The Hylia - New NP and Screens

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The newest issue of Nintendo Power has finally reached members. Makoto Sasaki, a landscape/environment programmer for Twilight Princess, shares his history with fans and some small tidbits about how Link will interact with the environment in the upcoming title. Additionally, in the "Most Wanted" section of the issue there is a new screen shot that shows Link staring into a mirror at his own reflection.

Sasaki's programming career began before he entered the video game market, and his first actuality gaming related job was programming a stock-trading system over the network that ran in Japan for the Family Computer (Famicom) system. He practiced his coding on the side, utilizing a program based on the Super Mario Bros. game.
Mowing the lawn has become a hobby of Link's.
From there, he worked on the Bandai Satellaview-X version of "The Legend of Zelda", allowing players to interact with each other over a networked connection. But it was probably his work on the "Kokiri Forest" in Ocarina of Time that you will most recognize. You know all of those cool balls of light that float around (no, not the fairies)? That was Sasaki's touch.

A goal of Sasaki's is to recreate the most realistic environments. Not just visually, but so realistic a player can "feel" it. He gives an example of how Link will cut grass in Twilight Princess. Unlike previous games where Link could just slice grass or bushes with a simple swing, now Link must only use the "tip" of his blade. Additionally, his new spin attack will create a "force" beyond the physical blade's range that will blow away blades of grass.

Sasaki hints at the end that Link will spend a "long time" in this "damp, dark underground". He then alludes to having to break out of it and return back to the sunny environments. It seems that perhaps the initial "voyage" in the Twilight Realm may actually last a long time, as speculated last E3 when Aonuma revealed the scene where Link emerges on horseback to fight the Marauder is actually nearly "halfway" through the game.

As you can see, there is a new screen shot outside of the interview, and one relatively cool one inside of it showing Link slashing grass. Other than that, not much more insight on Twilight Princess is revealed. How long until they get to interviewing Miyamoto?

Source: Nintendo Power