Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Unlock Bonus)

Super Mario Galaxy 2 is now a very popular game after selling more than 1 million copies.

Rumors say there is an unlock for you to get the magic mushroom to turn into Ron Jeremy.

Keep playing and have fun!

Wow. 3-D in 3DS?

E3 2010: Nintendo breaks down the 3DS

3D without the 3D Glasses -- Seriously bad ass. If they do it.

Konno says Nintendo has experimented with glasses-free 3D in the past, but problems with achieving the correct screen resolution and costs stalled the company's efforts.

"But recent advances in the technology allowed Nintendo to finally create a 3D-capable device. "It is a great combination of a handheld console and 3D technology because carrying it around, taking pictures in 3D, instantly being able to look at it in 3D … it is very suitable for a handheld machine," says Konno."

Definitely looking like the next killer handheld device of the next level. Hope it comes with cool games.

-- Robin Low

Dsi XL is here!

If you like the DS Lite, the DSi XL is even better. Launched in the US, the sales is not expected to be as much as the DS Lite.

DSi XL is available for $190

This is basically a BIGGER DS Lite, about 50% bigger, and I'll get one for my 70 year old mom.

But please note. People who already own a DSi and have purchased downloadable games will not be able to transfer them over or redownload them on a DSi XL.


http://www.tgdaily.com/games-and-entertainment-brief/49140-super-size-dsi-xl-makes-us-debut

-- Robin Low

Nintendo 3DS Coming This Year With Force Feedback

Finally, after my Nintendo DS broke, I have been waiting for the new version to come out. I've waiting E3 after E3 and finally, its going to be here!

It will also have a 3D joystick and force feedback, and who knows, it may also have accelerometer and other good stuff we commonly find in cell phone!

I sure hope its comes with more puzzle games and interesting ways of playing it like how the Wii revolution change the console gaming.

Read more about it here.

-- Robin Low

Toddler Dies After Mistaking Gun for Wii Controller

I don't get it.

Does this

Look like this?

 

Playing computer games, Wii or not, I don't think any computer game's name should be used when a toddler shoots herself with a gun.

Guns should not be on the TABLE.

I think even a toddle that plays the Wii can point the gun in the right way.

I've handled one of these 9mm,

1) The trigger is not light. It does take effort to pull the trigger.
2) It is much heavier than a Wiimote.
3) It does not look like a Wiimote.

I've handled a Wiimote with a gun attachment

1) You do not point the "long part" and fire at yourself.

I have a question:

Why do people in Tennessee leave loaded guns at home?

For a 3 year old to pull the trigger, it might be cocked too!

Time to get more responsible parents.

"I believe that something positive will come out of this -- that another family won't go through the heartbreak of this family,"

Damn, I think the stepfather must be blamed for the unfortunate accident.

Guns don't kill.
Leaving loaded and armed guns on the table for toddlers do.

-- Robin Low

Mario Win

Dr Pepper, Pepsi, Mug...

They win!

How to Make a 1-Up Mushroom

All you need to make your very own 1-up mushroom is a bit of creativity, a raddish, and a knife. That’s it!
[Source]

Wii Sports Resort hits the bull's-eye

I have seen the new Wii Sports Resort.

I would say, it looks really cool!

These are the games included:

SWORDPLAY Basic in its complexity but visceral in its appeal, at least as much so as punching your best friend in the face in the original Wii Sports boxing. Can definitely be an upper-body workout.

WAKEBOARDING You hold the controller horizontally like a tether and steer left and right, flipping off the boat’s wake to do tricks and score points. I found it diverting, but it could not hold my attention for hours.

FRISBEE Almost entirely intuitive and natural. You either play fetch with a digital dog or, far better, Frisbee golf on the same courses you can also attempt in “real” golf. With some practice you can put some nice curves on each throw.

ARCHERY A real gem. One of the only video games I have ever played that is about deep concentration and focus rather than the more frenetic sort of eye-hand coordination. Archery truly capitalizes on the sensitivity of the MotionPlus. The first time a buddy makes a loud noise as you release your arrow, you will not find it funny. Of course, your buddy will.

BASKETBALL The one Wii Sports Resort activity that didn’t work for me. Either Nintendo messed up the programming or I’m just horrible.

TABLE TENNIS Along with golf and archery, one of my favorites. It’s fast, and MotionPlus makes it phenomenally accurate and powerful in creating spins and aiming shots. Taking on all comers.

GOLF A genuine step up from the golf in the original Wii Sports. Obviously not as detailed as the Tiger Woods game, but if you can’t control your wrists you will not hit straight shots in Wii Sports Resort golf, as it should be.

BOWLING A remake of perhaps the most popular game in Wii Sports. As someone who has been doing a bit of real bowling these days, I can say that the new Resort bowling is certainly more accurate than its predecessor. And who can resist 100-pin bowling (maximum possible score 3,000)?

POWER CRUISING A bit too similar to wakeboarding, just without the tricks.

CANOEING Good for 20 minutes, little more, unless you’re just looking for shoulder exercise.

CYCLING Ingeniously designed, blending rhythm and precision with some deceptively deep strategy in terms of deciding how to manage your energy over a racecourse. When do you exert yourself for a boost of speed, and when do you conserve your breath?

AIR SPORTS Think how you hold a paper airplane. That’s how you control your plane here. The dogfighting wasn’t fabulous, but I have to admit I spent more than an hour just flying around Wii Sports Resort’s digital island.

WII SPORTS RESORT

With more than 45 million copies in circulation, Wii Sports has probably been played by more people than any game in history. A subsequent minigame collection, Wii Play, sold 23 million copies. So Nintendo has high expectations for Wii Sports Resort, and there's no reason to think the company will be disappointed.

If you're a fan, you won't be disappointed, either. Resort is bigger, boosting the number of events from five to 12. The three sports that have returned (golf and bowling from Wii Sports, table tennis from Wii Play) are sharper, thanks to the new Wii MotionPlus accessory. And the whole package is as lighthearted, fast-paced and as accessible as the original.

The package comes with one MotionPlus device, which attaches to one end of the Wii remote and gives it more precise control. (It's available separately for $24.99.) When bowling, you can flick your wrist to give the ball some spin. Table tennis feels more like the real thing. The updated version of golf is more demanding: You really need to focus on keeping your swing straight, or you'll be digging a lot of balls out of the rough.

The most engrossing of the new events is archery. The Wii remote is your bow, and you pull back your virtual arrow with the nunchuck. Nailing a moving bull's-eye from the longest distance is a genuine accomplishment.

- The Associated Press - Indoor sports that aren't just for parents

DETAILS Wii, $50

News Link

The Wii is born again: Ars reviews Wii Sports Resort

Wii Sports Resort is the official coming-out party for Nintendo's $20 MotionPlus peripheral, showing off what the hardware can do... and where it falls short. A frustratingly uneven product that brings with promise, Wii Sports Resort could be the roadmap third-party developers needed to understand the Wii.

News

It's worth going back and playing the original Wii Sportsbefore you play Wii Sports Resort, in order to give the new game some context. Wii Sports came packed with the hardware in the United States, and did more to sell the system than any commercial ever could. It felt like Nintendo was bringing in a new era of gaming, complete with a brand-new way to interact with our games; the possibilities seemed nearly limitless, and we waited for the flood of games that would take advantage of the Wiimote technology.

The competition-crushing sales numbers sure came, but the games didn't. I can name a dozen great Wii games with no effort, but if you asked me to name six games that showed off what the system could do as well as Wii Sports, I would have to stop and think. I'm not sure if there are six. Nintendo sits on a hollow throne: the company may have won this generation, but the revolution never came. Not in the way we had hoped.

Title	Wii Sports Resort
Developer	Nintendo
Publisher	Nintendo
Price	$49.99 Shop.ars
Platform	Nintendo Wii

The problem is that in too many cases a left to right or up and down swipe was simply a replacement for a button press. The term "waggle" rose to prominence to describe the lazy games where shaking the Wiimote replaced a standard button-press. Many of the best games worked better with a classic controller than the Wiimote/Nunchuk combination. Rail shooters were given a boost on the system, but what else did the Wii actually deliver on, other than lowered graphical expectations and a love of bright colors?

At E3 in 2008, and again in 2009, Nintendo wanted us to know that the Wii would be changed with the $20 MotionPlus, a peripheral that would turn the Nintendo Wii into the system we thought we were buying at launch. To usher in this update to the hardware we have... well, we actually had the rather excellent Tiger Wood PGA Tour 10, but now Nintendo has finally stepped up to the plate with the sequel to the game that arguable made the system what it is today. Is this another empty promise from Nintendo? Is this an answer to the disappointment many of the early believers now feel when they look at the Wii's game library?

We've been playing the game for hours and hours each day, and here is our verdict: this is the work of a lazy god. It's also worth your money, although you'll have to be ready for a rising sense of frustration the longer you play. Welcome to the re-launch of motion controls. Now let's play.

I am born again

Wii Sports Resort begins with your Mii skydiving into Wuhu Island, the background that houses the game's events. This gives you a brief glimpse into how precise the MotionPlus-enabled Wiimote has become, and also makes you want a new Pilotwings title right the hell NOW. This intro is fun and attractive, and feels like something of a challenge: dive in, and get ready for an adventure.

Also be aware that you need to have a finely developed sense of play to really appreciate Wii Sports Resort. The events don't link together in any way, and the only thing to keep you playing is beating your own score and the fun of participation. This doesn't feel like a cohesive product as much as a series of tech demos, although the inclusion of the island itself as a framing device allows Nintendo to hide this fact somewhat better than it did in the first Wii Sports. The good news is that the events are, by and large, fun. They're also incredibly uneven.

In Archery, you'll be holding the Wiimote in your left hand and pulling back with the nunchuk in your right hand to simulate a real bow and arrow. It sounds goofy on paper, but it works very well, and it's one of the most immediately impressive uses of the hardware in the game. You can play against your friends, and the different difficulty levels cause the target to be farther away, or with added movement, but the basic mechanic stays the same throughout each level. The doors opened for archery sections in games are exciting—imagine this sort of thing in a Zelda title!

My personal conspiracy theory is that even though Wii Sports Resort will likely be a success, the point of the game isn't to amaze us gamers. Each of these events seems like Nintendo giving pointers to third-party developers. There are so many times during the course of gameplay where you'll wish an event or challenge were stretched into an entire game with a story, characters, or even online play. As it stands, you'll play something, be amazed at the clever controls, be disappointed that the overall experience is so thin, and then come back and continue playing to show your friends or fight for a higher score.

Let's take a look at what works... and what doesn't, in Wii Sports Resort.

What we loved

SwordPlay

This is the mode you'll use to show of the technology, because your virtual sword moves perfectly in sync with your actual hand motions. The problem is that in Duel and Showdown modes you're still dealing with cleverly hidden waggle: a sword held vertically will block a side strike, and a horizontal sword will block a vertical slash. This is pretty obvious in Duel, but Showdown—where you face off, classic-Ninja-movie-style, against a horde of Miis—is incredibly fun. Long, broad strokes can take down multiple enemies at once, while body-armor-clad "bosses" turn into mini-duels.

We have decided that the only way to play Showdown is with the sound muted and The Crystal Method's "The Name of the Game" playing instead. We will also accept "Battle without Honor or Humanity" for your Mii-slaying sessions.

The third game is perhaps the most interesting of the bunch: Speed Slice. The referee drops different objects in front of you and your opponent, and you have to slice them from different sides or angles. Slice a diamond in two from the upper left-hand corner. Cut a cupcake in two from left to right. It's a test of your arm movement's reaction time, and if you play with another person this is simply a blast.

Duel may be the mode that was hyped the most in Swordplay, but Speed Slice and Showdown are the stronger entries here.

Power Cruising...

...Or as we like to call it "Let's go ahead and make another Wave Race." You hold both parts of the controller out in front of you like the controls of a jet ski, and lean into turns as you cruise through the gates, going as fast as you can. Twisting your right hand like a throttle will get you a speed boost.

The trick is to make gentle, sweeping turns and not overcorrect, and I'll be damned if you don't feel like you're on a jet ski. The number one enemy in the game—if you're not playing multiplayer—is the wave-physics. You'll have to constantly be aware of where the waves are coming from and correct for them.

Golf and Bowling

These two sports make a comeback from the first game, and both of them are improved by the addition of the MotionPlus hardware. If you haven't played Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10, you'll be amazed at how natural your golf swing now feels, and how tricky it can be to hit that perfect, straight drive. Putting is also a joy with the peripheral.

Bowling has been updated to take advantage of the MotionPlus, but it's more of an evolution; it's easy now to add spin to the ball, and in fact there is an entire game mode dedicated to getting you to add spin in order to avoid obstacles in the alley. Both of these games remain fun, and once you get used to the controls of Sports Resort it's hard to go back to the originals.

Airsports

This section will divide fans. I enjoyed Island Flyover, where you control your plane by holding the Wiimote like a paper airplane, exploring the islands and collecting points of interest. It's relaxing, fun, and a good way to explore the island and see all the locations from the other sports. Some may find this pointless, but I found it worth spending some time with; it felt like play, although very unstructured play.

SkyDiving works well, and again makes you long for Pilotwings, but there isn't much to it. You fly around, grab onto other Miis, and try to face the camera before your picture is taken. Dogfight takes the planes from Island Flyover, adds balloons to them, and has you shooting at each other.

While these events are fun for a little while, the real draw is imagining what these concepts would be like in the hands of a talented developer creating an entire suite of flying experiences.

Flute Beatbox Mario theme

Damn, this is good!

Ron Jeremy - Mario

I wonder, did Nintendo create Mario after watching a video of Ron Jeremy in Action?

Self claimed video game subculture mag Foul Magazine recently ran a cover story with an interview with adult film actor (who came up with this term anyway, as if these were the only films adults  watch) Ron Jeremy dressed up as Mario.

Ron Jeremy is definitely one of my heroes! And he is Mario!

Wii CD & DVD Playback Support Coming Soon?

Wii CD & DVD Playback Support Coming Soon?

nakile submitted, made popular 10 hours 32 min ago (wii.nintendo.com)

Nintendo's FAQ article on the Wii website has been updated with evidence suggesting that Wii units manufactured in 2007 have a locked away ability to play back CDs and DVDs. More…

Damn Tanks

My sisters used to spend hours in front of the SNES playing Tetris back in the day. It was amusing to watch, but I wondered how such a simple game could rivet them in place for so long. Now, after hours of late night play battling brown tanks and green tanks, the wiley red tanks and the mysterious purple tanks, M and I have come to understand the allure. We spent a few minutes on shooting ducks, a few more on air hockey, but the call of the tanks drowns out all the other games in Wii Play...

 

M says he dreams of the tanks. I'm not there yet, but I'm definitely impaired by sleep deprivation at work...

Wii Boxing Girl

Amusing video. It's cute how she hunkers down for the fight...

Wii Sport Experiment

Looking to get into shape for the beach but it's just too cold out right now? I mean, especially with snow expected Wednesday? Man!! It's April!

Well, if you're trapped at home and you want to shed a few pounds, there are people out there using their Wiis to burn calories. This guy only changed one thing in his life: he played Wii Sports for 30 minutes a day for six weeks. He ate the same, didn't otherwise do anymore exercise, or anything!

Results? He lost 9 pounds!

Here's the link:
http://wiinintendo.net/2007/01/15/wii-sports-experiment-results/

This other guy also tried using the Wii to lose weight and lost 16 pounds!

http://wiiweightlossplan.com/

Of tangential interest is this web site that lets you track your fitness. Apparently it's free and you can put all your stats in it.

http://traineo.com/

Remember the Bowler!

Our star bowler RLOW has left the country! He's off to seek his fortune in Singapore, leaving us with a bowling power vacuum. Normally, I'd put a call out for new champion-level virtual athletes to backfill the roster, but why do that when you can replace them with robots? See story below!

http://www.battlebricks.com/wiigobot/index.html

Wii Play

I got a little time with Wii Play tonight. Overall I'm not too impressed--it feels like another collection of tech demos--but it does look good and the games play pretty smoothly. The one game that impressed me was this tank game. It's apparently played like some old game called Combat, but the bottom line is that it's fun. Really fun.

I'm not sure if it's fun enough for me to buy the whole game, but I'm seriously considering it. I wonder if they'll release the individual games on the Nintendo store?

Warioware Wii -- Revisited.

Warioware is a pretty fun game, with very interesting way of using the Wii controller.

The graphics is kinda bad, but it works for the game.

For one player mode, not being able to skip to the game is sometimes annoying.

Multiplayer mode unlocks when you completed the Single player mode.

The forms are very interesting way of using the controller.

Here are the forms and where you get them:


1) The Remote Control (You start with this form) - Wario

2) The Handlebar and The Umbrella - Mona

3) The Sketch Artist, The Chauffeur, and The Samurai - Kat and Ana

4) The Tug-of-War, The Waiter, and The Elephant - Young Cricket.

5) The Thumb Wrestler, The Discard, and The Big Cheese - Ashley

6) The Finger Food, The Boxer, and The Mortar and Pestle - Penny

7) The Janitor, The Mohawk, and The Dumbbell - Dribble and Spitz

There are 18 forms in total and mastering all the different forms are very challenging.

There are many interesting thing you could do with all the different forms and learning how to use the forms within 3 seconds may be quite hard at times.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Multiplayer mode

Multiplayer mode ranges from 2-5 players to 2-12 players. It makes a great drinking game, but all the players should at least played through the game once to learn the forms.

It is also pretty stupid as passing the controller sometimes take a long time and putting the wrist strap on is essential as levels may require you to srop the controller...

Grabbed off digg.com - Online Play Finally Coming?

Developers Finally Getting Wii Online Dev Kits

ddb123 submitted, made popular 22 minutes ago (www.cubed3.com)

In an interview with the Mercury News, Reggie Fils-Aime goes on record stating that developers are finally getting the kits they need to make their titles online capable.  More…

Nintendo World is still the place to score system & accessories

If you know anyone still searching for a system, the Nintendo Store in NY gets a daily shipment of 50-100 systems a day - and a similar number of Wii-motes and nunchuks. They don't take pre-orders, but at least the days of waiting in line through the night appear to be over. The store opens at 9AM Mon-Sat and if you get in line by 7AM, it appears that you'll get your system. However, they are all gone by about 9:30AM and Wii-motes are usually gone by 10AM.

I'm just shocked that people are still lining up in the cold for the system a month+ after the holdidays were over. I love my system, just never thought that the demand would still be this high.

Venturing out there tomorrow morning to try and score a remote and nunchuk for Charlie's co-worker. Wish me luck.