The only one I have ever played was Orcarina of Time and it is the most fun, deep, immersive time I have ever had with a video game.  I currently (recently) own a Wii and my girlfriend just bought me Twilight Princess. I'll have it in my hands in two days but i daren't open it until my exams finish in three weeks. 

I am curious as to when (if ever) the next Zelda (and the only Zelda built from the ground up for the Wii) is due out.  If anyone knows, do they have information as to which direction the game is going in (setting, storyline, cell-shading etc.). I can't find any information myself so I'm guessing there is none to be had, still if anyone has any......

P.S. My exams end on the 19th. I will have Zelda in my possession, Mass Effect out the next day, and Super Mario Galaxy due later that week.  My family, friends and girlfriend are not going to know me for a long time.  Mass Effect is meant to be 40-60 hours with massive (hehe) replay value, SMG will probably be around 30, and twilight princess is meant to be 50-100 depending on how you play it.  All this means Starcraft is going byebye for a while. 

No specific word. Certainly it's in development. Matt casssamassina says that generally there are always two Zelda titles in production: one for handhelds and one for consoles. Since Phantom Hourglass is already out and so is Twilight Princess, that means they should be pretty well along in the production of the next Wii Zelda and in the planning stages for the next DS title.

We have no idea what style they will go with. It is entirely possible that they will stick with the Twilight Princess mood, but don't be surprised if they do an upgrade to the Windwaker graphic system.

I expect to see a teaser at E3 2008 or GDC 2008 with the final game going to retail in Xmas of 2009.

HOLY CRAP. Retail at the end of 2009. That is SO far away. I was going to say that it should only take two years because they already have the engine for it after Twilight. But given it really is a pretty port of a GC game, that was probably a stupid thing to ever think.

You might be right, starcraft. We're kind of in unexplored territory, right now, however. The Zelda series has never launched with the system before, and consequently we haven't really seen what they would do with the extra development time for a sequel. Majora's Mask obviously utilized the OOT engine, but I think that was more of a time constraint.

The thing is, if they do use the same engine you would have to expect that the gameplay would have to step it up a few notches so as not to seem like TP version 2. This has been the saving grace for the Zelda franchise, in my opinion. Because they don't release them very often, and when they do they are either graphically enhanced or just completely different (see Windwaker) people excuse the lack of innovation.

So if we see the TP engine, I would hope that they move this series in a bold new direction. Maybe they could bring back the jump button....perhaps add some co-op. I know that these things are considered sacrilege to the series right now, but if they don't innovate the gameplay there may be a tremendous backlash.

On the other hand, if they decided to upgrade the Windwaker graphics they could just get lazy on the gameplay and people would be satisfied (if you're into Celda).

I have faith in Eiji Aunoma (sp?), so I'm certain he'll do something clever. He already said in one quote that he was definitely looking to shake up the series a bit.

Well I hope they get it out sooner than Xmas 09, whatever format they use. They could simply refine the graphical engine and keep it (vaguely) within the Hyrule (Oot) universe, but make much wider and more precise use of motion control and I would be happy. Obviously I am yet to play it, but it sounds like the Twilight Realm is an interesting and innovative expansion of the original OoT universe.

Actually Nintendo builds each game from the ground up. They usually don't reuse engines. This gives them the most efficient engine for the project they are working on. So most of the early work is all done on the engine design. After that they start doing small tests on the engine with the new models for the games. They also always tend to make new models each time they make a new game.

All seriousness aside, I felt like I should post this from Game Informer Magazine Vol. 168, if you haven't already read it.

The unveiling of a new Zelda game is a momentous industry event, but Nintendo recently lost is chance at a big reveal when a secret internal document leaked. This detailed form not only reveals the whimsical title of the upcoming entry- it clearly describes every major weapon, item, and dungeon in the entire game.

WARNING: The following paragraph contains major spoilers!

Link will start the game with a weak, wooden sword. However, after several hours, he will obtain something known as the "Master Sword", which is significantly stronger. He will also use bombs, arrows, and a hookshot to explore a land called Hyrule and its puzzle-laden dungeons. The dungeons will incorporate environmental themes: one contains a lot of fire, another is full of ice, and there's even one out in the desert!

At this point, the only other mystery that remains is who will be the final boss: Ganon or Ganondorf. You'll just have to play the game and enjoy the surprise.

Very good stuff.

Lol. It sounds like he just described a number of Zelda's that are already out.....or is that your joke???? its 4.30am here im so tired.

I don't know much about the game, but I do remember them saying they wanted to try 1:1 control (not sure I believe this) and that they wanted to really change things because they feel the game is getting stale.

The only thing they've said was mostly hints from Miyamoto going all the way back to like 06 and and 05 about implementing the Wii's controls and that some of the Wiimote functions in TP was just a sample of what they had planned. Basically it's supposed to be very different from the previous game according to Miyamoto, so I doubt it's going to use the TP engine, or at least use a heavily modified version of it. Phantom Hourglass was just a taste of what I like to call the "Neo Zeldas."

Oh yeah, Aonuma started talking about Zelda Wii at E3 but Miaymoto shushed him up really quickly. Maybe I can find a link...