Video Game Visions - Xbox 360, PS3 & Nintendo Wii!

The main man himself, Mario is going on 17 years old..in Video game years. Here's a look at how the popular video game hero and icon has evolved over the years from a pixely character to his current hi-def self!

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Despite the scarcity of Wii's this past holiday season, they still managed to make sales records. According to Monstersandcritics.com the Nintendo Wii made this a sucessful and prosperous holiday season for Amazon.com. A recent statistic indicated that the console "sold a staggering 17 units per second" on the retail site.

Other hot items on Amazon included the Harry Potter and Pirates of the Caribbean DVD's. The Apple MacBook also saw good sales at the site. Amazon reported that this was its strongest holiday season so far in terms of sales with 5.4 items sold on December 10th. This comes out to about 62.5 items a second sold on the online retail site. (Source: MonstersandCritics.com)

IGN.com recently released it's 2007 Awards for Nintendo Wii video games. Super Mario Galaxy was named the top game of the year for the Nintendo Wii. The game also was given several other awards in sound and graphics, making it the easy favorite of 2007.

The full list of IGN Wii video games awards:

• Best Action Game: Resident Evil 4


• Best Adventure Game: Metroid Prime 3: Corruption


• Best Fighting Game: Naruto Clash of Ninja Revolution


• Best 1st Person Shooter: Medal of Honor Heroes 2


• Best Music Game: Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle


• Best Platform Game: Super Mario Galaxy


• Best RPG: Super Paper Mario


• Best Simulation: Trauma Center: New Blood


• Best Sports Game: SSX Blur


• Best Strategy Game: Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn


• Best Graphics Technology: Super Mario Galaxy


• Best Artistic Design: Metroid Prime 3: Corruption


• Best Original Score: Super Mario Galaxy


• Best Licensed Soundtrack: Guitar Hero II: Legends of Rock


• Best Use of Sound: Super Mario Galaxy


• Best Story: Scarface: The World is Yours


• Best Local Multiplayer Game: Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock


• Best Online Multiplayer Game: Medal of Honor Heroes 2


• Most Innovative Design: Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbados' Treasure


• Best Use of the Wii-Mote: Medal of Honor Heroes 2


• Best Game No One Played: Zack & Wiki Quest for Barbaros’ Treasure


• Biggest Surprise: Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbados' Treasure


• Best Developer: Nintendo (for its work on Super Mario Galaxy)


Wii Game of the Year: Super Mario Galaxy

Congrats to Mario and crew for winning over the Wii for 2007. After all, Mario is the original Nintendo star. GH3, Medal of Honor, Metroid and Zack & Wiki get honorable mentions. According to IGN, Zack & Wiki Quest for Barbaros’ Treasure is the game to buy now! So what will 2008 bring for Wii video games? It should be another great year for gamers!

The 10 most popular Wii video games right now: (courtesy of IGN)

1) Super Mario Galaxy
2) Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle
3) Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
4) Super Paper Mario
5) Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 3
6) Resident Evil 4
7) Zack & Wiki Quest for Barbaros’ Treasure
8) Medal of Honor: Heroes 2
9) Pokemon Battle Revolution
10) Mario Strikers Charged

Check out the Wii Video games page on Squidoo for more about where to buy and rent the latest Nintendo Wii video games!

Popular video game site, IGN.com has released a recent list of its "Top 100 Games of All-Time". The list is comprised of games released no later than December 31, 2006 and looks at how good the game is compared to others of the time, the game's influence on gaming, and how fun it is to play.

Here's a look at the top 10:

10) Resident Evil 4 (GCN, PC, PS2, Wii)

9) Final Fantasy 3 (US version) (PSX, SNES, GBA)

8) The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (Nintendo)

7) Super Metroid (SNES)

6) Half-Life 2 (PC, XBX)

5) Super Mario 64 (N64)

4) The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64)

3) Civilization II (MAC, PC, PSX) 1996 release

2) Tetris (ARC, GB, MAC, NES, PC)

1) Super Mario Brothers (NES)

Anyone who hasn't played titles such as Super Mario and Zelda has probably been living under a rock. Other notables: #58 Mike Tyson's Punchout, #54 Contra, #51 Sonic the Hedgehog, #35 Grand Theft Auto III, #32 Halo: Combat Evolved, #25 SimCity 2000, #19 Doom, and #13 Ms. Pac Man.

See the full Top 100 Games list at IGN.com

Renting video games is one of the best ways to test out those games you're interested in and also save yourself money. It saves money in the long run because if you spend $50 on a game and then beat it within a month or even less time, you're already itching for a new game. That's another $50 or so you spend, and so on and so on. But with a video game rental service you will pay a flat monthly rate to rent multiple games.

One way of renting games is by heading to your local video store, such as Blockbuster. Blockbuster is convenient, but often times you will pay $4 or $5 to rent a game. While it's a fraction of the cost of buying, it seems more logical to use a better method; mail order rental service.

Perhaps the best of the bunch in terms of video game rental services is Gamefly. This site offers titles from all platforms, from original Xbox to 360 to Playstation 2, 3 and PSP. They also offer Nintendo DS, Gamecube and Wii video games. You simply search for your desired games on their site, click to add them to your queue and then wait. The games if available are usually sent to you within just a few business days. You keep them for as long as you'd like and once you're done with the game simply put it into the mailing envelope you received with it, then drop it in the mail. Your game is returned back, and your next game is on its way!

At Gamefly the shipping on their games is free. They also offer a free 10 day trial you can sign up for to test their program. With the free trial you'll be able to rent 2 games at once for 10 days. So if there's any games you've been anxious to play, check it out. A membership at the site will also give you access to GameFly Rewards, which gives member special benefits and discounts towards buying pre-played games.


So if you're interested in playing your favorite games and saving yourself money, Click through into GameFly's registration page.


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