Nope v.v even though the game has minimal motion control hes righty still... I hope that was just an early model x.x

Just because he is named Link?Thats as weak as argument gets.If a caracther has Gay in his named, it means he is homosexual?Cmon

Link was never an avatar.You may think that way, but he isnt.By no means I will not buy the game if the female Link rumour is true, that would be silly, but I have every right to get pissed at it.And its not nothing.Its like if someone broke your cup that was given to you by your dead mother for example.For the person, it is simply a cup.For you, its an irreplaceable item.The same would be here.Its a bit of an extreme example, but you get what I mean

This!

I agree.

A female Link at this point in time would be an obvious submission of Nintendo to the anti-gamergate crowd and I don't think I would ever be able to play such a game much less buy it.

Link was never a generic avatar for the gamer anymore than Mario is. Link was and is one of the most recognizable mascots in the video game industry and the story of Zelda is one based around a boy confronting and understanding manhood and ultimately defeating a villain and rescuing a princess.  This whole story arc will need to be "gender-neutralized" in order to make room for the new female version of Link.

This rumor is actually terrible news for me.  I knew that Nintendo would eventually have to submit to the radical feminist/politically correct puppet crowd but I was hoping that we might have been able to get one last Zelda that had a hint of masculinity in it before Nintendo caved. 

Hope the NX version runs at a minimum 1080P + 60 FPS. If you don't like the gender option ... uh just don't use it? No one's putting a gun to your head.

Well what if when you chose the female character you either play as Zelda or a new Character and Link is still separate from that,personally I think that would be the best solution.

But if when you choose the fem. and it's Link then I hope they don't just change Link but also change Zelda and make her into a guy because people like you,me and other on this thread will be call alot of things by being against FemLink but I would love to see those who are so pro changing a male character into a female just for "equalaty" react if Nintendo did the double switch and make a girl into a guy, I bet they would also cry foul.

The way Link has been depicted in the games ever since WW highlights he's no longer just an avatar per say, he remains voiceless so the player can fill in the blanks themselves and connect with him but he's gone from being an avatar that represents the player to a character that the player uses their own imagination to fill in.

On the rumour and tbh I'm skeptical, for one Emily has been wrong and wide off the mark before, people say but Paper Mario well rumours of that game have been circulating for close to 2 years now they even came up before last E3. Her fellow leaker in the OP that Doctor Cupcakes wasn't he the one that got the whole Star Fox Zero delay thing wrong or was that some one else?

People have been expecting Zelda to be on NX since the platform was announce and the delay was suddenly sprung on gamers not to mention Super Metal Dave's leak has already given strong indication it's happening. When they say voice acting do they mean spoken dialogue or made up gibberish like in Okami or what Midna uses, even the grunts by Link have a VA so this is a claim that can easily be sidestepped if wrong. The claim that players choose the gender of the character has me skeptical especially as Aonuma indicated the's no female Link in an earlier statement, unless the is a female character who helps Link every now and then I don't believe this part.

Nintendo is known to make different things, and even change things from estabilished franchises.So if they truly intended to Link to be female, why wait for 30 years?It makes no sense.Unless Link was always male, of course.

And if they want to make a female lead for the franchise, why not a brand new one?Or even Zelda?That would result ina much more interesting result than just making a female Link skin.You could work with new concepts, like Mario and Luigi.An example would be this:Link would be the equivalent of Mario, the steriotype hero, while this new heroine would be Luigi.A more humane person who would naturally be afraid of something that could get you killed, but would find the courage to do so.This way you keep(most) fans happy, and could give a much better and interesting direction to the franchises, switching betwenn both heros betwenn titles.

Maybe Link could have been seen until A Link to the Past as an avatar, and I emphasize on the maybe, but after OOT, its impossible to say this in my opinion.He has always the same appearance, has expressions, and even though he dosent talk has a personality that stays mostly the same through the games.That is not the definition of a avatar.And the problem with different genders is that you may miss some oportunities, like romantic interest and jokes that are restrictive to the gender, and so on.In the end, you could lose alot of oportunities for caracther growth and such.It would limit the game for no good reason.

Link has so far been as generic a character as it gets... -___-

Link is an avatar par excellence. Always was. He is or better has become a visual icon. Doesn't make him less of an avatar.
It's a good one though because gamers at some point really started to 'project' their imagination into that avatar.

And yes, Link is the link between player and game. I remember Miyamoto stating exactly that in an interview early Nineties.
It'd actually be fun though if changing to female Link would make Zelda male.

As for Link always being a child, that has changed multiple times. Looking at artworks a link to the past Link might be around 14.