'Legend of Zelda' release date for Wii U news: Game nominated for Golden Joystick award despite delayed release

The Legend of Zelda Wii UOfficial Nintendo Magazine UK

Nintendo may have delayed the release of "The Legend of Zelda" for Wii U to sometime next year, but the upcoming action-adventure game still earned a nomination for the "Most Wanted Game" category in this year's Golden Joystick Awards.

The inclusion of "The Legend of Zelda" Wii U on the list of nominees for 2015 came as a surprise after game producer Eiji Aonuma revealed in March that the 19th installment of "The Legend of Zelda" series will no longer come out this year. Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé said during the E3 2015 that the game will come out in 2016.

The upcoming game will go toe to toe with Square Enix' "Deus Ex: Mankind Divided" and "Final Fantasy XV"; Ubisoft's "Ghost Recon: Wildlands"; Sega's "Total War: Warhammer"; Microsoft's "Halo 5: Guardians" and "Rise of the Tomb Raider"; the PlayStation 4 exclusive "Street Fighter V"; Sony's "Uncharted 4: A Thief's End," "Horizon: Zero Dawn," and "The Last Guardian," EA's "Star Wars: Battlefront" and "Mass Effect: Andromeda,"; Bethesda's "Fallout 4," and Sonys and Bandai Namco's "Dark Souls III" 

"The Legend of Zelda" for Wii U is reportedly the first game from the franchise that is made with high-definition graphics and the second one that is released in HD after "The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker," which was released in 2013.

Reports claim that "The Legend of Zelda" for Wii U will give players with more freedom to decide their destination and travel method than the previous releases from the series. For this upcoming game, players can opt to travel on foot or ride Link's horse named Epona. If the player opts to ride Epona, they can avoid crossing obstacles automatically. It means that the players will have more time to focus on other tasks to beat the enemies.

The announcement for the winner for this year's Golden Joysticks Award will be revealed at the Indig02 in London on Oct. 30.