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Nintendo is reportedly planning to remaster classic Mario games this year
This year marks the 35th anniversary of Super Mario Bros. and Nintendo could be set to mark the legacy of its flagship franchise in a major way. The company is reportedly working on several Mario games for this year, including remastered versions of some classic titles.
Nintendo Wii, GameCube games come to China on NVIDIA Shield
As revealed by industry analyst Daniel Ahmad, Nintendo is teaming up with NVIDIA to release some of its Wii and Gamecube games in China for the first time. While NVIDIA's Tegra chip is at the heart of the Nintendo Switch, in this case, the games will run on the NVIDIA Shield, which hit the market today in China. NVIDIA confirmed that New Super Mario Bros. Wii, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and PUNCH-OUT!! are all available now for the Shield in 1080p, while others including Super Mario Galaxy are "coming soon." Ahmad posted videos of Nintendo games running on the Shield (sourced from Weibo) and provided some pricing info, saying that the Shield in China costs 1499 RMB (about $226), while each remastered game costs 68 RMB (about $10). We wouldn't expect anything about this arrangement to expand beyond China in the foreseeable future, but the licensing arrangement is a way for Nintendo to crack the market officially. We don't have much information on the Shield that's available in China, but it is different from the US version, with local "content, store, search and more" plus a voice control AI powered by Baidu.
'Super Mario Galaxy' lands on the Wii U Virtual Console
Nintendo has ported Super Mario Galaxy, one of the most popular Mario Bros games of all time, to its Wii U Virtual Console and will release it on Thursday, December 24th for $20. SMG joins other gravity-defying 3D Mario platformers on the Wii U console including Super Mario 64, Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Super Mario 3D World.[Image Credit: Getty]
Nintendo, Starlight partner to help sick kids
Video games are not always just about financial muscle and suffering the slings and arrows of fanboy-fueled drama. Sometimes, just sometimes, they're about making the world a better place. Such is the case today, as Nintendo has partnered with Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation to place Wii kiosks featuring such games as Super Mario Galaxy and Wii Sports in hospitals across both the US and Canada to help lift the spirits of seriously ill kids. The move echoes a similar effort by Microsoft last month, which saw the company link up with NHL vet Pat LaFontaine's foundation Companions in Courage to bring hundreds of Xbox 360 kiosks to children's hospitals in the US. According to a statement, Nintendo plans to manufacture some 1,250 new Fun Center kiosks as part of the partnership, with the charity hoping to have around 500 of these in hospitals by the end of 2008. The first pair of Fun Centers will be donated later today to the Childrens Hospital Los Angeles during what Nintendo describes as a Super Mario Galaxy-themed launch event, while Mario will also be on hand, no doubt to discourage Bowser from crashing the party.
Wii Warm Up: 2D remakes
Yesterday's popular video demonstration of how Super Mario Galaxy would look on the SNES made us wish there really were 2D remakes of the 3D games we love. Wouldn't it be totally rad if Medal of Honor: Heroes 2 was recreated as a top-down shooter in the style of Medal of Honor: Infiltrator (GBA)? Or if Super Paper Mario was, uh ... Okay, so that example doesn't work.What 3D titles, old and new, would you want to see turned into a 2D project?
Super Mario Galaxy receives Interactive Achievement Award
Nintendo's Italian plumber Mario caught the eye of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences at this year's Interactive Achievement Awards, nabbing an award for Adventure Game of the Year. If there was one game that could be classified as an "adventure" back in 2007, we would definitely have to say Super Mario Galaxy.Also, Nintendo ended up walking away with another award. The winner of Handheld Game of the Year was none other than The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. As for the other awards, none were for Nintendo or games on Nintendo platforms. So, you could probably care less.%Gallery-4735%
Call of Duty 4 dubbed game of the year at Interactive Achievement Awards
Despite nabbing 12 nominations for the (deep breath) Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences' 11th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, BioShock was bested in the Overall Game of the Year category by cinematic tour de force, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Both games were awarded four, err, awards at this year's event, held alongside D.I.C.E. at the Red Rock Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Orange Box's Portal made off with some shiny statuettes, as did fake instrument extravaganza, Rock Band. Super Mario Galaxy was deemed the best "adventure" game in absence of a "platformer" category (a sad commentary in itself), while Assassin's Creed got a hearty stab pat on the back for its fancy animation. The complete list of winners can be found after the break -- a list of whiners is sure to follow shortly.Read [PDF link]
Super Mario Galaxy's unsung star talks player experience
When most gamers think of that sense of amazement the certain parts of Super Mario Galaxy seem to invoke, they attribute that moment to the Miyamoto touch, a direct result of the imaginative developer's attention and care. While it's a natural assumption to make, one shouldn't forget about Yoshiaki Koizumi, the director behind the critically-acclaimed platformer!In a recent interview with Next-Gen, Koizumi championed the importance of surprising players: "If you think about games only as a thing that you interact with, you're missing the possibility of immersion. The inspirations that I tend to draw on for that all come from real life itself. Hiking on a mountain and seeing a cave and thinking about what's inside -- it's that sense of wonder and excitement I want players to feel."Well, we certainly had a lot of that with just the Gusty Garden Galaxy!%Gallery-4735%
Wii serves over 5 million in Japan
In little over 60 weeks, the Wii console has managed to sell over 5 million units in its home territory of Japan. As impressive as this is, it falls short of the DS, which achieved sales figures of this nature in 56 weeks. But, the Wii did manage to beat the PS2, which cracked the 5 million mark after 66 weeks on the market.A system is only so good as its games though, right? Well, in Japan the games pushing the Wii are Wii Sports (2.6 million copies sold as of now), Wii Play (2.1 million copies sold as of now), Mario Party 8 ( 1.1 million copies sold as of now) and Wii Fit (1.1 million copies sold as of now). Super Mario Galaxy comes in fifth place in the country, only selling a total of 843,961 copies.
Super Mario Galaxy gets a few GDCA nods
It's nice when your peers recognize your work. So, Miyamoto and co. must be beaming with happiness to hear that Super Mario Galaxy got the nod in several categories for the Game Developer's Choice Awards. If our opinion means anything (it doesn't), we liked the game a lot.Overall, Super Mario Galaxy gets its hat tossed into two categories, although many* might consider them to be the best two categories: Best Game Design and Game of the Year. It's up against some tough competition, however, as undersea romp Bioshock and Portal, which has seemed to help pie's ugly cousin cake propel itself into the stratosphere of popularity, will undoubtedly give Mario a run for his coin (or stars).Head past the break for all of the nominees.%Gallery-4735%
Mario's balls have been around the galaxy and are on their way to you
Nooo, not those balls. Get your mind out of the gutter, you disgusting piece of filth. These are super balls, the kind which need no human host to survive and can freely bounce about the galaxy of your child's bedroom or anywhere of their own volition. These balls truly are super.Of course, they won't be available until April of this year, so this is only an opportunity to preorder. Each set will cost $22, with a variety of different balls on offer.
Joystiq's Top 10 of 2007: Super Mario Galaxy
In the beginning there was Mario 128 and the world was without news. And the Spirit of Mario moved upon the face of galaxies. And Reggie Fils-Aime said, let there be a release date; and there was hype and critical acclaim. And we saw the copies and Toys R Us gift cards, and it was good.And the Good Egg Galaxy and Flipswitch Galaxy were the first day. And we said, "This control scheme is alright." And we captured stars and struggled with the camera: and it was so. And we called the game fun.And the Honeyhive Galaxy, Loopdeeloop Galaxy and Bowser Jr.'s Robot Reactor were the second day. And we said, Dear God please do we really have to use faulty controls and race through a crappy Wave Race clone to get one frackin' star? And we persevered through and got the star. And we said the Bee Suit was cute and honey climbing was fun. And the camera decided to change our flight path and we kept falling off the level; and we saw that it was frustrating.
Jump Festa play sessions reveal new assist trophy, impressions
Well now, what is this? A source of information regarding Super Smash Bros Brawl that isn't from the dojo? We'll take it!Apparently, Rosalina from the Wii's current most-popular game will be making an appearance in the Wii's most-popular upcoming game. She's going to be an assist trophy, as one might imagine, so she won't be playable. However, it's nice to see another Nintendo character join the obscenely large roster of folks showing their faces in the upcoming game.Other tidbits of worth from the time enjoying the demo at Jump Festa pertain to another assist trophy in Duster from Mother 3, the Sandbag actually existing as an item during fights and playable characters Kirby and the Pokémon Trainer, who plays like his N64 version and shouts the name of Pokémon he is using, respectively.[Via Go Nintendo]
Expect SMG, RRR2, and more; pay less
Starting today until this Saturday, Target will have six of its Wii games for sale for only $37.00! As you can see from the list below, they're not all crap, either! Super Mario Galaxy Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Need for Speed: Prostreet Madden NFL 08 Smackdown vs Raw Most of these titles are already out of stock on Target's online shop, but you should still be able to pick them up at a brick and mortar location. If you've been putting off on buying Super Mario Galaxy to accommodate your Christmas budget, with the holiday now behind us and this great deal, you can make this long overdue purchase without having to feel guilty about it![Thanks, Tofufa!]
NYTimes names Mass Effect game of the year
A little lesbianism goes a long way as the New York Times names Mass Effect its game of the year for 2007. The NYT bestowed Mass Effect with the honor for its "focus on character development, personal growth and moral tension, all fueled by a graphics system created to evoke emotional empathy." Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction was honored for being the shining star on the PS3 and BioShock was named the "best newcomer." There's also digs at Halo 3 and Super Mario Galaxy for being "unambitious representations of the state of the art."Speaking of unambitious, for the second time in less than a month the New York Times copyeditors took a nap (albeit a minor one) on a video game-related story, which is slowly becoming inappropriate in covering an $18 billion-plus industry. There's no telling when reporter Seth Schiesel submitted his copy for this piece, but E3 2008 was already confirmed for the Los Angeles Convention Center last Tuesday, so the article's suggestion that "the solution for [E3] next year can be summed up in one word (or is that two?): Las Vegas" is just about 1,000 New York minutes behind the times.
Iwata is named Person of the Year
Who doesn't love the great Satoru Iwata. He's a very kind man and a pleasure to be around (this blogger knows, he met him a couple years ago). Not only that, but he has a good mind for business, as he's managed to turn Nintendo into a crazy-rich company with the hottest console and handheld on the market. Certainly, he deserves this honor.He isn't the only person from Nintendo to be recognized, however. Next-Gen's list encompasses 25 people from the industry, and other notable Nintendo folk include George Harrison and Yoshiaki Koizumi (the director behind Super Mario Galaxy).
Super Mario Galaxy DS video a hoax
About ten days ago, we got our first glimpse of a video showing a downloadable, Nintendo DS version of Super Mario Galaxy, supposedly hidden inside the Wii version of the game. We watched with rapt attention as the shaky-cam footage showed Mario and Luigi jumping from the Wii to the DS using a previously unknown, hidden galaxy and the DS' WiFi download capabilities. We were surprised to see low-resolution versions of Mario and Luigi running around low-resolution versions of familiar Mario Galaxy levels. We were shocked and hopeful when the video promised each DS star would be redeemable for 10 Wii shop points.We weren't ready to definitively declare the video real or fake at the time, but now, after some digging, we're ready to set the record straight on this hoax. Read on for our evidence and thoughts on the matter.
Best of 2007: First-party games [update]
With the end of 2007 approaching at near lightning-fast speed, we thought it would be nice to check out what you, the excellent reader, thought about the games of this year. First up, we have the obvious: first-party games. We have a good idea which game you're going to say, but in the name of healthy debate, check out all of the choices past the break.
Miyamoto: 'Ratchet & Clank' who? Lombax what?
Coy or truly confused, Nintendo's maestro has disputed Insomniac's cry for attention, firmly denying that Super Mario Galaxy's spherical worlds were torn out of a page from the Sony developer's Ratchet & Clank book. Miyamoto claims he and the gang were working to disprove the 'games are flat' theory back on N64, when Insomniac was merely taking its first baby steps into the industry (and, Ludwig, years before Sonic Adventure 2 pulled off 'the rounded level' – FYI). "I'm sorry but I have to admit that I've never seen the game in question," Miyamoto told Official Nintendo Magazine UK when questioned about Ratchet & Clank, "Is it a PC game?"
UK gets bored, bets on gaming sales charts
Now, this is just plain weird. Apparently, folks in the UK don't have enough to bet on, so they turn to the gaming industry. Bookie Paddy Power is reporting that a lot of money is riding on what game emerges as the number one seller throughout this holiday season, with the total stake coming to about 11,000 GBP. That just boggles our mind.But, this isn't the first year this has been going down. They started accepting bets on gaming sales charts starting back in 2003, where it didn't receive many takers. Then, it had only seen 60 bets as which game would emerge on top, with this year seeing a whopping increase in popularity to 650 bets. Oh, and the favored game to come out on top is EA's Need for Speed ProStreet.Current top odds are as follows: 8/11: Need for Speed ProStreet 2/1: Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games 5/1: The Simpsons Game 8/1: FIFA Soccer 08 8/1: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare 12/1: The Golden Compass 18/1: Super Mario Galaxy 20/1: Assassin's Creed 20/1: High School Musical: Sing It!
