I know what some of you are thinking — that I would never write an impressions post about anything before it was released unless I had some inside info, or knew

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When Mario Kart Wii was delivered to my doorstep, I wasn’t sure what my reaction would be to the latest in the popular franchise. Would I love it? Would I hate it? Would it be just another title that couldn’t live up to the hype? After playing it for about four hours yesterday, I can say with full certainty that Mario Kart Wii is one of the ideal games I have played in quite some time.

Mario Kart Wii

(Credit: Nintendo)

Now I’m sure you’re wondering how I have the ability to make such a statement after playing the game for four hours and I can understand that viewpoint. But until you actually play the game and have the opportunity to use the Wii Wheel and interact with this game, you won’t truly understand.

And let’s also not forget that the true beauty of Mario Kart Wii isn’t necessarily found in the amount of time you play, but in the quality of your experience. And so far, after playing through 20 tracks, I have the ability to say that Mario Kart Wii is easily the most fun game I’ve ever played on the Wii and certainly is up there with other titles as one of the most pleasing games of all-time.

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source The Digital Home

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When Mario Kart Wii was delivered to my doorstep, I wasn’t sure what my reaction would be to the latest in the popular franchise. Would I love it? Would I hate it? Would it be just another title that couldn’t live up to the hype? After playing it for about four hours yesterday, I have the ability to say with full certainty that Mario Kart Wii is one of the best games I have played in quite some time.

Mario Kart Wii

(Credit: Nintendo)

Now I’m sure you’re wondering how I have the ability to make such a statement after playing the game for four hours and I can understand that viewpoint. But until you actually play the game and have the chance to use the Wii Wheel and interact with this game, you won’t truly comprehend.

And let’s also not forget that the true beauty of Mario Kart Wii isn’t necessarily found in the amount of time you play, but in the quality of your experience. And so far, after playing through 20 tracks, I can say that Mario Kart Wii is easily the most fun game I’ve ever played on the Wii and certainly is up there with other titles as one of the most amusing games of all-time.

…

source The Digital Home

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The rumors are true, folks: the Madden NFL 09 cover will feature one of the greatest quarterbacks ever to set foot on a football field, Brett Favre. It’s a fitting end to the career of the sure-fire first-ballot Hall of Famer, who currently holds a nigh-ridiculous assortment of the best-known NFL records for QBs. That includes football’s “Iron Man” streak — Favre has started every Packers game since being named the starting quarterback before the fourth game of the 1992 season, for a mind-blowing total of 253 straight games (275 including the playoffs). He’ll be the first Madden cover athlete who is not an active NFL player.

I’m personally overjoyed that Favre will be on the Madden 09 cover. While I was, of course, ecstatic that his interception in overtime of last season’s NFC title game effectively sent my Giants to the Super Bowl, I have always had a tremendous amount of respect for the maverick gunslinger. He was always immensely fun to watch on the field, and I’m glad that he’ll be in the game as well as on its cover (EA states that Favre won’t be on the Packers’ roster, but he will be playable as the starting QB for the game’s NFL Greats team).

The video above is a “Through The Years” teaser trailer that includes about two full seconds of Madden 09 gameplay footage at the end, though it’s mostly a retrospective of the last twenty years of Madden gaming. The press release, which can be seen after the jump, reveals a significant amount of information on the game’s, including its commentary team. I was wrong about a Buck/Aikman booth duo; we’ll be hearing play-by-play and analysis from Tom Hammond and Cris Collinsworth of The NFL on NBC.

But wait, there’s more! Along with the press release and video, EA sent over three screenshots featuring Favre along with the Xbox 360 box art; they have the ability to be viewed below. Finally, GameTap has put up a detail-packed interview with Phil Frazier, one of the game’s lead designers. It expands on the tidbits from the press release, discussing such things as the new Real Football Intelligence, “the biggest graphical improvement we’ve ever had year-to-year in Madden”, and all kinds of other good stuff. What do you guys think of all this?

Via Destructoid

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Who would’ve guessed it — the Metal Gear On the web beta went live just in time for Friday Night Fights. Speak about timing! I’m excited about it and I don’t even own a freakin’ PlayStation 3.

For those of you who do own a PS3 (and have access to the MGO beta), however, we’ve got massive plans for you tonight. To fully prepare yourselves, I recommend y’all hit up the game ID thread in the forums, then make sure to read the instructions for joining the Dtoid match after the break.

As for the rest of us unlucky bastards, there’ll still be the usual Friday Night Fights shenanigans that we’ve come to know and love.

[Thanks, Toneman, power-glove, Y0j1mbo, vexed alex, bunnyrabbit2, WTF Joel, and the rest of you beautiful people.]

Via Destructoid

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Here it comes, ladies and gentlemen — the onslaught of Grand Theft Auto IV coverage that’s guaranteed to both anger you (because you don’t have it) and spoil all of the good stuff (because you don’t have it … yet).

IGN has posted their full review of the game, which spans seven pages, and ends in them awarding the game a 10 out of 10. I refuse to read the review myself — playing the game for a few hours was nearly enough of a spoiler for me. But browsing the first paragraph, I read this: “Without question, Grand Theft Auto IV is the best game since Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.” Well then.

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I’ve seen a few people ask for it, and even though I’ve played it before, I haven’t been able to state anything until now. Smashing Pumpkins’ “Zero,” from their 1996 album, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is coming to Rock Band as downloadable content.

It, along with two tracks by The Mom Hips — “Red Tandy” and “Time Sick Son of a Grizzly Bear” — will be available next week for $1.99 (or 160 MS Points) a piece. You can head over to power-glove’s cblog to check out video of each of the songs; if you’ve actually heard those songs by The Mother Hips before, good on you.

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X-Blades, an action game set to hit the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC later this year, has kind of been flying under my radar. I hadn’t heard anything about it until this past weekend at the SouthPeak Games booth at NY Comic Con, where they had footage of the game running as part of a looping trailer.

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OK, enough is enough. I can’t take it anymore. Here’s another God damned trailer for Grand Theft Auto IV, this time focusing on the game’s central character, Niko Bellic. I’m tired of this trailer crap … give me the damned game, already.

I know it’s in stores, too. I spoke with some GameStop folks who stated they received their shipments yesterday, and they’re just sitting in their stock rooms collecting dust until April 29. I also know that if I were a shady character, I could toss on an eye patch and pirate the game. But I’m not an industry ruining monster, so I don’t even have a unit I could play the damned thing on. (Hey, I won’t judge if you do.)

I’m sitting here on Friday afternoon, staring outside my window for a FedEx or DHL or UPS truck to deliver my review copy of GTA IV. Nothing. I was told it would arrive (possibly) by this weekend, but as the day drags on, I’m starting to believe that’s simply not happening. And then GameTrailers sends us a link to this video, as if to rub it in my face. I’m slipping those dudes some roofies at E3.

Seriously, I can’t take this waiting for much longer. Why do Rockstar tease us like this?

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All of the buzz might be surrounding Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto IV, but 2K Games doesn’t want you to forget about Mafia II. The publisher has reminded us about the open-world 1950s gangster title by sending us a small batch of impressive looking screenshots for the title.

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