Hell officially froze over yesterday when Nintendo and Sega confirmed the existence of the Mario and Sonic crossover game we've been having whet dreams over since 1991. Thankfully though, it looks like it's not going to be just another Olympic cash-in...

According to Sega of America president and COO Simon Jeffery, Mario granddaddy Shigeru Miyamoto is "directly involved" in the Mario and Sonic game in a joint venture between Nintendo and Sega.

"The majority of the physical development is being done by Sega Sports Team, with very heavy supervision from Mr. Miyamoto and his team as well," Jeffery told Next-Gen. "That's what makes it particularly exciting for us," he added, in reference to Miyamoto being on board.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games will be the first time the two former-rival characters meet in a game, with other characters like Yoshi, Knuckles and Tails also joining in on the historic occasion.

In case the name didn't give it away it's all based on the upcoming Beijing Olympics, where players can participate in events such as swimming, the 100m dash and table tennis.

Miyamoto being on board has certainly raised our expectations for the project, but we still can't get of that childhood desire for good old Sonic Vs. Mario deathmatch.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games is out this Christmas.

via cvg ...

Hell officially froze over yesterday when Nintendo and Sega confirmed the existence of the Mario and Sonic crossover game we've been having whet dreams over since 1991. Thankfully though, it looks like it's not going to be just another Olympic cash-in...

According to Sega of America president and COO Simon Jeffery, Mario granddaddy Shigeru Miyamoto is "directly involved" in the Mario and Sonic game in a joint venture between Nintendo and Sega.

"The majority of the physical development is being done by Sega Sports Team, with very heavy supervision from Mr. Miyamoto and his team as well," Jeffery told Next-Gen. "That's what makes it particularly exciting for us," he added, in reference to Miyamoto being on board.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games will be the first time the two former-rival characters meet in a game, with other characters like Yoshi, Knuckles and Tails also joining in on the historic occasion.

In case the name didn't give it away it's all based on the upcoming Beijing Olympics, where players can participate in events such as swimming, the 100m dash and table tennis.

Miyamoto being on board has certainly raised our expectations for the project, but we still can't get of that childhood desire for good old Sonic Vs. Mario deathmatch.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games is out this Christmas.

via cvg ...

via cvg

Football games are bigger than ever before, raking in millions for the likes of EA and Konami. But what does 'next-gen' really mean for football games? Well, less repetitive commentary for a start...

Speaking to CVG recently about the future of football games and their move to next-gen systems, Andrew Wilson, executive producer of football, EA explained, "We ran out of space on the disc with current gen. Last year's FIFA had 26 leagues, 15 thousand players, kits, players, stadiums, audio and music, you just run out of space. The next gen discs have got more space so in the short term we will have much more commentary on our games."

Wilson believes that the online sides of PS3 and 360 are where developers can really take football to a new level. "Looking long term, these consoles are now online. And I would love to think that we can start to pump dynamic commentary into the game on a weekly basis so you never hear the same thing twice.

"But think about competitions. Imagine having commentators popping up to commentate on interactive games. So you're not reliant on commentary from our game anymore, you got someone who gets online and comments every week instead, who then gets a reputation."

Food for thought? Look out for our full interview with Wilson in the coming days where he talks more about the evolution of football, gives his opinions on the age-old rivalry between FIFA and PES and discusses how the crowd will play a bigger part in the performance of your team on the pitch. ...

Eidos is viewing the success of its naval combat game Battlestations: Midway as reason to warrant a sequel, it's emerged.

In a recent financial report, the company has stated, "After the period end, in February 2007, we released Battlestations Midway on PC and Xbox 360. This product immediately entered the UK charts at No1 in both the Xbox 360 and All Formats charts. We are continuing to build this franchise and have a sequel in development".

It was also reaffirmed in the report that a Just Cause sequel is in development.

Eidos was unavailable for comment on either sequel at the time of writing, however the producer on Battlestations: Midway, Klaude Thomas, did hint and potential content for a follow-up when we interviewed him at the end of last year.

It's likely that the sequel will be returning us to WWII, Thomas explaining at the time that the Battlestations development team "has a lot of ideas about what they'd like to see in the future and there's a lot of great history we could go into".

He said that one thing that "would be really cool" for future games in the series are "full-scale landing invasions" - like D-Day - and when questioned about co-op in the single-player campaign in Midway replied, "You know, that would have been a great feature, and for the future perhaps".

So, that's Battlestations: D-Day with full-scale landing invasions and co-op play in the single-player campaign then. Maybe.

via cvg ...

via PS3 Fanboy


Keystone Light -- the lager of the poor college student. Random comment aside, I realize that there is a possible segue way to the news at hand. If you drink underage, you may get incarcerated and spend a little time in jail. If you love your PS3, you won't do that... because PS3's are banned from jails. In Britain. How did that work? Less than optimal? Whatever, let's get on with it.

Home Secretary John Reid thought that allowing PS3's in prison could be dangerous, as they may "send and receive radio signals" across the country, thanks to the WiFi and PSP connectivity. To officially quote Reid on the subject: "Advice was issued to all prisons in December 2005 that the Sony PlayStation 3 was barred from the prison estate because of the equipment's ability to send and receive radio signals." So they definitely hit this one before it even became a problem. Does this upset anyone? Or would sitting around playing PS3 all day be too good for those who made mistakes? ...

News of a release from Yongobongo of his paint app for the PSP, heres whats new:


Download and Give Feedback Via Comments ...

via Nintendo Wii Fanboy




Gametech has created another head-scratching Wii accessory (in that it's baffling, not that it scratches your head for you). This time, it's the Taore na Sheet W (Collapsing Sheet W): a set of adhesive rubber feet that secure your Wii stand and sensor bar to their locations, and, just to be sure, secure the Wii to its stand.

With no controller cords to trip over, we had to think about who the target audience for this product was. Well, we didn't have to think about it for too long before one of our cats knocked a picture frame off of the coffee table. This product makes a lot of sense for cat owners! ...

via Xbox 360 Fanboy


Canada's little brother to Best Buy, Future Shop has a release date listed for Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars. Apparently the game will release on May 8th, 2007, but you can never tell with site just trying to nab pre-orders. In any case, it looks like Command and Conquer 3 will be joining the ranks of the other major titles coming at the cusp of summer. Will you be looking to get your Real Time Strategizing on in a couple scant months? ...

via Xbox 360 Fanboy


According to Evil Avatar, GameStop and EB Games will not be taking pre-orders for the upcoming Xbox 360 Elite. The decision not to take pre-orders apparently stems from an uncertain number of consoles being allocated to each store. EvAv notes that there is no confirmation about whether or not customers will be able to pre-order the fabulously expensive 120GB hard drive.

So, if you want to snag an Xbox 360 Elite, you'd best be prepared to wait in line for one. Well, that or you could pre-order it somewhere else. Has anyone out there pre-ordered an Elite? ...