Nintendo producer Eiji Aonuma told Japan's Famitsu magazine in a recent interview that he hopes to have a playable version of the new Zelda title for the Nintendo Wii by this year's E3 convention. Aonuma also revealed that the development team has determined the core concepts of the game and that they are hopeful the game could be released by the end of the year.

According to Aonuma, the new Zelda game will make heavy use of the Wii MotionPlus peripheral and will require gamers to use it: "After actually making it compatible. It just feels so natural. Link's sword and the controller that you're holding become one." Aonuma also mentioned that how you fight enemies with the sword will affect how some puzzles are solved.

Outside of a few scant interviews, not much is known about the new Zelda title for the Wii. The only visual that has been produced for the public has been this small artwork. Despite this, the new Zelda is the most hotly anticipated title for the Wii based on statistics from GameStats. Nintendo executives have made mild suggestions that the game would be released in 2010 but some have also backtracked from that commitment.

It is not entirely unusual for hit games to be announced the same year that they are released. For example, Gears of Wars 2, which came out for the Microsoft Xbox 360 in November 2008, was only officially announced in February 2008. However, given Nintendo's past history with recent Zelda games, an immediate release following announcement would be considered a surprise.

Source: Andriasang, Joystiq and GameStats