Check Out These Official Mario Super Slugger Baseball Cards

Wii baseball title Mario Super Sluggers hit stores yesterday, and my home along with this pack of official Mario Super Sluggers Collectable Baseball Cards. Pretty magnificent. Hit up the jump for a close up of the back of each card.

Super Mario RPG Hits (PAL) Virtual Console

Does Playing Mario Kart Drunk Help Your Performance?

Following on from the GTA DUI controversy, Drunk-driving in gaming rears its ugly, pie-eyed head again. This time, though, the bottle is in the other hand. Or the beer is in the other dashboard cup holder. Or something.

Over at the delightfully named HipAsFuck.com, some gamers decided to see just how much a little booze would affect their Mario Kart skills. Perhaps surprisingly, a blood alcohol level of 0.08 (an arrestable amount in the US and UK) actually made their times a few seconds faster.

Obviously, there is a world of difference between driving in real life — where you can physically die and cause the deaths of others — and driving a pretend dinosaur around a virtual track in a non-existent Go-Kart — where the most you can lose is a couple of seconds while the game reloads. Still, If you are gaming and want to get 'in the zone' (and are of legal drinking age, natch) this vital scientific study may come in handy.

Before anyone starts — DUI is stupid & if you do it in real life you are an idiot. This post is for informational purposes only, Your home may be at risk if you do not keep up mortgage repayments. etc. etc.

The DUI Mario Kart Experiment [Hip As Fuck, via Kottke]

But the Bride is in Another Castle ...!

What Games Do Japanese Dudes With Fancy Hairdos Like?

Previously, we posted very exciting data about which character Japanese players liked best. Now, we've done better. See that magazine up there? That's Men's Egg, the male version of Japanese gal mag Egg. The Men's Egg models (and readers, hopefully!) have amazing hair. Just look at that! You cannot buy a 'do like that, but are given that by the hair gods. Oh yes. For those wondering what games these follicles fancy, onward!

And Japan's Favorite Video Game Characters Are...?

Thrilling non-scientific poll time! Online research site Oricon polled 1000 men and women about their favorite video game character. The results?

10. Squall Final Fantasy VIII
10. Yuna Final Fantasy X
10. Professor Layton Professor Layton series
8. Toad Mario Kart
8. Doraemon Doraemon series
7. Chocobo Final Fantasy series

Huh. I'd think of Doraemon as being more an anime character than a video game character, but whatever. There are Doraemon video games. (Trains, too, it seems.) Hit the jump for the rest!

Olympic Gold Medalist Trained With Nintendo Wii

Japanese Olympic swimmer Kosuke Kitajima took gold for the men's 100m breaststroke. He certainly trained very hard to reach the tip-top condition he's in. Sure, he practiced hard, ate right and all that other stuff. But what else helped him achieve Olympic gold? Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games, says Kitajima! No, really. The swimmer explains:

See, Mario does the breaststroke. And thus, it's perfect mental training for envisioning the actual Olympic hall.

Watch as Japanese game sales will spike and wanna-be swimmers include Mario and Sonic in their training regimen...

北島「Ｗｉｉ」で「金」予行演習 [Yomiuri Sports Thanks, Tak!] [Pic]

Atlantian knitter Cassie has committed to knitting more than just a scarf. She's planning on knitting the entirety of Super Mario Bros. first level in yarn form, a project she's documenting for all of the internet to see. According to a recent post, it looks like she's a little over one-third of the way through — and it's already bordering on ridiculous. We'll continue to gawk just to see how big this thing gets as we learn about yarn color discrepancies.

The Mario Scarf Blog [via BoingBoing]

Carmack Respectfully NOTHANKYOU.jpgs Wii Development

Id Software's John Carmack spends his free time playing Nintendo games with his son. They're currently making their way through Super Paper Mario. And when not playing that, they have a go at Mario Kart DS. So does that mean Carmack is keen on, say, Wii development? According to Carmack:

The Wii is one of those markets where Nintendo owns both the hardware and the software, but part of that is because they make such damn good products. So it’s the toughest platform for third party developers. We don’t have a software or content base ideally suited for it. So it doesn’t really play to our strengths and we’re pretty busy with other stuff right now. I’m thrilled that Nintendo has had this kind of success because they took some risky bets, and it’s always nice some bold thinking pay off for them. But I don’t think we’ll be on the platform.

At least he's honest!

Carmack on Doom, Rage, EA and More [Tom's Games via Go Nintendo]

Bowsers' Minions Are Revolting

Forget Wii Fit, It's Mario Kart That's Buttering Nintendo's Bread

Nintendo also announced its software sales data in its Q1 FY3/09 statement. In Q1, Nintendo DS software sales were 36.59 million, up 2.33 million units from Q1 last year. Standout titles for the DS include the international release of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness/Explorers of Time. Wii software sales reached 40.41 million units, a 24.42 million increase from Q1 last year. Titles like Mario Kart Wii, Wii Fit, Wii Play and Wii Sports in Japan led the charge.

Miyamoto Confirms New Mario, Zelda, Pikmin Projects

Relax. Nintendo has not forgotten you. Making new titles for the traditional fanbase just takes time, says Shigeru Miyamoto, speaking to the Telegraph recently in an interview.

Said Miyamoto:

"Making these 'traditional' games is what I am best at. Because games of that nature take upwards of two or three years to make, we always have to keep the teams working on those projects going. At any given time, the team could be five to ten people, or it could be 50-plus. People are always switching in and out of those teams.

Another Mario Sonic Collaboration in the Works?

Speaking with SEGA of America president Simon Jeffery earlier this week, he was pretty excited about how well Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games has been selling.

Worldwide SEGA has sold about 10 million copies and, as Jeffery pointed out, the upcoming Olympics will likely provide a boost to sales of the game when they kick off.

Will there be another Mario and Sonic collaboration? Jeffery was being coy about the details, but he's certainly all for it.

"We would be delighted to do another game with Mario and Sonic," he said.

During Nintendo's E3 address earlier today, company boss Satoru Iwata took to the stage and, amongst his talk of demographics and smiles and warm, fuzzy rainbows, spoke a little about the important things. Like what the Mario & Zelda teams are up to. He said specifically that both teams were "hard at work" on "new games for the Wii", but stopped short of saying just what it was they were working on. We'll hope that they're working on, you know. New Mario & Zelda games. And not Wii Cook or something.

UPDATE - Looks like both Zelda teams - Wii and DS - are indeed working on Zelda games.

Am I the only one looking at this with an OCD urge to rip back the controller and go hit the first coinbox? Come on, this is World 1-1. And it's painted on a concrete wall, although Mr. Juandrful over at Kezins doesn't say exactly where.

I wanted it to be a self-esteem project painted by a group of at-risk Goombas, but no, it's the handiwork of an artist who goes by BPAK. It's a "Quikrete infused" mural that took three weeks to complete.

Super Mario Outdoor Wall o' Art [Kezins.com]

Game Marathons: Fad, or Going the Distance?

Two weeks ago saw an extraordinarily successful, more-than-72 hour Super Mario Marathon that raised more than $11,000 for a gamers' charity for kids. This week, four Mega Man enthusiasts are finding out how hard of an act that is to follow — as a fund drive anyway. A new web site indicates that game marathons are a mushrooming craze, capitalizing partly on gamers who enjoy watching others fail at classic console titles. The question is, how long will it last?

Nintendo's E3 Lineup - Oh, So Quiet

Nintendo's E3 presentation last year, dominated by the unveiling of Wii Fit, stirred a fair bit of dissent, as the company looked to be following a gleaming white road away from its hardcore userbase and into the smiling embrace of your Mom. Now that the Wii has demonstrated record-shattering success as a mainstream product, skeptics theorize that Nintendo's no longer got any need to court the traditional gamer — and therefore we can expect a bit of status quo from the company this year.

Nintendo is promising, however, that it hasn't abandoned the core, while Nintendo prez Reggie Fils-Aime coyly suggested back in April that gamers will have plenty to be delighted about this year. He talked about "maximizing our key franchises," and hinted at "a big game for the holiday that the gamers will want." That the title in question is Animal Crossing Wii has all but been confirmed.

Thus far, Nintendo's been mysterious, with only Mario Super Sluggers and Wario Land: Shake It! announced for Wii, and Kirby Super Star Ultra and seek-and-solve title Mystery Case Files: MillionHeir confirmed for DS.

And what about the hardware? Hit the jump for more on Nintendo at E3 this year.