Super Mario Galaxy 2 is the best Mario game ever. There, I said it.
What Nintendo's EAD Tokyo team has managed to pull off in this game is astounding, especially when you consider just how good the original Super Mario Galaxy was. Like expert craftsmen, they've improved upon an already excellent product and delivered a seemingly endless volley of fresh ideas -- be they in level design or game mechanics -- that are every bit as polished as those in the first game and, most importantly, just pure fun.
Since the sequel was first announced and up until, well, now, there's been a lingering question: Is it just SuperMario Galaxy 1.5? Despite what the original plans for the sequel may have entailed, one thing is clear: SMG2 is its own game. It shares the basic mechanics of its predecessor yet brings so many new experiences to the playing field that it stands alone. Even more, it features enough challenges to keep the most hardcore Mario player engaged for weeks.
- Center opened on May 18th
- located in Kyoto
- Former Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi contributed roughly $83 million to erect the building
- the 101 foot structure required special dispensation from the city to avoid violating building height regulations
- 8 floors
- 82,000 square feet
- radiation oncology, internal medicine oncology, respiratory surgery, gastrointestinal surgery, and urology departments
- [...]
Want to see what users are creating in the PS3-exclusive kart-racing game, ModNation?
Yep…I don’t think anyone’s surprised to see that! I guess this just goes to show how popular Mario Kart really is.
- Tatasuya Takahashi is the “overall director”
- Takahashi was there at the start of the project, while he also wrote the scenario, and was even involved in debugging
- Mitsuda’s role was to create the ending theme, as an homage to all the other ‘Xeno’ titles
- Shimomura was involved because Takahashi wanted Xenoblade to have a [...]
#gallery
It's easy to become jaded in this job. To think, "Oh, I've seen that before, big deal". Every once in a while, something comes along that makes me say, "Holy crap that is cool". This is that something. More »
Apparently, there's been an overwhelming amount of demand from the Lead & Gold: Gangs of the Wild West community for a map that features a locomotive. We can understand why --- trains are inherently pretty rad, especially when placed in an online shooter battleground. Developer Fatshark has delivered said (stationary) setpiece in a new map called "Jacob's Bridge," part of a recent update to the PC version of Lead & Gold.
The update also adds the new "Demolition" mode, which we don't know much about, except that it predominantly features the use of volatile powderkegs, and that's just fine by us. Check out a trailer for the new train-centric map after the jump.
#oddities
Metal Gear Solid for the PlayStation 1 is a two disc game. If you could have 120 discs, which would you want disc 1 or 2? You can only have one! More »
#retail
I think games are too expensive. You think games are too expensive. Surprisingly, a major international publisher thinks the same, Namco Bandai calling for a "worldwide summit" to discuss this crisis. More »
Those of you entrenched in the Source mod community may recall Age of Chivalry, a Half-Life 2 mod set in medieval times. It gained a following, and now developer Team Chivalry has announced a new project: Chivalry: Battle for Agatha. This time around, however, Team Chivalry is ditching Source and going with Epic's Unreal Development Kit to build the latest version of its fantasy world.
Right now, there's no word on when the game will be released, but Team Chivalry is looking for alpha testers. If you're interested, check out this post on the forums.
If you release it for free, they will download it. Valve has revealed that its free download of Portal, offered as part of the launch for Steam on Mac, has been anxiously grabbed by 1.5 million users. Using the power of math, that's 187,500 downloads each day for the eight days the game has been free to download -- about 7,812 downloads each hour.
If you have yet to acquire your own free copy of Portal, get on it. You've only got until May 24.
#delayofgame
Originally fixed for a summer release, today Sega pegged Sonic the Hedgehog 4 to "moar like latter half of 2010," while touting the delay with a brave cheerfulness and saying it'll allow for incorporating fan feedback into the game's development. More »
#tweeted
You know who's a huge and vocal fan of Call of Duty? Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad Ochocinco. In fact, if you can get him a copy of Call of Duty: Black Ops early, he'll give you season tickets. More »
Ninjabee and J. Kenworthy Entertainment have announced that Ancients of Ooga will arrive on Xbox Live Arcade June 16 for 800 ($10). The game serves as a spiritual successor to J. Kenworthy Entertainment's previous XBLA effort, Cloning Clyde. Based on what we've seen so far, Ancients of Ooga certainly seems to share many of the logic puzzle elements seen in Cloning Clyde, though it also adds the somewhat disturbing ability to eat certain foods and vomit them back up.
In related news, Cloning Clyde has become an Xbox Live Arcade hit and has seen a permanent price reduction. Previously 800 ($10), the game has now been reduced to a mere 400 ($5). If you're a fan of puzzle platformers heavy on cloning, catapults and sheep, it's probably an instant purchase.
Xbox.com: Add Cloning Clyde to your Xbox 360 download queue ($5)
#pitch
We knew BioShock's original story was quite a departure from the finished game - a "deprogrammer" infiltrates a bioengineered cult. Irrational Games still sold the title on that concept, and has now posted seven scans from the original 20-page pitch. More »
During an investors call today, GameStop executive VP of Merchandise and Markerting Tony Bartel mentioned that the company's recent earnings had been boosted by a title that apparently wasn't expected to be such a powerhouse. "Red Dead Redemption has been one of the very positive surprises," Bartel explained. "It probably has outperformed as large as any title has so far year-to-date." (Redemption was released this week, so presumably Bartel is largely referring to pre-order figures.)
As we see it, this could mean one of two things: Either Red Dead Redemption is doing outrageously, phenomenally well, or GameStop didn't expect a game made by Rockstar, which had a marketing budget of a hojillion dollars, to have much sales power. Considering the company isn't run by baboons, we doubt it's the latter.
#salesget
As it has for the past two weeks, Square Enix's latest Dragon Quest spin-off has slimed its way to the top of Japan's video game charts. This week, it becomes the latest Nintendo DS game to sell a million units. More »
Disney Interactive Studios has been making a lot of noise about refining and improving its approach to licensed games, and while Toy Story 3: The Video Game is still meant for the younger members of Pixar's vast following, it's the best evidence yet that Disney is serious about trying to use licenses right.
I got to play the game at a recent pre-E3 event, and it was a solid, kid-friendly experience, with bright and beautiful graphics surrounding intuitive racing and platforming mechanics. With innovative features like a very dynamic difficulty system and lots and lots of collectibles and game modes, Disney's Avalanche Studios has created something here that you, as someone who enjoys fine game design, can actually be proud to have your kids play.
ORB-3D
I’ve never even heard of ORB-3D before just now, and man does it look like a stinker. There were plenty of NES games that tried to push old-school 3D tech, but this title just barely justifies the use of 3D glasses.
A portion of a GameXplain review…
There are no words that more aptly describe the sheer unadulterated joy felt while venturing through Mario’s latest adventure; it’s simply a stellar experience from start to finish. Mario has once again set the benchmark, and I just hope other developers follow suit.
