MadWorld stands out from other Wii titles thanks to its instantly recognisable graphics. The game relies on a very limited colour palette consisting of black and white, with liberal splashes of bright red blood.

The levels of violence in the game have caused controversy in the UK, following Mediawatch-UK’s appeal to the Daily Mail, which complained that the bloody title would “spoil the family fun image of the Wii”. That isn’t to say that MadWorld is any more violent than other ‘ultra-violent’ titles out there though, it just happens to be one that the mainstream media has latched on to. Since the Manhunt 2 brouhaha kicked off over a year ago, there hasn’t been much else to whinge about.

In fact, the game is fairly tongue-in-cheek. You tear through opponents on a Running Man-esque television show using chainsaws, knives and other assorted instruments of death. Mini games are going to play an important part too, including one called Man Darts, in which you smack people at a giant darts board using a baseball bat and appropriate Wii remote gestures. The gore itself is pretty cartoony.

Nintendo has also stood firmly by the game, despite the alleged risk to its console’s image. It has also made it clear previously, that the Wii is not just for children and families, but for all ages, including the violence loving, more traditional gamer demographics. And given the number of disgruntled Nintendo fans who feel missed out by the Wii’s heavy focus on ‘casual’ gamers, Ninty needs more titles like this to prove it still knows its core audience.

Starting in the Spring of 2009, Nintendo will kick off its own brand of video distribution in Japan. But instead of offering movies and television shows, as Sony and Microsoft have done, Nintendo will instead offer cartoons and more “family-friendly” programming on their Wii console. Many of these offerings will even be created especially for the Wii video service.

While some video offerings will come with a fee, some will be made available using advertising to cover the actual costs of the offerings.

Nintendo hasn’t announced a specific date for the service outside of Japan, but they have stated that the Wii video service will expand worldwide at a “later” date.

We’ll keep you posted on any new developments with the upcoming Wii video service as they become available. It should be interesting to see what Nintendo has in store for Wii owners with this new service next year.

The first game to arrive in Europe will be Pikmin on February 6. Originally released for GameCube in 2002, Pikmin sees players enter the world of the Pikmin creatures as they help Captain Olimar on his galactic quest to rebuild his spaceship. The New Play Control! Version will make use of both the Wii Remote and Nunchuck with a heavy use of a Pointer System to enable quick strategic moves.

Mario Power Tennis, set for release in March 2009, will require players wave the Wii Remote to execute forehand and backhand shots and direct the ball to the left or right of the court. It will also be possible to apply topspin and slice and perform special moves.

Both titles have been enhanced with a new widescreen display option

	Nintendo unveils the new portable video game console, the DSi, equipped with a 3.25-inch LCD display and 300,000-pixel digital camera

The console, called the Nintendo DSi, can be used to take photos, download games and play music.

The DSi will go on sale in Japan on Nov 1, and will be available to European gamers in spring 2009.

“We want to change the DS from something that’s in every household to something that’s for every person,” said Nintendo’s president, Satoru Iwata.

He said that the new console could be the very first toy camera for a child, as well as tool for social communication and networking.

The DSi has two 0.3-megapixel cameras, and a slightly larger screen than its predecessor, along with a thinner form factor.

It will feature a memory card slot, so that gamers can play music saved on a SD card through the device. However, Nintendo has removed the GameBoy Advance cartridge slot on the DSi that made previous versions of the DS backwards-compatible with GameBoy games.

Mr Iwata said that gamers would be able to change the speed at which sound or music is played, meaning, for example, that they could slow down a foreign language lesson, or speed up and distort songs.

Nintendo said it had sold more than 77.5 million DS consoles worldwide since the device first went on sale in 2004.

In 2006, Nintendo revamped the DS, introducing a touchscreen version, the DS Lite. The Japanese games company has been credited with bringing a new audience to the world of gaming.

Women and young girls love the puzzle and brain-training games available on the DS, as well as its ease of use, while the Nintendo Wii, which uses wireless motion-sensitive controllers, has proved a big hit with families.

Although the DS continues to sell strongly in the UK, sales have been declining in Japan, with Sony’s handheld games console, the PSP, outpacing sales of the DS in Japan for the last five months. The DSi will cost YEN18,900 (£100) when it goes on sale.

Nintendo’s decision to release an updated version of the DS is seen in part as a response to the threat posed by Apple, whose iPhone and iPod touch music players feature motion-sensing technology and can also be used to play computer games on the go.

• Platform: SNES
• Wii Points: 900
• In Real Money: GBP 6.30 / EUR 9 (approx)

It’s been a while since Nintendo graced the VC with a genuinely anticipated title, and with the arrival of Super Mario RPG we can at last cross another beloved classic off the list. It’s been worth the wait - and is even worth gritting your teeth and putting up with the needlessly inflated price-tag.

Famously developed by Square, under direct supervision from Miyamoto, the game is every bit as impressive as you’d expect given the creative muscle at work behind the scenes. It may sound slightly obvious, but it really is a Mario game and it really is an RPG. Neither element suffers for the cross-genre mash-up, and the result is a game that positively oozes charm and depth.

The story finds a new threat unleashed on Mario’s world - the enormous sword-shaped Smithy. As you progress through the saga you collect the inevitable band of companions, some (Princess Toadstool, Bowser) drawn from classic Mario mythology, others (Mallow, Geno) created for this adventure. The roster obviously isn’t huge - and fans may pine for Luigi or Yoshi to join the party - but don’t be fooled into thinking this mean’s the game is a dumbed down version of Square’s “real” role-playing epics.

Pretty much every aspect you’d expect from a mid-’90s Final Fantasy title is included, albeit disguised in Mario clothing. Flower Points are the currency for special attacks, for instance, while mushrooms replace potions for restoring health. Combat follows the traditional turn-based template, but with a small twist - attacks can be increased in power by hitting or spamming buttons at the right time or even twizzling the d-pad. If the concept sounds familiar, it’s because Square used it again for Final Fantasy VIII - though this version is fast and arcadey, and nothing like the elongated Guardian Force animations that would come later.

They also shrewdly borrowed ideas from their other titles, most notably Chrono Trigger’s refreshing absence of random battles. Moving around the game world feels more like an isometric Mario platformer, and enemies are clearly visible. Contact triggers the fight, at which point things switch to the familiar Square battle screen.

The game puts up a tough fight as well. Pity the complacent soul who thinks the cute exterior means a toothless challenge. The early stages are simple enough, with Level Ups easy to come by, but if you wander into the first real boss encounter without taking things seriously and stocking up on health and revival items, even the best RPG player can struggle.

There’s really not much more to say - it’s up there with Zelda as one of Nintendo’s crowning achievements, and is the closest the VC has had to an essential download in a good long while. Here’s hoping that this means Chrono Trigger isn’t far away…

During the 1990s, video game megastars Mario and Sonic, the mascots of the Super Nintendo and the Sega Genesis respectively, duked it out for supremacy of our wallets.

Mario premiered with Super Mario World, and Sonic with Sonic the Hedgehog.

The two video game characters generated their own merchandise and several TV shows, one of which was voiced by Family Matters’ Steve Urkel himself, Jaleel White. Children from everywhere craved and bought Sonic and Mario related merchandise.

In 2002, the same year the Gamecube was released, the Dreamcast was discontinued, thus ending Sonic the Hedgehog’s independent success.

Mario and Sonic went in completely different directions and their original rivalry died down when Nintendo eventually pulled ahead of Sega. Mario went on to best-selling games on the Nintendo 64, Gamecube and Wii, while Sonic’s fortunes would carry on unsuccessfully to the Sega Saturn and eventually die at the hands of the Sega Dreamcast.

Mario is doing quite well for himself - he made the Wii close to impossible to find in retail stores, produced many more successes such as Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario Galaxy, that stay at or near the top of retail sales. An entire new generation has embraced him, just as he saved video gaming in 1984 with the release of Super Mario Bros.

Not just restricted to one console now, Sonic has shown up in places unimaginable to the classic fans - on the Gamecube and Wii. Not to mention, he created a cult following of people who wear costumes of himself during anime conventions, better known to us as “furries.”

Many of the classic fans have said that Sonic has gone nowhere but downhill. A series of releases on the PlayStation 2, Gamecube and XBox have been criticized by gaming publications. What has especially doomed Sonic was his seventh-generation debut, Sonic The Hedgehog (2006) on the Play Station 3.

Mario and Sonic, once bitter rivals, have seen a reconciliation in recent years with the Wii’s release of Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games, where characters from both franchises duke it out in Olympic events. This is largely at the cost of Sonic, because Mario has been sitting pretty at the top for two and a half decades.

The most important question is what they are today: Mario may be the eternal icon of videogames, but Sonic was once part of our childhood as well, and should not be forgotten, despite our blue hedgehog’s recent struggles.

A report has appeared over in Japan with Jiji Press that mentions how Yoichi Wada-san, President of Square Enix has been discussing the release of the next in the Dragon Quest series, which many presume means Dragon Quest IX: Protectors of the Starry Sky for the Nintendo DS, considering it has only recently been confirmed as definitely being a fiscal year 2008 release and the game is set to be shown off at this year’s Tokyo Games Show over in Japan early next month.

Dragon Quest IX could well be coming to Japan in early 2009 on DS.

According to Wada-san, the new Dragon Quest will launch in early 2009, which will likely mean Japanese otaku’s Otoshidama (the New Year money children receive since Christmas is not a big holiday over in the Land of the Rising Sun) will probably go towards this new release. There is still a seed of doubt about whether or not this is indeed Dragon QUest IX, though, as there is still the remake of Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Reverie to come on DS, the first time the old SNES game has ever been remade. Those who like to speculate reckon that the remake of the sixth game could well use the DQIX engine and be released later in 2009 to ensure there is enough of a gap between releases.