legends

Fistful of Rupees reimagines Link as a loner Clint Eastwood type, battling against the forces of evil in an Old West town rather than a dungeon.

True to the video game series, Link doesn't say a word. Familiar Zelda weapons like boomerangs and arrows come into play, but this is a Western. Six shooters also make plenty of appearances. Red revitalizing potions come in glass jars and money is in the form of shiny crystals.… Read more

Last year we ran into a rare Tetris cartridge with an asking price of $1 million. Perhaps the gaming market really is sinking, because a rare Legend of Zelda cartridge is going for just $150,000 on eBay.

The prototype cartridge dates to 1987, the U.S. release year for the famous NES game. The cartridge is yellow with a plain white label reading "Legend of Zelda."… Read more

Microsoft is opening for business in Iraq.

The company has chosen local company Legend Lands to officially sell its products in Iraq.

Based in Baghdad, Legend Lands will serve as a Microsoft partner to distribute the company's products and services through retailers and provide genuine Microsoft licensing for Iraqi customers. Legend Lands offers its services to enterprise companies as well as individual users.

Rajai S. El-Khadem, Microsoft's manager of business development for emerging markets, confirmed the news yesterday, according to the Associated Press. Microsoft called the move "a sign of growth for the war-plagued country."

The … Read more

Etsy seller JamesBit is encouraging video game fans to warm their cockles in front of a Zelda fireplace insert. This fire is old-school Zelda, full of blocky bits of red, orange, and white.

The fireplace art piece is acrylic on your choice of canvas or wood. Just remember that either of those materials is flammable. Be sure to remove your Zelda fire to a safe distance before lighting a real fire in your fireplace.

JamesBit suggests placing the painting in a non-working or decorative fireplace, but don't let that limit you. It could be just as geeky hanging on your wall or warming your unused Wii console. … Read more

Do you like wires? Neither do we. And thankfully, you don't really need them anymore when you're using a smartphone.

No matter your preference -- iPhone, Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry -- any decent modern smartphone is equipped with wireless Bluetooth capability. In addition to hands-free calling with headsets and stereo headphones, phones can also be used as wireless music sources for an increasingly large array of Bluetooth speakers -- perfect for listening to MP3s on the phone, or Web-based audio services like Spotify, Pandora, Amazon Cloud Player, iTunes Match, or anything else.

As someone who uses Bluetooth gadgets daily, I'd frankly feel lost without my handy assortment of hands-free mobile toys. And I've collected a list of some of CNET's favorites. … Read more

Heroes of Hyrule, please lay down your swords and shields. Today marks Zelda Day, and that means it's time to embrace the Triforce!

For a quarter of a century, gamers have been playing versions of the hit franchise, which has come out in 18 iterations across 11 gaming systems, ranging from the original NES console to the Nintendo 3DS handheld. Despite selling more than 60 million copies, some might not familiar with the premise, which offers an elegant blend of adventure, action, and puzzles. … Read more

Gaming requires a peculiar concentration. It also sometimes attracts peculiar people.

Or is it that gaming makes people peculiar?

I drift into this difficult philosophical territory in memory of Chen Rong-Yu, a 23-year-old gamer in New Taipei, Taiwan. He died while gaming in an Internet cafe.

And, well, according to news agency AFP, no one realized for up to 9 hours.

AFP has it that the young gentleman was identified as mortified by a waitress who must have wondered why he'd been sitting there motionless.

In truth, there is no way of knowing just how long he had actually … Read more

It became painfully obvious back in June at Nintendo's E3 2011 press conference that The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword would be the console's last blockbuster title. Come to think of it, Skyward Sword was the only Wii game the company even mentioned.

So does Skyward Sword deliver the precision sword controls that Wii owners have been dreaming of since day one? Or is it the final chapter of an era of clunky motion control? We've dusted off our Wii consoles to find out.

Jeff: First, a very happy 25th anniversary to The Legend of Zelda franchise. Thank you for making me feel really old.

Nintendo is justifiably proud to share the milestone with everyone who's picking up Skyward Sword for the Wii, as all copies come with a 25th anniversary music CD featuring all kinds of Zelda tunes.

It's safe to say that Skyward Sword marks the Wii's last hurrah, and thankfully, the latest Zelda game certainly ranks up there with some of the console's best offerings.

For starters, Skyward Sword looks as good as any game can ever hope to on the Wii. The art direction has been brilliantly conceived, taking full advantage of the system's specs, and using a few blurring tricks to make things appear like a gorgeous watercolor painting. … Read more

Subscribers have just a couple days before Netflix forces them into higher priced plans, iTunes Match gets released to developers, and Windows 8's Explorer window gets the ribbon from Office.

Links from Tuesday's episode of Loaded: