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[Andy McNamara, editor in chief of Game Informer:]

271

Game Blog / The New York Times Takes a Gander at Mario's Latest Wii Offerings

« on: December 04, 2007, 01:26:42 AM »

A fairly recent article by Seth Schiesel in the New York Times game some favorable impressions of both Super Mario Galaxy (" The game’s whole feel is so finely tuned, so infectiously enjoyable") and Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games.  Schiesel gives some of his own impressions of the games as well as his Mario gaming memories, but what makes the article really shine are the quotes he wrangled out of other members of the media and industry.

* Andy McNamara, editor in chief of Game Informer: “The only way to really put it is that Mario is the Man.  He’s definitely like the Steamboat Willie of the video-game industry. Back in 1985 everyone thought the video-game industry was dead, and when Super Mario Bros. came out, it revitalized the whole thing. Mario is really in some ways the quintessential game experience, in that you get to have fun and explore places you would not normally visit, with all these crazy mixed-up worlds and the magic mushrooms and crazy stars. Also, every Mario game gets fairly challenging in the end, but anyone of pretty much any age can just sit down and start playing.”

* Hardcore Gamer Magazine: "What I’ve been experiencing since first putting this game in my Wii is the culmination of several lifetimes of game design mastery by its creators.”

* Simon Jeffrey, president of Sega of America, upon being asked if Shigeru Miyamoto had set up shop at Sega during the development of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games:  "No, no, Muhammad doesn’t go to the mountain.  The mountain goes to Muhammad. We would bring versions of the game to him for him to consult on.”

The article is quite interesting, so I'd suggest you visit the NYTimes.com site and read it for yourself.

272

Latest News / The Return of Hip Tanaka: Donkey Kong Remix in Super Smash Bros. Brawl

« on: December 03, 2007, 06:04:02 PM »

The mighty Hip Tanaka has returned, courtesy of Super Smash Bros. Brawl.  The Smash Bros. Dojo site recently updated with a special remix of the themes from Donkey Kong.

One of Tanaka's first responsibilities at Nintendo was in composing the music for Donkey Kong.  He went on to compose for a variety of Nintendo titles, including Wrecking Crew, Metroid, Super Mario Land, Mother, and Dr. Mario.  Tanaka left Nintendo in 1998 and went to work at Creatures, composing music for the Pokemon series and games; he became president of of Creatures in 2000.  This remix represents the first work Tanaka has done "directly" for Nintendo in several years, although he has been connected to the company via Creatures and Pokemon.

Go listen to Tanaka's remix of his early work!  http://www.smashbros.com/en_us/music/music15.html

273

Game Blog / Mario's Back - In Musical Tesla Coil Form!

« on: December 02, 2007, 07:04:19 PM »

If you've ever longed to hear the classic Super Mario Bros. overworld theme played by 12 foot sparks of electricity, this is your lucky day.  At the 2007 Lightning on the Lawn Teslathon (sponsored by DC Cox {Resonance Research Corp}) in Baraboo, WI, two seven foot tall, high power solid state Tesla coils blasted out Kondo's famous tune.

Feast your ears and eyes on this marvel over at the video, hosted on YouTube.

The coils were constructed by Steve Ward and Jeff Larson. Video was captured by Terry Blake.

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1O2jcfOylU

274

Game Blog / The King of Kong comes to DVD in January

« on: December 02, 2007, 06:53:48 PM »

According to DVDFile.com, The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters will be released on DVD near the end of January.  The documentary about the battle for the world record high score in Donkey Kong should carry a pricetag of $19.98 when it arrives in stores around January 29th, 2008.  Extra features include a commentaries by the directorial team and an "editor of IGN", featurettes, and the animated short A Really, Really Brief History of Donkey Kong.

For more information, feel free to check out the film's official web site at http://www.billyvssteve.com/.

[Mario]

275

Game Blog / Mario: Man of the Hour

« on: December 02, 2007, 06:42:20 PM »

As political campaigns are in full sway, the past month has revealed a few more tidbits about everyone's favorite plumber:

* In Canada, Mario's popularity rivals that of the Prime Minister!
  More people in Calgary, Toronto, Halifax could identify a photo of Mario than one of their own Prime Minister Stephen Harper.  While Mario and Harper were generally tied in cross country polls (each recognized by about 70% of poll respondents when asked to identify photographs by name), Mario did catch the eyes of more women than did the Prime Minister (66% versus 63% identification).   (http://www.maxconsole.net/?mode=news&newsid=22755)

* In the good old USA, Mario's games are the favorite of all political stripes.  When asked their gaming preferences...
  Conservatives generally chose "Madden NFL and Mario"
  Liberals generally chose "Mario and The Sims"
  Moderates generally chose "Mario, Donkey Kong, and Madden"

  The man in red and blue could unite the nation!  (http://blog.wired.com/games/2007/11/how-your-politi.html)

276

Game Blog / Mario's Back - in Graphical MIDI Form!

« on: November 26, 2007, 02:30:56 AM »

There's a fellow out there who wrote a program called The Music Animation Machine.  This piece of software plays MIDI files with animated graphics (akin to visualizers in other programs).  What make this worthy of a TMK post is that some lovely folks in Japan used this program to make an graphical Mario MIDI.

Interesting, don't you think?

More information, and a few other game MIDI videos, are available on his MAM MIDI Player on Nico Nico Douga page (Nico Nico Douga being a Japanese video and commentary site).

Go take a look!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wkI7hg65F0

277

Game Blog / Mario... in Berkeley

« on: November 14, 2007, 02:36:49 AM »

An interesting half time show for your perusal.

Whether this is actually in Berkeley or not, I leave for MegaByte to decide.

278

Game Blog / Falling Into the Murky Blackness Behind the Stairs

« on: November 13, 2007, 01:23:01 PM »

So I'm flitting between work and school and more, but I thought I'd post this...

Last night I was dashing about the Good Egg Galaxy, and I thought I'd explore the innards of the house in the first clearing.  Once in the cellar, I proceeded to  approach a small ramp which normally lets one walk up the wall, but somehow found myself falling through the back of the wall and into the "murky swirling blackness in the background" effect instead.  I appear to have managed to sneak between polygons and get myself stuck.  Interestingly, Mario didn't die, he just sort of vanished into the black, swirling stuff.

I haven't been able to repeat this yet, so I'm not sure if it's pure happenstance or a particular entry angle.

279

Game Blog / 28 Stars into Super Mario Galaxy...

« on: November 13, 2007, 02:43:58 AM »

So I got the game at about 2:30 on Monday, and I've been busy with both real life and the adventures of a portly plumber since that point.  So far, the game is good, although I felt surprisingly underwhelmed when I began playing today.  Things have been picking up as the game has progressed, though.

Real life returns soon, then a small batch of the Galaxy.  Let's see how long it takes to reach the "ending" this time.

Whenever you get your hands on the game, enjoy yourself.

280

Latest News / Super Mario Bros. 3 Released on Virtual Console

« on: November 05, 2007, 03:16:49 PM »

Yes, what many of us consider the greatest Mario game ever is now on the Virtual Console for your buying convenience.  Grab mushrooms, turn into stone statues, fling hammers, and hop around in a giant shoe; truly, what more are you looking for?

Super Mario Bros. 3 is available for the criminally low, low price of 500 Wii Points (or $5.00 in USA cash). Buy one, two, or even three copies today!

281

Game Blog / The Great TMK Sticker Hunt! (David has prizes)

« on: October 25, 2007, 05:16:22 PM »

Okay fungi and fungals, here we go!

Over three hundred TMK stickers were distributed at E for All -- your job is to find photos with TMK stickers in them -- like this one of Destructoid.  Find them and post them here in this blog thread... how many can you find?

Feel free to post any links to e3 2006 or Wii Launch Party (Universal City Walk) pictures you find, as well.

I have some E for All Trinkets and I'm going to give a special prize pack (value undetermined) to whoever can find the most TMK sticker photos on the internet.

Will it be you?

282

Game Blog / E for All Photo Spread - Day 4

« on: October 25, 2007, 04:54:15 PM »

These folks all trust the fungus, even on an early Sunday morning.


Some shots of the crowds and steps before we all got to enter the hall.

We're waiting....

I do believe this is Ness from the first day.  Franklin badge!


Note the Ness tattoo.  I'm 98% sure that at e3 2006, the TMK crew sat behind this guy during the Nintendo press conference.

I ran into the fellow on the right many, MANY times.


I saw this guy's shirt, and I just KNEW...

These fellows were far too enthusiastic.

Just for Deezer, more shots of games and stuff.

Classically trained. 'Nuff said.

You might recognize these folks from my pictures of the media hospitality room on Saturday.  They were enthusiastic to see me, and wore the stickers on their foreheads for a good chunk of the remainder of the day.

I want this shirt, but I must confess it probably looks better on her than it would on me.

It's PAUL GALE again.  I kept bumping into him... and folks with their heads being devoured by Pac-Man.

Fungus -- she trusts it.

Awwww....

That sneaky Paul guy is back, along with some new friends.

Everyone has cooler t-shirts than I do.

That's one hip red tie.

This guy's company makes giant, dome displays.

Fungus stickers go well with dark jackets.

See the guy on the right?  Guess who is he in costume as...


Princess Peach.

That's just disturbing.

Insert witty comment here.

Most of the really neat t-shirts you see all came from the Nintendo World Store in New York City.  (Shakes fist.)

Cute little Bowser plush.  I have two just like it.

Note how one member of this family group doesn't trust the fungus.

So, I ran into some more girls from the PMS Clan.  Naturally, they love the fungus.  The third girl, however, was a bit more enthusiastic.


This lovely lass asked for an additional sticker for her husband at home, and THEN decided that all the ladies of the clan NEEDED to display their trust of the fungus.



She then decided that the folks running the HP booth (which the PMS girls were staffing) also trusted the fungus:



One PMS girl was busy demonstrating something, but we got to her later...

Trust the fungus? Of course they do!

This guy needed a red mushroom to go with his shirt...

When I saw the NES controller around his neck, I knew he needed a sticker.

MARIO!  (Or an approximate fascimile thereof.)

Oops.  I appear to have forgotten to rotate these fellows... that or we had another earthquake.

Someone didn't want their face in the photo.

Kilted guys MUST trust the fungus.

This shirt caught my eye... and it turned out the guy in the shirt was part of the Indie Games display.  He proceeded to lead me to these fine folks...

... who, of course, trusted the fungus.

Proud of the trust, he is.

Back in the media center, I ran into this fine fellow while we were discussing the general lack of media presence on the final day.  He was happy to show his fungal trust.

TANOOKI!

This fellow is sporting one of the t-shirts Nintendo gave away during the week.

Custom French Mario-esque shirts.

What's cooler than a dad with a Mario shirt?  (Well, he could be an older brother or demented uncle, but I prefer to assume the direct family connection.)

Just in case you were wondering how to play the new Fire Emblem game...

It's truly scary what happens when you have a Pac-Attack.

This may be the first, and last, time I ever see Ice Climbers cosplay.

I'm not entirely sure why I have two pictures of this guy, but I do.

Why should YOU join the ECA?

We got that elusive PMS girl at last.

All good Toadettes trust the fungus!

Guys in HP booths will be forced to trust the fungus, thanks to the PMS girls.

We need more gals with Peach t-shirts.

This lady told me she is a total Legend of Zelda junkie.  We had a debate on the matter of Shiek and whether shiek is female (which SHE IS, as she's Zelda in disguise) or male (yeah, right).  She was unenthused with my reasoning for shiek being female.  We also discussed Link's possible love interests.

NOA employees trust the fungus.  Would you expect anything less?

A bad photo of one of the banners hanging around the room.

This feels like some sort of growth chart.

This charming Nintendo booth lass manned the Fire Emblem displays, which were sadly underutilized during the course of the show.  Whenenever I passed her way, I did my best to cheer her up.

Everyone, TRUST THE FUNGUS!

Tanookis are so nice, we snapped 'em twice.

These guys were trying to drum up interest in their booth, which sells certification programs for game testing.  I'm not sure there's much of a demand for that, but they had vibrant displays.

This woman seemed a bit confused when I asked if she trusted the fungus, but she perked up nicely when she received the sticker.

You can't beat the classics.

Nintendo girls love the fungus!

A floor mural that was finished just in time for day 4.

Spare E for All ID badge holders being given away on the final day.

These guys finished off my TMK sticker sheet!  TRUST DAT FUNGUS!

More free E for All Badge Holders.  I wonder how many they made?

283

Game Blog / E for All Photo Spread -- Day 3

« on: October 22, 2007, 12:30:32 AM »

Just getting ready to start another exciting day of fungi folk collecting.  Please excuse the strangeness of the first picture and the difficulty of seeing the second.


Yep, well all just love to trust the fungus!

Ever wonder how you control Super Smash  Bros. Brawl using just a Wii Remote?

Tommy Tallarico and his close, personal friend Becky Young trust the fungus!

I'm telling you, ladies love Yoshi.

That's a Mario t-shirt I haven't seen before.

There's a funny story behind this... when I saw this guy's shirt from an angle, I thought it was a Zelda t-shirt.  After asking him if he trusted the fungus, I realized my mistake.  Luckily, he DID trust the fungus.

A young Zelda trusts the fungus.

A group of fungus loving folks... and that guy on the far right is starting to look familiar.

I thought this was a neat t-shirt.

This guy told me he made this Mario hat out of a Mario pillow he bought somewhere... so, if you find any large Mario hat pillows, it IS possible to hack them into functional Mario hats.  This guy revealed that he practiced on his Luigi hat first...

So yes, I need to write something here...

I really must say that these two don't object to the fungus.

Anyone want to translate these for me?

It's lunchtime in the media room, and these ladies all love that fungus!

These nice folks enjoyed sticking TMK stickers on each other's foreheads.  I have their website URL around here somewhere, but now I can't find it... hopefully they'll visit and let me know!

I really liked this guy's shirt. Reminds me of my wallpaper.

MB is going home.  Let's wave goodbye!

The fungus, let us trust it.

This nice lady is from GameQuest Direct. They have a new site set up and consumer buying goodies and all sorts of stuff, but I didn't sign up for it.  That made her sad.

These guys are wearing the special Super Mario Galaxy t-shirt that was given out at a SMG/SSBB stage demo I missed.  Sigh.

The Fungus is among us.

These folks came all the way from Alabama -- presumably not just for this show, but I wasn't sure.

This would be an unnamed person who may or may not be a NOA employee and is not being named.

Look -- this Link(ette) trusts the fungus!

Remember, when the camera flashes TWICE...

Link plays Link's Crossbow Training. (The game's pretty good, actually.)

This guy got a TMK sticker from me back at the Wii Launch Event at Universal Citywalk -- it's on his wallet.  He asked for a new one.

Yoshiiiii.

284

Game Blog / E For All Photo Spread -- Day 2

« on: October 21, 2007, 11:59:41 PM »

Day Two Begins... and my lens is smeared.  Don't worry, it clears up soon.

This is Paul Gale. I kept running into him.  You'll notice that.

Waiting for the convention room to open.  I met all these folks waiting...

These folks are standing in a big line while I'm in a tiny line upstairs.  I think they were chanting for some reason.

Deezer told me to get more game images.

Don't make him go Zelda on you.

More stickers.

This is MegaByte playing against someone.  Why is this newsworthy?  Let's zoom in on the opponent's lanyard...



Those Nintendo girls just love the fungus.

Perrin Kaplan trusts the fungus!

Some of the Brawl decorations hanging around the room.

More Nintendo booth decorations.

She manages to pull off a DK tie with sunglasses.

Chris Kohler, star of Wired's Game|Life, takes the time to appear in a picture here on TMK.

Rock out with a Guitar Hero guitar while you TRUST THE FUNGUS.

That t-shirt he's wearing was given out by Nintendo in their special Brawl arena area.

The ladies seem to enjoy Yoshi shirts.

Some company trying to sell giant, truck-sized video displays had this "Graffiti Me" whiteboard set up near their display.  Sadly, no one drew on it... until I took some initiative.  Later that day, it was covered with stuff... and most of my stuff was gone. Sigh.

Two thumbs up!

Don't they look happy?

Konami folks trust the fungus, too.

There was a story here, but it escapes me at the moment.


Never stop trusting that fungus, guys.

They are quite happy with their mushroom stickers.

This booth had Mario Kart RC cars and slot cars. They were zipping around the floor at times.

Even guys with t-shirts based on games that predate the fungus still trust in it!

Another Nintendo gal proudly sporting her new sticker.

Four swords!

I believe this guy got a sticker when he asked what they were.

These stickers were fairly popular, as you might have noticed by now.

SNAAAAAAKE....

I want a Triforce emblem sweatshirt.

Hey, it's Luigi!

Yeah, I know, it's Trevor Belmont, but still...

So I went to offer the gal with the Zelda handbag a TMK sticker, and everyone else demanded one too.

EA producers ALSO Trust the Fungus.

1up!

David Hayter, voice of Solid Snake, trusts the mushroom.  MB and I are backstage at Video Games Live.

This is Video Games Live... they had a Cosplay parade thing before the show.  That appears to be Fox McCloud holding Kirby.

[SINGLE GREATEST GAMING COSTUME OF ALL TIME]

285

Game Blog / E for All Photo Spread -- Day 1

« on: October 19, 2007, 02:56:04 AM »

My hotel room. Aren't you excited?

The first person to TRUST THE FUNGUS and receive a TMK Sticker.


MegaByte and his Nintendo World Report buddy Steven Rodriguez arrive at the convention center. Aren't they looking chipper?

Another happy recipient of a TMK sticker.

He, too, trusts the fungus.

Two, count them, TWO Fungus Fans at once!

Even Destructoid trusts the fungus... even if I didn't see it on him later during the day.

How can a guy with a shirt like that NOT be a member of the Mushroom Kingdom?

MB says this is someone I should know about. Sadly, I lost his note about the name of this person.  I believe this person shows up later in different garb.  MB will have to update me on this.

So it's a bit blurry... the lighting was bad.  That's Phillip  from Advanced Media Network... those wacky AMN guys even posted about it in their forums.

Boy, I think I need to reconsider my choice to be in all these photos... I look crazy, and I'm not the guy wearing a DK tie.

Even folks from 1up.com trust the fungus!

Nintendo gals and TMK -- a perfect blend, like pizza and cardboard boxes.

Yes, Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man love TMK too...even if their handlers wouldn't let them wear the sticker.  We know they really love us.  (Oh, that's Chris Glass from DMG Ice in the last picture.  He took a lot of these pictures for me while I was chatting with the lovely folks in all the photos.  He's long-suffering.)

You know, I'm going to have to learn about smiling for a camera and properly timing my speaking, or I'll keep ending up with photos in which I look vaguely like Wario in Brawl.

People of all ages trust the fungus!

Hey, NESS TRUSTS THE FUNGUS! (Did you ever doubt that, really?)

Lunch time.  Note the giant table full of boxed lunches?   It's thirty minutes after lunch started and they're still on the table.  E for All <> E3.

Who's this man who trusts in the fungus so? Why, it's Rusel DeMaria, author of many fine video game history and information books (including Hi Score! The Illustrated History of Electronic Games).

All of these fine folks met me, chatted, took TMK stickers and posed for pictures.  Hi, folks!

If you wait in some tiny bleachers, you get to play four player Super Smash Bros. Brawl.  If you win in your four player tournament, you get to play on THE BIG SCREEN with other winners.  Here you can see MegaByte's back as he prepares to face off in a BIG SCREEN TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS.

I'd have more about this, but it was my turn to play on the other side, so I ran off.
Cosplayer time.

Yes, E for All had a "Cosplay Parade and Photo Opportunity".  Here we go.  Please excuse the lousiness of the pictures, but the front of the stage area was filled with a high school marching band.



I bet you thought I was kidding for a moment, didn't you?


You may have noticed, amidst those rather lousy pictures of folks in Zelda/Spiderman/Castlevania/FF7/Kingdom Hearts/Destructoid (that shouldn't count)/Generic Anime characters, something special.  The SINGLE GREATEST GAMING COSTUME OF ALL TIME:

Yes... that's a BOO COSTUME!

(Sadly, the cosplaying fellow said he "didn't trust the fungus".  Personally, I think he was just staying in character...right?)

We're just one band of happy, mushroom-loving guys.

Even if your skull is slowing mutating into Pac-Man, you can still take the time to trust that fungus.

The folks in the Nintendo booth really love that fungus.  I mean, it makes sense and all, but it's still rather touching.

Scurvy knaves from regions unknown trust the fungus, and that's not a gaffe.

  Oh, look -- a super blurry picture of a new Wii system box.  Note the prominent Wii Sports logo on it. (Trust me, it's there.)

These two young ladies trust the fungus. Isn't that wonderful?  The one on my right appeared to have been up to something crofty earlier that day.

This is a picture of myself with a mushroom gal and her identical twin sister.

I bet you wish you had a cool DK tie like this guy has.

Actually, maybe I could snag an extra one for a prize or something like that. Hmmm.


You know, I'm not made of witty catchphrases and slogans.  Just because I haven't used any so far doesn't mean that I'm not tired of trying to.

TANOOOKI!

It's amazing how people pop out of the woodwork when they realize you are giving stuff away for free.

This nice young lady is trying to hide her face so she won't get in trouble. Did it work?

It's a Metal Gear print in the Into the Pixel exhibit.

No, that's about all there is to this.  I was asked to take it, so I did.

If I had won a game of Halo while at this booth, these nice ladies would have given me a free iPod carrying case.  I don't own an iPod, but still, it would have been nice to have.

Here I am at the 1up booth.  See that lovely lady posing next to me?  She lost her badge earlier that day... then I found it under a sign.  Here we are after she was reunited with her badge.


Here's one of her co-workers. He let me know that she had been losing stuff all day -- even her airline boarding pass!

These nice ladies of the PMS Gaming Clan wanted me to join The ECA (Entertainment Consumers Association).  I'm not sure the ECA is for me, but I promised to look into it.


Awwww.... aren't they a cute couple?  They said they'd come back tomorrow in a new set of matching Mario-themed t-shirts.

Kong....KOOONG!