I have no factual basis for any of the following. I only have a hunch.

Many may have heard the recent rumor that Retro studios (Metroid Prime series) is making a Zelda spin-off. Many were dismayed at this news, hoping instead that Retro would be making the next Kid Icarus. The idea of Retro doing a spin-off of any kind doesn't quite fit right.

No it doesn't. Retro makes vast games and the idea of a spin-off seems like it would be a half-baked cash in on a popular series. I think something much larger is cooking here.

Nintendo has been known to shake up its franchises completely. They added an egg-spitting dinosaur to Super Mario, put Star Fox in an adventure game, turned 3d Mario into 2d (and then back again) and sent Mario into space.

Now it's Link's turn.

Any Zelda fan knows that you rarely play the same Link twice. Hyrule is constantly changing and the princess named Zelda just happens to be the name of the damsel in distress. The only connecting point is something about a green tunic and cap....and three golden triangles. And a bunch of weapons including: the Master sword, the boomerang, the bow, etc.

Okay...if you're still here...I'm about to lose you.

The next Zelda Wii, to be announced at E3, will be a futuristic take on the Zelda franchise, as imagined by Retro Studios. Just think of the strange digital lights that the enemies created in Twilight Princess. Think Tron in a techno wasteland. The grappling hook....will look strikingly similar to Samus' grappling beam. The boomerang...will be a disk ala Tron. The Master Sword...will be a beam sword (yeah....probably like a light saber, but it's not the only one).

Again....this is just a feeling I have. I don't see many other places the Zelda franchise could go...considering that Twilight Princess pretty much delivered on the realistic front (I wouldn't want it to get more realistic). Retro's involvement doesn't suggest it will be an FPA, but I think it does suggest it will not have the same pastoral look as other Zelda games.

So that's my E3 2008 Zelda prediction...for better or worse.

Other predictions:

Animal Crossing Wii: August
Pikmin 3: October
Kid Icarus Wii: November

An interesting idea at the least. Although, I suppose the basic plot would be the same; the setting would be the only major change.
Didn't someone from Nintendo say that they plan to have the next Zelda be very different from the others in the main series.

The next Zelda will go into space.

Legend of Zelda... IN SPACE!!!

Seriously, how awesome would that be? The space-faring hero Link must rescue the Emperor of the Universe's daughter Zelda from being captured by an evil alien life-form known only as "Ganon." Along the way, Link becomes tangled in a web of intrigue as he discovers the secret behind the elusive space currency known only as "rupees," allies with a band of alien rebels known as the Gorons, and uses the mysterious Zora's nanotech flippers to travel from planet to planet in search of the missing princess.

I imagine it being sort of a mix of Star Wars and Dune, with a bit of Flash Gordon thrown in for good measure.

Yep. Nintendo should hire me.

It could happen.
And it is a cool idea.
The reasons I think they won't move to a future setting is because Zelda has moments where it can be very Steampunk already. It goes from herding goats to future cities in the sky. (Final Fantasy has taken this to an extreme... what year is it? Who klnows?)
So technically, they can keep the setting in Hyrule old school and you can still get your "future" look in dungeons, towns, etc.

But I think another feasible difference may be the story told from a different angle. A game where you don't play as Link, but that is still the main story and not a side quest.

They really can do a lot with that. Say Link is dead and its 30 years after TP.
The story can follow soldiers that defend Hyrule, his young friends from previous games, even follow Midna's quests in the Twilight Realm. Something along those lines.

And that is just using the TP storyline. They can go anywhere with it.

Personally I'd like to see a new villian and a new hero.
Have Zelda and Link be side characters.
Have Ganon make a cameo and such.

That's all I got =)

 Freshly-Picked Midna's Mosy Mupeeland

OH GOD

Make it happen Nintendo!

I have to say I like this idea... I wouldn't upset fans because if done right, it can fit into the storyline, and it'd probably be a great experience.

I don't think theywould bring it that far into the future. I'm hoping that it will take place, when technology is beginning to emerge in Hyrule, and shifts power between the gods, to those who posses such technology.

Maybe the main villian would be a leader of Hyrulians who want to move into Technology, and rule the world with there newfound powers. He actually has hyrulians as his army!

However at the end of the game, after much anguish, When Link finnaly is face to face with him, and his trechnology is almost all diabled, link realizes the one final step that this man will go to, he will fuse his technology, with magic, and take a finnal desperate stand against link, in the most epic battle ever contained in a zelda game!!!

I think it would also be pretty coolo, if at the very end, a cutscene emmerges, where this evil leader tries to resurect an acient evil(Ganon), but in turn gets destroyed by the great power it takes. And link gets a finnal look at Ganon before he returns to where evr the hell he is!

WOW

finally may actually bother buying a Zelda...