Yep, it’s still the 25th anniversary of Super Mario Bros. The limited edition Wii version of Super Mario All-Stars came out last week, and it offers a ton of nostalgic value for $30. The box set includes the SNES classic Super Mario All-Stars ported on disc to the Wii, a soundtrack of Mario music, and a booklet about gaming’s favorite plumber. As a Nintendo fanboy’s walk down memory lane, this is a great deal. As a gaming experience, not so much. It’s more than the issue of copying a 17-year-old game to the Wii, but to get the full story you’ll have to read after the jump.

If you wanted to scoop up a Wii Speak peripheral, you should pick one up nowish. According to GoNintendo, the Amazon page is currently listing the device as “discontinued by manufacturer”. Incidentally, the developers of upcoming Wii FPS The Conduit 2 have said intention to support the Headbanger Headset instead of Wii Speak. (via Eurogamer)

Dammit, Nintendo. Only you could get the gaming world excited about the re-release of a 17-year-old remake of some 20-plus-year-old games. You know that Wii version of Super Mario All-Stars Japan is getting, with a soundtrack CD, booklet, and 25th anniversary Super Mario Bros. packaging? We’re getting it, too.

Nintendo announced Thursday that it would be releasing a “limited time” edition of Super Mario All-Stars, the Super Nintendo compilation remake of Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 2 (both American and Japanese versions), and Super Mario Bros. 3, and gave them all 16-bit graphical overhauls and save features. This version of the game will work on the Wii, and be able to use the Wiimote, Classic Controller, and even the Gamecube controller. The game will also include a Mario soundtrack CD and a booklet of Mario history.

The best part? It’ll be just $30. Well, the “best part” is a bit relative. If you consider it a full game in its own right, worthy of a current-generation release at $30, it’s a great deal. If you think it’s a 17-year-old relic that played the remake card when it first game out, it’s a cheap cash-in. If you think the $30 is a steal compared to the $50 of most new Wii games, it’s a great deal. If you think you’re getting ripped off an extra $10 compared to the price of the original games over the Virtual Console, it’s a cheap cash-in. Either way, the game comes out December 12, and will be available at all major retailers (making the “limited edition” part of the release just slightly in question).

Everyone knows that gamer girls at hot. Now, thanks to Cosmo, we have proof! That’s right, according to a recent Cosmopolitan survey, gamer girls get laid 33% more often than their non gaming counterparts. Suggestions from the magazine include playing Wii together or going to an arcade. “He’ll be in man-date heaven, and you’ll win too.”

There are so many immature jokes to make, but I’ll go with the obvious: “Girls! Want more attention? Try playing with the Wii!”

(via Destructoid)

If Lost in Shadow has flown under your radar, I can’t say that I blame you. Hudson Soft’s most recent Wii title hit stores in Japan last July, but won’t be out stateside until January 4. Before its Japanese release, I remember thinking Lost in Shadow had a sort of sleeper-hit vibe about it for its creative semi-2D action-puzzler premise. I use the qualifier “semi” because most of the action plays out in the shadows behind objects in the environment, and the challenge of the game involves using the Wiimote to manipulate the foreground to create advantageous shadows in the background.

It struck me as a very clever and original concept…and then I promptly forgot about it. However, Hudson Soft is doing a good job of giving the game’s profile a bump for western audiences by releasing a series of video shorts of a discussion with four Hudson developers about design choices. In everything from character design to environments to mechanics, Lost in Shadow looks to me to have taken a page from the same sort of do-more-with-less book as Team Ico’s stuff, and listening to designers explain these choices can be enlightening. Check out the videos after the break.

Activision’s biggest display at New York Comic-Con was its Goldeneye 007 demo center, a pair of fake living rooms with couches and HDTVs inviting gamers to try out the game in all its 4-player glory. I played a round to see if the new game could recapture the magic of frantic 90′s console shooter gaming. No online play, no cover mechanics, no teabagging, just frantic shooting.

The game mode was Golden Gun. I didn’t recognize the level, but it seemed to be a shipping yard or a depot, with multiple levels and objects to hide behind. I was Bond, remodeled as Daniel Craig instead of the original Pierce Brosnan. I had a Classic Controller, the tethered Wii remote sitting on my lap as I played.

Warren Spector (one of the minds behind Ultima Underworld, System Shock, Deus Ex, and Thief) joined noted sci-fi and fantasy author Peter David in a panel about Epic Mickey at New York Comic-Con 2010. The famed game designer and Disney scholar has been working on the Wii-exclusive game for several years, and his efforts will come to fruition at the end of November when Epic Mickey finally ships. Peter David is writing the graphic novel based on the game, part of a cross-media push by Disney to market Epic Mickey and the return of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.

The first half of the panel is above. Check after the break for the second half and part of the question and answer session.

Preorder bonuses tend to be pointless. You might get a code for a unique costume, or maybe an extra multiplayer map, or maybe a variant weapon. Sometimes, though, you can get something more. Something tangible. Something awesome in its sheer ridiculous. In the case of preordering Sonic Colors from Gamestop, you get just that.

This is a Sonic the Hedgehog hat. It’s a head-sock covered in giant blue felt spikes. You can wear it on your head and look like a crazy person. It’s freaking awesome.

This is the first time I have ever seen sneaking away from the house party to play video games depicted as the cool thing to do. It’s a sign of the times. Or maybe just wishful thinking from Nintendo’s marketing department. Nintendo’s two and a half minute web video tells a whole boy-meets-girl, boy-meets-rival, boy-bests-rival, boy-wins-girl story arc that revolves around minigame compilation Wii Party. Notice the telltale plastic cup in our hero’s first shot? I actually have to commend Nintendo for the realism there.

I’m also amused by the marketing message. The hero doesn’t win the girl by being a hotshot at Wii Party’s minigames. No, he does it by being going with the flow of fun and letting the game do the work of bringing people together. Well, he also does it by sitting back and letting his rival douchify himself out of the picture. There you have it, guys. Invite your favorite lady to a round of Wii Party and then wait for your hands to touch while grasping at a Wii-mote. That’s the perfect time for you both to have a protracted pause and catch each other’s eye. She’ll smile and maybe bite her lower lip a bit. And that, gentlemen, is what’s known as Sealing the Deal, courtesy of Wii Party.

Your mileage may vary.

Sonic fans are a hard bunch to please. This year we have multiple new Sonic games on the way, but we’ve gone to step 2 and 3 on the Sonic Cycle. The nostalgia-destroying HD-upscaled re-release of Sonic Adventure has even further sullied the blue blur reputation amongst the gaming faithful. But fortunately, even if by some disastrous coincidence all 3 Sonic games (Sonic Colors is a completely different game on Wii and DS) are colossal disappointments, we still have the fans. Below the break are trailers galore for the new, real Sonic games, fan-made games, and even just fan-made concepts.