Tag: News

We’ve been posting up a storm about the new Skyward Sword limited edition bundle today, but there’s one more set of images related to the offer that we haven’t gotten around to yet – a gallery showing off the Gold Wii Remote Plus slated to appear with the game. You’ve already seen the image at left countless times before, but now you can see it alongside Nintendo’s infamous hand models, as well as in a protective Wii Remote Jacket and hooked up to a Nunchuk. Now just imagine that those hands are yours…

In other news, I’ve taken the liberty of updating our Skyward Sword homepage with a couple new features: a one-stop content page dedicated to the limited edition bundle, showing off all the images we’ve gathered so far as well as keeping tabs on all the retailers currently accepting pre-orders, and a list of every single exclusive article we’ve written about Skyward Sword. We’ve published quite a lot (I was a bit shocked when I saw the results myself) so check ‘em out and take a trip down article archive lane.

Fancy golden Wii Remotes after the jump.

The unveiling of the Skyward Sword box art and bundle pack was hands down the best news that came out of PAX 2011. No, it wasn’t announced at PAX, but the announcement lined up with the end of the expo so it still counts.

The second best news from PAX would have to be the awesome Zelda cosplay that appeared at the convention. I’ll give third place to the Kirby cotton candy.

Either way, you can see tons of awesome Nintendo pictures from the show floor after the jump.

For those of you wondering whether Skyward Sword‘s limited edition bundle will be coming to other countries outside of America, here’s a tidbit that seems to point towards an international release. EB Games’ Australia page for Skyward Sword features the limited edition set, which you can pre-order for the not-so-low price of $118 AUS. Still, better expensive than not at all!

Australia releases usually correspond with Europe’s since they’re both considered part of the PAL region, but many UK retailers’ sites are down for maintenance right now but I’ll keep my eyes peeled for any post-cleanup deals specific to Europe.

If you haven’t preordered Skyward Sword yet and want to get in on the drop-dead beautiful Skyward Sword Limited Edition Bundle – complete with that fancy gold Wii Remote Plus and a soundtrack CD of Zelda Symphony – you can reserve it online at GameStop. Standalone copies of the game will retail at $49.99, and the Limited Edition version is set at $69.99.

If you’ve already reserved the game, you have two options: order this one online anyway to get in on the action ASAP and cancel your original order, or wait a couple days for your local GameStop to update their local reservations system and head over to ask for your reservation to transfer to the bundle. I’ll be calling my store tomorrow at noon Pacific time to find out if they’ve got it in their system by then and keep you guys posted.

Another week, another Erica’s Ocarina Experience!  I decided to go ahead and play the song that tied for first last week in requests, which is the Serenade of Water from Ocarina of Time.  The Serenade of Water is the shortest ocarina melody to play in both Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask.  It’s a beautiful song, but I think my favorite version of it in any Zelda game is with Queen Rutela in Twilight Princess.  Sadly, I don’t have any accompaniment for my videos.  It’s still a pretty song to play on the ocarina without another instrument.

I find it very ironic that they decided to go with a serenade for the Water Temple.  As usual, Sheik’s quote before teaching the tune shows a different look at time. “Time passes, people move…  Like a river’s flow, it never ends…  A childish mind will turn to noble ambition…  Young love will become deep affection…  The clear water’s surface reflects growth…  Now listen to the Serenade of Water to reflect upon yourself….”

What I find ironic is that Ruto’s childish crush on Link has grown immensely in the years he was gone.  A serenade is a musical greeting performed most often for a lover.  It is played for friends as well, but the calm and light music was most often performed outdoors in the evening.  It makes me think of a romantic date.

Ahem! So, if you would like the tabs for this song, and the video, hit the jump!

So my brother texted me yesterday, wondering how his Skyward Sword pre-order would work out if they announced the limited edition bundle we all knew was coming. I assured him he’d be good to transfer his order to the new bundle once it was announced, and that we should expect news soon – in a month or two at most. I didn’t think that news would be coming today.

Nintendo’s just officially announced a Skyward Sword limited edition bundle, which comes out at launch for $69.99 (just $20 up on the game alone) and includes the Gold Wii Remote Plus seen at E3. Plus, anyone who buys a first-print issue of the game will get a free Zelda Symphony Concert Soundtrack CD. What a deal! I know I don’t mind paying $20 extra for what may be the biggest Zelda release of the last decade.

Hop inside for the press release. UPDATE: Plus, an analysis of the strange crest seen in the background!

Link, and his bloodline – while a clan of legendary heroes who are truly dedicated to the princess, the Royal Family and the nation of Hyrule – are also known to take a vacation every now and then, whether it be to hone their skills, or find a lost and dear friend. In the extreme cases, Link has even been forced to leave Hyrule, by the will of the goddesses… it was in Oracle of Seasons where he had actually traversed two lands: having been forced out of Hyrule into the realm of Holodrum, and then again stumbling and tumbling into the subterranean lava world of Subrosia. In Twilight Princess, the Chosen Hero hadn’t begun his quest in Hyrule, but rather, in a small province surrounding it; it was also in this game where Link had explored many other outlying lands bordering Hyrule, some entirely uninhabited. Soon, in Skyward Sword, our hero will be traversing an expansive airbourne realm known as Skyloft, before setting foot into arguably the youngest Hyrule we’ve seen to date.

So many wondrous places exist outside of Princess Zelda’s kingdom, and having the opportunity to see these exotic places is just a small part of what makes The Legend of Zelda so special to its fans. Jump inside for more travel talk.

People often toss around the phrase that “Pokémon isn’t just a game; it’s a lifestyle”, yet recently I’ve come to really see how much The Legend of Zelda is a part of the lives of us fans – whether we realize it or not! Sure, Zelda may not have quite the extensive media reach that Pokémon does and it definitely doesn’t require all those hours of dedicated training, but Zelda has its own unique influence over our lives individually as well as our collective culture.

It was when I was walking home recently at midnight that I realized just how intertwined with my life Zelda is. To most people it would have been nothing more than walking in the dark with birds crowing, tweeting and calling. To me it was the exact same ominous bird calls that haunt the exterior to Ganon’s Castle in Ocarina of Time.

A mere walk turned into some sort of nostalgic, vivid memory, and my thoughts were on nothing but Ganon’s Tower. Since then I couldn’t help but see The Legend of Zelda everywhere. Even though I wasn’t playing any Zelda titles at the time, and have been away from Zelda Informer for weeks – there’s just no escaping The Legend of Zelda.

By now most of you have heard the rumor about Nintendo revealing some new big 3DS title next month at their press event right before TGS (which, per tradition, they wont actually be attending). It could be completely fabricated, however we do know Nintendo isn’t throwing the towel in on the 3DS for at least another couple years.

That means, of course, there naturally has to be at least one, if not 2 or 3, big name 3DS titles coming from Nintendo in 2012. We could hear about it next month, but instead of wondering what we may or may not get next month, lets instead take our guesses at what game next gets revealed from Nintendo that we’ll care about, regardless of when it’s announced.

The left you’ll see a new logo released by Nintendo of America, and of note the logo is 100% identical to the one released at GDC 2011. However, one major change is clear: the logo has a blue background. Whoop-de-friggin-do. You know what’s more interesting about the logo? It features the Hylian bird crest, complete with the Triforce as the bird’s head.

Previously, we haven’t really seen the Triforce all that much in game footage – particularly, we’ve seen a modified version of the Hylian symbol appear without the Triforce on several occasions. But the logo suggests that there may be some event that occurs in the game that finally combines the “original symbol” with the Triforce itself in-universe.

Could it signify the occupation of Hyrule? Does it pertain to the forging of the Master Sword itself? Does it signify the start of a new era, and the rise of Ganondorf? We know this game will provide heavy lead ins for Ocarina of Time, so with the Master Sword being formed and its importance to the Triforce, it only makes sense that at some point, the Triforce will indeed be relevant. Aonuma has said it’ll play a different role to what we’ve seen previously, and this just might be the key.