This morning at 9 AM EST, Satoru Iwata addressed the general public on the future of the Wii U. Along with a decent amount of news, we learned that a new Zelda that "rethinks conventions of Zelda" is in development. Also, an HD Wind Waker will come this Fall.

On the full page version of this article, you can see a direct transcript of the English translation of Zelda series director Eiji Aonuma's presentation, as well as Iwata's follow-up remarks.

Most notable of the details revealed are that the new Zelda will revisit ideas like linearity in dungeon completion and the idea of playing alone. If they're willing to make Zelda a multiplayer game (beyond, perhaps the extend of Four Swords), we may be in for something legitimately new. There is also some mention by Iwata that we will get to see some of the challenges the Zelda team will face soon, as in an Iwata Asks, though this could be a mistake of language.

As for the Wind Waker HD release, it sounds like the game will be adapted to the Wii U control scheme and potentially given a slightly-more-than-cosmetic overhaul on the level Ocarina of Time received with its 3DS release. My only fear is that the true beauty of Wind Waker may be lost behind bloom effects and soft lighting as seen in the released screenshots (which are not necessarily of the HD remake, but rather of a test case put together by the Zelda team while experimenting with Wii U hardware).

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Nintendo made the Wii U available for Club Nintendo Platinum members to play last week. I attended!

The GamePad controller is light, easy to manipulate, and not as obtrusive as it seems at first. Ultimately, my fears about the controller’s usability are gone. Yet, based on the selection of games I tried, I fear that Nintendo will be the only company to ever use a tablet controller effectively, as was the usual case for the Wii and DS. We've already seen the DS introduce a second screen, and there's not much else that can be done here that the DS hasn't already attempted.

The GamePad does not need to exist. None of the games demonstrated a clear need for this controller.

The tablets' companion piece, the Pro controller, needlessly messes with standard controller layout. It swaps the positions of the right A/B/X/Y buttons and the right analog stick, which is not impossible to get used to, but it begs the question: Why? The same question applies to everything about the Wii U.

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Nintendo's Conference starts at 9 am PST / 12 pm EST! We've been told to expect a lot on Wii U games. Yesterday's conferences were a bit underwhelming, improving as the day went on with Ubisoft and Sony showing some really strong titles. Bosskey's readers have been rating the conferences thus far: Microsoft, C; EA, C-; Ubisoft, B+; Sony, A-. I wonder if Nintendo can top Sony?

You can watch their stream on Youtube or on Nintendo's stream site.

Join us for our live blog and chat! We'll be starting 15 minutes before.

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Retro Studios is making a game for Wii U that is "a project everyone wants (them) to do," according to Eurogamer. How terribly vague! With E3 around the corner, and Wii U hype ramping up, we're almost certain to find out next Tuesday at Nintendo's press conference.

Retro is known for its Metroid Prime trilogy, a series that brought a Western edge to one of Nintendo's signature franchises. Following their work on their last Prime game, they compiled a trilogy collection, made Donkey Kong Country Returns, and collaborated on Mario Kart 7 with Nintendo EAD. As an integrated Nintendo developer based in the West, Retro is one of the few anchors Nintendo has to Western-style game development.

Though Nintendo has a wealth of properties that Retro could be working on for them, considering their profile and history, it seems like they'd be working on one of Nintendo's bigger franchises like Metroid or Zelda, moreso than anything else. If they're working on a game "everyone wants", we'll have to listen to what people have been asking for, or guess what they might expect.

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Satoru Iwata announced at a financial briefing that Nintendo would begin offering select titles digitally on the 3DS and Wii U starting with New Super Mario Bros 2 in August, and at launch for the Wii U.

It is currently unclear which games will be made available digitally beyond the new Mario game and upcoming brain training game Onitore. Although third parties were left out of the conversation, Nintendo-published games at least can expect to have this buying option. Digitally purchased games would be stored on the system's SD card, and would only be playable from the system on which it was purchased. If existing eShop features extend to this software, a user can also expect to be able to re-download previously purchased titles at any time.

Nintendo also plans to let retailers in on the process, allowing them to sell digital codes for games over the counter. This measure would allow retailers to set their own prices for the games, letting them to bring buyers into stores with promotional sales. Nintendo justifies this measure as trying to reach the type of person who is wary or unable to make Internet purchases, but still wants to benefit from having non-physical media on their device.

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Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of most things Nintendo, told Edge recently that he'd like to make a new Zelda "based on, or starting from" 1991's A Link to the Past (LttP). Rumors of a remake to the twenty year old classic have been circling since Miyamoto mentioned a port or remake as a likely 3DS candidate last year, but these new statements are big news for the future of the franchise.

"I think the answer would be the same if we're talking about just porting," he said, "but I think I'd be even more interested in creating something new maybe based on, or starting from, A Link To The Past. I think it's important to bring some really new software." - Miyamoto to Edge

Although his comments do not preclude the idea of an LttP port, it seems clear that he'd much rather focus on new material than put effort into a remake. Although the 3DS is in desperate need of new software, Miyamoto's wishes could also apply to the upcoming WiiU.

The last Zelda with the gameplay of LttP was the Capcom-developed Minish Cap on the Game Boy Advance, which came out over seven years ago. In fact, the last solely Nintendo-developed Zelda with that traditional gameplay was LttP's direct sequel, Link's Awakening in 1993. We've had tastes of Nintendo's (Miyamoto's) vision for this style of game with handheld outings and Four Swords Adventure, but an intentional return to LttP's style could be something special.

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