MTV Multiplayer › Jason Cipriano

The Memorial Day holiday is upon us, and all of this spring's big releases out; it's a dangerous combination. Does one spend the whole weekend basking in the glow of the cancer-inducing giant ball of gas in the sky or do you stay inside with their games, and consoles that have always been there for you? The choice is pretty simple.

Friday's Links:

Jason's Pick:

Box Art That Got It All Wrong: You'd think that artists from Marvel might have gotten the cover of "Ultimate Alliance" right, but guess again.

Patrick's Pick:

Customized Guitar Hero Guitar: Why doesn't Activision start offering something like this?

Stephen's Pick:

Xbox Live Arcade Games Face De-Listing: Unexceptional reviews plus low conversion rates will subtract games from XBLA.

I was able to pick up a copy of "Wii Fit" finally yesterday, and I got my first workout in last night. However, by welcoming the Balance Board into my home, the peripheral count for this generation has skyrocketed to the point that I can't handle it any more.

I was once opposed to "Guitar Hero" based almost solely on the fact that it had to be played with a proprietary peripheral (the other reason is an overall lack of rhythm); one giant piece of plastic, for just one game. I eventually broke down on that one, but still, peripherals take up space, and I don’t have a lot of it.

My last generation peripheral count was three ("Mario DDR" mat, "Guitar Hero" controller, and a Gamecube Microphone). However, this generation I have already exceeded 20. "Rock Band," "Guitar Hero," "Link's Crossbow Training," "Wii Fit," "Aquatopia," the list goes on and on, and it's getting out of hand. I'm all for more and more innovation in video games, but can someone please innovate without forcing me to buy a new peripheral ever three weeks.

Jason's Pick:

New Arcade Fighting Game: "Tatsunoko vs. Capcom": It's no "Marvel vs. Capcom 3" but I'll take what I can get. The potential for Chim Chim to take on Blanka is really all I need to get by.

Stephen's Pick:

And The Programmer Should Make How Much? The New York Times interviews the man who played "Grand Theft Auto IV"'s Niko Bellic and ponders the relatively low pay such a job netted.

Tracey's Pick:

Jake Gyllenhaal crowned 'Prince of Persia': From gay cowboy to Persian prince... think he can pull it off?

Patrick's Pick:

Cooking Mama Homemade Apron: The funny thing is, my girlfriend would probably think this was an awesome gift. Currently, she makes food with a robot apron.

* R.T.F.A. stands for “Read The Full Article.”

It's been two weeks since Nintendo's WiiWare launched, but there is still no sign of the one first-party game I was most looking forward to -- the remake of a classic, "Dr. Mario Online RX." Updated graphics, Mii integration, and online multiplayer have got me really excited to play the remade version of a game that I haven't touched in years. In lieu of being able to play the game, I thought of a few things Dr. Mario might be up to that could be the cause of his tardiness.

A) Golfing
B) In the middle of a fight with Yoshi and Princess Peach
C) In surgery
D) Hanging out at the Treehouse, waiting to be localized
E) Training his brain
F) Swapping jobs with Wario

Hopefully he'll have everything taken care of by this time next week so that everyone can enjoy busting viruses online.

Today's Links:

Jason's Pick:

"Wii Fit" vs. Big Mac: Game Daily compares two very unlikely candidates; the latest video game craze, and a delicious cheeseburger.

Tracey's Pick:

Xbox Live "Gay" Crackdown MIGHT Be Getting A Little Out Of Hand: After the "theGAYERgamer" tag was banned last week, a Kotaku reader says that his tag "RichardGaywood" is banned. The thing is, that's his real name.

Stephen's Pick:

Amateur Xbox 360 Development's New Kick-Off: Next-Gen reports that the XNA Community Games beta is underway and links to everything budding designers need to know to get involved.

Patrick's Pick:

Game Outfits Sighted In San Francisco: How the heck did I miss this?

* R.T.F.A. stands for “Read The Full Article.”

Over the last few years some of the greatest forms of video game entertainment have been re-released for my nostalgic viewing pleasure. I'm talking about great cartoons like "Capatin N," "The Legend of Zelda," and "Super Mario Bros."

Back in the late 80's and early 90's someone had the foresight to weave together two of the most important forms of entertainment to boys and girls (but mostly boys) my age, video games and cartoons. The product of which was often cartoons loosely based on the video games that we spent so many hours playing, when we weren't watching cartoons. Much like the game based movies of today, these cartoons weren't nessecerily "good," but they sure were entertaining. Since these shows have began being re-released on DVD (mostly courtesy of Shout! Factory) I have purchased almost all of them and given them another shot. While nostalgia rules most of my opinions of the shows now, it's still a lot of fun to go back watch some of the cartoons that helped shape my youth. Is there anyone else that has taken the plunge into "classic" video game based cartoons?

Tuesday Multiplayer Links:

Jason's Pick:

"Super Mario World" Like You've Never Seen It Before: This had to take someone a really long time to do.

Stephen's Pick:

The $5 Million E3 Bill: Brian Crecente of Kotaku does the digging and finds out just how much it cost the E3 organizers to not show up at the Los Angeles Convention Center last year.

Tracey's Pick:

5 Million-Piece LEGO Boulder Chases Indy, Crashes Into Car: I'm pretty excited for "LEGO Indiana Jones," but this takes it to a whole new level.

* R.T.F.A. stands for “Read The Full Article.”