Spirit Tracks, the fifteenth installment of The Legend of Zelda series, was released today by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS handheld game console.

Since its inception in 1986, more than 59 million games in The Legend of Zelda series have been sold worldwide with Spirit Tracks expected to become one of this years and next years biggest video game sellers.
The game is expected to be the most sought after game this Christmas among Nintendo DS gamers. Spirit Tracks has received high praise from reviewers including the "Best Handheld Game" award at Gamescom 2009, a 91% rating in the December 2009 issue of the UK Official Nintendo Magazine, a 92% rating from NGamer magazine and a 9.0 score from GameTrailers.

Spirit Tracks takes place several decades after The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (released in 2007) and builds upon the touch-screen control interface found in Phantom Hourglass.

New items include the Whirlwind and the Spirit Flute, which allows players to perform music that has magical effects on objects and events in the game by blowing into the built-in microphone of the Nintendo DS or Nintendo DSi.

The game also includes a new head-to-head multiplayer mode that lets up to four players compete via a local wireless connection with one game card.

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