First Nintendo doles out some damage to our wallets with its four new Nintendo Selects games and now it’s ruining our Thanksgiving family reunions– The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword has been announced for November 20, 2011. This is the first release date that has been announced, and assuming it doesn’t get delayed (it hasn’t yet, considering Nintendo tentatively slated it for a “holiday” release back at E3), we here at Nintendojo are ready to pretend our family just isn’t in the residence when this game comes out.

Nintendo also stresses everything we already know about the game (MotionPlus functionality; “battle tactics”). Now we just need the whole package.

Full release below as usual.

NINTENDO’S NEW ZELDA GAME SOARS SKYWARD ON NOV. 20

Master the Sword in Link’s Newest Motion-Controlled Adventure for Wii

REDMOND, Wash., Aug. 17, 2011 – Nintendo’s celebration of the 25th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda™ series continues in full force with the announcement that The Legend of Zelda™: Skyward Sword will launch in North America on Nov. 20. The epic adventure, created from the ground up for the Wii™ console, sends this storied series to new heights and marks a turning point for the franchise.

The game uses the precision motion controls of the Wii Remote™ Plus (or a Wii Remote controller with a Wii MotionPlus™ accessory) and Nunchuk™ controllers to map on-screen action to the player’s movements. When a player swings the Wii Remote Plus controller, Link™ appears to swing his sword in exactly the same way.

Different enemies have different battle tactics, so players must analyze their approach and develop counterattacks that play on the enemies’ weaknesses. The game’s wide array of items also use full motion controls, letting players roll bombs, shoot arrows and guide flying objects like never before.

The game includes a massive, multilayered world that takes players from dark dungeons to a diverse overworld to cloud cities in the sky, requiring a combination of puzzle-solving and swordplay to unlock all of its secrets. Link soars through the air on the wings of a majestic bird while exploring the game’s sky area, providing players with unprecedented freedom of movement as they progress on their adventure. The quest lays the foundation for the events in The Legend of Zelda™: Ocarina of Time™, which is frequently cited as one of the greatest video games of all time.

“The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is the biggest game in the series yet,” said Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “We’ve just scratched the surface of this massive experience, and we look forward to sharing additional details with fans as we approach the Nov. 20 launch.”

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is now available for pre-order at major retailers throughout North America. A deposit may be required for pre-orders. See individual retailers for details. For more information about the game, visit http://www.zelda.com/skywardsword/.

Remember that Wii features parental controls that let adults manage the content their children can access. For more information about this and other features, visit http://www.nintendo.com/wii.

About Nintendo: The worldwide pioneer in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software for its Wii™ home console, Nintendo 3DS™ and Nintendo DS™ family of portable systems. Since 1983, when it launched the Nintendo Entertainment System™, Nintendo has sold more than 3.7 billion video games and more than 600 million hardware units globally, including the current-generation Wii, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSi™ and Nintendo DSi XL™, as well as the Game Boy™, Game Boy Advance, Super NES™, Nintendo 64™ and Nintendo GameCube™ systems. It has also created industry icons that have become well-known, household names such as Mario™, Donkey Kong™, Metroid™, Zelda™ and Pokémon™. A wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo’s operations in the Western Hemisphere. For more information about Nintendo, please visit the company’s website at http://www.nintendo.com.