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Watch Mario marathon for Child’s Play charity live

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Culture, Nintendo, Nintendo Gamecube, Wii,

You’ve gotta love the ideas that spawn from the gaming community. Piggybacking off the wonderful Child’s Play charity which was started by Penny Arcade, a trio of gamers have decided to band together and play through all Super Mario games over the course of the weekend to raise money for the worthy cause. Not only that, but they are doing it live. You can just hit the play button above to check out their live Super Mario Marathon stream. You get to see John, Dan, and Brian sitting around and chatting, and the game video and audio are even present as well. They started with Super Mario Bros., and will be playing right through to Super Mario Galaxy. That’s seven games in fifty-five hours. Epic.

We’ve already donated, and we think you should too. It’s a fun and creative way to bring attention to Child’s Play.

Good job, guys.

Nintendo to release new white Gamecube controller

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, Nintendo, Nintendo Gamecube, Wii,

Look out, world - Nintendo is about to unleash a brand new Gamecube controller. Yeah, you read that right. What’s old is now new again. The “new” controller will be the exact same design as the original Gamecube controller, except this one will be white, and the cable length will be a good 3 meters. Now, if it isn’t obvious to you why Nintendo is doing this, let us spell it out for you. It’s white so that it matches Wii, the cable is longer than the original because people are sitting farther away from their televisions than they were 8 years ago, and the only reason they are even releasing a Gamecube controller in the first place is because of how massively popular Super Smash Bros: Brawl has become. Let’s face it - playing that game with a Wiimote, or even Wiimote-Nunchuk combo is horrible compared to the joy that the Gamecube controller brings.

Our wish? That Nintendo would make a Gamecube controller that plugs into the Wiimote instead, keeping it wireless.

WALL-E GameCube case mod is awesome

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Culture, Mods/Hacks, Nintendo, Nintendo Gamecube,

Allow us to introduce you to what just might be the cutest case mod we’ve ever seen - a GameCube made to look like WALL-E. We are sure this was no easy feat, what with the usage of acrylic paint, metal, plastic, and even plexiglass. If you haven’t heard, WALL-E is the star of the next Pixar film, WALL-E. Yeah, we know. Anyhow, the little robot was cute enough in the movie’s trailer - even more so in GameCube form. We knew Nintendo‘s little-box-that-could still had some sort of value left in it.

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Game Releases For The Week Of 6/25: The Darkness, Pokemon, And Transformers

Posted by Chris Pereira Categories: Nintendo DS, Nintendo Gamecube, PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Portable/Mobile, PSP, Release Dates, Wii, Xbox, Xbox 360,

Some big name titles are hitting this week, including the much anticipated The Darkness for both Xbox 360 and PS3. Transformers is bound to be a big seller by virtue of its name and the number of platforms that it’s coming out on. And Pokemon Battle Revolution for Wii is going to sell a scientifically accurate 1,432,345^100, or in other words, a metric crapton.

Click to continue reading Game Releases For The Week Of 6/25: The Darkness, Pokemon, And Transformers

Need for Speed Video Teaser Shows Massive Damage

Posted by Chris Pereira Categories: Driving, Electronic Arts, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Gamecube, PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PSP, Trailers, Wii, Xbox, Xbox 360,

On the heels of EA’s new Madden video comes this brief look at the newest Need for Speed title, which we know next to nothing about - not a title or even the platforms it’ll be released on. The video is entitled “Damage,” and if you take a look at the video, you’ll agree that it’s an appropriate name. One of the features in the new NFS is apparently going to be the ability to rip your car to shreds in an accident, Burnout-style.

Like the Madden video before it, the game certainly looks pretty, but hopefully the game will play as well as the competition. As the video alludes, there apparently will be some sort of announcement on May 31 at the official Need for Speed website, and we’ll get word of whatever that might be to you as soon as it’s made available.

Pac-Man Vs. Heading to DS via Namco Museum

Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Namco, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Gamecube, Party Games,

OK, OK, so Pac-Man Vs. may not have been Nintendo’s most stunning E3 announcement ever… in fact, it will probably live on in infamy as one of the most disappointing Nintendo surprises ever. That said, it was actually quite a fun party game if you happened to have a Gamecube, GBA, GBA-to-Gamecube link cable, and 3 other controllers.

Well, if you’ve never had a chance to play this gem, there’s good news - as part of the most recent Namco Museum cart for the DS, you’ll be able to enjoy the classic and (thanks to the DS) with nary a wire in sight. Pac-Man Vs. will be included with Namco Museum and for about $19.99, you’ll be able to enjoy the game wire-free (AND, with only one cartridge for up to 4-player gaming), coming this summer.

Click the jump for the full press release…

Click to continue reading Pac-Man Vs. Heading to DS via Namco Museum

NPD December Numbers: $3.7 Billion, PS2, DS Dominate

Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, Nintendo, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Gamecube, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360,

DS Lite December’s NPD final numbers have been released, and the video game industry as a whole did remarkably well, selling over $3.7 billion during the final month of the year. According to a GameDaily report, this puts industry growth year-over-year at 27.8%. In hardware, the biggest seller overall was the Nintendo DS, moving over 1.6 million handhelds. This was followed by Sony’s “last-generation” console, the PS2, which sold an amazing 1.4 million consoles sold.

For the current generation of consoles, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 lead the pack at 1.1 million sold through December, followed by Nintendo’s Wii with 604,200 sold and Sony at 490,700. Supply constraints clearly impacted both Nintendo and Sony for their next generation offerings; Nintendo’s worldwide launch stretched console supply impossibly thin, and production issues kept Sony from pushing as many consoles to market as they would have liked. Microsoft has to be happy with their totals, maintaining their lead in the face of new competition, and the continued success of the PS2 helps take the sting out of Sony’s meager PS3 launch.

On the software side, Microsoft’s Gears of War continued to sell well and moved more than 815 thousand units, and clearly helped drive sales of the Xbox 360. Guitar Hero II was a huge seller for the Playstation 2, and the combined sales of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for the Wii and Gamecube moved over one million sold; Zelda for the Wii continued to have a huge attach rate with Wii console buyers, selling 519,200 units against more than 600,000 consoles.

Overall, each of the three console manufacturers has something to brag about for the month of December, and while the relative sales are interesting now, this is just the beginning of the next console war; most analysts are predicting that the holiday season for 2007 will be when consumers will see how the competition really shakes up.

EA Drops Prices for Lots of Soon-to-be-Obsolete Games

Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Electronic Arts, Hot Deals, Nintendo Gamecube, PlayStation 2, PSP, Xbox, Xbox 360,

EA Logo Hoping to clear off shelf space for next year’s iteration of Madden, Fight Night, and Tiger Woods, EA has dropped the price on a few games in their library. Starting tomorrow, you’ll be able to pick up many of EA’s titles for $10-$30 off of their usual price. Of course, with EA’s habit of shutting down servers for unpopular games, you might want to think twice before picking up anything that has a year attached to the title. Still, there are some fairly well reviewed titles to be found, including The Godfather and Need for Speed Carbon, so this might be a good way to get some extra bang out of that gift certificate you got this Christmas.

See the full list of reduced-price titles, after the jump…

Click to continue reading EA Drops Prices for Lots of Soon-to-be-Obsolete Games

“I’m Not Dead Yet!”: Tomb Raider Legends Ships For Gamecube

Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Adventure, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Gamecube, Release Dates,

Lara Croft on Gamecube It’s been a busy week ladies and gentlemen - Sony’s Playstation 3 will be released in a matter of hours, and the Wii will follow shortly in two days. You’ve got a lot to keep track of - reviews for the new systems, choices on which consoles to pick up. With all that going on, it’s no wonder that you probably didn’t notice that Tomb Raider: Legends shipped today for Nintendo’s Gamecube, DS, and GBA platforms. While the GC iteration follows quite a few months after the PS2 / Xbox 360 iterations, the game received fairly high scores across the board, and might be a great bargain-bin buy for folks looking to get every last hour out of their soon-to-be-obsolete Gamecube. And, with Wii’s backwards compatibility for GC games, you won’t be wasting your money.

Eidos seemed to learn that it pays to support Nintendo when Lego Star Wars sold phenomenally on the GC. Here’s hoping that Eidos decides to support Nintendo in their current console iteration!

45 Minutes Across - Is Zelda: Twilight Princess another Wind Waker?

Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Adventure, Nintendo, Nintendo Gamecube, Rumors, Wii,

Zelda Wind Waker Screenshot According to a rumor listed on IGN.com, the world of Zelda: Twilight Princess is going to be big - VERY big. Listed in their Fall 2006 games preview, they state “Twilight Princess will not only be bigger - a horse ride from one side of Hyrule to the next is rumored to take 45 real minutes - but much more ambitious than ever before.” While at first blush this sounds like great news - Nintendo fans have been looking forward to a good long adventure game for a while - it brings up some uncomfortable questions. Could the world of Twilight Princess be as bleak and desolate as Wind Waker was? Will the player be forced to endure hours of trekking to arrive at plot points in the game?

I for one am looking forward to a good long adventure from Nintendo in Twilight Princess, but I’m just hoping that adventure doesn’t mainly consist of wandering aimlessly in an overly huge world.

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