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The new trailer for Super Mario Galaxy 2

Nintendo held a press conference today and dropped a nice Hot Karl of news onto our chests.  The big news, which old school gamers had been awaiting since last year’s E3, is that Super Mario Galaxy 2 will be released on May 23.  Metroid: Other M, a new look on Samus’ adventures, will drop from the loins of Nintendo on June 27.

Adding to the day’s news:

The Nintendo DSiXL, which boasts a bigger screen, will be available starting March 28.

Mega Man 10, a new “old school” Mega Man game, will be available for download on WiiWare on March 1.

Dragon Quest IX: Sentinel of the Starry Skies, will see release on the Wii

Pretty much all of the other news consisted of items only 8 year old girls and gaming grandparents would appreciate

The King's son, Anduin Wrynn, looks like he got his gold coin wish and gets a few years added on.

The official Patch 3.3.3 patch notes have just been posted, but who knows when we actually see this and devote way too much time exploring the updates.

Some highlights:

• Death Knights: Icy Touch: This ability now causes a very high amount of threat while the death knight is in Frost Presence.
• Many aura abilities such as Unleashed Rage, Abomination’s Might, and Elemental Oath are now passive auras and do no need to be triggered by certain strikes.
• Frozo the Renowned has moved into the Dalaran Magus Commerce Exchange and will be trading your Frozen Orbs for various other trade goods. We do not yet know what these items are, but we’ll be sure to look as soon as we get on the PTR.

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Old Nintendo system sells for $13,105–Yahoo Games

Everyday folk discovering colossally valuable collectors’ items amid everyday junk has been the lifeblood of antiques shows for years, but it’s not every day you see a real-life gold-in-the-attic tale play out on eBay.

Last week, North Carolina eBay user lace_thongs35 thought she was putting up an everyday, 80s-era Nintendo Entertainment System (together with five games) up on the popular auction site. But less than an hour after the first bid, the price was over $6,000 — and on Wednesday, when the auction closed, the final selling price topped $13,000.

Why? Not the console itself, but one of the games bundled with it — a deeply obscure 1987 release called Stadium Events, a highly sought-after collectors’ item. But it wasn’t even the game itself that was worth the bulk of the money — it was the original cardboard box, which collectors value at a breathtaking $10,000. Fewer than 10 complete copies of the game are thought to exist, and retro gaming aficionados consider it one of the hardest-to-find NES games ever made.

Bet you’re wishing you hadn’t let Mom throw out your Nintendo collection now, eh?

Pre-order Dawn of War 2 expansion, get Saints Row 2 for free–Joystiq

There’s no getting around it — THQ really, really wants you to play all of its games. After recently revealing that the code included in copies of Darksiders is redeemable for a free copy of Red Faction: Guerrilla, the publisher today announced that those buying the upcoming Dawn of War IIexpansion Chaos Rising will also snag a free PC copy of Saints Row 2.

That means slapping down your 30 buckaroos at GameStop or Best Buy (or your digital buckaroos at GameTap, Steam or Metaboli) nets you two games — one of which we are assured allows you tospray human feces on anything nearby. If that isn’t enough of a selling point, what is, you monster?

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This Warcraft Player Will Not Go Quietly Into The Night–Kotaku

Authorities say this 27-year-old man, angered when his mother asked him to quiet down while playing Warcraft, choked her and rammed his head through a wall before his grandfather finally shot him. He wasn’t seriously wounded. Nerd rage’ll do that.

James Swan (pictured) of Manatee, Fla. was drinking and playing World of Warcraft around 10 p.m. on Feb. 11 when his 50-year-old mother asked him to pipe down, as her three grandchildren were trying to sleep at that hour. Cops say Swan ignored her, and when she put her hand on his shoulder, he flipped the f—- out. read more…

StarCraft 2 PC Beta client is now live–Joystiq

Quick, stop reading this post and head on over to Battle.net to grab the PC beta client for StarCraft 2! (It appears the Mac client is not available yet). Of course, you must have previously volunteered for the beta at Blizzard’s site, so if this sentence is news to you, then … sorry. You’re what scientists call out of luck.

The client weighs in at 1.64GB and will take a while to download, so have a crossword handy. See you out there!

Update: Blizzard has revealed the minimum system requirements for the beta. Check ‘em out past the break.

PC Minimum Requirements:
Windows XP SP3/Vista SP1/Windows 7
2.2 Ghz Pentium IV or equivalent AMD Athlon processor
1 GB system RAM/1.5 GB for Vista and Windows 7
128 MB NVidia GeForce 6600 GT/ATI Radeon 9800 PRO video card
1024×768 minimum display resolution
4 GB free hard space (Beta)
Broadband connection

Australian Industry Group Submits R18+ Rating Proposal–Gamasutra

The Interactive Games & Entertainment Association, an industry trade group active in Australia and New Zealand, has submitted a proposal for an R18+ rating to the Australian attorney general’s office, hoping to alter long-standing practices effectively banning games which exceed a certain threshold of violent or sexual content.

Unlike its ratings for films, Australia’s game rating system does not include “R18+” or “X18+” ratings, which pertain to content rated for those 18 years of age or older. The game system tops out at “MA 15+” — meaning games with content deemed more mature than is suitable to an MA 15+ rating are denied classification entirely, and cannot be sold at retail in the country. read more…

EA loses $82 million in fiscal Q3 2010, revenue down 25%–Joystiq

Right off the bat, you should know this: for EA, losing $82 million in the third quarter of a fiscal year is an enormous improvement. Compared to the same period last year (“Q3″ for EA is October 1 – December 31), the company lost 559 million fewer actual physical dollars. Yes, really. Now that we’ve told you that, we should also note that the publisher pulled in 24.85 percent less revenue year over year (down to $1.243 billion in Q3 2010 from $1.654 billion in Q3 2009). That said, Playfish had “two of the top ten Facebook games” for the quarter! Good thing EA spent $300 million on those folks, eh?

Okay, okay, real talk: the company also points out that it was the “#1 packaged goods publisher in North America and Europe” for its entire fiscal year. CEO John Riccitiello even notes that Mass Effect 2 is “the first blockbuster of 2010.” And hey, with 2 million units already shipped, we tend to agree.

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Madden NFL Coming To Facebook–Gamasutra

Electronic Arts has its eye on the social space in a big way, moving aggressively toward digital revenue models and buying up Playfish — and it looks like one of its next moves will see the Madden NFL franchise coming to Facebook.

“We have to make Madden more accessible,” EA Sports boss Peter Moore told Bloomberg. “You’ll see us on Facebook going forward.”

Playfish, the social game developer EA spent $300 million to acquire late last year, recently revealed it was working on a game involving one of EA’s well-known brands.

Offering its players, as Moore says, a “simpler” Madden experience will likely provide a strong entry point to the brand via the massive social network.

Playfish president and general manager Kristian Segerstrale recently said that the most successful Facebook games are those featuring a brand that spans multiple platforms.

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