It seems that, after years of hoping that a glimpse of a new Zelda title at E3, we know for sure that it will turn up this year (and E3’s not for months yet)!

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata told his investors in a financial briefing that “We will show the new Zelda title for Wii at E3 this year.” And that sounds pretty definite to me.

Sure, we pretty much knew this already – and even if it wasn’t going to turn up, I think the whole Zelda community would be brandishing pitchforks outside of Nintendo HQ – but now that the shareholders will potentially be part of that mob, I would bet Nintendo are pretty certain that it will turn up. So look forward to a nice Zelda trailer come June. Whether we see the finished product this year remains to be seen.

Iwata to “show” Wii Zelda at E3 News | Wii | Eurogamer

It appears that Iwata is a very confused individual when it comes to Zelda, as once again he is “Asking”. In Mr Boss of Nintendo’s online series, “Iwata Asks”, he has once again given us a very in-depth Zelda interview to chew on.

This time, it’s all about the history of the handheld games, from Link’s Awakening right up to Spirit Tracks. Iwata is grilling Eiji Aonuma, Toshihiko Nagako and Takashi Tezuka, all who have had their hand in the creation of the portable Zelda games at some stage or another. It’s well worth a read, as it has lots of nuggets of information about the games’ development, unseen design sketches for various elements of the earlier Zelda games, and videos of Link’s Awakening that take me right back to my childhood.

Also, Iwata arrives fashionably late. Stylish.

Read it here.

While last we heard, Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime was giving us the old “No comment” about the release date of the upcoming Zelda game on the Wii, Nintendo of EVERYTHING president Satoru Iwata thinks otherwise. In an interview with Japanese newspaper Asashi Shimbun (which Kotaku have kindly translated), Iwata claims that the game will be out by the end of the year. No words on what territories he’s referring to, but Zelda games generally launch at roughly the same time worldwide.

In the interview, he also mentions very vague details about what the next DS will do and when it will be released – guess he can’t give everything away!

So, with luck, you’ll all be playing the next big-budget Zelda title this winter. And I don’t think anyone will complain with that!

You can read Kotaku’s article here, if you’re interested.

The latest instalment in the “Iwata Asks” interview series on the official Nintendo website, focuses on Link’s Crossbow Training. As he chats to Shigeru Miyamoto about the development process of the game, you’re bound to learn lots about the making of this thrilling instalment in the critically acclaimed Zelda franchise…

 …who am I kidding? Did you even buy it? I’ve told you it’s there, I’ve done my part. Read it if you want. It’s actually quite interesting, for what it’s worth.

Iwata Asks: Link’s Crossbow Training