I’ve been sitting here at ZeldaBlog HQ for the past two weeks deep in thought. You might notice that the number of articles I’ve been writing have drastically dropped off, racing quite quickly towards zero a week… a (quite sad) feat that I actually managed to achieve last week. Most often, when things like this happen, webmasters are quick to offer up a quick and handy excuse; maybe they’ve been working overtime, busy hanging out with friends, or perhaps they’re working on a super secret project for their sites. In short, somehow life ended up getting in the way of keeping the updates flowing. I, unfortunately, have no such excuse to give you. The past few weeks… sure, they’ve been busy, but not incredibly so. Truthfully, I’ve sat down at the computer several times with the intention (honest!) to type an article up, but my inspiration disappeared faster than the running man in Link to the Past. I tried, and I couldn’t get anything down on paper. So, instead of that, I’ve been thinking. And I’ve come to a conclusion.

I’ve decided to close ZeldaBlog.

Read the rest of this entry »

So…yeah. I started this article thinking “You know, TML’s probably going to delete my account if I don’t write some random crap in the next few weeks, so I might as well write a funny little short commentary on the reaction to the timeline announcement. Well, I started this thinking it was going to be extremely short and more of an “article”, then I guess I just got carried away. Anyway, back to the reason for this intro. This is satire, it’s an over dramatization, and it isn’t meant to offend either side of the debate. It’s meant to offend all the sides. So don’t turn the comment section of the post into a debate forum, this article is a joke with a little moral, please treat it like one and take your rants to your respective forums. If you wish to disagree with the moral of the story, that’s fine, I just don’t want this to turn into a timeline flame war.

Read the rest of this entry »

Just in case you’ve all forgotten, the Spoiler Rule about Twilight Princess will lapse in two weeks’ time on May 19, the six-month anniversary of the game. (Honestly, can you even have a six-month anniversary? I mean, the word “anniversary” is based upon “annual,” which means yearly. Well, whatever.) At that time, all topics in the Spoilers category will have their spoiler tag removed, and comments regarding Twilight Princess will be allowed into the wild. We will still offer a forewarning about any major spoilers in Twilight Princess in our articles, but it should be noted that the comments section will not have any such guarantees.

So, if you’re not finished with Twilight Princess yet, be on guard. When this blog hits 88 miles an hour, you’re going to see some serious Navi.

Many people during our last Whose Blog? brainstorm were talking about having fanfiction or fanart stuff from the masses (a.k.a. y’all) appear on ZeldaBlog. This is an idea that I come to with slight trepidation because I don’t view this site like the rest of the sites out there; they all—or at least the vast majority of them—have their own fanfiction libraries and fanart galleries, and the vastness of those is something I could never hope to achieve. Besides, this is a blog more so that a run-of-the-mill website; the last thing I want to do is somehow cheapen ZeldaBlog as a whole just because it fits into that Web 2.0 paradigm.

Read the rest of this entry »

It’s time for Whose Blog Is It Anyway?! The show where everything’s made up, and the points don’t matter! That’s right, the points are like telling people not to spoil Twilight Princess on the ‘Blog! Hi, I’m your host, Drew Linky. C’mon let’s have some fun!

Yes, okay, that was a bad joke. I’ll admit it. But seriously, though…

Anyway, wow! How long has it been when all of you didn’t start threatening me with promises of death if I didn’t do this one particular topic? I mean, for the first time in what seems like forever, there weren’t mobs standing outside ZeldaBlog HQ (thank the goddesses!) demanding a particular topic. Actually, it’s kind of bad at the same time because then I actually have to choose. (Farore forbid that the TML actually has to do work!) So yes, today’s Whose Blog? will be something of a surprise for many of you because you probably don’t know which idea I’m going to pull from the hat (that is, unless you’ve looked at the post title and the categories this post is under, at which point, poo on you)… and that means you should be afraid… very afraid… Mwahahahahaha! (Seriously, you can cower in fear now. I recommend it.)

Read the rest of this entry »

[UPDATE: Please, if your going to ask for a Whose Blog? about Twilight Princess, keep the details down to a minimum. Names are okay to reveal because they don’t reveal anything. But don’t mention any specific plot points or elaboration as to who people are. The Spoiler Rule is still in effect!]

Yes, it’s that time again. You guys have burning Zelda needs; I need an article idea. It’s about as simple as that.

If you’ve got something that you’ve been wanting me to write about for oh-so-ever(!), drop me a comment and I’ll toss it into the hat if I like it. Go ahead, bring it on! As always, the Evil Fish of Doom™ is forbidden. Just about everything else is fair game.

Some of you more web-savvy ZeldaBloggites out there might have seen the Wii.tv April Fool’s joke about the announcement of a futuristic (and highly fake) Zelda title. (It was rather funny seeing this since it was basically DeviantArt: The Movie… whereas our first April Fool’s prank was basically Google Image Search: The Movie.) Like all good April Fool’s jokes, it has you going for a few seconds before you stepped back and say… “Not a chance! That could never happen!” Indeed, that was my first reaction, and thankfully about 30 seconds later I was enlightened by this elaborate forgery.

However, let’s step back in time for a moment back to the first 30 seconds of pure, unadulterated belief in the concept. Go ahead, indulge yourself into that moment of wonder (or horror, depending upon which it was for you). Tell me… what if it were true?

Read the rest of this entry »

Those of you who know Japanese are in for a treat. Phantom Hourglass has been dated according to Joystiq… and it’s coming out in Japan much sooner than expected: this June

The date is June 23, and as you can see, we’ve updated it in the timer on the main page. The shocker (which really shouldn’t be much of a shock) here is that there’s such a huge disparity between the Japanese release and our current best guess date for the American (and European) releases. Last time Nintendo spoke, we were looking sometime in Q4, which is anywhere from October to December. Does this mean that the worldwide release of our last Zelda game, Twilight Princess, was just an anomaly because of it being a launch title for Wii, which also saw a worldwide release? Only time will tell.

Yesterday was a very cool day. I was able to Pictochat with real people for the first time ever, I watched an MST3K of the movie Street Fighter (which was sadly supposed to be Super Mario Bros.… ah well), see Zelda fan-crafts for sale in a silent auction, take pictures of many people dressed up as video game characters, and meet the people from everyone’s favourite webcomic Penny Arcade.

Read the rest of this entry »

I have a theory, and I want to test it out.

How many of you have ever honest to gosh achieved a 100% run of Ocarina of Time? In case you’re not hip with the terminology, yo, I’m basically asking how many of you collected every weapon in the game, every possible item upgrade and stat booster, planted every Magic Bean, quested for every last Heart Piece, and—and here’s the kicker—hunted down all 100 Golden Skulltulas? Go ahead, raise your hands. There’s no one watching you; I know you’re at the computer in the privacy of your own home, so don’t feel silly. Raise your hand.

For those of you who have your hands raised (or are just really shy people and don’t have the Triforce of Courage at your beck and call—such shameful heroes you’d be!), now answer me this: How many of you did it without cheating? And to make sure we’re all on the same sheet of papyrus, yes, cheating includes using a strategy guide.

Read the rest of this entry »