Iwata: Zelda possible for 2010; New DS? Not so much

Zelda_croppedThose readers hoping for a new DS design or completely new portable altogether best look away. However, those hoping for a new Zelda title on the Wii in 2010…get ready to clean your monitor!

You see, in an interview this week the Nintendo president said that he’d really, really like to get Zelda—you know, the one with MotionPlus baked in—finished and out the door by the end of this year (if you’re thinking an E3 big reveal, like me, give yourself a rupee). No word on whether or not that’s Japan only or what.

While not concrete by any means, it’s something, for once, from the normally tight-lipped Nintendo. Perhaps they’re feeling a bit giddy about the big console sales record they purportedly broke in December. Probably just a fad, whatever it was, but nevertheless maybe it got Nintendo talking.

On the DS front, things are not so rosy, but only if you’re the kind of person who demands a new portable from a video game company on some kind of personal “this is the way I think things should be” timeline (see also: most of NeoGAF). If you’re happy with the DS, as Nintendo is in the wake of killer sales and a healthy software lineup, this news is a non-issue for you: Nintendo probably won’t be sending out any kind of new portable—cellphone based or whatever—anytime soon.

However, Iwata did allow for a bit of hypothesizing, saying that a future iteration, whatever it may be, would have “highly detailed graphics, and it will be necessary to have a sensor with the ability to read the movements of people playing.” I.e., get ready for MotionPlus Mini Me sometime in 2011 (although I’m fairly certain there will be some kind of hyperconnectivity going on, as that functionality is the FUTURE). Location awareness, social networking, always on wireless network connectivity, etc. I’m sure there are dozens of prototypes floating around the Kyoto castle right now, all a mix of those features and more. Maybe we’ll get a tease at E3, alongside the first Zelda screens or demos.

Here’s hoping. Happy 2010.