What is it that makes the Zelda community special? I’m tempted to say “me” but that would only be part of the answer.

It has a lot to do with the Zelda games, of course. Without them, we wouldn’t be here – but what exactly is it about Zelda that makes people create websites devoted to the series, or gather to discuss theories and the latest in Zelda news?

Nathan of ZeldaInformer takes a deeper look into the question in his article, where he explains why he thinks the Zelda community is better and bigger than – for instance – the Mario community.

Hello, ladies and gentlemen! You may not know who I am; my posts are so infrequent that you probably don’t remember my last one. However, if you do remember, then there is undoubtedly a huge grin on the middle of your beautiful face – as it means that there is a new podcast, and boy you’re in for a good one! You just know you want to read more to find out what wonderful gems the ZUBC have spat out of it’s wonderful, gift giving vending machines!

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Gamespot is currently running a competition in which gamers vote to decide the greatest video game hero of all time, and, of course, Link has made it to the final four.

He is currently locked in a neck-and-neck battle with Gordon Freeman of Half-Life fame, and is just barely losing by 0.4%. You can check out the competition here.

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Two new Zelda sites have been added to our affiliates list. The first is The Sacred Realm, which has been exploding with activity lately, and the second is Zelda Chronicles, an old Zelda site which has only recently returned and is now focusing specifically on news.

If you’re currently using Internet Explorer 6, I have some bad news to drop on you. If you’re not using the infamous browser, you can sit back and enjoy the news.

As of yesterday, Zelda Universe has officially dropped all support for IE6. This means that as we add features to the site and forums, as we refine the code to make the site and forums faster, and as we create new pages and guides for new Zelda games (like our Spirit Tracks section), we will not be checking to make sure that they “work” in Internet Explorer 6.

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Good news, everyone! Always wanted to help ZU out in your own, special way, but could never figure out just how to do it? We’re here with the answer. You see, Zelda Universe has been entered in American Express’s Shine A Light contest – a contest that highlights small businesses (like ZU). The prize is a whopping $100,000 in marketing rupees. I mean dollars.

We can all close our eyes and imagine what wonderful things could happen if Zelda Universe had $100,000 to push towards marketing. Women would swoon over us, men would become jealous and enraged, and Nintendo would actually pay attention when we ask for review copies of Phantom Hourglass. The world would become topsy-turvey indeed – so we need everyone who’s anyone in the Zelda Universe community (heck, the Zelda community) to vote for ZU in this contest. ZU needs at least fifty votes to be formally nominated, and one can only assume that the more votes the merrier. With Zelda Universe’s vibrant community, fifty votes should be no problem – so let’s blast by the other entries and bring ZU to the top.

We can do it – with the internet, we cannot fail. By your powers combined, ZU shall have a marketing budget!

View and vote for Zelda Universe >>

(By the way, votes only go up until September 13th, and you must be registered with Shine A Light to vote – don’t worry, it’s free. So please vote by September 13th!)

After what feels like eons in development, the first version of a news “ticker” is now up and running on the ZU forums (so forum goers, click and read more!). That means even if you’re a ZUer who spends all his/her time on the forums, you can get your Zelda news without even having to visit the main site! Whether you’re reading this from the forums or from ZU’s front page, read on for a little more information.

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Hey there, it’s Dom again! I am proud to announce the latest edition of the ZU Podcast, and boy you’re in for a good one! Click below to find out what’s in the latest episode, or use the player below to listen directly. Don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes if you’re enjoying ZUCast.

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download

I’ve given Zelda Universe’s RSS icon a spitshine, as well as fixed up our entire messy RSS system (so that the podcast is prepared for the future as well). However, I’m sure a bunch of you might not know what RSS is or what it’s used for. In short, an RSS feed (or simply “feed”) is a file that allows you to use other programs to access our news posts – so you don’t even have to come to ZU if all you want is our updates.

Interested? Read on, ZUer, read on.

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Hi there, I’m Dom. I’m a new recruit to the staff and it is my job to keep the ZUBC sections of ZU in check as well as post the podcast news article to the main site. At long last, due to an overwhelming amount of feedback we’ve received for the previous ‘casts, the ZUBC team has put together our very first Zelda-focused podcast! So, may I present to you the May 2009 ZUCast! You can stream ZUCast directly below, or do any of the following:

Subscribe to ZUCast on iTunes »
Visit the ZUCast Archives »

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download

I think I can say without bias that the Zelda Universe community stands out as one of the biggest and the most thriving Zelda communities out there. Our forums over the years have been home to many of the most intriguing and groundbreaking pieces of Zelda theorizing and discussion that the internet has to offer, and our member base, though large, has formed strong bonds, some members even deciding to marry each other!

But unfortunately, I also must admit that the main site half of ZU has not quite maintained the high standard that makes our community so famous. This ends now.

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A long time has passed since the DSi was released in Japan (while us mortals are still waiting for it) and so far no big-name downloadable content has been offered. But Famitsu has revealed that Sega will release a Phantasy Star game for the console some time this month.

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Hell’s doors opened, and out walked a new staff.  Go inside to see what I will be doing around these parts.

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