mario bros

For Bryan Duxbury and Adam Ellsworth, a shared interest in DIY Arduino projects and a conversation at a Christmas party led to a pretty bright idea and an unexpected side business.

The two San Francisco residents are the creators of the Interactive 8bit Question Block lamp--a Super Mario Bros.-inspired piece of home decor. For fans of the game, the lamp should instantly look familiar, as it resembles the blocks that Mario hits to earn coins and other loot. The design alone already makes it pretty cool, but that's not where the fun ends.

To turn the light on or off, you must punch (actually, a gentle tap is enough and recommended) the bottom of the block, and every time you do so, it makes a coin sound just like in the video game. On every eighth tap, you're rewarded with the 1-Up sound. It's a piece of Super Mario Bros. come to life.

This project may never have seen the light of day, however, had it not been for a chance meeting at a company Christmas party. … Read more

Nearly 26 years ago, Super Mario Bros. hit retail shelves and put millions of gamers in control of a wacky plumber determined to defeat Bowser and save Princess Toadstool. The NES classic is a cherished first experience in video games for many people, but there's something you may have missed on the original box art: Mario is about to die.

In one of those "How did I not see that?" moments, Reddit poster Deluxo pointed out last week that the iconic character appears to be near death on the cover of one of his most famous games. He's clearly hovering right over a lava pit in Bowser's castle, having just missed a critical jump and soon destined to be crispy. Just looking at the image makes me cringe and is a reminder of how many times I had to restart a level because I couldn't time a jump right. … Read more

Earlier this morning Nintendo introduced the Wii U, the successor to the Wii. Think of the Wii U as a sort of DS and Wii hybrid, combining touch and motion controls, with an on-screen HD gaming experience.

We were lucky enough to get some hands-on time with a collection of Wii U game demos and time with the tablet controller; here are our impressions.

… Read more

On today's show, McDonald's has a data breach, although it's not as bad as the one from the Mesa County, CO, sheriff's office, which apparently keeps its lists of victims, suspects, and informants in a nice, big, unprotected plain-text database. So, that's a few informants running for safe houses, then. Also, the Comcast Death Star turns its rays on Roku, Apple TV, and the like; and the Nook Color goes from awesome to officially awesome. --Molly

Nintendo has unveiled limited edition Wii and DSi XL bundles to mark the 25th anniversary of Super Mario Bros.

The new Wii bundle includes a "Mario-red" Wii and a copy of New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

In addition, the bundle will come with a red Wii Remote Plus, the game company's upcoming controller, which combines the functions of the Wii Remote and the Wii MotionPlus add-on. The bundle will also include a red Nunchuk controller and a copy of Wii Sports.

According to Nintendo, the limited edition bundles will be "available while supplies last." They … Read more

Super Mario Bros. is a legendary video game that has captivated audiences for 25 years. But its creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, is embarrassed by it.

In an interview last month that has resurfaced this week, Miyamoto said Super Mario Bros. was made for a different time. And because of that, he said, some of the flaws that were unable to be seen 25 years ago are glaringly obvious on today's HD sets.

"Back then, with tube televisions, it was a little blurrier and the images weren't quite so sharp," Miyamoto said. "The places where we tried … Read more

Happy 25th birthday, Super Mario Bros.

Super Mario Bros. launched on September 13, 1985, in Japan. The title, which allowed players to take on the role of Mario (and Luigi for multiplayer purposes) in his trek to save Princess Peach, was the best-selling video game of all time for over 20 years before it was eventually ousted by Wii Sports in 2009. The original release of the game sold 40 million units worldwide.

The importance of Super Mario Bros. to the gaming industry should not be underestimated: it influenced slews of titles that followed and was responsible for the success … Read more

Many gamers have fond memories of the original Super Mario Bros. In fact, I bet a good number of you even remember vividly each stage and where the secret boxes are. A clever programmer by the name of Jay Pavlina has created a tribute called Super Mario Crossover. In this version, you can choose to play not only as Mario, but also as characters from other games such as Metroid Prime, The Legend of Zelda, and Contra.

The best part is that these are not just skins that replace the original Mario character as they move, jump, and shoot just … Read more

Nintendo doesn't take kindly to people who put one of its major releases onto the Web before it hits store shelves.

According to a report Tuesday in Australia's Sydney Morning Herald, a man has agreed to pay Nintendo 1.5 million Australian dollars (or $1.3 million) for loss of sales revenue after he allegedly illegally copied and uploaded to the Web the New Super Mario Bros. for the Wii prior to the game's Australian release last year.

Australia's Copyright Act outlaws copying and distributing video games without prior approval. Nintendo cited the Copyright Act when … Read more