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On Christmas day six years ago, one boy had a legitimate dream: To recreate the soundtrack for The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time, making it sound like it was recorded by live musicians. Three-fifths of a decade passed, and the boy became a man. More importantly, the Zelda Reorchestrated project produced its first succulent fruits: A 22-track compilation of Ocarina's tunes, as performed by a virtual philharmonic.

You can stream some of the tracks off the Zelda Reorchestrated site, or download the entire shebang for free. Or, you can just wait for the group to recreate the timeless music of Wand of Gamelon, which should be just around the corner.

Aside from efforts like The Conduit and Call of Duty: World at War, Nintendo's Wii hasn't exactly enjoyed a glut of capable FPS titles. According to a recent interview with games™ (via NowGamer), Zelda director Eiji Aonuma recognizes this -- and sees great potential for fixing that problem in Link's Crossbow Training, the pack-in minigame included with the Wii Zapper. "To tell you the truth, I actually wanted to create Link's Crossbow Training 2 ... I thought that we should do something more and better in the field of the first-person shooter." Wait, haven't we heard this before?

Unfortunately for Aonuma, the execs above him at Nintendo didn't think much of the idea, nixing it in favor of a completely new entry in the Zelda series. "I was thinking that maybe we could intensify the multiplayer mode ... [but] a lot of people inside Nintendo insisted that I should work on a new Legend of Zelda title." We're sorry about that, Mr. Aonuma! And to the Nintendo executives who killed a sequel to Link's Crossbow Training, we'd like to personally thank you.

Legend of Zelda series director Eiji Aonuma says in the latest Edge magazine that the scale of the upcoming Wii release is what's foremost in his team's mind during development. Twilight Princess, he says, was the first Zelda game where they went for a more realistic feel in terms of size and scope of the world, and yet he feels that they weren't quite able to adapt all of their gameplay ideas to that larger space. As opposed to the DS-based Spirit Tracks, which Aonuma says started out in a much more traditional place, and thus was a little easier to "realize."

Aonuma says his team is starting out with a larger, grander world in the new Wii Zelda, and from there hopes to fill it up with all sorts of Zelda-esque game ideas. He and the team may not have been able to do everything they wanted with the adult Link-sized Hyrule the first time around (not that it wasn't well-received anyway), but they're planning to give it another hookshot in the next game.

Nintendo is creating a deep rut for the Zelda games by turning every new development since Ocarina of Time into a compilation of overused tropes. The fact that people liked the first N64 outing, for example, is no reason to include a magical instrument in every subsequent game. The same goes for the chatty sidekick, and (especially) the tradition of forcing Link to walk around and meet everyone in town before someone finally hands him a sword. Even the train in The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, which seemed out of place when the game debuted, is a variant on the oft-repeated vehicle gimmick, including conveyances like Epona, the King of Red Lions, and the S.S. Linebeck.

As a result, I groaned a little when I started playing Spirit Tracks, seeing all these common Zelda elements played out for the umpteenth time. But as I played the game, I forgot all about my gripes, won completely over by its charm and by its excellently designed challenges. The great game shines through all the cruft Nintendo has thrown on top of it.

Eiji Aonuma has spent a lot of time developing Legend of Zelda games. In fact, he's been in a managerial role on the franchise ever since the series' arguably most popular installment, The Ocarina of Time. So when Mario creator (and his boss) Shigeru Miyamoto asked Aonuma and his team to develop an "Ura Zelda" (a flipped version of Ocarina of Time -- what would eventually become the Master Quest), Aonuma protested. Miyamoto's compromise, though, instead turned out to be a much greater challenge -- produce a sequel to OoT within one year.

"We were supposed to make its sequel in a year ... at first, we had absolutely no idea what sort of thing we were supposed to make, and we just kept expanding our plans," Aonuma told Nintendo prez Satoru Iwata during a recent Iwata Asks column."in the beginning, it was all trial and error ... ultimately, we adopted the 'three-day system,' and made it so that, if you couldn't clear the game inside of three days, the world was destroyed." Aonuma claims this concept was what allowed Majora's Mask to be created and released just 18 months after OoT came out. He also adds that lessons he learned from the development of Majora's Mask -- from having to remember a sequence of events in order to proceed, to "deep, compact play" -- helped to shape the development of the most recent Zelda release, The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks.

We'd like to say that Aonuma will have a break from the series after serving as producer on Spirit Tracks, but he's the man in charge of the upcoming LoZ game for the Wii. We're sorry, Mr. Aonuma! Keep on truckin'!


[Via Gamasutra]

Nintendo must have found a really cheap wholesaler for wooden boxes, because, much like it did for Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box, the publisher shipped out press copies of The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks in handsome wooden cases. No puzzles were required to get into this treasure chest, however.

Along with the treasure chest, Nintendo sent a Link t-shirt. In a separate mailing, the company sent another wooden gewgaw: a train whistle, just like the one you got from any museum gift shop ever. In a truly superhuman display of discipline, we've managed to leave the whistle untooted so future Joyswag winners won't be subject to blogger cooties.

Though we may not be steadfast watchers of Jimmy Fallon's late night talkshow, we have to give the man credit for once again bringing the world of gaming into his decidedly non-gaming television show. While Robin Williams guested on Fallon's show this week, he asked the hairy-handed comedian about his gaming habits – some of which we've covered in the past – and found out that not only does the man play his fair share of Call of Duty, but he also named his daughter "Zelda" after ... well, the Princess Zelda.

"My daughter is named after a video game ... Zelda, Princess Zelda. I don't call her Princess Zelda ... only occasionally ... but she's named after Zelda." So forget about your LaBeoufs and your Dushkus – Robin Williams is holding it down hardcore and old-school for all of Hollywood.

As with all the things in our life we love the most, we're not sure if Zelda machinima "The Legend of Cool" is supposed to be a joke or not. But if you can watch Bucky Studios' delightful blend of Ocarina of Time, the freshest beats since "Ski Dance" and utterly earnest singing after the break and not walk away with a spring in your step, we can't help you.

Also, "Now get in my mouth and fulfill your destiny" is the new thing that you should say all the time. You're welcome.

With the game pulling into the station on December 7, we visited Nintendo of America to get one last pre-launch look at The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. The latest trailer for the game revealed the Spirit Tower, a central hub of mini-dungeons that must be cleared in order to restore the train tracks that lead to the world's main temple dungeons. What we saw was the latter -- more specifically, the second of the game's dungeons, the Snow Temple.

This dungeon made heavy use of Link's ability to create whirlwinds -- the actual mechanic behind them is blowing into the DS microphone, but, thankfully, it doesn't require you to lean in incredibly close to the system or blow especially hard for it to work. Once the ability is selected by tapping it on-screen, it stays active, and dragging the stylus around Link makes him rotate, a yellow line indicating which direction the whirlwind will go. This mainly came into play when we needed to cross pools of water atop floating blocks. Like fanning a leaf in Wind Waker, firing off a whirlwind in Spirit Tracks sends Link sailing in the opposite direction.

The latest trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, featuring what appears to be the game's introduction, highlights what is certain to be one of the most bemoaned features of the new game: the Tower of Spirits. Yes, like Phantom Hourglass, this game has a central dungeon area to which you'll return throughout the game, though players will be able to skip areas they have already completed this time.

The trailer also seems to suggest that all the train tracks are magical shackles placed on the ground to imprison an evil presence. So that's why there are train tracks around! We would have guessed "interstate commerce."

Our absolute favorite thing about the Zelda series is how much it saves us on strategy guides. See, you can pretty much follow the walkthrough for Link to the Past to beat every installment in the franchise released thereafter. (Get the sword! Get the shield! Beat the Forest Temple! Get the power bracelet! Beat the Fire Temple!) However, in a recent interview with Official Nintendo Magazine, series producer Eiji Aonuma revealed that we can expect some big changes from the franchise's next iteration -- changes which he hopes will be revealed during next year's E3 showcase.

Aonuma explained that, in order to try and keep the series fresh, he and Shigeru Miyamoto "have been trying something new in terms of the structure of the Wii version of the new Zelda game this time." You know what that means. They're going to put the Fire Temple before the Forest Temple. We're kidding, of course -- that's just crazy talk.

We all know that home console Zelda games take longer to develop than most small, fledgling nations -- still, we'd secretly hoped that Nintendo would pull a hat trick next year, releasing new Wii installments in the Metroid, Mario and the aforementioned Triforce-centric series. Sadly, a recent quote from Reggie Fils-Aime has made us doubtful that this scenario will be realized -- speaking on GameTrailers TV, Fils-Aime explained that Nintendo hasn't "committed to Zelda for 2010."

So, feel free to keep that hope in your heart that you'll be Ganon-thwarting once more within the next 365 days -- but don't get too upset if it doesn't happen. Much like a college-aged Lothario, Nintendo's remaining non-committal. You might say the company's as free as a bird, darling -- and this bird, you cannot change.

Nintendo's new The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks trailer (after the break) reveals a more exciting innovation than the whole train thing: You're not exactly rescuing Zelda in this game. In fact, she travels with you the whole time ... in spirit!

In one of the craziest Zelda trailers we've ever seen, some wizard shows up and turns Zelda into a ghost, and then she sort of mopes around as an apparition until some guy with wheels suggests that she go on a road trip with Link. If you were wondering how Link could gain control of the Phantoms in this upcoming DS game, it's not through a musical instrument he finds in a treasure chest (the usual Zelda route), but rather it's because Princess Zelda possesses them.

Japanese purchasers of The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks will receive a transparent quill stylus as a gift when they put down their yen for the game. AndriaSang reports that the stylus will be given out on launch day as an "early buyer bonus," but there's no need to pre-order.

If the plastic quill seems familiar, it's because Nintendo used it as a bribe back in 2007 for registering Phantom Hourglass and filling out a survey. Spirit Tracks choo-choos into retail on December 7. We're currently unaware of the quill being offered as a pre-order in North America but if the retail masses out there know differently, please let us know in the comments.

Nintendo's resident legend, Shigeru Miyamoto, has revealed that the next installment in the Legend of Zelda series on Wii will make use of Wii MotionPlus for more realistic sword combat and targeting. "In this (installment of the series), we're using MotionPlus to make you feel much more like you're actually fighting while holding a sword in your hand," Miyamoto disclosed during an October 30 Q&A session, as translated by GameLife.

"In the previous game, you aimed at things by pointing at the screen, but this time we'll use MotionPlus to create a much more convenient targeting system and a more pleasurable playing experience," Miyamoto added.

Despite these revelations, Nintendo has yet to officially state whether Wii MotionPlus will be an option or a requirement for playing the game. When this next Zelda was announced during E3 2009, Miyamoto could only say that MotionPlus-exclusivity was "possible." These gameplay elements -- especially the swordplay -- only make it seem more likely.

[Via GameLife]