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We’ve had a long week, and as we head into the weekend one thing has become clear through all of this: We need more staff! Specifically, we need more daily news posters, and naturally a few more editorial writers to throw into the mix. The positions are not paid, but rest assured there are a lot of benefits working with the A Team.

For starters, you get to talk on a daily basis to some of your favorite staff members at the site… and debate with them on various topics. Secondly, this is the type of job you can actually put on a future job application. I’ve used it myself to get a job just last year, and likewise others have as well. It also gives you experience in the journalism realm for anyone looking to make a career out of such things in the future. Experience is always big in that field. Oh, did I mention we give out free milk and cookies? Yeah, you get that too.

Oh, lets not forget about passes to E3 and other conventions as well. Like to review games before release? Yeah, we get those too. Put it this way: Working for this team is like sex, without all the sweating. Hop inside for for requirements and other nonsense.

As promised, I focused almost my entire day yesterday checking out the Wii U at Nintendo’s booth – by which I mean I stood in line for three hours and toured the demos for about an hour total. It was quite the ordeal, but fortunately booth babes were on standby with DSi and 3DS units so I could try out some other games while I waited. Once my ankles had nearly reached their breaking point, a Nintendo rep finally drew back the barrier and let me inside – and that’s when my Wii U experience began.

Was it worth the wait to check out those crisp HD graphics and that sleek touch screen controller? Was it a pure gaming device, or just a novelty tech piece? Do I expect to buy one on launch day? You’ll find the answers to all these questions and more – inside.

When the Zelda HD demonstration was shown off during Nintendo’s E3 press conference as a way to convey what the Wii U can do, people got excited – to say the least. Although the idea that it was from a new Zelda title was promptly put to rest, seeing a revamped Twilight Princess design in full HD got people going. In an interview on the demo, Eiji Aonuma stated that no decisions have been made on what direction Zelda on Wii U will go. Is there the potential that certain directions may ruin Zelda?

Yesterday I teamed up with Zelda Universe‘s benevolent dictator Jason to do another roundtable, this time about some of the new details we uncovered regarding Skyward Sword‘s story and gameplay. Most of the information is stuff we’ve already covered, but it’s nice to see it all assembled and discussed in one place!

Gotta say, I was so grateful to have someone almost as nerdy about Zelda as me to talk about the game with live as we found things out. I think I would have gone insane if I had to walk around with all that new info and no one to hash it out with. Looking forward to doing more collaborative and video features like this one in the future!

By now I’ve had enough hands-on time with Skyward Sword that I think it’s safe to say that I know the demo backwards and forwards, and you know what? I’ve never been more impressed with a Zelda game before. Not even with Ocarina of Time, which was my very first experience with the series, or Majora’s Mask, which is to date my favorite game in the franchise, or The Wind Waker, which helped bring me out of one of the hardest times of my life, or Twilight Princess, which had the most refined gameplay engine of all the 3D games thus far.

It’s a bit of a bold statement, isn’t it? But I’m not the only one who thinks so – Miyamoto made Skyward Sword’s perfection an ultimatum for the Zelda team, and clearly he seems to think the game is good enough to refer to it as finished on-stage at the biggest gaming presentation of the year. And yesterday, Nate tackled the question himself, albeit from an onlooker’s perspective rather than a hands-on one. What is it that makes Skyward Sword tick? Is it the Wii Motion Plus? Is it its awesome story? You’ll have to jump inside to find out.

Nintendo 3DS’s SpotPass was used in full force at E3 this year. Everyone had their system with them in an effort to obtain SpotPass data and Miis from those in attendance. And when I say everyone, I include the people from Nintendo as well. From the show floor representatives to executives, Nintendo Miis were abundant. Hop inside for some pictures of a few of these golden-pantsed Miis.

If you use Nintendo of Europe’s website, be warned. They have recently announced a possible phishing scam with their information. So, be sure to be wary of any Nintendo emails, you European guys. Also, this has caused them to shut down portions of the site. Hop inside for the full announcement.

In a discussion with the London Evening Standard, Iwata discussed some of his regrets regarding the Wii U. No, he had nothing to regret about the hardware or software. He was more upset about how the Wii U unveiling caused confusion in the gaming community, even though he feels that Nintendo did not make a blunder. Hop inside for a breakdown of the interview.

That’s right. In a recent interview with IGN, Eiji Aonuma spoke about The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. He talks about the role of the Skyward Sword in the story, as well as his opinions of Skyward Sword on the Wii U.

• Skyward Sword‘s storyline and the Master Sword’s involvement were born out of Aonuma’s desire to make a game centered around the sword controls for Wii Motion Plus
• He has no desire for Skyward Sword to come to Wii U
• Aonuma wants to be able to use both the Wii U controller and Wii Motion Plus in some way in the next Zelda game

Wanna catch the whole interview? Stick around after the jump.

The developers of Super Mario 3D are really going to great pains to make it an experience that seamlessly combines the styles of the 2D games, exemplified in New Super Mario Bros., with that of the 3D titles, specifically Super Mario Galaxy – there’s a familiar secret hidden in World 1-2! It’s a reference to the classic Warp Zone from the original Super Mario Bros., cleverly hidden in essentially the same manner.

Now, since this is just a demo the warp doesn’t really work in exactly the same way – it just takes Mario to the end of the level – but I imagine that with this game using the classic “worlds” structure it’ll wind up functioning more familiarly by taking us to World 2, 3, or 4, depending on which pipe we enter. You can watch a video of Matthew Castle of NGamer showing us the way to the Warp Zone after the jump.