supermariogalaxy
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SMG Science trailer leaves us baffled
Being entirely unable to understand Japanese, we haven't much of a clue about what's going on in this kooky Super Mario Galaxy Science trailer, but we're guessing it's something to do with gravity, and how our hero manages to stick to the underside of all those weird spherical levels.Makes us wish we'd spent more time at school actually concentrating during double physics, rather than drawing on the back of Kevin Lomax's blazer.
Crowds lining up for Super Mario Galaxy in Japan? Not so much
Siliconera's Spencer Yip took a short tour of electronic shops in Akihabara, Tokyo's famed shopping district, this morning to capture the masses that've skipped work and camped out in anticipation of today's Super Mario Galaxy release. Considering that this is one of Nintendo's biggest titles of the year and a much-hyped new entry to the company's most popular franchise, you would assume that the head count would surpass or at least rival the crowds that often gather for Dragon Quest titles, right?Well, according to what Spencer saw at the there stores he surveyed, while a few people queued up outside of shops to snatch themselves a copy, there weren't any of the huge lines that we've come to associate with major releases in Japan. In fact, a few of the guys in the photo above were actually waiting on Ace Combat 6 for the Xbox 360. Perhaps everyone is waiting to pick up Super Mario Galaxy after work? Or maybe everyone preordered the game in advance to avoid the lines?
This guy has Super Mario Galaxy already
Today is the day where we stopped believing in everything good in the world.As you can see in the above video (which we suggest you avoid if you don't want to see the first 5 minutes or so of the game's opening gameplay segments and cutscenes), the reported pirated version of Super Mario Galaxy that was leaked online is a reality and we now live in a world more dark, cold and evil than we could've possibly imagined. Hopefully, based on this video, Nintendo's pack of lawyers can hunt this person down and physically beat the price of the game out of him resolve the issue at hand.
Rumor: Super Mario Galaxy leaked online
Are those nasty pirates orchestrating their revenge after Nintendo sunk their chips earlier this week? According to a posting on NeoGAF, an unsavory EB Games employee decided to take the contents of an in-store Super Mario Galaxy demo disc and share it with the online world. Though the demo is usually constrained by a 10-minute time limit, the disc reportedly contains the full game and is fully accessible through use of a modified Wii console. As the pirate site offering the code isn't specified or linked to, it's difficult to verify whether or not Mario's currently making his way down some shady pipes.We contacted a Nintendo spokesperson for confirmation, only to be informed that we were the first to alert them of the development. Note that in the event of the rumor being true, posting of download links or impressions in the comments sections will be met with permanent bans and disapproving glares.[Via Maxconsole]
Spoilerific footage: 6 minutes of Super Mario Galaxy
RMC from Go Nintendo was kind enough to take some of the footage from the Japanese site for Super Mario Galaxy, resize it and pack it all together in the single YouTube video you see above. It's six minutes of pure ecstasy, but chock full of spoilers. So, if you want to go into the game fresh, you might want to steer clear.But, we know you can't help it. You'll most likely watch it. Heck, we couldn't resist.[Via Go Nintendo]
Famitsu gives Super Mario Galaxy 38/40
The first Japanese reviews of Super Mario Galaxy are trickling in in advance of the game's Nov. 1 Japanese release, and so far they're looking pretty good. Venerable game rag Famitsu's four reviewers gave the game two nines and two tens for a total score of 38/40. This puts the game just under Super Mario 64's 39/40 and just above Super Mario Sunshine's 37/40 from the magazine. Overall, the score puts it behind just 22 games in the magazine's history.A partial review translation by 1UP reveals nothing but praise for the new Mario game, calling it "a game anyone can really play" and urging that "every game fan should play this game." Of course it's hard to imagine Famitsu giving the high-profile game a bad review -- the magazine has been accused of doling out scores based mainly on hype and sales expectations. Despite this, there's a part of us that just wants to believe that the high praise is based on genuine enjoyment and not marketing dollars. We'll find out for ourselves when the game reaches our shores Nov. 12.
New Japanese SMG trailer: Every second delicious
At this rate, by the time Super Mario Galaxy hits stores this November 12th, we'll have seen every pixel of the platformer already via internet videos. If that grim future sickens you, compelling you to avoid all future Super Mario Galaxy previews, make sure to stay that self-imposed moratorium until after you watch this new Japanese trailer. If you need us for anything, we'll be busy creating an alternate version of the movie, replacing the audio track with 'N Sync's "God Must Have Spent a Little More Time on You." This is what we do every Friday night.[Via NeoGAF]
SMG video update: Powerups, galaxies, and a live orchestra
The Super Mario Galaxy media frenzy continues with a bucketful of new videos. Naturally, we're emptying that bucket over your head, partly to douse you with fresh movies, but mostly for comedic effect.You'll find the streaming clips in the Japanese site's powerups and galaxies sections, yelling out with orange word balloons, "New!" You can watch them past the post break, too. Also on the list of updates for today, the third volume of Iwata Asks (Super Mario Galaxy edition) has some great footage of a live orchestra recording one of the game's songs while Koji Kondo and Shigeru Miyamoto watch, an overturned tea table likely nearby. According to the interview, 28 tracks in all have been recorded by the orchestra.It's likely just us -- in fact, we're sure of it -- but there's something about Super Mario Galaxy's main theme that reminds us of the Perfect Strangers opening credits, particularly the part where the song crescendos, "Staaanding tall!" Also, the action-platformer's music makes us break out into the "Dance of Joy" whenever we hear it, causing us to jump into the arms of anyone nearby. It's really quite embarrassing for everyone involved.
New areas and wild jumps shown for Super Mario Galaxy
Localization producer Nate Bihldorf demoed Super Mario Galaxy for MTV's Stephen Totilo last week, promising to show us all something new in the much-anticipated platformer. The resultant clip embedded above has Mario roaming around a sidescroller-ish alternate path in the Good Egg Galaxy and messing with gravitational pulls (Check out the extended jump at the three-minute mark!). Stephen makes sure to jokingly ask during the presentation, "Now, was this part also stolen from Ratchet and Clank?" Nate laughs off the reference to Insomniac's claim that SMG's spherical worlds were directly inspired by the Ratchet and Clank series, but explains that he hasn't heard the accusations.As usual, we've got more past the post break. Hustle on over there for a short video of what happens when you drop down the pipe of a smaller planet.
This just in: people like Super Mario Galaxy
"Every hundred years, a comet appears in the skies above Mushroom Kingdom. The comet was so large one year, it filled the skies and sent countless shooting stars raining down. The Toads brought the shooting stars to the castle, where they became a great Power Star. It should have been a very happy time for the citizens of the Mushroom Kingdom. That was the night of the Star Festival, held once every hundred years to celebrate the comet."So begins the intro to Super Mario Galaxy, as transcribed by IGN's Matt Casamassina. If he's quoting the game, you know he must have played it recently, and he's not the only one. Impressions are finally coming in from the Nintendo summit held last week, and they're-- gasp-- positive. Chris Kohler said that SMG "Might Save Christmas"; Kotaku's Michael McWhertor said that "Galaxy reinstates faith in Mario platforming where Sunshine disappointed." In short, bloggers and journalists like the game. Since these impressions were all posted simultaneously as the NDA's evaporated, we thought that rather than report on them individually, we'd link to them en masse. So there you go. Plenty of reading on the subject of whether bloggers think Super Mario Galaxy is a good game or not.We've also embedded a new trailer, which proves that not only do writers enjoy Super Mario Galaxy, but paid actors do as well (as long as they are paid to)!Read - 1upRead - KotakuRead - Game|LifeRead - IGNRead - MTV Multiplayer
Lil' Reggie digs Super Mario Galaxy in new trailer
Here's the new trailer for Super Mario Galaxy that we're sure you'll see during your favorite TV programs soon. As you can see, Nintendo marketing has eschewed the "Wii would like to play" guys this time in favor of ... wait a minute ... is that supposed to be a young Reggie Fils-Aime? Either way, the clips shown look great, hitting us right in the inner child that remembers having a stiff neck from playing Super Mario 64 for two hours straight at the local Blockbuster Video. Though we're not sure we understand the rationale behind choosing a tiny Reggie doppelgänger as the front man for the ad, we most definitely understand the little guy's enthusiasm.
Super Mario Galaxy video shows off new power-ups, manta rays
If you've been doing your best to dodge any mention of Super Mario Galaxy's four unrevealed power-ups, hoping to keep yourself pure until that first night with the game, make sure to watch no further than the 1:33 mark on the above video. Of course, you could avoid the movie altogether, but you'd miss out on not only its fantastic music and footage, but a clip of Mario walking on a floating ice cream cone! Skip to 2:26 to see Mario getting around while balancing on top of a ball and riding a manta ray.Though we talked about at least two of the "new" power-ups before, the other two are a complete surprise, and we can't wait to see what we can do with them and how the planets have been built to accommodate these added abilities.
SMG update: Toy robots, manta rays, and more!
var digg_url = 'http://www.digg.com/nintendo_wii/Super_Mario_Galaxy_screenshots_Toy_robots_manta_rays_and_more'; Even with all the critical news hitting the press today, Super Mario Galaxy was never in danger of being cast aside. Still, to make sure we wouldn't forget who loves us (and where our money's going this November), Nintendo packed our lunch with new screenshots from its highly anticipated 3D platformer.We have no idea what is going on in the above screenshot, but whatever it is, it's totally awesome. There's a 2D Mario sprite hopping around, another Mario is flying past a wind-up toy robot, and it all looks like it's taking place in someone's bedroom. Jump past the break for more!
Brawl and Galaxy at Nintendo's E For All booth
We've known for quite some time now that Nintendo would be backing E For All. Word just hit today, however, that playable versions of Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Mario Galaxy will be on-hand for those in attendance. Nintendo, who wasn't showing their face at TGS07, didn't even have a playable build of Brawl on the show floor at E307. Even with the game only a few months away, it'd be nice to get a taste of the action. Perhaps even get to play as one of the new characters. Not only that, but Nintendo will host daily tournaments, hooking each day's winner up with an exclusive Wii T-shirt.Head past the break for all of the Wii games on-hand at the show.
It mints money!
After violently wrestling away this post's title from one of our own, this fine blogger began the investigation involving the mysterious pre-order coin for the upcoming sphere romp, Super Mario Galaxy. While it is unconfirmed if the coin is in fact the mock-up you see above, we're hard-pressed to come up with any other designs that might be better than that of the image above.You may have already voiced your opinions about the design in the previous post, but care to chime in with your thoughts regarding the design? Think we should be tossed something else for pre-ordering the game?
Super Menu Galaxy
If you love staring at Japanese menu screens, boy do we have the video for you up above there. But, we realize not all people are made alike, and perhaps some of you weirder folk might want to see some gameplay segments. Well, we couldn't do something as crazy as posting videos of gameplay footage on the front page, so we had to tuck those behind the break in the super secret awesome area. No password required, just click below and you're in. Look at you, V.I.P. and all.
Insomniac invented the spherical world
When Kikizo asked Insomniac's Ryan Schneider about other games taking influences from their Ratchet & Clank series, Ryan mentioned one game in particular that seemed to crib from them. You're not going to like it!"One that we're even extremely flattered by is Super Mario Galaxy, with their spherical worlds; we did spherical worlds in Going Commando, and Up Your Arsenal. It would be amazing to think that Miyamoto-san thought that was so cool that he wanted to incorporate it into Mario Galaxy."You know who else did spherical worlds? The universe. You may remember some awesome levels like Earth and Pluto Neptune. We're not going to jump into Nintendo fanboy mode and spew venom at Mr. Schneider for daring to impugn Miyamoto-sama, but we will say that Nintendo's probably been working on Galaxy for roughly forever. But if it turned out to be true that Miyamoto and team saw an awesome idea in another game and ran with it, good for them. We'd like to think that the team at EAD keeps up with other games.[Via GoNintendo]
Rumor: New Wii SKU to hit this holiday
According to an anonymous supplier, Codename Revolution has the scoop on a supposed new SKU coming to retail for the holiday season. Currently dubbed "New Pack," no word yet on exactly what this new SKU could mean. All we know now is that it has a UPC of "045496880088,″ which comes back as being owned by Nintendo. Whether this is a new bundle (we're betting it's a bundled Super Mario Galaxy or Smash Bros. Brawl bundle, or perhaps one including the Wii Zapper), has yet to be determined. Don't hold your breath for a new Wii unit itself, as it's unlikely Nintendo will do a hardware revision to the console this early in its lifespan. Especially considering the popularity of the console as it is now.
A galaxy of Mario Galaxy videos
GameTrailers unleashed the Super Mario Galaxy video floodgates today. Want to see the opening of the game? It's above. Want to see footage with the controller in it? It's after the break. Want to see general gameplay? You'll get plenty of that.The videos should definitely give people a pretty solid idea of what Super Mario Galaxy will be all about, especially those that haven't read our original impressions from E3. Those who felt confined by Super Mario Sunshine and Delfino Island, Galaxy is looking to make you completely forget all about it.
Do the Mario Galaxy website
Okay, we realize that everything we say after this next sentence is going to be ignored by everyone, which takes a lot of pressure off of us in terms of spell-checking and such. The Japanese Super Mario Galaxy website is open, and features a video of the game's prologue (click the link we've circled above to get to it).Well, now that everyone's gone to browse the Mario Galaxy website, which, by the way, is absolutely chock full of video in every link, we aren't sure what to do with the rest of this post. It seems like kind of a waste to just end it here. And we're kind of lonely now. Maybe Captain Lou Albano will make us feel like we're not so alone. If anyone's out there, click after the break to do the Mario with us.
