You'll soon get Zelda: Breath of the Wild in-game items via your Switch's news channel

UPDATE 9/8/17 9.20am: Nintendo has released the first free in-game items for Zelda: Breath of the Wild available through your Switch's news channel. But... don't get your hopes up.

The first "Tips from the Wild" post is a pointer on how you can feed friendly animals. It grants you a free drop of raw meat and some apples. Yep.

Eurogamer has tested this ourselves and found you can get these highly-prized items over and over by clicking on the "start software" link in Nintendo's news post multiple times. Sneaky.

"We hope you enjoy making some furry friends!" Nintendo notes. Someone's been playing Splatoon 2...

Click the link and the items will appear in game when it loads, like so:

Mmm... meat.

UPDATE 8/8/17 10.40am: Zelda: Breath of the Wild will soon give you in-game items simply for reading your Switch's news channel.

The upcoming Zelda channel, Tips from the Wild, will be available to subscribe to on your Switch from tomorrow, 9th August.

News channels are the subscription feeds for certain games available from your Switch's news tab. They're often humorous marketing feeds of information and announcements, covering updates and trailers. This is the first time they've been used to gift in-game items.

This fresh functionality was added in last night via a new patch, listed as version 1.31.

"In-game items can now be obtained from launching the software from certain articles distributed through a new News channel ("The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Tips from the Wild") which can be accessed through News on the Home menu," Nintendo explained.

"This channel is expected to open on August 9, 2017. Depending on your game progress and location, certain items may not be obtainable."

That last part means, presumably, you won't get items if you're stuck somewhere in a Divine Beast, or if you're still playing the starting area - although Nintendo has yet to specify exactly.

So, what might these new in-game items be? Data-miners have peered in Zelda's files and not found anything new since before the last set of amiibo launched. Has Nintendo hidden new items? Or will you simply be given lumps of handy materials as a reward for reading about the game? I'll take a couple of diamonds and an electric keese wing.

Or, maybe, those snazzy amiibo costumes might be released for a wider audience. This seems less likely - if you've forked out for amiibo content, you might feel a little cheesed if Nintendo hands it out for all. Time will tell.