Self-promotion isn’t usually my bag, but this is one of those rare occasions that I think our site’s fandom of Earthbound and love of moustaches made out of paper meet at a nexus point. A couple friends and I, inspired by Starmen.net’s last-ditch Internet call to arms, spent a long all-nighter working on a video exploring just what happened to the fateful Runaway Five.

If you look closely, you can see me playing three different characters because we only had four people there that night!

Take a look! Maybe it’ll make your Tuesday afternoon a little brighter.

Runaway Dreams: The Runaway Five Story

Hiya guys and gals! We’ve gotten to know each other for awhile now, so… I think it’s about time I come clean with you all. I have a confession to make.

I am a crafter. I like making costumes for Halloween and cons. I like stitching stuff. When I go to Home Depot, I like buying random things with hopes of converting them into props for future endeavors. This comes as a shock, I know, but that’s my dorky revelation.

Just yesterday, I finished some embroidery work on a new pair of sneakers. After sharing the pics, a few of the guys on staff wanted me to post them here. Well, have a look! Hit the jump for close-ups and a rough, I-didn’t-have-a-game-plan-to-begin-with guide to embroidering.

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The DS market in Japan is truly fully “expanded.” Check out this recently game that came out called “Sukusuku Parenting DS.” It’s based off a TV show and contains tips on how to play with a young child. I’m not exactly sure what the above activities ARE (besides scaring your child by pretending your head was replaced with a white sheet) - but I’m sure it’s damn good parenting.

The game also includes a database (database?!) of children’s songs and minigames you and junior can play together. It’s like if they made a videogame version of the nanny shows on TV - and they actually put some effort into it. The American DS market certainly has a lot of catching up to do.

Siliconera: The DS Teaches Everything Including Parenting Skills

What’s most interesting about WiiWare (at least for me) is that it allows for small-time developers to get their creations on a stage they wouldn’t have access to otherwise. These small time developers are generally a lot more vocal and open about their creations than Nintendo is - and I’m pondering whether or not the “openness” these developers bring to the WiiWare table will rub off on the Nintendo brand.

You can see the beginnings of this even now. Pop’s developer asked gamers what he should price his game at - turns out it was $5. Check out the article below and ponder along with me…

Could WiiWare allow Nintendo to be more “open” with games without actually BEING open?

MTV Multiplayer: WiiWare Developer Unsure How Much His Game Should Cost

Wii
May 12 - Major League Eating: The Game
May 12 - Toki Tori
May 13 - Castle of Shikigami III
May 13 - Deca Sports (Gamestats)
May 13 - We Ski (GameStats)
May 15 - The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

Virtual Console / WiiWare
FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES: My Life as a King (Square Enix, 1 player, 1500 Wii Pts)
LostWinds (Frontier Development, 1-2 players, 1000 Wii Pts)
Defend your Castle (XGen Studios, 1-4 players, 500 Wii Pts)
Pop (Nnooo, 1-4 players, 700 Wii Pts)
V.I.P. Casino: Blackjack (High Voltage Software®, Inc., 1-4 players, 700 Wii Pts)
TV Show King (Gameloft, 1-4 players, 1000 Wii Pts)

DS
May 13 - Drone Tactics (Gamestats)
May 13 - Myst
May 15 - The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

Look at all those games! Aren’t you glad that the Wiiware channel is finally here? XBLA was draining all my money, now it’s going to have to share my money with WiiWare

It’s nearing the end of the weekend. You’ve made your rounds and stores are closing soon, so what’s left to do? Pick up the remote and soak in your last few hours of freedom before Monday rears its ugly head. Turn on that telly, dig up your favorite games and bring on the party! But if your buddies are elsewhere, don’t worry, because we’ve got you covered.

Rebel Shadic made a comment in our Games Rebels Play for last month on swapping codes, which made me think, “Hey, why don’t we turn this into something bigger?” The idea has been drifting around staff e-mails for awhile now, so in the end, this is what we’ve come up with.

Introducing our first-ever Rebels’ Friends Code Swap-a-thon! Whether you’re looking for pals or competition online, what better way to start than with your friendly neighborhood rebels? This week, we’re kicking off with a backlog of codes celebrating the two biggest Wii titles of the season: Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Mario Kart Wii!

Add your friends code in the comments, and let the good times roll!

Mitch’s post about the Cowboy Jed leakage (I’m talkin’ ‘bout the footage) got the 4cr staff reminiscing about some of the better Nintendo commercials we’ve seen over the years. While it’s true that there have been a staggering number of truly bad marketing blitzes behind Nintendo products, there have also been a great deal of awesome ones, too.

There’s been some strong opinions both for and against Cowboy Jed so far, but love him or hate him, he’s doing his job quite well.

Until the ubiquitous “Wii Would Like to Play” campaign, however, Nintendo commercials had been a somewhat rare occurrence on television (at least in Canada, and on the stations I watched). Whenever one would appear on my screen, I’d sit attentively, even if it was for a game I already had. In retrospect I’m sad to admit this, but when I first saw the Starfox commercial that asked, “Why go to the next level when you can go light years beyond?” I just about jumped up from my seat shouting, “Take that, Sega!”

So what are your favorite Nintendo commercials? Here’s mine, along with a list of others some of the 4cr staffers mentioned. Chime in!

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As I have said before, I love Iwata Asks. Not only are they a fascinating, real life look at various people at Nintendo, but they also give you tons of awesome trivia about games that you’d never know otherwise:

- Miyamoto proposed that Ocarina of Time be an FPS?
- He wanted to give Link a gun in Link’s Crossbow Training and have a Terminator-style story about a time warp from the future?
- He loves FPSes?

All this and more in the newest Iwata Asks!

Iwata Asks: Link’s Crossbow Training

Oh, I know what you’re thinking. Yeah, you with the speedy finger tips! Put down your palms for a minute where I can see ‘em. Mario Kart’s Cowboy Jed isn’t done taking over your airwaves – now he’s circled the wagons right around the intaernet (that’s the British way of spelling it).

Up on the plate, we’ve got some pretty silly footage of Cowboy Jed doing his thing up on the Internet. It’s pretty obvious that Nintendo’s trying to make it look like it ‘leaked’, but, whatever. It’s still pretty damn funny. There’s a wacky montage of footage that I guess didn’t make it into the final commercial – and it had me laughing pretty hard.

I know that you Intaernet guys are all about remixing your videos and splicing in some footage of your cat missing the jump from the sofa to the kitchen counter – and interestingly enough, the ad wizards that came up with this one were kind enough to provide a big ol’ zip file full of readily-mixable files.

So, if you make any videos, send the link our way. We at the 4cr news desk love to hear it. Also, if you make any videos of me getting out of the shower, let me know.

You can peep everything at archive.org!

Cool?

Cool.

Clips of Cowboy Jed All Mashed Up!

The Full Cowboy Jed Song! Yee-HAW!

The Big Collection of Cowboy Jed Files (rapidshare)

Cowboy Jed Music Video (archive.org)

Alternative Cowboy Jed Footage (archive.org)

Cowboy Jed Alternative Footage for Remixing (archive.org)

Ahhh, the nostalgia. Who here remembers a little game called Final Fantasy 7? (If not, where have you been? ) In my opinion, this game is one of the classics, ranking right up there with Chrono Trigger and Ocarina of Time. It might not be the Best Game Ever Made, and it’s definitely not for everyone, but as a gamer it’s one of the titles we tend to know about even if it’s not in our library. Strangely enough, I’ve had quite a few FF7-related conversations this week, with friends and strangers alike! You know you’ve done a bang-up job with a game when fans are still talking about it more than 10 years down the road.

I watched an episode of Robot Chicken last night and came across this silly parody of the game. It’s not much, but I thought I’d share. Video after the cut. Enjoy!

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Iron Man opened this weekend to awesome reviews and made a ton of money. I saw the movie Saturday night and will probably be going back again in the next few days. Plain and simple, the movie was awesome. Awesome awesome. Due to a couple of weird plot points that really ask you to suspend belief I wouldn’t rank this movie as high as X-Men 2 or Batman Begins, but damn if it isn’t close. I’ll be writing up a full review after another viewing, but for now I just wanted to geek out and share some fun Iron Man links with you guys and a couple pics I took of the actual armor at the movie theatre here in Hollywood.

Iron Man Armor Photos on the 4cr Flickr Pool

Iron Man Wikipedia Entry

Robert Downey Jr Interview

Project Rooftop Iron Man Redesign Contest

Tony Stark: Your Go To Guy!

Iron Man Movie Site Fan Art

Iron Man Comic Book Covers

Marvel Kids Iron Man Videos

The Many Armors of Iron Man

Audi Iron Man Site

Update: Cool Behind the Scenes Iron Man Videos

Update 2: Amazing Iron Man End Sequence Motion Graphics

Submitter: Scott

We’re a bit late this time around, but here it is. Read on to find out what games kept us busy in the beautiful month of April, and be sure to chime in and let us know what you’ve been playing, too.

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Wii
May 6 - Boom Blox (GameStats)
May 6 - Speed Racer
May 6 - The Dog Island

Virtual Console
Pokémon Puzzle League (N64, 1-2 players, 1 000 Wii Ps)
Renegade (NES, 1-2 players, 500 Wii Pts)

DS
May 5 - Brain Voyage
May 5 - Crosswords DS
May 5 - Toy Shop
May 6 - Speed Racer

Boom Blox is the title to look forward to this week. It doesn’t look like much, but it looks like a great pick up and play title.

Onions, you either love them or hate them. What better way to warm up on a cold day than with a soup? I checked my pantry and fridge to see what I had available — onions, onion soup mix, and beef. Just the ingredients I needed to make one of my favorite soup!

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Hey rebels! Just wanted to remind you guys about Free Comic Book Day tomorrow. Every year on the first Saturday in May, the comic book industry works hard to reward it’s current readers and hopefully attract new ones by giving away an assortment of free comics to anybody that will have them. Tomorrow’s event, marking the 7th annual Free Comic Book Day, will see titles like Hellboy, the X-Men, and Project Superpowers. Along with free comics, most comic book shops will also offer discounts on existing comics. So if you want to read up a little more about this summer’s comic book movies(Batman, Iron Man, and the Hulk), tomorrow would be a good time to grab a few books. So head down to your local comic book shop and get yourself your FREE comic!

Free Comic Book Day