No, really. Nintendo of Korea has posted a release date for Twilight Princess: August 27, 2009. Let us never, ever complain about a localization delay again. Unless, of course, you're reading this from South Korea, in which case, we feel for you. Actually, we can't. We have no idea what it feels like to wait for a Zelda game knowing everyone else can and did scoop up the game and already beat it, and probably lent it to friends to beat, and then traded it in ... only to buy it back ... to hack their Wiis and maybe beat again, and then sold it off -- for good ... years ago. No, that level of agony -- *shudder* -- is unknown to our fragile beings.

[Via GoNintendo]

If someone suggested the notion of Link and Midna cosplay to you -- wolf Link, that is -- you'd probably think Midna would be the more lifelike one of the pair, yes? Not this time, buddy. No, while this little Midna is great, down to the details and the little legs, it's the wolf who really shines ... especially when you get to the video after the break.

But we'll give you a hint: there's a person in there. Wolf Link is made of people.

deviantARTist LilleahWest calls this pair of costumes a work in progress, but if it gets much more accurate, we're not sure we can handle it. Also? This wolfsuit was made in only twelve days. That's dedication.

Lazard Capital Markets analyst Colin Sebastian recently detailed a list of games he expects to release in 2009, which he believes would help drive industry growth by 5%. In the list of 22 titles, Colin includes a new Legend of Zelda, as well as a new Princess Peach game for the DS.

This is just speculation on his part, but considering what Nintendo has said about the teams and their work on a new Zelda, we wouldn't be surprised if we finally saw something on the game next year. Of course, you have to consider how long it took Nintendo to put out Twilight Princess. We're just hoping it doesn't take that long for the next game.

As co-director of a game that many consider the greatest of all time, you'd think Eiji Aonuma would be content to put his feet up and soak up the praise. It's what we would do, but that's probably why we'll never create anything as awe-inspiring as The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

Speaking to Nintendo Power about his past work on most of the Zeldas since Ocarina of Time, Aonuma insists that he can't stop making the games, because he's yet to beat what he achieved with Ocarina. "I'm happy that a title I worked on some time ago remains highly praised to this day," he says, "but that also shows how none of the subsequent games in the series have surpassed it."

He adds that this alone may be what motivates him to make more Zelda and keep putting more happy in our heads. A revealing insight into the perfectionist mindset of a top game designer!

Occasionally, you do have to wonder why Nintendo bothers. In typical fashion, the latest Wii Menu update (released only seven days ago) was designed to render the Twilight Hack useless. Also in typical fashion, it's already been beaten, proving yet again that you can't keep a good hack down.

While some in the homebrew community predicted that the 3.4 update would sound the death knell for the Twilight Hack, Team Twiizers has now written and released new, Wii Menu 3.4-compatible code (though as usual, updating your Wii isn't recommended unless it's an absolute must).

HackMii has a link to the new file and all necessary instructions, so let the brewing of homes recommence!

Although we regard this golden statue of Link and Epona as tacky, we're clearly in a minority. Despite being the most expensive item ever in the European Club Nintendo shop (15,000 Star Points, thank you), it sold out in the blink of a Goron's eye.

How rare is this, exactly? Our guess: pretty damn rare. We've never seen one on eBay. But now it's back in stock, chintzier than ever, and ready for some lucky collectors to swipe. It's still 15,000 Star Points, and we suspect this latest batch will go quickly, so long as somebody out there has resisted splurging their Star Points on Wii Points.

How about you, North Americans? Would something like this catch your eye when Club Nintendo launches in your neck of the woods later this year?


[Via N-Europe]

He may not be intimately familiar with Ratchet and Whatshisface, but at least revered game designer Shigeru Miyamoto has had the pleasure of tumbling through dimensional shortcuts and outsmarting acerbic computers. In an interesting chat with MTV Multiplayer's Stephen Totilo, Miyamoto admits that he, like most rational human beings, thought Portal was "an amazing game."

Games that go without the "amazing" label? The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, which the Mario maker describes as "not a bad game, by any means," but one that felt "like there was something missing." And while Miyamoto submits that Super Mario Galaxy did "some things that were very new and were very unique," he ultimately feels that some elements seemed "somewhat conservative."

And it's at this point that we strongly advise you to open an umbrella or don a durable raincoat. When faced with the choice of vehemently defending two prominent Nintendo games or agreeing with the creator, fanboy brains tend to explode quite violently.

MTV's Stephen Totilo has posted the third and final part of a lengthy interview with Shigeru Miyamoto. Though the bulk of the article was lent to discussion of Wii Music, the pair broached other subjects, including what Miyamoto perceives as a lack of innovation in titles such as The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Super Mario Galaxy.

Though Twilight Princess was "not a bad game," Shiggy felt there was "something missing," and was also semi-criticial of the previously untouchable Galaxy, which he thought was "very new and [...] very unique," but "somewhat conservative in terms of how far we branched out with design." If we may mount the Wii Fanboy soapbox for a moment, we'd concur that Twilight Princess was far from being the best Zelda, but found Galaxy to be consistently creative and entertaining.

Elsewhere, Miyamoto referred to the "next Galaxy," which may or may not mean we'll be getting another Mario-in-space game (we wouldn't read too much into it), and that he loves Portal. Nintendo fanboys we might be, but we can probably all appreciate that last statement.

The Zelda team is currently beavering away at the next game in the series, and it sounds like the title might introduce a different spin on the usual Zelda formula.

Shigeru Miyamoto has told IGN that the Zelda franchise requires "big new unique ideas," and added that the development team "is very focused on trying to find those ideas." He ruled out adopting a first-person perspective for the series, after IGN reminded him that Eiji Aonuma showed The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess played through Link's eyes at GDC 07. May we recommend a side-scrolling game interspersed with lengthy, high-quality cut-scenes? Oh, uh, never mind.

Anyway, while Shiggy's comments are rather vague, this does raise another issue: is the Zelda series growing stagnant? The initial outcry over Wind Waker suggests change is a delicate issue with the fans!


[Via Go Nintendo]

By now, you've no doubt heard: Nintendo is rolling out Club Nintendo in the U.S. by the end of 2008. Wahey! Yeah, we know that Japan (generally speaking) gets the most excellent items when compared to elsewhere, but listen here, bub: it's free stuff. We're not about to complain, and nor should you (if you want to feel sorry for somebody, Australia's Club Nintendo scheme has gone AWOL, and check out South Africa's piss-poor Stars Catalogue).

Anyway, as these are happy times for North Americans, we thought we'd reflect on some of the bestest Club Nintendo gifts and trinkets from both Japan and Europe to date -- some of which could end up in the U.S.! Hit the gray button to start DS Fanboy's whirlwind Club Nintendo Tour of Wonders!

This week, graphics professionals and enthusiasts flocked to SIGGRAPH to share and discuss the latest technologies and techniques for making gorgeous computer graphics. The focus of the convention is mainly offline rendering (the stuff that we see in print, movies, and television that's too complex to be rendered in real time), but as computers and game consoles become more powerful, many of these methods and effects make their way into the realm of realtime rendering. Ten years ago, the opening cutscene for Super Mario Galaxy would have needed to be rendered by a cluster of computers and converted into full motion video.

Even though the Wii is not pushing graphical fidelity the way this generation's HD consoles are, we've still come a long way and there's much to be appreciated. There are all sorts of graphical effects that, over the years, have been added to the game artist's palette, and in this edition of Revolutionary, I'd like to draw your attention to a few of them.

When games like Super Mario Galaxy come along, we find ourselves questioning how it's possible for them to look so good, while most other Wii wares have the appearance of games designed for a much weaker platform. It's easy to forget that the Wii's hardware comes from the strong pedigree of Gamecube when much of what we're looking at reeks of Playstation number two.

With multi-platform shovelware, and even a few high profile titles that didn't get any special consideration on the Wii (Guitar Hero 3 and Rock Band, I'm lookin' at you!), developers often drop assets and effects to a lowest common denominator. In the class which Wii is placed, the Playstation 2 has the lowest and most common specs, so our Wii graphics are brought down to its level. The PS2 has had its share of beautiful games, but the methods for making them so beautiful are uncommon enough that they're largely ignored when making games that will have to be replicated on another console in the same class.

It's often the first and second party games or that rare, exclusive third-party effort that is given the budget and time to explore the depths of the Wii's fixed-function graphics hardware and pull off something it wasn't expressly designed for. And considering that the core technologies in the Wii were designed nearly a decade ago, there's a lot of "new tricks" that artists and programmers have had to teach the "old dog."

You've got to love the Homebrew community. They're constantly trying to cut corners and this latest app, Ocarina, is no different. Instead of spending time inputting button commands in-game, you can simply inject them, Game Genie or Action Replay-style, into the game. For example, in Twilight Princess, the Ocarina app allows the user to climb ladders super fast, have infinite bombs and use a variety of items underwater. Among other things, Link can also use the Spinner in a really imaginative way.

[Thanks, RupeeClock!]

Did you know that some people really like Nintendo games? It's true! Some people express their fandom by writing about Target Terror price drops, while others choose to imitate game characters at anime festivals. The Tanooki interviewed one such cosplayer, Andrea Zampella, and found that her Nintendo devotion is a new development!

As it turns out, she grew up Segaist. It wasn't until Sonic the Hedgehog games began to show up on the GameCube that Andrea began to appreciate Nintendo consoles. Sonic and Mario at the Olympic Games was the catalyst for her complete conversion, marking the end of the Sonic/Mario rivalry. "Plus," she said, "Super Mario Galaxy was the bomb, and so was Rosalina!"

Check after the break for a picture of Andrea as Rosalina. More images of both the Rosalina and Midna costumes can be found at The Tanooki, along with the full interview.