Mario Kart Classes Are Vehicle-Locked
Interesting little bit of Mario Kart Wii info to be found in Eurogamer's glowing endorsement of the game: the game's traditional classes - ie difficulty levels - have been locked for certain vehicles. Upon first picking the game up, 50cc will only let you use karts, while 100cc will only let you use bikes. 150cc lets you use both, but if you want to pick from all the games vehicles in the lower classes you'll need to go and unlock the feature. Not necessarily a terrible move, just...a curious one.
Mario Kart Wii [Eurogamer]
11:00 PM on Fri Mar 21 2008
by Luke Plunkett
Here's the deal with regards to 
Nintendo might have been hot shit when it came to the sharemarket in 2006 and 2007, but these days, things are cooling down a little. Analysts KBC Securities Japan have downgraded Nintendo's stock from "buy" to "hold", while also predicting a 30% decrease in expected annual shareholder profits. This is all down to - whaddya know - "a tougher trading environment", meaning that Nintendo's reliance on American sales is hurting them thanks to the weakening American 
Canada: ALWAYS VIGILANT. While the rest of the world marches blindly towards oblivion, those dwelling in the frosty north are digging in. Preparing. Readying themselves for the inevitable arrival of the Combine, and all the horrors our eventual alien overlords will bring. We've seen 
PAL PlayStation Store's been updated, as per usual. The good news? There's an honest-to-goodness PSN game up for download. Which is Pain. The bad news? Aside from that, the update's its usual barren, no-Rock-Band-DLC self, with a bunch of Pain content padding out the list and helping obscure a woefully-expensive Stranglehold map pack, which clocks in at a whopping £10. As for the PSP store, there's a Flatout demo and not much else if you're at all interested. Full list of updates follows.
Hey, new GTAIV screens. If idyllic moments of calm and tranquility are your thing, this isn't your thing. But if your thing's angry faces, men holding guns and explosions, wll, today is your lucky day, my friend.
When Gran Turismo 5 Prologue launches, it won't let you create private races for just you and your buddies. Nor will it let you indulge in a spot of in-game voice chat. But don't despair, because that stuff's coming later, with these two features (and, most likely, more) to be added to the game in future updates. Certainly sets a new benchmark for those who think games these days are shipping unfinished, but then adding features late is better than never adding them at all. I guess.
Spring cleaning! That's right, I'm cleaning out my office. That means one thing: Finding stuff to give away to one of you. Above, there's a couple Gearbox t-shirts, a PixelJunk one, a Bionic Commando one that producer Ben Judd actually refused to autograph. What else? There's pack of The King of Fighters: Maximum Impact II playing cards and a SNK 300 piece jigsaw puzzle. All of these can be yours! I plan on starting a contest next week. Not sure what kind I'm going to do yet. But yeah, this is the prize.
Maybe. Nintendo Europe & Australia are still keeping mum on the subject of an official launch date for WiiWare across the PAL regions, but take a look at this Wii Shop Channel update notification I just received on my Australian Wii. Says the WiiWare service is planned for May 2008. We know it's not the same message as was sent to US owners, since it only said "Spring", so PAL Land, do you dare to hope?
Keen on poring over every scrap of Resistance 2 info you can find? Read on, Resistance fanboy, read on. Insomniac have released some new pieces of art for the game, including the game's two logos (one just don't cut it these days, kid) and two of the classes that will be available for players in co-op multiplayer.
We've 
PlayStation 3 gamers who thought the joy of downloading updates for their first person shooter of choice was coming to an end can enjoy at least one more patch. Unreal Tournament 3 has been updated, announced Epic Games, bringing an exciting suite of fixes and feature updates to the console version. The full list of changes, thanks to Jim, is after the jump.
Hey, Iron Man fans, quit worrying about the voice-acting for Sega's upcoming tie-in game, would you? Everything's going to be OK. Nice and authentic. Sega have announced that the film's three main stars - Robert Downey Junior, Terence Howard and Shaun Toub - will be reprising their roles for the game. If only I could go back to 1990 and place a bet that in 2008 I'd be playing as Robert Downey Junior in a superhero game made by Sega that's appearing on no less than seven platforms...
The feud between Guitar Hero publisher Activision and guitar manufacturer Gibson raged on today, with Gibson responding to Activision's 
The battle for weekly first place hardware showings in Japan went back to Sony this week, with the PSP outselling the Wii one more time. With just a few thousand sales setting them apart, however, the contest is almost a dead heat. DS Fever seems to have cooled a bit over the past few weeks, with the handheld resting quietly in third, presumably waiting to strike back before the end of the year. Quiet times on the hardware front make us look forward to new marquee releases. Until then...
Following the news that Ubisoft has secured the 
When EA released a new software update for the PlayStation 3 version of The Orange Box last night, it was annoyingly silent on what exactly had changed. Finally, the gang at has given up the info goods. But don't expect too much in the way of excitement, because as you know, new maps like Badlands and Well (CTF) for Team Fortress 2 weren't stashed within. It's mostly bug fixing, memory leak plugging and server connection smoothing—and almost all TF2 related. The full list of changes is after this.
You may remember Posterchild's previous video game to real world work, when the artist started throwing up Super Mario Bros.-style question blocks made of cardboard and wrapping paper that dangled from tree limbs and light posts. Posterchild has taken another iconic video game block, the Weighted Companion Cube from Portal and installed it (with matching portal) on Bloor Street in Toronto. There are much bigger and much better pics of this fantastically super awesomeness at Posterchild's own blog, if you're not in the area to eyeball them yourself.
Ubisoft continues to explore young women's career options with the sixth game in their DS Imagine lineup, Imagine Rock Star. In stores this June, it sounds like a Rock Band wannabe with a fashion slant, as players dress up their characters and perform concerts in order to score a dream record contract. Players will be able to jam wirelessly with their friends, choosing from guitar, bass, drums, and - finally - piano.
Members of the U.S. intelligence community are soon to be 
Microsoft is doing its best to ensure that everyone and their bloggin' grandmother knows that Grand Theft Auto IV is shipping day and date with its PlayStation 3 counterpart. One of the ways they're doing that is through a limited production of GTA IV-branded Xbox 360 Elites, which Complex writes it recently received. No, you can't buy them in stores, but I'm sure one money hungry recipient will put his or her Xbox 360, with the matching metal briefcase, up on eBay soon. Keep your eye peeled, collectors.
The line-up of Xbox Originals for Xbox 360 will add one more next Monday, when Dreamfall: The Longest Journey hits Live Marketplace. Funcom's adventure game sequel to The Longest Journey divided critics, but won some praise, apparently warranting its "Game of the Year" distinction. Of course, that may just be marketing. If you're into it, 1200 Microsoft Points will make it yours. If you're not sold, there's plenty of information at the official Xbox site.
Two of this week's PlayStation 3 releases lead the playable demo charge on the North American PlayStation Store, with Condemned 2: Bloodshot and Sega Superstars Tennis joining the line-up. There are plenty of nearly new and rather old game trailers available in high-def as well, plus an EA freebie. The full list is after this!
Rockstar's 
The folks behind I am 8-Bit, the art show featuring works based on video games, is holding an event this Saturday in Alhambra, CA. On hand will be Double Fine Productions' art director Scott C. who will be personally be autographing prints of his alternate DVD cover for the documentary, King of Kong: Fist Full of Quarters. The print is a nice sized 18 x 24 inches and will sell for a paltry $20. It's a pretty cool piece and having the autograph of someone who worked on Psychonauts would be pretty freaking sweet. You can go get your signed copy of the dvd and or print at Gallery Nucleus, 210 East Main Street Alhambra, CA. The event will go from 7 - 11pm and will feature such exciting extras as free booze and a Donkey Kong high score tournament with prizes.
