Not before Xmas '09 - and possibly even later. That's what Ninty themselves stated.

TP suffered from a lack of focus - as Miyamoto & team openly admitted. This made development a lot harder than it should have.

Ninty will do two things:

i) Work out how to incorporate some excellent Wiimote / Wii featiures into the game - something special.

ii) Work out the core theme of the game - be it a change in setting, or something like 'Twilight' from the last game.

...

Once this is done, development can progress pretty quickly.

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There is ONE Zelda I would still love to see made in Hyrule / current setting:

 - base the game around the use of MAGIC (enchant your sword & shield!)

 - add RPG elements (leveling + stats)

Maybe consider giving the game to Monolith after they are done with their big RPG - or even Level 5?

(I wonder what the Mario Galaxy team will work on post-Galaxy...?)

^^ Nintendo should have tonns of free resources after Galaxy, Brawl and Kart are out, will be interisting to see where they go..... I hope the next Wii shapes up faster than the last... no need to rush but TP did take very long.

Oh and I don´t think a WW2 setting would be bad, of course not with WW2 weapons or anything, it would just be cool to see a full scale war going on in Hyrule. 

BTW, am I the only one who would like a spin-of where you get to play as (a possibly younger) Ganon ??? 

I think the answer is WAR!!! We need a really great war in Hyrule... and a really really long zelda game... let's say minimum with no side quest 60hrs... The game would be something like this...

I would start right after TP... as we know after finishing TP ganon is not dead... in fact... he allied with the neighbouring kingdom and along with the gerudo, he is planning on invading the land of hyrule... zelda ask link is he could gather and army to defend hyrule...

Here starts part 1 of the game where you have to ask the gorons, the zoras maybe add some races from past zeldas... to join you... obviously you will have to complete certain task and all that zelda-like things that we love... certain side-quests will enable you to obtain specific weapons to use on the battlefield like catapults or an experimental bo-bomb cannon...

After you obtain an army that you like you go and talk to zelda to inform her that the army is ready... now is when a different zelda starts... You will command the army... and you have to divide you troops in different squads in order to defend the different regions around hyrule... here is where depending on you strategy it would be easier or harder to win an specific battle... you would fight in lake hylia... the gerudo dessert... kokiri forest... goron mountain... and finally hyrule field... ( you would go from each battlefield to the other by riding on epona or maybe using some kind of item )

After the final battle in hyrule field anything could happen in other to expand the game... like link is killed and then he pulls a "God of War II ressurrection" or anything... i don't know..

 Well that's where i was getting at, but mine was a more of "emphasiz on young Ganon" instead of "play as young Ganon".

And to AsylumX, that's a cool idea, But instead of part 1, part 2, they would be mixed together once link gets older and becomes trusted as a captian in the army. Like, throughout half the game you're fighting a big enemy, but soon Ganondorf (the reincarnated younger one) comes along and just annihilates the main enemy, and then declares war on Hyrule. Then it would switch between battles and regular LoZ.

meh, i'm just saying a bunch of stuff... 

I have to say most of these ideas are simply horrible. If these things are what Nintendo has to do to change Zelda then I hope they never do. However, they have promised that Twilight Princess was the last time Zelda would appear in this form, so I'm sure we are going to see some pretty big changes to the gameplay formula and game style.

I'd say it's a good thing none of you are in charge of concept development for Nintendo though.

It's easy to criticize naz, it really is. The hard part is to come up with a solution that would satisfy all. After all no one in their right mind will say that TLoZ series is fresh anymore. It really needs some deep changes. Has anything been different in the last four zelda games, including TP? Only graphics to tell the truth. And even though all of those games are fun to play, things have begun to feel stale in terms of gameplay.

And so i repeat Soriku's question, just what would you do then to make the game better?

Well I myself am not all that imaginitive. I would never have thought of a story like Wind Waker for example, but I thought it was a brilliant change of setting. If they had just changed the gameplay formula with it, it would have been perfect. Personally, I am content trusting Nintendo with the game and waiting to see what they come up with.

If I had a choice? I simply ask for a Zelda game where you play as someone other than Link, and a Zelda game that uses a different setting with some creative motion controls and different abilities. That's pretty much all I want. However, there isn't a chance in hell I would buy a Zelda game set in WWII, the modern world, or the future. God forbid Zelda go down the path of Final Fantasy. Refreshing a series is great, but don't destroy everything that was done right in the first place. Zelda has to remain an adventure and puzzle solving game. If you make it World War 2 or modern, that will destroy the adventure and puzzle solving aspects, as well as the wonder of exploring new unseen environments. If you make it futuristic, you might as well give Link a power beam and a morph ball and call it Metroid, because that's what a futuristic puzzle/adventure game is...

Like I said, I'm content to wait and see.

QFT. Hyrule doesn't need to change that much. I believe that Zelda could really benefit from leverage. That is, minor changes that bring about big results. I don't see a need to reinvent the wheel, but just to make it more fresh and exciting. A Hylian war would be amazing, and there's certainly multiple ways to approach it. However, I recognize that are a lot of other options in terms of approaching the new game. It'll be interesting to see what Nintendo does.

About the "Ninty has promised that TP was the last Zelda of its kind," it was more of a suggestion, a hinting at. They cited lackluster sales in Japan; however, that in no way means that Zelda is going to undergo such a drastic change (overall sales are still impressive).

I agree tarheel. There is no reason to go rip the series to shreds and make it into something else entirely. Work with what you have, and build off your strengths. Don't start over from the beginning.

Also, don't worry too much about the "last of it's kind" thing. Phantom Hourglass isn't like TP, but it's still very much a Zelda game, just with fresh control styles and settings.

 Yeah you're right. Zelda needs to be Zelda, in the same midevil(?) setting  and stuff, but i don't agree with you're earlier post about not being Link. i think they just need to refresh him, and overall the whole characters.

Nintendo can do what they like with the setting/controls/story/gameplay and stuff (except no cel-shading) but all i really  want is to have  the Characters stand out. Link needs to be more courageous and show more bravery, Zelda needs to be more benevolent and wise, less of a Princess asking for help, and Ganondorf needs to be more evil and have more of a story. And not only the 3 main characters, but the other characters too, like the Zora's and the Gorons, and the Hylians and all those towns and cities and villages. They have on themselves a "perfect" game, they just need to expand on the stuff they have.

If the story is stale then they can do pretty much anything to freshen it up, but the characters are what make the game. I think the story is stale because the characters (pretty much all the characters in the game) are stale. That was the whole point of my earlier post. We need a new definition of Link, Zelda and Ganondorf.