i ain’t afraid of no review
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What’s better than the Wii price drop to $199.99? Amazon offering a $25 gift card with purchase:

The price of Nintendo’s Wii console is now just $199.99. To celebrate, get special limited-time savings on some of the best Wii games, accessories, and even additional value with a $25 gift card when you purchase a Wii console. See the details for each offer below and happy gaming!

Joystiq has an excellent interview with renaissance man Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails discussing games.

Trent: I’ve stayed with gaming throughout the years and have all the current systems and, yes, I still get excited about release day. That said, I’ve become disillusioned in the last few years with the types of games the big studios put out. They’re the same game over and over again just skinned differently. I’m not a believer that everyone wants to necessary play a movie, where game play is overlooked for flashy graphics. That’s a disturbing trend.

They go on to talk about what makes the Wii successful, music games, art, and the possibility of Trent and Rob developing a game! It’s definitely worth checking out.

Looks like this has been out a month or two but no one told me. Check it out, Bioshock and Oblivion, two great games for under $40. Perfect if you just picked up an XBox.

Avast! It be upon us again, International Talk Like A Pirate Day Arrr!

For today only, Telltale Games is offering a free download of the first episode of Tales of Monkey Island

As my own means of celebrating I’ve put together a list of my favorite pirate games of all time. Or as I like to call it:

The Top Pirate games of all time!

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The Revolution will be Reviewed from the bargain bin
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I never considered there being a voice actor for Mario. I guess I always thought his soprano Italian American squeal was the result of some sort of synthesized voice algorithm. It’s not like he’s had all that many lines.

But as The Daily Telegraph Reports…

Martinet is the voice actor behind the most famous character in video games - Super Mario.

In Australia on a promotional tour, Martinet has voiced gaming giant Nintendo’s quirky plumber for more than 20 years.

Martinet’s voice talents can be heard in more than 200 games which include other Nintendo favourites like Luigi, Wario and Toadsworth.

The article covers how he got the gig, and make sure to watch the video of him doing the voices. What it fails to mention is how much being the voice of this beloved plumber pays? Have I been beating my head against the bricks while this beach bum gets his coins reading a page or two a year into a mic?!!! Probably.

Arm chair capitalists and slumlords rejoice, Google and Hasbro have teamed up to build a world sized game of monopoly called Monopoly City Streets. The game board is nothing other than Google maps itself! That’s right you compete against players around using the world as your board. You can start by buying your own street (as long as you grab it before your Flanders).

This is all to promote the new monopoly board game, Monopoly City Edition.

From MonopolyCityStreets.com…

The goal is simple: Play to beat your friends and the world by
becoming the richest property magnate in existence by 31 January 2010

Begin with 3 million in the bank
Start your property empire by buying any street in the world
Construct amazing buildings on the streets you own to collect rent
Use Chance Cards and sabotage your mates by building Hazards on their streets

Gizmodo interviewed Richard Marks, a head guy at Sony, to get some details about the new motion controller that will be released next spring. Some interesting points: it has an analog trigger, rumble feedback and buttons. It also has four microphones to assist with noise canceling.

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I’ve often felt that my cognitive ability stems not only from my large cranial capacity but also from the neurobic exercise provided by video games. This study is more evidence backing the notion that Everything Bad is Good for You.

From the Mind Research Network

Researchers at the Mind Research Network today announced the findings of a scientific study that used brain imaging and Tetris to investigate whether practice makes the brain efficient because it increases gray matter.

Over a three-month period, adolescent girls practiced Tetris, a computer game requiring a combination of cognitive skills. The girls who practiced showed greater brain efficiency, consistent with earlier studies. Compared to controls, the girls that practiced also had a thicker cortex, but not in the same brain areas where efficiency occurred.