At their E3 2010 press conference, Nintendo has announced the name of its next Wii Zelda title; The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.  The game will utilize the Wiimote and nunchuk to control Link’s sword and shield, respectively.  At least, that's how it's supposed to work...

Shigeru Miyamoto demoed the action on-stage, illustrating how the sword reacts in a “1:1” ratio to the Wiimote by cutting down a few killer plants, but the game wasn’t terribly cooperative.  Miyamoto swung straight down, and Link responded by swinging his sword in a circle.  Miyamoto attempted to shield bash an incoming projectile, and Link refused to do so a half-dozen times before finally complying. 

Shigeru then moved on to the new slingshot, which doesn’t require the player to aim.  Instead, it will fire wherever the Wiimote is positioned on the screen, meaning players can hold it like a real slingshot.  Once again, the system had terrible  technical issues, and he was unable to hit anything he aimnd at.

Next up were bombs, which can be thrown like grenades, complete with a throwing arc, or rolled like bowling balls.  Once again, they didn’t work.  The same went for the bow and arrow, though the concept behind it is pretty good; players pull the nunchuk back, away from the wiimote, just like pulling a real bowstring.  Sadly, Shigeru was completely unable to get it to work.

Link then pulled out a beetle, and launched it into the sky.  The beetle is then controlled  by the Wiimote, and acts as a drone, letting Link checkout the world around him. This was the one aspect that actually worked, and should add an interesting new wrinkle to Zelda’s puzzle-solving elements.  Finally, Link's whip was demoed, showing how it reacts differently to different swings.  It sort of worked.

Overall, the crowd seemed less than impressed with the demo of Skyward Sword, and not just because of the technical issues.  Based on the uneven texture quality (Link looks fabulous, but environments were muddy,) what was shown is likely an early build,, so it’s a bit early to cast judgeemnt on the game’s presentation.  If the motion-controls aren’t A LOT more accurate than what we saw today, though, the game will have a serious problem.  Luckily, Nintendo’s gotten pretty good with their Wii Motion+, so we have no reason to believe that the controls and graphics will be tight when the game releases some time next year.