Precious few details have been released regarding The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, and we still don’t have a release date more specific than “some time in 2011″. However, we did get this tiny tidbit. IGN reports:

According to CEO Satoru Iwata, who briefly mentioned the game at an investors briefing today, development is in the final stages. However, the game’s release will trail that of 3DS’s Ocarina of Time.

Twilight Princess remains one of my favorite Wii titles, and the thought of playing a Zelda game designed for the Wii from day 1 is even more tantalizing. Don’t get me wrong; the Wii remote controls in Twilight Princess felt natural and well thought-out, but the game was still essentially a glorified GameCube port. Skyward Sword, on the other hand, will make heavy use of the Wii MotionPlus, which has been collecting dust at my house since Wii Sports Resort. Basically, we are overdue for a Skyward Sword media blitz. I’m so hungry for new details, I could eat an Octorok.

The big release this week is the budget title sequel to Endless Ocean for Wii. I think it’s the first WiiSpeak game Nintendo has released since Animal Crossing came out over a year ago. On the downloadable side of things, GhostSlayer sounds interesting as its the first WiiWare game I know of that uses MotionPlus. Of note: there are no Virtual Console games at all this week! That must mean every single game for it has been released .. not!

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The next Zelda title, we learned today, is about to go MotionPlus exclusive. The confirmation came from notoriously loose-lipped Shigeru Miyamoto, in an interview from Tokyo this week.

“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 said. “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.”

With only two games taking real advantage of MotionPlus thus far, this could be seen as a fairly risky move on Nintendo’s part. Or a brilliant one, as there is no denying the power of the Zelda brand when it comes to moving units. I guess we’ll see, won’t we?

According to the NHL 2K10 Wii description on Amazon:

Enjoy online voice chat capabilities via WiiSpeak and precise one-to-one control with WiiMotion Plus

Two peripherals at once??  I think the Balance Board could be a fun thing to slap under your feet during a hockey match, too.  Oh well .. no hat trick!  HA!  I kill me.

Anyway, has anyone played NHL 2K10 yet?

[photo found here]

Japan’s already been reveling in all that is black and plastic ever since Nintendo introduced a black Wii and black peripherals in that market this past August (yes, it really is September already).

Now it’s our turn!

Well, it will be, just as soon as Nintendo delivers stock in time for the holiday season. We Yanks will be on the receiving end of a black Wiimote, black cover, black Wii MotionPlus, and black nunchuck. What we won’t receive, at least not yet, is a black Wii console. No pricing info was available, but it better not be more than the cost of a traditional white Wiimote.