Zoom Zoom Zoom!!!!

YES. MARIO KART IS HERE. There are really few titles that have the true replay value of the Mario Kart series as a whole. I have been playing the DS version off and on since it came out, and still play the occasional N64 version on my Wii every now and again. Now, some hardcore fans have leveled complaints that this newer version suffers from Nintendo's "Blue Ocean" strategy of trying to appeal to everyone with a cheesy, basically pointless wheel add-on, even more power-ups that make wins more based on luck than skill and the simplification of powersliding, but that's missing the point. Mario Kart has, much like Smash Bros., been all about just getting together with friends (or now online) and having a good time, regardless of who has how many wins.

But of course it may have been a wise idea to put out this Kart racer out either well before or well after the juggernaut that is GTA IV. As much as the two titles appeal to different audiences, anyone who has to choose one is wisely choosing GTA as it's a more complete experience, and in any other week this year, Mario Kart would get all the press & hype (and possibly even slightly better reviews), but stacked up against GTA, it almost seems like an afterthought. I know I'll be racing Karts like mad until Tuesday, but then GTA may become my only obsession if it's as tremendous as the reviews have been claiming.

That's it for today, as I really do have to get back to racing. For those Wii-deprived, here's your FREE GAME OF THE WEEK to kill some time until GTA: Broken Wings

EA: Masters of Irony

EA is making a Monopoly game. Yup. Let that just sink in there. I'm not even sure I need to expand on this, except to ask why they even think there's a demand for a $50 electronic version of an old board game you can pick up for less than half that (hell I've had several free electronic versions throughout the years).

I am admittedly considering going to see the new Harold & Kumar movie just for Neil Patrick Harris, anyone who watches How I Met Your Mother should an enormous fan just like me, but I'm not sure if that'll translate into box office dollars.

Is the GTA series really that original, clever and innovative? I think to a certain extent gamers have looked at this series through rose-colored glasses, remembering only the good stuff. Luckily there was more than enough great stuff, but to remind us that GTA has had it share of issues, Games Radar has posted a great article questioning how exactly we forgot about this crap.

That's pretty much it for today and possibly until late Tuesday as the gaming blitz of The World Ends With You, Mario Kart Wii & GTA IV is upon us. May Miyamoto help us all...

TRAILER OF THE WEEK: Pineapple Express

WORST. IDEA. EVER.

This is not a joke, this fall, you can finally answer the question of who would win between Batman & Sub-Zero, Shang Tsung & Super Man, Goro & Robin! I have a better question? Whose lame ass fanboy fiction idea was this in the first place? I don't think either camp of fanboys is particularly enticed by this "dream" match-up, as evidenced by this complete douche on youtube (warning, you will lose a dangerous amount of brain cells if you watch the whole vid):



But the pathetic moron has a point. No one wants to see these characters fight each other, and to make it even worse, you can't even mutilate Aquaman in various creative ways, because there will be NO FATALITIES. Whose bone-headed idea was this? I mean, the MK series has sucked for years, but at least you could some enjoyment out of mutilating your opponents. That's really all the series ever had going for it, and now that's gone. I'm sort of surprised that they aren't putting any effort into a Marvel vs. DC game, I mean hell, they've teamed up in the comics many times over the years, so it's not like they are bitter rivals.

What's the greatest invention in the history of mankind? One that combines four classic consoles into one awesome mega-console! Check out the Super Genintari (yes, it really works):



I WANT ONE!

That's pretty much it for today, but Wii fans should remember that finally the Virtual Console has some value again as River City Ransom, one of the greatest side-scrolling fighters ever, will be available on Monday.

TRAILER OF THE WEEK: The Spirit



FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Beat the boss

BARF!

No, I'm not sick. Finally, after a long period of too many solid shooters and other forgettable classic titles, we get one of those true classics that made us really excited about the Virtual Console in the first place, as RIVER CITY RANSOM finally hits this Monday. I don't think asking for one true classic a month is too much, so hopefully this starts a trend.

Hey, we finally have a weekend with some seemingly worthwhile movies to check out. I'm extremely excited to check out Forgetting Sarah Marshall. I absolutely adore both Kristen Bell and Jason Segel, and though I had worries that maybe comedy wunderkind Judd Apatow was going to the raunch comedy well once too often without taking a break, but the reviews suggest this may actually be his best work and he shows no real signs of slowing down with Pineapple Express & Step Brothers also hitting this year.

From more of a pure fanboy standpoint, I also want to check out Forbidden Kingdom, because Jet Li & Jackie Chan in a movie together is closest thing to a modern equivalent of Sly Stallone & Arnold Schwarzenegger appearing in a picture together when their film stock was still worth something (which sadly never happened). It's honestly probably a decent movie at best, but this is the kind of film where you just go in and let your brain check out for the duration.

As awesome as the Iron Man movie is virtually assured to be, the cash-in game is almost assuredly not. But we can find out if this is indeed the case for at least the 360 version as a demo hits live tomorrow. From what I've seen on the trailers, it has some real potential.

More awesome casting news for Dollhouse, Joss Whedon's triumphant return to TV. Amy Acker will be joining the cast. The more Whedonverse alums, the merrier. Maybe we can get Alan Tudyk in as a regular guest star.

Finally, though I hadn't paid really any attention to it, reviews have started cropping up for SquareEnix's latest DS title, The World Ends With You. And they have been overwhelmingly positive, so now of course I'm giddy with excitement and ordered it off Amazon. In fact, I'm giddy enough that I made a video for it, so check it out, and I'll be most likely back on Sunday with another post:

If it is broke, maybe it shouldn't be fixed anyways

Later this week, just after the Playstation store launches with a revamped look that hopefully won't completely suck like it does now, there will be a patch released that will "fix" the biggest complaint about the massive pile of crap that is Lair. Sony just really can't let this one go, apparently. Of course the controls are a big contributer to the failure, but there were other factors as well (awful camera, horrid lock-on, wretched ground combat, etc.). Time to accept it as the failed experiment it is and move on.

As a rule, movies based on games suck. A huge part of that reason is Uwe Boll. The German "director" has snatched up rights to many properties that if handled correctly, could be decent movies. There's a slight chance to stop him though. He has claimed that if 1 million sign this petition, he will stop making movies. Granted, the chance that he will actually stop is slim to none, to but hey, anything's worth a shot if it might stop this jackass.

That's mostly it for today, but I did want to remind everybody that Okami is out this week for the Wii. If for some reason you aren't thinking of picking up this wonderful title, you suck and you can blame yourselves when the Wii is filled with nothing but waggle mini-game collections. But if you still need some more encouragement, check out 10 reasons Okami is a mad masterpiece, 5 reasons you suck if you don't play Okami, and my fairly decent music video to promote the release:



FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Sprinster

Microsoft is Original

No, this isn't a late April Fools joke. Microsoft is indeed trying to get in on the waggle craze that Nintendo started. Clearly, this is Microsoft's latest in what so far has been a long string of unsuccessful attempts (Scene It?, anyone? to tap into the casual/non-gamer crowd that Nintendo has a virtual stranglehold on. Dear god is this a horrible idea. MS is seen as the gamer's console of choice, this will strictly be seen as a lame attempt to cash in on Nintendo's success, and quite frankly, MS doesn't have a third of the development magic that makes Nintendo the gaming equivalent of Pixar. And even with a Wii-like remote, MS is forgetting the main thing that really attracts developers to Wii-it's much, much cheaper to make games. Nearly every game made on a 360 or a PS3 is a massive investment (at least the ones that aren't complete trash), Nintendo offers a much lower risk.

Ready to see Jaynestown in hi-def? Fox has just confirmed the awesome news that we are getting FIREFLY IN BLU-RAY! Unfortunately, it's merely in the planning stages as of now, so it probably won;t be out until Christmas time (BUT I WANT IT NOW!).

We as a society love nothing more than to see a celebrity rise to mega-stardom very quickly. And then to see them spectacularly spin into a seemingly never-ending descent just as quckly. It's no different for gaming as Gamesradar presents a in-depth look at the gaming industry's equivalent of Britney Spears-The rise, fall and deafening crash of Sonic the Hedgehog. Granted, we thankfully haven't been subject to to a reality show starring Sonic and his pro-bestiality princess, but the career paths are eerily similar nonetheless. I mean seriously, Sonic's last real hope is having all control taken away from him (and by him I mean the morons at Sonic Team who have made nearly all the Sonic titles up til now) and letting someone else make his decisions for him (that'd be Bioware). All he needs is a knocked up younger sibling and we're there.

TRAILER OF THE WEEK: War, Inc.

Video Day: BSG is finally frakking back edition

Sorry for two video day posts in a row, but aside from the ridiculously awesome news of Sam & Max coming to Wii (but not until fall), nothing's really going on right now, so here's some awesome BSG vids to enjoy while we wait for the season premiere tonight:

BSG Top 10 List



What the Frak is going on with BSG



Battlestar Galatica Revealed: Part I



Part II



Part III



The Phenomenon: Part I



Part II



Part III