Yeah, I fell for this issue for Microsoft. the first three years of the 360's lifespan had game after game coming out exclusively to their console due to lack of competition or small installed base from competitors. After the first three years the third party exclusivity dried up and they had barely anything from 2008-present. Microsoft was smart to gain the attention of the shooter fans though. Theres a lot of them in America. It doesn't change the fact however,  that Microsoft baited consumers with third party exclusives and then when they had the base they lost the amount of exclusivesthey had.

Nintendo needs to pick at  Miyamotos brain while he's still at Nintendo and see if he could help them with a core title. I don't he's probably the reason for the kiddy image  in the first place, but I would want him involved in the game making process as the guy is incredibly gifted with making great titles.

That's exactly how I see it too. I would wish Nintendo would take this need seriously and hire a consultant, and make a tight team of say 10 to make this a reality, using a minimalistic strategy to ensure low cost but with appeal (to the segment in question). I would like Miyamoto to give feedback but keep his input subdued in favor of the consultants, who know what the segment really wants, and filter in Miyamoto's feedback where it meshes with that need/constraint.

I'm more than willing to have a real discussion about the appeal of specific entries in the Zelda franchise, even (or especially) in the context of how it would reflect on the current conversation.

There is no absolute metric of quality, and there is no objective basis on which to claim a lack of taste for people who like a particular game.

(I edited my last post)

I think Nintendo will go in for the long haul with core titles, but this is going to be a huge investment for them. That would bring them to a brand quality they havent seen since the N64, but if they ever reached the equality amongst games like the SNES we could have a future classic console on our hands. Regardless of whether its the weakest console or not the door is still open to have the top titles under its belt. 

Without Zelda there would probably be no SotC. Ico was stripped down though and focused crazy boss battles and let that tell the story (which was unexplainably beautiful I might add). Games are following it to this day like Castlevania: Lords of Shadow boss battles, Horse back riding animations of Red dead Redemption, and the camera angles of the Uncharted franchise. Theres so many games that this one game has influenced that its crazy. Team ICO is a rare flower in a garden of weeds.

E3 2004, do you remember what kind of response Nintendo got for the new darker Zelda?

The video we got was an idea of the appeal this kind of content has in the gamer community as a whole, and for Nintendo, and Zelda fans in particular. I won't sidetrack too much, but as amazing as Wind Waker was, the vision gamers got when they saw a glimpse of TP is what led to that reaction.

The question is, "did the game deliver on that?". I believe for many aspects it did. Who doesn't remember the magnificense of the bridge of Eldin, the canyons by kakarico, the sacred grove and the revealing of the temple of time, and the beauty of hyrule's marketplace?

Then, the beautiful serene music in Lake Hylia, the glorious and eerily divine music of the light spirits and the campy music of Faron Woods? And of course how epic and immense were the boss battles of Stallord and Argorok?

But as excellent as were those aspects, some things were just off. I understand it was intentional, but it didn't work for me. Take for instance, the cacophonic music of the shadow ennemies, worlds and battles? Or the mini-game music?

Compare that to something like this. Or this? Some more to compare.

Also, I can't remember what relevance Ganon had to Zant, it all seemed disconnected as far as I remember. What about the cutscene about the darklinks, why did that not tie in with the rest? It all seemed untied.

You may need to go back and replay Twilight Princess for context. Ganondorf and Zant's ties to each other are expounded on at length, and one of the major focal points of the plot. And the "Dark Links" were not Dark Link at all, they were metaphorical stand-ins for the war of Hyrule's antiquity, just link Link and Ilia were in that scene.

The music seemed fine to me - the mild dissonance in the Twilight Realm's themes was very effective at communicating its alienness, I thought.

I agree it communicated the dissonant vibe of something foreign to us, something that is dark and doesn't exist, and is creepy.

But there are ways that Metroid did that without necessarily being dissonant, but conveying that you're on an extra-terrestrial planet, and all alone.

I agree though, I will need to go back to TP, as it's been almost 4 years since I last completed it. I am interested in this topic, so I will get back to you on the plot aspect, but as for music, I have pretty high standards, as it's a very important component to me (and I think for you as well). I believe it could have been better realized for TP personally, and a good external consultant who can say, "hey, that's not really working, you might want to try another approach" would have helped.

Funny, on the topic of Zelda, I find that in Skyward Sword, though the game wouldn't cater to the segment I have in mind, there are cutscenes in it that I believe did a phenomenal job at making the game more cinematographical, for example the romance scene at the begining, and the ceremony scene, where Link, Zelda and the Chancellor (her father) are talking about it. I was amazed.

I believe Nintendo has the talent, they just need some more direction to put it all together.

The opening scene of Skyward Sword, with the Imprisoned rising over the forest, is one of the best cutscenes of its type in any video game. That they have the chops to pull off that kind of story, that kind of feeling, is fairly clear.