. Yeah, it’s meant to be a Triforce… or at least, that’s how iVolkswagen interpretted it. No idea what that is that’s projecting it though. Maybe it’s some new-fangled candle or lamp, one of those novelty ones that obvious can’t light up the whole room.

Flickr