Despite being a complete throwback to the timeless gameplay of the original Mario Bros., New Super Mario Bros. on the DS ultimately left me feeling unsatisfied. The game was very good, sure, but it didn’t introduce enough interesting new elements to make me forget that I’ve been playing the exact same thing for almost 20 years. So, when New Super Mario Bros. Wii was first announced I was definitely interested yet decided to hold out on being fully excited until I got some hands on time with the game - which is exactly what I got each day during E3.

I explain why I wanted to go back and wait in line to play this game every day after the cut.

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EA’s Grand Slam Tennis should be available in stores today and I’m pretty excited. I love playing tennis and I love playing tennis on the Wii. However, reviews of the game are varying wildly from site to site. They all point out that the game, being the first in a new franchise and a first with MotionPlus, is a little rough in spots. But IGN loves it. Eurogamer, who I generally agree with, hates it.

So what do you guys think? Are you going to be picking up the game? I’m pretty sure I will be picking up what looks like the first game in what is sure to become a very fun series. Or should I wait for Virtua Tennis 09?

IGN Grand Slam Tennis Review
Eurogamer Grand Slam Tennis Review

MetaCritic Review Scores

My memory is a little foggy these days, but prior to the launch of the Wii, we didn’t talk a whole lot about casual markets and new gamers. Instead there was the belief that Wii controls would allow gamers to experience familiar titles and content in a profound new way. And if that idea has lost traction along the way and against the profit found in new audiences, Sin and Punishment 2 is the most precious gift imaginable to those who have long supported the evolution of this industry before a new wave of potentially fickle consumers entered the scene.

Read the rest over on Toronto Thumbs

Microsoft announced 3 new social channels for the Xbox 360 last week at E3. Twitter and Facebook, which you can see after the break. But also last.fm, and until now we hadn’t seen any interface for last.fm.

Joystiq has more pics for your viewing pleasure.

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EA and Sega both have their motion plus games coming out this week. Grand Slam Tennis and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 from EA with Virtua Tennis 2009 from Sega.

Another big title this week is Prototype.

Check out the full list of releases after the break.

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A nice discussion regarding Super Mario Galaxy 2 is going on over at 4cr sister site Phantom Leap. Rumas, like myself, is a huge fan of the original Galaxy and is looking forward to the second installment, but understandably has some questions as to the me-too nature of the game. This little quote by Rumas set off a number of amazing comments over at PL and two follow up posts:

As a tremendous fan, I can’t wait to get my hands on the sequel…but one of Nintendo’s trademarks as respects its core franchises has always been to constantly pioneer in terms of both content and execution, never to tread the same ground twice. Considering what became of Mario 64 2, I’m surprised Miyamoto gave this one the okay.

Very interesting stuff. I’m of two minds on the whole issue. Clearly Galaxy was amazing and more of it is a good thing. In fact, I think with Super Mario Galaxy Nintendo finally figured out how to really really do Mario in a 3D universe. The mechanics in Galaxy feel like the most pure interpretation of classic 2D Mario in a 3D game. And the game is just so full of fun ideas and beauty. So I love the fact that we are getting more of that. But at the same time, I agree with Rumas that it seems like an odd move for Nintendo to do a straight up sequel like this.

But maybe, as is brought up over at PL, this can be read as a deep view into the new Nintendo. The blue ocean, casual game making, broad appeal, world dominating Nintendo of today. Head on over and read the goods and join the conversation and let us know what you think.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 Discussion - Part 1
Super Mario Galaxy 2 Discussion - Part 2
Super Mario Galaxy 2 Discussion - Part 3

I was so caught up in gathering my own opinions at E3 last week that I simply had no time left to sample the reaction from the Internet - that large, sometimes gruesome opinion beast with more bias than earnest opinion. And yet I felt a little blind at times without that pulsing line of knee-jerk reactions, trapped as I was within the bubble that was the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Having time to catch up on the free-flow of feedback today, I’m partly surprised at the reaction I’ve encountered regarding Splinter Cell: Conviction - which is being cited as an example of how 2009 is shaping up to offer derivative titles filled with brooding anti-heroes and stereotypical revenge narratives by some. And the reason I’m surprised is because I hadn’t even expected that much from the game going into E3. I certainly never imagined that I’d return and suggest that sampling the game with Ubisoft would prove as important for me as it did. But here we are, so let me tell you why.

Read the rest over at Toronto Thumbs

Gearbox’s Borderlands is a game that easily made my priority list at E3 this year. I’m a sucker for the narrative of apocalyptic operas - the symphony of decay that allows the fantasy of a videogame to take a twisted freak show detour with the environments and characters running free through an expanding world. But open world games rarely get an easy pass from me, the genre becoming devalued by the sheer volume of entries aiming to cash in on the success of other titles and cranking out games with deceptive scope – games that seemingly offer expanding gameplay options that fizzle out and lose any sense of direction before the experience reaches a natural end. But I went into E3 expecting more from Gearbox, and I wasn’t disappointed.

Read the rest over at Toronto Thumbs

I’ll be honest, I didn’t pay attention to this game at all during the E3 hoopla. I haven’t been excited about a Final Fantasy game since number 9. And FF 13, with its stereotypical characters and sure-to-be overly complex fighting system, holds no appeal to me. But Crystal Bearers is more of an action game; think Final Fantasy meets Force Unleashed. And I may be way off base, but I’m getting a bit of a Sin & Punishment vibe too. Sweet. The only disappointing part is that with the Wii we finally have a decent system to go online with, but this is only a single player game. Still, for the first time in years I’m excited about a Final Fantasy game.

Crystal Bearers Hands-On
Crystal Bearers Interview
Crystal Bearers E3 Footage

During my time with Toronto Thumbs, I have never reviewed a racing game. And while that’s partly due to the fact that I simply don’t play very many, it’s also because I’ve never felt there was much to be said about the genre – at least anything that needed me to say it. One of Microsoft’s greatest strengths is a razor-like focus in discussing their games, so much so that I felt the need for space between meetings to recalibrate my thoughts on everything I was being shown. And after a very long day at the airport, I still find myself thinking about Forza Motorsport 3, largely owing to the impression Turn 10’s Game Director Dan Greenawalt made when I was fortunate enough to listen to him discuss the project.

Read the rest over at Toronto Thumbs

Of all the big titles and flashy games shown at this year’s E3, this quaint little DS title was one of the few games I saw that managed to bring in a crowd of people commenting on and enjoying the demo when they weren’t even the ones playing. This was a welcome change to the usual scruffy-faced mouth breathers who liked to stand obscenely close to you while they silently watched you play with scrutinizing eyes awaiting their precious turn. By the end of my first demo session I had a handful of people gathering around the screen pointing and laughing at some of my stupid/confused attempts to solve the puzzle and I immediately knew that this game was going to be one that I would absolutely return to play again.

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BrandNew over at NeoGaf has been posting selected Super Mario Galaxy music tracks to youtube and it made me realize that I’m even more bummed that my copy of Galaxy has seemed to mysteriously vanish. Seriously… I’ve look everywhere in the last two days. Guess Ill go rebuy it soon. Anyway, listening to these amazing tracks made me want to search out other Mario soundtracks. At the second link I found a site that has every Mario soundtrack available via RapidShare. I haven’t checked all the links yet, but the ones I have seem to work. Enjoy.

Mario Galaxy Tracks on Youtube
Every Mario Soundtrack on RapidShare

source: NeoGAF

Hey kids, let’s take a quick break from all of this E3 news for a moment and sit down for a couple minutes. Now, I know how excited you guys are about, you know, all of these vitality sensors and all of the things you can stick in them, but let’s collectively take a step back – just for a sec. You’ll be alright. I just worry about you, okay?

Maybe you’ve heard of them and maybe you haven’t, but a little bit ago I came across a plucky, teeny-tiny little company born out of the Earthbound fandom, Fangamer. If you followed the whole Mother 3 thing (and how could you not, considering… well… me?), these are the cats that slaved for months in the strategy guide mines to tumble the Mother 3 Handbook into the flawless gem that it is. Anywho, the entire idea of their biz is that they’re trying to cobble together good looking, affordable and durable merchandise for cult classics that time (and capitalism) forgot.

In the able hands of Reid Young, Camille Young and Jon Kay, this wonder team has produced some of the coolest works of art ever to come tumbling out of the legs of the Internet.

But with Metal Gear Solid back in the news, the guys out there sent out a blast that they were working on a preorder for new Metal Gear Solid shirts – and holy crap they look freaking delicious. Printed with a discharge method, the shirts have no actual raised ink – the design is sharply stained right into the flippin’ shirt. A couple weeks ago I bought their Pork Army shirt (which is printed with the same method), and I can easily say that this shirt will live longer than I will. It’s tougher than Snake’s leathery elbows.

If that shirt isn’t enough for you, there’s a radical messenger bag with a FOX-DIE patch embroidered on. And to top all of that off, each order comes with custom-printed dog tags. AND ON TOP OF ALL OF THAT, THEY ALL COME WITH A FREE PIN! And on top of that, every order comes with a personalized drawing. Seriously, these guys mean business. Give it a look-see. I’ve bought some stuff from them before, and this isn’t some kind of advertisement – it’s a declaration of love.

The preorders end soon. So get yours in before it does. The merch is set to ship in mid-July.

Okay, back to your bleeps and bloops and whatever the hell it is you kids do nowadays. I’m only grumpy because I care.

Metal Gear Solid Shirts From Fangamer

VentureBeat has a nice little interview with Iwata talking about the state of the industry and how Microsoft, Sony and even Apple are affecting how Nintendo does business. The most interesting thing to me that came of E3 was seeing that no one is planning a new system. Oh Im sure they are thinking about it, but the industry is in kind of a holding pattern right now as far as hardware goes. It still feels like developers are figuring out how to make games for the current systems which is fine by me. And then of course, developers are starting to push the medium with motion controls and cameras and such.

As you know, a lot of people in this industry believe that the life cycle for consoles should be longer than five years. However, when it comes to the platform cycle, Nintendo has different opinions from the other companies. I think we have a different criteria about when to shift to a new platform. Technology companies would tend to focus on a technology roadmap about when certain technologies will be available at a given cost. Then they lay out their plan to make a certain kind of hardware. That’s how PC makers decide how to make PCs. With Nintendo, developers like [Shigeru] Miyamoto decide.

Wii care about your heartbeat, but not your iPhone, the recession or free games

GameTrailers has a nice behind the scenes video with Sean Velasco, the director of the game over at Way Forward. There are some nice shots of concept art and character design for the game. As usual, it looks gorgeous and charming. And who doesn’t love a place called Blobalonia?

Behind The Scenes with A Boy And His Blob