Topics

166

Latest News / Wii U Mario Title at E3

« on: April 16, 2012, 04:04:27 PM »

Nintendo has confirmed that the New Super Mario Bros. Mii demo from last year's E3 will be revealed as a full-fledged game at this year's E3. The new Mario game was mentioned, but not specifically named in an El Mundo newspaper interview in which Miyamoto states that the new Pikmin game for the Wii U will be shown at E3 as well.

Source: Nintendo World Report: "New Super Mario Bros. Mii Is the Mario Bros. Wii U Game"
Source: El Mundo: "Miyamoto: 'No me veo como un artista, hago videojuegos sólo para entretener'"

167

Game Blog / Mario's Website Has Been Updated (Yes, It's a Slow News Day)

« on: April 04, 2012, 07:16:20 PM »

Nintendo's Mario website has been updated, featuring links to all current Mario titles as well as a Mario trivia game and a Mario-themed memory game.  Most TMK readers should be able to easily get a perfect score on the trivia game.

Link: Nintendo's Official Home for Mario.

168

Game Blog / New WTMK Broadcast Up Today!

« on: April 01, 2012, 03:11:17 AM »

Unlike last year, WTMK will not be stooping to cheap gimmicks and silly jokes just because today is April 1st.  A new playlist is now running, containing nothing but Mario music!  Tune in now.  Trust us.

Link: WTMK: Mario Radio

169

Game Blog / Super Mario Bros. Launch Date - The Investigation Continues!

« on: March 29, 2012, 12:53:14 AM »

The mystery of SMB's North American launch continues to puzzle the gaming world.  Luckily, our Super Mario's Release Date Is Missing! article now has company in the form of Frank Cifaldi's excellent article "Sad But True: We Can't Prove When Super Mario Bros. Came Out."  Cifaldi covers much of the same ground as our piece, but brings new interviews and a special system registration card from the 1985 NYC NES launch!  Make sure to take a look at this excellent piece of gaming journalism, and feel free to reread TMK's piece as well.

Link:  GamaSutra.com - "Sad But True: We Can't Prove When Super Mario Bros. Came Out"

170

Game Blog / $145 3DS at Target -- or $179 with Super Mario 3D Land!

« on: March 25, 2012, 01:56:41 AM »

A few days ago Target started selling the Super Mario 3D Land / Flame Red 3DS bundle for $179.99 -- now they've dropped the price on the stand-alone 3DS to $145.00 and are running a "buy 2 get 1 free" promotion on the games.  With Luigi's Mansion 2 and Paper Mario both coming to the 3DS this year, it might be worth taking advantage of this special sale price.  Grab a system and pick up Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7 to go with it!  (Kid Icarus: Uprising makes for a fine third title, if you want to take advantage of the sale -- and there's even a Dr. Mario reference in the game's tutorial!)

Link: Target.com - Flame Red 3DS w/ Super Mario 3D Land ($179.99)
Target.com - Aqua Blue 3DS ($145)
Target.com - Cosmo Black 3DS ($145)
Target.com - Flame Red 3DS ($145)
Target.com - Pearl Pink 3DS

171

Game Blog / GameStop Selling 3DS eShop Codes (Super Mario Land 2, Pushmo)

« on: March 19, 2012, 02:55:32 PM »

Gamestop.com has started selling download codes for two 3DS eShop titles: Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins and Pushmo.  While 3DS and Wii titles have been available for redemption from Club Nintendo for a few months now, and a select number of WiiWare and Wii Virtual Console titles have been available on Nintendo's online store and Amazon, this would be the first time 3DS eShop titles have been available for sale.  Gamestop appears to only be carrying two titles at the moment, but perhaps more will follow.

Link: Gamestop product page - Super Mario Land 2
Link: Gamestop product page - Pushmo
Source: Nintendo Life

172

Game Blog / $179.99 3DS with Super Mario 3D Land at Target

« on: March 19, 2012, 12:45:37 AM »

It appears that Target is running a sale on the 3DS & Super Mario 3D Land bundle.  The bundle is listed for $179.99 on Target's web site.  While the price is listed as being an "online" price, you can check local stores to see if they have the bundle in stock.  If you've been waiting to get a 3DS, this represents a $20 discount on the system and game.

Link: Target.com: Nintendo 3DS - Flame Red - with Super Mario 3D Land

173

Game Blog / MK7 Wi-Fi Racing with Charles Martinet this Monday (Australia, NZ, and beyond)

« on: March 17, 2012, 12:59:22 AM »

This Monday Charles Martinet will be racing against random gamers from Australia and New Zealand.  For a chance to test your skills against the voice of Mario, just enter the Australian / New Zealand community code (39-7327-4613-9024) into Mario Kart 7, then play in the community between 6:30pm(AEST) and 7:30pm(AEST) on Monday, March 19.  If you get matched up with Martinet, his Mii will appear in your Mii Plaza -- assuming you've enabled the Invite Mii option in the Mii Plaza settings.

For anyone interested who lives outside the Australia and New Zealand portion of the world, it may be worth noting that community codes don't appear to region locked.

Links:
Nintendo of Australia Mario Kart 7 Community site
Nintendo World Report's article

174

Game Blog / 1 Day Sale: Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem for $15 (shipped)

« on: March 08, 2012, 08:08:15 PM »

Cowboom is currently selling new, sealed copies of Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem! for $9.99 plus $5 shipping.  This is Cowboom's "Deal of the Day" and the sale will end at midnight tonight.  If you're interested, you should probably hurry on over to their site!

Link: Cowboom.com Deal of the Day

175

Latest News / More Mario Sales Figures: Super Mario Galaxy 2 Sells 5Million+

« on: March 08, 2012, 06:32:11 PM »

Nintendo of America issued a new press release detailing sales figures for a number of their key titles.  Super Mario Galaxy 2 has sold more than five million copies in the U.S., but it's far from the best selling Wii Mario game -- Mario Kart Wii still holds that title.  Total U.S. sales for Mario's Wii and 3DS games are as follows:

* Mario Kart Wii - 11.3 million
* New Super Mario Bros. Wii - 8.86 Million
* Super Smash Bros. Brawl - 5.43 million
* Super Mario Galaxy - 5.04 million
* Super Mario Galaxy 2 - 5 million
* Super Mario 3D Land - 1.85 million
* Mario Kart 7 - 1.45 million

Link: NOA press release

176

Latest News / Super Mario 3D Land Presentation at GDC Today

« on: March 07, 2012, 04:31:58 PM »

Nintendo's Koichi Hayashida will be giving a presentation entitled "Thinking In 3D: The Development of Super Mario 3D Land" at today's session of the 2012 Game Developers Conference.  Nintendo of America is going to be offering updates on their Twitter feed today at 3:30 PST (#SuperMario3D by @NintendoAmerica).  Industry and news sites will hopefully have a transcript of the event up later today.

Links: NoA Twitter Feed for #SuperMario3D
GDC Page on "Thinking In 3D: The Development of Super Mario 3D Land"

177

Game Blog / TMK Social Networking -- We're Over 300!

« on: March 07, 2012, 12:57:29 AM »

TMK's Twitter and Facebook pages have been rolling along!  Aside from the relatively rare glitch or double post (double post), all is going according to plan. Over 350 folks are now following our regular Mario-related updates, and we look forward to making new friends.

178

Latest News / Win Mario Party 9 and Party with Mario and Luigi (NOA Contest)

« on: March 06, 2012, 04:19:47 PM »

For the upcoming release of Mario Party 9, Nintendo of America is giving away six copies of the game and six 30 minute appearances by the famous Mario Bros.. The contest ends on March 7th, so you'll need to hurry on over to Twitter if you want to enter! 

Contestants need "to (1) be an @NintendoAmerica Twitter follower during the Contest Period, and (2) using the hashtag '#1UPMyParty,' tweet in 140 characters or less why Sponsor should crash your party along with a brief description of your party (including city and state where the party will be) during the Contest Period." 

If you win, be sure to send TMK a photo.

Link: Mario Party 9 Contest

179

Game Blog / Counterfeit Mario Merchandise -- THE BLOG!

« on: March 06, 2012, 01:26:24 AM »

If you've ever had a burning desire to see third-rate imitations of Mario toys, shoes, shirts, backpacks, and sequin-covered thingies, then you might appreciate "Yoshi Turtle" -- a blog focused on bootleg Nintendo merchandise. 

I was going to make a slightly-witty reference to the most bizarre item I found on the blog, but I'm not really sure whether the guillotined USB Mario is weirder than the Yoshi entirely bedecked in sequins.  For that matter, how many "points for originality" should be awarded to a depicting Mario clad in the skin of Yoshi -- while also wearing a pair of Mickey Mouse ears?

Source: Yoshi Turtle

180

Game Blog / Giant Lego SMB3 Airship

« on: March 05, 2012, 02:45:31 AM »

A guy going by the name of "Baron von Brunk" has made a giant airship out of Lego.

More specifically, it's a giant Super Mario Bros. 3 airship made from over 8,000 Lego blocks and measuring about six feet in length!

Go visit Brunk's website, or read the CNN "Geek Out!" interview with Brunk.

Source: http://vonbrunk.tumblr.com/post/17876499706/airship
http://geekout.blogs.cnn.com/2012/02/28/super-mario-3s-airship