8-Bit Left 4 Dead!

This is a couple days old, I apologize, but you all know I can't pass up an 8-Bit downgrade of our favorite modern video games! Apparently, Pixelforce NES and Eric Ruth are teaming up to launch this 8-bit gem in January 2010; available for download (if you have a PC-Justin Long and John Hodgman would not approve... well Hodgman would approve in character, but really I think he'd be unhappy). So this isn't just a clever animation, its a game demo! In the end, the game will feature all 5 special infected (right now you'll only find the boomer... who is offensively cute for so depraved a corpse), all 4 campaigns and all 5 maps. If you thought gun butting a hunter in the head was hella fun, wait till you try it in 8-bit!

Cardboard Hobbit Feet FTW

Ladies and gentlemen, the best Halloween costume I saw of 2009. While they may not win big in the the Topical or Original categories, there is a lot of good going on here. The hobbit/right wraith height differential, the gender swap, the props (they had killer backpacks as well), and more than anything else, the FEET! That is genuine cardboard with hair glued on. This is DIY craftmanship at it's best. Awesome.

A few more photos of notable nerd costumes, after the jump...

Is it sad that I immediately recognized this as a Shy Guy and not just a spooky ghost?

Star Fleet uniforms are easy to come by, but you have to admire the dedication the accuracy displayed when it comes to hairstyles/facial hair grooming. There is no mistaking these guys for generic redshirts.

Given my unique relationship with Anakin Skywalker, seeing his doppleganger walking around in the flesh was a little terrifying, especially with little kids running around all over the place.

D-Pad Hero: Retconned Video Game History!

Some ingenious nerds have gone and created D-Pad Hero, the "original" Guitar Hero! An NES Rom game that brilliantly imagines what a guitar hero game would actually look like on the NES (I particularly love the audience members). Almost more brilliant than that, the above video sneakily combines 3 of the most popular internet memes; That Daft Punk Song, Guitar Hero, and 8-bit recreations of things we love; creating some sort of concentrated, weaponized viral video in the process.

Unfortunately, the game only has 4 songs so far; which you can check out at their website. Now, as a comic book geek, one of the most interesting elements of this Rom game, is the concept of retconning real world history. We're used to retconned comic book history-I mean, it wouldn't make sense for superman to have fought during WWII and continue to work today as a 30 something reporter... sure, he's an alien, anything goes. But that would put Lois in her early hundreds... She's pretty hot for a 103 year old. Though unintentional, it's fun to think of Guitar Hero as a poweful enough milestone in video game evolution that people feel the need to back date it and write it into Videogame's ancestry. Either way, fun to think about, fun to watch... and probably very hard to play...

There Will Be Brawl: In-Jokes, Analysis, and Serious Geeking Out

By now, most web-savvy gamers (is there any other kind?) are well-acquainted with the newly minted classic, There Will Be Brawl. If you haven't seen it already, check it out above (mildly NSFW). It's a grim, Noir-ish look into the Mushroom Kingdom, and features awesome production values and appearances by the biggest names in Smash Brothers history (and those who aren't in Episode 1 are on their way...we hear the Pokemon Trainer is next up for the spotlight! Can Pikachu be far behind?).

I recently wrote a detailed review of the show, which you can read at Tilzy.TV. But more importantly, our resident Nintendo specialist Degan was good enough to take meticulous notes on the series, including annotations for the show's many in-jokes and references. You can play the video and read along, or just skim through to see all the nerdy references you may have missed the first time.

• Abductions and mutilations? I'm not sure if this is a yet-to-be-revealed plot point or a reference to some character i'm not thinking of... are the abductions referencing the weird trophy-fying gun that Bowser uses on the characters in the brawl story mode?
• Toad people! Its not the mushroom kingdom without Toads!
• I believe the first Noir music cue is a tune from Mario 2.
• Wii fit ad a nice touch ("unseen arbiter").
• Creepy mask guy in the hallway is from Mario 2.
• "Pileup on Moonview Highway to Moo Moo meadows" is from Mario Kart.

More after the jump? You better believe it.

• Lakitu newscaster is from a bunch of games, but the fact that he's a newscaster is a reference to Mario Kart, where he's the cameraman for the instant replays, and fishes you out after you throw yourself off a cliff. Here, he's complete with fishing pole, and if you look closely you'll see his desk is cloud with eyes.
  
• Luigi's drinking the classic red health potion (I believe first seen in Zelda-but its such a video game convention that I'm not even sure anymore). [edit: there's some debate on the TWBB forums about this potion... many there seem to think its the warp potion from Mario 2... I still maintain that it's regular old health potion. For one, they never drank the warp potions... they threw them on the ground to create doors! So in the context of the scene, it doesn't make much sense for Luigi to be drinking a warp potion... unless he's trying to commit suicide by "internal door".]
  
• Police chief Link and his "Hylean" brand justice-reference to Lake Hylia in Hyrule... apparently an authoritarian police state... never knew. [edit: apparently the "Hylians" are the people of Hyrule... not just lake Hylia]
  
• Awesome violin Mario music that starts as the Mario Death tune and leads into the classic Mario Theme!
• Power up boxes! sweet! And power up mushrooms complete with Mario World sound effects!
• Wario's awesome! And those ice climbers are super creepy... why does Nana need a monobrow?!?
• Roy and Pichu are two characters who didn't make into the line-up for Smash Brothers Brawl...now we know why.
  
• More reference to the mutilations and "tiny guts"? Is that just cause Pichu is tiny... or is there some shrinking thing I'm not picking up?
• Blinking Wario growth a nice touch too
• "Tunic-wearing fairy"- nasty way to refer to Link... "his pigs"? Either just your typical slur for police or possibly a reference to the pigs of Ness' New Pork City? Are there even pigs there though? I don't know...
• Mario Dungeon Theme when Mario confronts Wario and Luigi (actually its the Haunted House theme from Mario World)
• I love the princess' undercover-celebrity-glasses and hoodie! At first I thought the princess was terribly acted... then i realized she's trying to do that obnoxious high-pitched monosyllabic speaking style she always has in the games... pretty clever.
• Mario's medical practice! Dr. Mario reference, natch. [edit: it only just occurred to us the reason for Mario's "failed medical practice"... Dr. Mario isn't featured in Brawl-it's how they killed him off (like they did Pichu, Roy, and MewTwo)]
  
• Shrinking noise from Super Mario World when Mario attacks Wario.
• Ha, "Been a referee (Punchout), been a doctor (obviously Dr. Mario)". Man, Mario's been around.
• Is there tension between Waluigi and Wario? He seems pretty touchy about the issue.
• Awesome awesome ringtone! Sonic Boom! The theme song from the barely played Sonic CD for the even more barely owned SegaCD (I think I owned the only one) I guess that means she's in contact with Sonic... Also surprising they used this since I was one of 7 people who owned SegaCD.
• Ha, "dance around in your skin!" Cause that's kinda what Kirby does!
• "Her own court anymore?" And since when have the Mario Bros not been useful? Not sure if these are game references or again, yet-to-be-revealed plot points...
• Megavitamins.... that's what Dr. Mario used!
• Kirby's a scary freak!

That he is, Degan, that he is. No, seriously. When I had to check the credits for my review, I put my hand over the screen in case I went too far back and ended up on a still of him. Not joking, people.

Panel Discussion: Scans from Wolverine #66, Teen Titans: Year One #5, RASL #2 and More

Every week we at Geekanerd rip panels from our comics and put them on display here, recognizing the best, worst, and weirdest moments of the week. Beware some major SPOILERS.

Click the pics for high res goodness!

Heart of Gold Award - Logan, Wolverine #66

That's right, Logan's future son is named Scotty. Sounds like Wolvie found some common ground with Cyke before the one eyed bastard bit the big one. -Albo

Scans from Teen Titans: Year One #5, RASL #2, Genius #1, and Tales of Cthulhu #3 after the jump.

Best Save - Wonder Girl, Teen Titans: Year One #5
Stupid Speedy doesn't appreciate having his life saved by a guuurrrl, but we can all appreciate this fun, efficient rendering of superstrength physics. I'm a sucker for any time a hero stops a car short like this, as in this previous Panel Discussion. -AHR

Artist's Trademark - Rasl #2
Oh man, when Jeff Smith pulls out that pointy chin, you know shit is going to go down. -AHR

Signs of the Post Apocalypse - Wolverine #66
Times are tough in the post apocalypse. So tough, in fact, that Logan's daughter has to play an old GBA instead of upgrading to a sweet new DS. -Albo

Achievement in Character Re-Design- Teen Titans: Year One #5
One thing that always bothered me about Green Arrow is that he's suppose to be this rakish ladies man, but his costume is nerdiest in all of DC (and that is SAYING something) and his usual mustashe/tight goatee/conservative hair cut combo always make him look like a total square. But leave it to Karl to make me believe this dude could actually get a hot number like Black Canary. And on the other side of the spectrum, I love that Speed looks a little awkward and half-baked; he's a teenager for godsake, and not all kids have to be cute to be appealing. -AHR

Most In-Your-Face Foreshadowing - Wolverine #66
Were you wondering where this "Old Man Logan" storyline is going? Well you aren't anymore, cause the issue ends with this double page spread laying out every step Wolvie and Blind Hawkeye are gonna take this year. On another note, though... Are Kingpin and Doom really still alive? This is 50 years after all the heroes on earth die, Bruce Banner's grandchildren are Logan's landlords... Surely there isn't a 100 year old Kingpin stomping around? I guess we'll see... Also, I love that Paste Pot Pete claimed a little land for himself. -Albo

Beatdown of the Week - Genius #1
Tiny girl, but boy can she whup some ass. -Albo

Art Hall of Shame - Tales of Cthulhu #3
Aach! Are you kidding me? I paid for this asshole's scribbles? Those aren't faces! -Albo

Definitely Not Safe Sex - Tales of Cthulhu #3
Oh, can't draw a freaking face, but "sea monster engaging in some hot canoodle action with a nice young lady"? Guy's all over it. I think I probably saw a picture like this in sex ed. "Having unprotected sex? You might as well be sleeping with a giant AID!" -Albo

Nitpick Award and Cameo Alert - Teen Titans: Year One #5
I mentioned this in my review of this issue; I wish that last panel was silent. Whether or not we could infer that she's crying without text, the art makes it clear she's devestated. That (SOBS) really takes me out of the momment, because it makes me think of a stage direction and not an actual sound. I would have loved this ending if it was just that lonley panel combined with that ironic title.

There is one thing I love about this last panel; the stuffed animal on WG's desk is the main character from Karl Kershel's weekly online comic, The Abominable Charles Christopher. The strip is hilarious and the art is to die for. It's nice that Wondy is a fan of both boy bands and indie web comics. -AHR

Banana Randomizer Award for Achievement in WTF? - Tales of Cthulhu #3
The end of this short story devolves into some really in(s)ane nonsense. And why? Well, I guess WhyTF not? To be honest, the more I look at these panels the more I like them in some backward way. -Albo

Road Side Service: Wii Tennis Tournie Takes To The Road

2007 saw the birth of Wiimbledon, a Wii Tennis tournament held at Brooklyn's favorite video game themed bar, Barcade. The event was a huge hit amongst both participants and media outlets, with everyone from ABC News to us showing up with microphones in hand. Geekanerd editor Albo had the distinction of actually playing his way to the finals, that's the final round of competition, people, though he ultimately lost out to no less than Luigi himself. Seems a little suspect to me that employees of Nintendo, much less Nintendo characters, were even allowed to participate in the first place, but what's done is done.*

This year, Wiimbledon is spreading the Wii Tennis love across the country with a nationwide Wiinebago tour, culminating in the 2nd Annual Wiimbledon Tournament on June 21st, to be held in San Francisco. Given the NorCal location, I imagine a lot of serious software types will be in attendance so I'd advise any potential contenders to approach there technique from a highly technical, code-centric standpoint.

Check out the official website to get on the mailing list, so you can know when the tour is coming to your town and even more importantly, when sign-ups start; last year, the registration rush crashed Wiimbledon's servers, leading to several horribly tense hours where the Gnred crew thought they'd missed the deadline. And for a look at last year's festivites, check out our extensive coverage.

*I lost in my first elimination round, 2/1. But my opponent did make it to the semi-finals, soo...there's that.

Head Tracking Actually Coming to Wii!

Remember when we brought you the video of tech genius Johnny Lee turning a Wiimote into a head tracking system to awesome effect? If not, hit the jump for that video and then get excited, because unlike the trillion other homebrew gaming innovations that never make it into an actual product, Joystiq says head tracking IS COMING. The only bad news is that it's coming in the form of Steven Spielberg's action puzzler Boom Blox, where I can't imagine it will be useful for anything more than a cool parlor trick. But hey, a published game is a published game, Spielberg is Spielberg, and soon some smart company will realize the tech is viable and it would make any first person shooter a must buy. Oh yes. We're almost there.

Hit the jump for that video and thoughts on the announcement from head tracking pioneer Johnny Lee...

On his blog, Johnny Lee had this to say about the announcement:

Reward the developers who decided this was worth including and send a signal to EA and the greater game development community that this is a desired step forward in the evolution of game play technology.

I'm proud. If this pans out, it'll be only 5 months between the initial research prototype to integration into a major product release. Sweet!

Just in case you are wondering: No, I don't get any royalties or benefits for the use of this technique in games. Personally, I'm much happier impacting the state of technology on such a large scale in such a short period of time rather than struggling to transform it into personal financial gain. In terms of my original intent behind creating the head-tracking demo, it has already been a wild success beyond my highest expectations.

Mario Kart Wii Gets a Trailer!

Mario Kart and I... Let's just say we have a very uncomplicated relationship. I love her forever, and in return she lets me be the best. And since Super Smash Bros has chosen not to engage me in a similar relationship, that makes Mario Kart my most anticipated Wii game. Just don't expect to find four Wii wheels in my apartment. They'll probably be $20 each... $20 of useless plastic.

Game Review: Rayman Raving Rabbids 2

If I hadn't gotten a Wii at launch I can't imagine I would have ever bought the first Rayman Raving Rabbids game. But at the time there wasn't much out and I had to have something to play with my friends. That game was a mixed bag with a few good minigames but a seriously broken multiplayer component. The game was good for laughs but not much else, and I sold it as soon as I had a couple of newer games (WarioWare, Mario Party) that filled the party game requirement in my apartment.

So does the sequel have more staying power than the original? Hit the jump for our full review.

The Structure
Rabbids 2 ditches the overly restrictive story mode from the first game and lets you pick one of six "trips," each loosely representing a different region of the world. You can do these trips either alone or in a group, an improvement over the original which required you to unlock the minigames in single player mode before they became available in multiplayer.

Also available is the option to string as many of your favorite games as you'd like together to make custom trips, which is really important because...

The Games
...there are some really bad minigames in the mix. Far too many of them rely on the "shake the Wiimote as fast as you can" mechanic, which gets really old really really fast. There are other complete duds, like the chess game which requires you to hold your hands to your temples as if you're concentrating really hard. I get it, it's a joke, chess is hard and rabbids are dumb so this is how they play it, but that doesn't make it a minigame you're going to want to play more than once.

Another blemish on the game's record are the on-rail shooting levels. These were the best part of the original game, but they flop here. The big change is that instead of a fully 3D environment the levels are based around full motion video shot on location in New York, Paris, etc. It's actually a well done, nice looking effect, but it makes the game much more static than the original. The environments don't have any of the dynamism they had in the first game, and the rabbids actions are much more limited because they can't actually interact with their surroundings. It comes off less like an energetic shooter and more like an old shooting gallery game (think Lethal Enforcers.) Add to the equation that there is a significant lag between your trigger pull and the gun firing and you're left with a game so tedious you'll be wishing it would just end. Thankfully these levels are separated from the main game, so you don't really ever have to play them (but we both know you will anyway, you completist.)

These bad games don't matter much in the long run, however, because once you make a custom trip with your favorites you'll never have to see them again. And for ever dud in the game there is a real star. Among the best:

• A volleyball game which is easy to lose hours to with friends once you get over some slightly unintuitive mechanics
• A bumper car game that takes place on top of a skyscraper and brings back happy memories of one of my all-time favorite minigames, Super Monkey Ball's "Monkey Fight"
• A movie theater game in which you raise the Wiimote to your head like a phone (complete with Rabbid gibberish via the speaker) until the theater manager walks in and turns on the lights, at which point you have to lower your phone before he catches you and press buttons as quickly as you can to send text messages to the other players, causing their phones to vibrate which gets them in trouble with the manager.

The theater game will fill you with more glee than you might be able to handle.

The Tech-uality
One of the bigger disappointments of this game is that the graphics are really sub-par. We've seen much better out of not only the Wii, but the GameCube and even the PS2. Hopefully Nintendo has schooled everyone with Mario Galaxy and third parties will put more effort into future games to try to reach that bar.

The Rest
Realizing no one cares a flying flip about the "Ugliest and Most Uncompelling Gaming Mascot of All Time Award" winner Rayman, they took him off the cover and made the Rabbids playable. And not only playable but fully customizable, from their heads down to their toes. There's also a jukebox where you can listen to unlocked songs, which is a feature that pops up in a lot of games and I can't help but ask why do developers think we care about this shit?

The Verdict
Despite it's shortcomings, I remain very positive about this game. The bad minis are disappointing, but there are enough good ones to construct a custom trip that will keep you and three friends entertained and laughing for hours. And since that's all I could ask for out of a party game, I place Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 above every other party game on the Wii with the exception of Wii Sports, if you even include that in the category.

THREE out of FOUR stars!

Official Trailer for Super Mario Galaxy is Gorgeous

For all the talk about the Wii not having the graphical chops of the 360 and PS3, Super Mario Galaxy is an incredibly beautiful game. Most of the video we've seen up to this point has been heavily compressed or filmed off of a screen, so this official trailer really blew my eyelids off. Stunning! Note to Nintendo: this is one trailer that really doesn't benefit from having smooth-faced Benetton models smiling while they play. I understand that a game with more Wiimote waggling might need a little illustration of how it's played, but there isn't much of that in Galaxy so all the shiny people look super cheesy.

New Video: Mario Kart Wii

It's obvious they've got a long way to go on this game, but the vid shows off two cool things:

1. Dynamic jumps! No longer does the course feel like a magnet holding your kart down, it appears that they've totally reworked the physics of the experience. The clip has Mario doing some freestylin' Excite Truck-style air spins and stuff. Very cool! I often felt like Double Dash was restricting my movement too much, so I'm ready to go wild on Wii.

2. The motorcycles are seen racing alongside karts, so it would appear the difference between the vehicles might be more cosmetic in nature and won't detract from the core experience. Great news.

I've still got my fingers crossed on this one, but the footage looks promising...

Nintendo News Blowout:Sonic Fights, Mario Bikes, You Download

Nintendo held its Fall Conference in Japan while I was sleeping, and they let out a lot of good news. The first, if you couldn't gather from the video above, is that Sonic is Joining Super Smash Bros Brawl! Seeing him beat up on all the Nintendo guys actually started making me a little angry. I decree that anyone who plays as Sonic and wins in my presence will get a punch in the gut from me. And the good news also comes with the bad news that the game is delayed into 2008.

More breaking Ninty news after the jump...

Nintendo Takes Wii Ware Seriously
Not content to have their Wii Ware downloadable game service wallow in crappy no-name properties, Nintendo has announced both a Final Fantasy game and a Pokémon game app will soon be a few clicks away from your Wii menu. The FF game is titled Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles: The Young King and the Promised Country (breeaaath! I'm sure they'll come up with something shorter in the US) and it apparently sounds like it'll be a strategy game or something, with the player building and governing their own land. Please tell me it's just Settlers of Catan: Final Fantasy Edition. With online multiplayer. ::geeeks!:: Pokémon Farm sounds basically like Mii Plaza for your pocket monsters. You import the little bastards from your DS and get to walk among them... And raise them. Anyway, nice to see that Nintendo really wants to enter the downloadable games space by offering up two hot franchises to start things off with.

Mario Kart Wii Delayed, Pops Onto Two Wheels
First off, MK has been delayed, but just a bit, to Spring 2008. I didn't even know when it was slated to come out, so that's no worry. BUT! They've also announced that there will be motorcycles (or bicycles, depending on whose translation you trust) in the game. Motorcycles could be OK if they handle the same as the karts, but... I just remember Diddy Kong Racing had all those different vehicles and it was actually a real turn-off for me. After enjoying the back-to-basics-with-some-twists Mario Kart DS so much (and hating Double Dash) I really don't want them to F this one up.

Wii Acts as DS Download Station
You know how you can download demos of DS games at in-store kiosks? No? Well get with it, man! Well anyway, soon you will be able to download demos of new and unreleased games via your Wii's wi-fi connection. This is great news, I never liked having to walk into a store to get the demos. I was always on the way somewhere else, so I always had to rush my little gaming session. I'm going to enjoy this much more from the comfort of my couch. Fo sho.

Super Mario Stadium Baseball Announced
Who knows why it's taken them this long to expand one of the thrilling Wii Sports sports into a full game, but finally it's here in the form of Super Mario Stadium Baseball. It's a shame that 1) The title is so clunky, and 2) Wii Baseball sucked (Mario Tennis, please!), but it's good to know their hearts are in the right place.

News based on translations of conference from Kotaku and IGN.

Geekanerd Investigation: Which System Has the Best Games?

The Wii and PS3 are nearing their one-year anniversaries, and the Xbox 360 is coming up on it's second. They've all had some time to roll out great games, but which system has been rolling out the most? Commence Investigation!


The Ten Best-Reviewed "New Gen" Games
The system listed is for the highest reviewed version, additional systems are in parentheses
1. Bioshock - 360 (PC)
2. Zelda: Twilight Princess - Wii (GameCube)
3. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - 360 (PS3, PC)
4. Halo 3 - 360
5. Gears of War - 360 (PC)
6. Guitar Hero II - 360 (PS2)
7. Resident Evil 4 - Wii (PS2, GameCube)
8. Metroid Prime 3 - Wii
8. Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter - 360 (PC, Xbox, PS2)
10. Call of Duty 2 - 360 (PC)

What does it all mean?! Hit the jump for analysis...

Using the above list, the Great Game Count for each system runs like this:

Xbox 360 - 7
Wii - 3
PS3 - 1

The 360 has a pretty sizable lead here, with twice as many AAA games as the Wii, and just forget about the PS3. Something else to take note of, though, is that most of these games are available on multiple platforms. Which begs the question, what is the best system for exclusive content you can't get anywhere else? A new list!

The Ten Best-Reviewed Exclusive Games
1. Halo 3 - 360
2. Metroid Prime 3 - Wii
3. Forza Motorsport 2 - 360
4. Project Gotham Racing 3 - 360
5. Resistance: Fall of Man - PS3
5. Project Gotham Racing 4 - 360
7. Ninja Gaiden Sigma - PS3
8. Dead or Alive 4 - 360
9. Super Paper Mario - Wii
10. Dead Rising - 360

TOTALS:
Xbox 360 - 6
PS3 - 2
Wii - 2

Ooh, you thought that was gonna be a Wii coup, didn't you? Quite the opposite, the Wii merely tied the mangy PS3. Well, that list is almost entirely sequels, and Nintendo is all about the Wii being a "new way to play," so let's look at the category that they'll surely trump:

Ten Best-Reviewed Non-Sequel Exclusives
1. Resistance: Fall of Man - PS3
2. Dead Rising - 360
3. Viva Pinata - 360
4. Crackdown - 360
5. Motorstorm - PS3
6. Saint's Row - 360
7. Heavenly Sword - PS3
8. Kameo - 360
9. Eternal Sonata - 360
10. Blue Dragon - 360

TOTALS:
Xbox 360 - 7
PS3 - 3
Wii - 0

Say what!? All that talk about shaking things up and Nintendo couldn't come up with a single well-reviewed original game? Their best is Wii Sports, which ends up coming in at number 12. I might have to think about getting one uh them 360 things. Might. It has a sizable head start for sure, we'll see if Nintendo and Sony can step it up going into their second year.

All lists compiled using review scores from Game Rankings.
Thanks to intendo editor Rollin for wising me to the fact that Warhawk for PS3 is a sequel.

Bowser is a Terrorist

This opening sequence from the highly-anticipated Super Mario Galaxy begins with a carefree Mario skipping down a calm Mushroom Kingdom street when BOOM! Bowser's airships swoop in and start blowing up buildings. There's fire and destruction, the streets are riddled with Toad parts... It's ugly. It's also quite a departure from the Bowser we've been seeing in most recent Mario titles. Bowser has been comic relief for a while now, bumbling and fumbling his way through his attempts to kidnap (and sometimes marry) Princess Peach. He is always outsmarted, he always gets angry and whines, and he often ends up teaming with Mario to defeat a greater evil. But in this sequence (which packs in more story than all the other core Mario titles put together) he is just pure evil. I, for one, am ecstatic. This game looks awesome.

Nintendo Launches "Import" Genre in the Wii Shop

Finally American gamers are getting something they've been clamoring for since before the Wii even launched - the ability to download games on their Wii that were never released in the US. The first two that get the treatment are the notorious Japanese version of Super Mario Bros. 2 (known as The Lost Levels in the US, it was never released here due to insane difficulty and instead replaced with the Doki Doki Panic overhaul we know as SMB2) and the N64 shooter Sin and Punishment, which I had never heard of but was made by Treasure (Gunstar Heroes, Wario World) and looks pretty great in a couple videos I watched on YouTube. Nintendo is charging a little bit more for these imports ($1 extra for NES, $2 extra for N64) which is pretty lame considering the games are already overpriced, but it will be a small price to pay when the big guns (Mother!) start rolling out. Full press release after the jump.

This is a special week on the Wii Shop Channel. Frankly, it’s a gamer’s dream come true: Nintendo is launching the new Import genre with the release of two games that previously have never been available in the Western Hemisphere on their original platforms. The first will be hugely popular with Mario™ fans, who will love reliving the style of his classic games as they encounter new skills, new levels and new dangers. Nintendo® 64 enthusiasts also get a masterpiece of the shooter genre and perhaps the best game never released outside of Japan. Welcome to Import Week for the Wii Shop Channel! The two new classic games go live at 9 a.m. Pacific time. Nintendo adds new games to the Wii Shop Channel every Monday. Wii™ owners with a high-speed Internet connection can redeem Wii Points™ to download the games. Wii Points can be purchased in the Wii Shop Channel or at retail outlets. This week’s new games are:

Super Mario Bros.™: The Lost Levels™ (NES®, 1 player, rated E for Everyone, 600 Wii Points): Originally released in Japan as Super Mario Bros.® 2, this game has previously made only brief cameo appearances in the Western Hemisphere. Now available on the Virtual Console™ in all of its original splendor, Mario fans will appreciate the familiar look and feel of the game, while finding that its updated game play creates an entirely new challenge. No longer content just to wear different-colored overalls, Mario and Luigi also possess different skill sets: Mario can stop quicker, while Luigi can jump higher. In addition to the classic enemies already known to fans worldwide, there are also Poison Mushrooms, backward Warp Zones, and the occasional wind gust (which can help or hinder your progress) to take into account. And if that’s somehow not enough, expert players can go looking for the game’s secret worlds. So get ready to put your Mario skills to the ultimate test, and save the Princess again. Just don’t be surprised if she’s in another castle.

Sin & Punishment™ (Nintendo 64, 1-2 players, rated T for Teen – Blood, Fantasy Violence, Mild Language, 1,200 Wii Points): Created by the legendary development studio Treasure, this is a game that hard-core gamers and fans of Japanese imports recognize as one of the finest Nintendo 64 titles to have never previously reached North American shores. Its unique combination of English voice-overs with Japanese subtitles (preserved in this version) has only added to the enthusiasm for its eventual release here. Experience the frenetic pace of a classic shooter, while choosing from a variety of options and a number of different skill levels until you are ready to take on the full-blown challenge of Turbo Hard mode. Not to be outdone by the action, however, the intriguing story line gives the game its soul and draws you even further into the mix. Set in the near future, on an overpopulated Earth starved for resources, players uncover the intriguing mystery of two teenagers (Saki and Airan) and their battle against the Ruffians as they advance through level after level of nonstop action. Take a deep breath, gather your energy and prepare to see why this game is so highly praised.

Donkey Kong Barrel Blast Looks Surprisingly Good

Narrated video tours of games are usually a bit uncomfortable, but the guys over at Wii Folder have put together a darn good one for the not-yet-released-in-the-US Donkey Kong Barrel Blast for Wii. If you're unfamiliar with the game, it is controlled by drumming the Wiimote and nunchuck like crazy to speed up, then drumming left and right to turn. It seems like it would be an extremely unwieldy control mechanic, but the guy giving the tour seems to be pulling off some pretty precise moves so maybe it's not as bad as all that. Maybe.

Via Go Nintendo.

Geek Speek: Debating U R MR GAY

Geekanerd jumps through flame war hoops and fights off trolls to bring you the best and worst in internet commentary...
Internet wizkids have discovered that some letters on the official boxart for the upcoming (I can't wait!) Wii game Super Mario Galaxy have little flares on their bottom corners... And those letters spell out "U R MR GAY." Coincidence? Boxart design by a thirteen year old Halo player? Even funnier than that awesome joke I just stole from Megaton News are some comments that the site's readers left on the story.

Go check 'em out there or hit the jump for the highlights...

George W. Bush says: "Why thank you! I totally am gay and I will definitely buy this game for me and my whole family!"

This is so Gay says: "look, my name spells 'this is so gay'."

Anonymous says: "Ha! Seems as tho gamers are the gayest bunch of all, considering they are the ones who always notice the most gay stuff! Only a bunch of gay nerds would search for and find UR MR GAY. LOL…kudos nerds!"

FOS says: "JAJAJAJA Man, we should have commented on this after the release!!! Then, Nintendo can change the box art and we get a rare 'gay' box art. Then, you sell it in eBay in 15 years"

One of my favorite message board tropes is the guy who tops off an idiotic comment with an attack on someone else's intelligence...

JD77 says [in response to someone who said if it wasn't a coincidence they would have "spelled the words correctly"]: "Yeah… its SUBLIMINAL, retard. If it actually said whatever it wouldn’t be hidden. Riiiiiight?? As far as talking correctly goes, people that don’t speak English well (like i don’t know, the Japanese??) might switch things around a bit! Think before you speak smarty."

The award for WTFiest Explanation goes to...

Cameron Heard says: "I’m thinking it might be a reference to the Stephen King Book/Film Dreamcatcher. In the story the character Duditz’ evil alien nemesis is called ‘Mr Grey’. Duditz has a speech impediment though so he pronounces the name of the Alien ‘MR GAY’ which nobody figures out until the end of the story….Solved?"

Anonymous says: "This post is Mr Gay."

nice says [in response to Dwight F, a graphic designer who posted to dispense his sober professional opinion]: "dwight f is mr gay"

Mr. Gay says: "U R me!"

Ninja Gaiden DS Trailer Shows Off Some Sweet Stylus Controls

I wasn't all that interested in Ninja Gaiden DS before I saw this trailer, but it shows off some great-for-DS 3D graphics and interesting controls. It appears that it is entirely controlled with the stylus, which is impressive for an action title like this. The trailer also reveals that you'll be holding your two-screened moneymaker sideways, ala Brain Age and Hotel Dusk, and the game will continue the graphic novel style storytelling that it pioneered way back on the NES. I get the feeling that this is a very early trailer because they use the same environments over and over again, which makes it even more impressive that things look so together.

Photos: The Wii Tennis Virtual Open Has Crowned Their Champion

It all came down to these two gentlemen today at the Wii Tennis Virtual Open - Benjamin "Smelonzhay" Melinger (left), a player who had initially signed up for the tournament by chance while visiting a friend at Rockefeller Center, and Peter Reyes (right), who after winning his semi-final match, attempted to job-search the crowd by asking "Are there any principals here? I'm a fully qualified Special Ed Teacher!"

The final match was intense, and was decided only after several deuces. Hit that jump for total coverage and to see who won tickets to the Men's Final of the US Open and a 1-Year Lease on a Lexus IS F...

Melinger takes the gold! Ah, the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. Don't feel too sorry for Peter, whose smile never wavered throughout the heat of battle. He won tickets to the US Open Semi-Finals, although he admitted, "The car would have been nice." You said it, brother!

As corporate PR events go, this was a pretty sweet setup. The playing field was reportedly a scaled down replica of the actual US Open Tennis Court. Some fair sized crowds formed around the event, although the miniature stands on either side of the court never quite filled to capacity.


Upon first glance, it looked like the players might actually compete on separate sides of the court, but sadly game technology has not yet reached that level of realism - both players in a match faced the same screen, as per the usual.

Color commentary was provided by former professional tennis player Luke Jensen. At first he seemed to be a bit at a loss on how seriously to take the proceedings, but by the time the final four matches rolled around, he seemed comfortable using Wii tennis terms such as "fire serve" and "unreturnable return". In the above photo, Jensen confers with Nintendo's touring Wii Tennis Pro, El Diablo (not there to formally compete, just to showboat).



"How did the Virtual Open compare to Wiimbledon?", loyal G-Nerd fans may be asking. The biggest difference I could see, other than the considerable bankroll behind the Lexus-Sponsored Open, was the pageantry of Wiimbledon versus the more business casual attitude of the Open. No bear costumes or country club attire here. And no, the Rockefeller Center Guard uniform doesn't count as a costume.

It should be noted, however, that grand prize winner Melinger was wearing appropriate tennis attire, which may have given him just the edge he needed.


Here's a handful of other photos from the event, if you just can't get enough.

I still believe Albo could have won this car...

A rare example of physical enthusiasm

Fan Favorite Peter Reyes wins his semi-final match

Dude just won a car - you can't "fault" him for being excited (*dodges brick*)

And finally, what's a PR stunt without a wacky photo op?

Related: Geekanerd's Coverage of The Virtual Open
Geekanerd's Coverage of Wiimbledon (including video)

Smash Bros Wii to Include WarioWare Stage

Smash Bros Dojo has revealed that one of the stages in the new Smash Bros game for the Wii will be WarioWare themed! If you aren't familiar with the WW series, it revolves around a bunch of very bizarre lo-fi microgames (about 5 secs each) that you play in rapid succession. It appears that the board will take a break every once in a while and order the fighters to accomplish some crazy task. Expect lots of nosepicking and Japanese weirdness. More screenshots of the board in action after the jump, and also head over to Smash Bros Dojo for a SUPER-RAD Kid Icarus "origin" video.