OMG Nintendo

The Japanese musical adaptation of popular anime and video game series is not a new thing in Japan. Sailor Moon and The Prince of Tennis in particular are two of the most popular to have recieved this treatment.

Now it seems that Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney has joined in the act and in its opening month the all-female performance by the Takarazuka Review has been so well recieved that they are already working on a sequel to be released later this year.

While things like this have been brought over to the United States all of never, it is nice to see a game series that has been such a mainstay on the DS has now entered a whole new level of the cultural awareness structure and will, most likely, ensure its continued survival in some form or another for years to come.

Oh sure, your average baby is cute enough... but it could be cuter. In fact, see that picture above? That's how much cuter the average baby would be with perfectly spherical Mii hands. The Miittens are the unholy concoction of Michelle Hotchin, who provides patterns, instructions, and everything else a knitter would need to create them at her Knitty page here.

These cute little mitts were inspired by the bowling game that comes with the Nintendo Wii. In it, your character has floating spheres for hands, and I thought it would be adorable as a mitten for an infant (since they don't need thumbs in their mittens when they're very young).

[via Kotaku]

Remember the awesome Mario Kart Love Song that launched blue shells into the hearts of women everywhere? No? Then go check out the link above and then come back. Don't worry, I'll wait for you.

Done? Okay. Well, it seems the original Mario Minstrel, Sam Hart, decided to record a cleaned-up MP3-quality version of the Mario Kart Love Song and put it for sale on iTunes and CD Baby. The song goes for .99 at iTunes and a flat dollar at CD Baby.

The Mario Kart Love Song amused the heck out of me, so I've already sent Sam some money for a download. If you think the same, then show a little love for a creative gamer, but his song, and play at the gamer girl of your dreams this Valentine's Day. If she's not swayed, she wouldn't have been any good for you anyway.

One of the things that fascinates me about the emulation scene is what uses people put it to. Yes, some people turn Super Mario Brothers into something horrible, or River City Ransom into Wilford Brimley fanfiction. Yes, some people make Kaizo Mario World, because they hate you and all you stand for.

Conversely, then there's stuff like this. I can't imagine how long it must've taken or how much effort, but it's an interesting example of how music and gameplay can work together.

Ahh, nothing better than gaming swag you can make yourself (especially if, as Wired points out, it looks 100% better than the official game swag). Crafterbation runs through the basic steps required to turn the plain pink apron into an awesome Cooking Mama apron, but you'll have to provide your own ability to sew and stack chunks of felt until they come to resemble something adorable. Yeah, that counts me out of the running for making one of these, too.

Okay, I confess. I just wanted to post this neat picture I saw on Kotaku. But... look at it! That's so damned neat. I love tables with "alternate" surfaces like stone and tile, and this one is really nicely made. I could only like it better if it was an 8-bit Link instead.

I don't know much about Kickass-Peanut, but she seems to be a talented young lady who likes to make handcrafted plushies out of... well, everything. Just go to her DeviantArt page to see plushies of junk food, band-aids, and even an Xbox 360.

Seller inkyfingersjunior is currently auctioning off her latest plush creation, a smiling life-size plush replica of the Nintendo Wii that comes complete with plush Wii Remote and Nunchuk. The starting bid is �30, which works out to about $58.70 US. Worth the money if you've always wanted a more huggable and slightly cuter version of your Wii.

Between this and the Super Mario Mushrooms, I really need to bust out my needles. Knitting Ninja has instructions and sample pics up of the awesome Chain Chomp hat, a simple yarn cap that uses a few modifications to give it the visage of the mighty Chain Chomp. The instructions are preceded by an awesome essay about the evolution of the glorious Chain Chomp:

An enemy in the Mario Bros. franchise, they first appeared in Mario Bros. 3, as a black ball with eyes and teeth, attached by a chain to a block. The chain would lunge itself at Mario, teeth a-chomping, if Mario was within its range.

In later games, the chomps could appear on a loose chain, trailing after Mario and friends. They also adapted their own sound effect, a doglike, rumbling ARF ARF. In the latest release in the franchise, Super Mario Galaxy, Chomps are seen chainless, rolling around happily in their natural habitats. They have long been one of the many instantly-recognizable entities in the Mario world.