A few months back, we reported about an ongoing fan project dedicated to recreating Ocarina of Time's Hyrule in Minecraft. The Hyrulecraft team of creators have been working tirelessly since May 2011 to do just that, and today, they can proudly announce the project's alpha release. Check out the release trailer below!


The map is free to download from the project's main page, along with the "Majora's Craft" texture pack that is being associated with Hyrulecraft.

The full release of the game will feature "many RPG and MMO aspects such as quests, classes, experience and leveling, and a fan-written storyline that continues the story after the events of OOT's child timeline." Definitely something for Minecraft/Zelda fans to look forward to in the future!

Source: Hyrulecraft Project Page

PS: I totally helped spread leaves on the Great Deku Tree's head...

In an email sent to subscribers of the Symphony of the Goddesses' mailing list, JMP Productions has revealed the full list of movements that comprise the "Symphony of the Goddesses." Two of the movements were previously performed at the 25th Anniversary concerts last October, which were Twilight Princess and The Wind Waker movements. The following quote is from the email:

The name "Symphony of the Goddesses" refers not only to the concert program but also to the new four-movement symphony recounting the classic storylines from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time™, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker™, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess™ and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past™. Fans can also expect to hear stirring orchestral renditions of music from other series games, including The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening™ and The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask™. The full orchestra will be conducted by Eímear Noone with arrangements by music director Chad Seiter.

It's great to hear that other games in the series will be represented on the program! Which songs from Link's Awakening and Majora's Mask would you want to hear performed live?

Link: Symphony of the Goddesses Homepage

The official Symphony of the Goddesses' website has been updated today to reveal the dates and locations of eleven newly announced concerts. Tickets for all eleven shows went on sale at or before 12pm CST today, and seats are expected to sell out quickly!

The announcement confirms that the tour isn't limited to the US, and is going outside of the country. Three dates for Canada have been announced, however, no indication has been given regarding dates in other countries. It's possible more dates will be announced later this year.

A few other pages have been added to the site's navigation menu, but have yet to be filled with content.

Well, what are you waiting for? Go buy your tickets!

Source: Symphony of the Goddesses Tour Schedule

Last October, thousands of Zelda fans from across three regions were treated to a live orchestral concert featuring Zelda music while the rest of the world burned with envy. Moving in to 2012, we have the Symphony of the Goddesses tour to look forward to, which will be traveling across the United States (no word on other countries, yet!) through the course of the year.

So what do we know about these upcoming concerts, and what can we expect to see?

Four-movement symphonic suite

This information has been confirmed by numerous press releases that have been posted since Nintendo's E3 conference last year. Two of the four movements were performed live at the fall concerts and were included on the Skyward Sword Bonus CD, but the other two movements have yet to be revealed. We already know of the Wind Waker and Twilight Princess movements.

It has been stated that the upcoming series "will guide fans through a musical retelling of key chapters from The Legend of Zelda franchise," leading us to believe that the other two movements will be from the major console games Ocarina of Time and Skyward Sword (Update: Ocarina of Time and A Link to the Past movements confirmed!). If one of the movements is Skyward Sword music, that might explain why it wasn't performed at the fall concerts.

Brand new symphonic arrangements

Aside from the symphonic movements, the concert is likely to have shorter segments focusing on other highlight moments from the series' iconic music. At the fall shows, tracks such as Gerudo Valley and Fairy's Fountain were mixed in with the rest of the concert program. It was announced that the Symphony of the Goddesses tour will feature a "new musical program" from the fall concerts. It's possible that there will be some crossover between the programs, such as the two movements, but it would be really great to hear some brand new arrangements.

Merchandise for sale

I would expect to see similar options as the fall concerts. T-shirts and posters. Nice and simple! The merchandise sold at the fall shows was relatively cheap, $10 for a movie-sized poster and $20 for a shirt with the 25th Anniversary Symphony logo on the front in red. More apparel options for t-shirts and sweatshirts would be cool to see too.

Merchandise at the shows sold fast last fall, so it's likely to happen on the tour. I would recommend getting in line for merch right away when you get there, if that's what you're hoping to score.

Pre-concert demo booths

This is something that might be just limited to the 25th Anniversary concerts, but we could see happening along the tour. Playable demo booths for Wii and 3DS games were available for fans who wanted to try out their hand at some Skyward Sword and Four Swords 3DS demos.

However, with long lines, and limited time before the show and during intermission, you might want to steer yourself towards other attractions, such as...

Cosplayers

Zelda fans are proud to show their love for the series. I have no doubts that there will be a handful of people at every show along the tour that will be dressed up as their favorite characters from the games.

Don't be afraid to approach them and tell them how awesome they look, and snag a picture with them while you're at it! They're there to attract attention and make others happy, so don't be shy! Note: If you decide to dress up, you are setting yourself up to be swarmed with tons of people. Embrace the audience and make them happy! You're part of their experience.

What NOT to expect

There are a couple of things to remember about the 2012 tour that are different from the 25th Anniversary concerts. It's very unlikely that there be as many special guests in attendance at the upcoming shows, such as composer Koji Kondo and series producer Eiji Aonuma. They're likely to be far too busy to be traveling around the United States to all of the shows.

Don't get your hopes about hearing all of the songs from the fall concerts being performed on the tour. As mentioned above, Symphony of the Goddesses is said to have a new musical program, and with the addition of two full-length movements to the program, it's nigh impossible for them all to be heard. Some will be left out, though others may be swapped out for new arrangements. We'll find out next week when we attend the show in Dallas! Let us know if you will be in attendance!

After a three-show fall tour, The Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary is packing up and hitting the road for a 2012 tour, entitled Symphony of the Goddesses. The first stop is one week from today in Dallas, TX, and naturally tickets are long gone. Of course, those with big enough wallets can somehow manage to get their way in somehow, right? Well, here's your last chance if you've been looking for tickets.

The Dallas Symphony Orchestra is auctioning away the final two seats to the show off on eBay, complete with a night's "dream stay" at The Ritz-Carlton, a mighty fine-looking hotel indeed. If you've got the courage, (and the rupees), you better place your bid sooner rather than later.

"A January 10 dream stay for two at The Ritz-Carlton, Dallas includes deluxe accommodations, a champagne breakfast for two at Fearing’s Restaurant, and an exclusive spa visit either before the performance or the next morning, highlighted by the famed Ultimate Infusion Facial experience for two."

Bidding is starting at $500, with the auction scheduled to end in a little more than two days! Check out the auction listing if you want to keep up on the item's progress. No word has been given on later tour dates yet.

Source: eBay Auction Page

YouTube is full of guitar covers. YouTube is full of Zelda guitar covers. There is actually a small community of guitarists on YouTube who dedicate most of their covers to video game music, and where there's video game music, there's sure to be some Zelda. The Radio Hyrule library features many of these guitar covers (the ones we've found so far at least!), produced by artists such as Jam2995, TheDelRe, FamilyJules7x, and CSGuitar89. These YouTubers typically release their songs individually on a semi-regular basis, so it's a real treat when one of them decides to release an entire album's worth of songs all at once.

Hymns of Light and Shadows is an 18-track collection of guitar covers created by CSGuitar89 featuring songs from a variety of different games. It clocks in at just over an hour, and best of all, it's free! Below is the announcement video; check it out for all the rest of the details. The album will make its way into our music library within a few days!


I want his shirt.

Source: CSGuitar89 Official Website

As I'm sure most of you can probably tell, the site looks a little funky now, don't it? Everything is fine, we didn't get hacked, and the radio is still perfectly normal. We've been working on upgrading our CMS, but as it has it, things didn't go quite as well as planned, so we're working on making a lot of fixes. The Zelda Reorchestrated website is in a similar state, though arguably less messed up. We're going to continue to make fixes to the site over the next couple of days (hopefully it won't take longer.. gulp), so we simply ask for your patience and continued support! Thank you!

To tune into Radio Hyrule, open this URL in your media player: http://listen.radiohyrule.com:8000/listen
Lo-fi Stream: http://listen.radiohyrule.com:8000/listen-lo

We've been crazy busy lately with school, but we've finally added over three hours of new music to the library. New additions include selections from the recently released OC ReMix album, the Skyward Sword bonus disc, as well as singles from various individual artists.

Check out the new tunes! Don't study too hard, and enjoy! :)