Remember that Wii emulator that boosted the graphics up to 720p? Thanks to a recent update, Super Mario Galaxy is now playable on the emulator -- known as Dolphin (get it?) -- and we have to admit, it looks pretty gorgeous. Granted, Super Mario Galaxy was no graphical slouch in the first place, but the extra resomolutions certainly add to the overall experience, and it gives us an idea of what a Wii HD console would be capable of producing.

Check out a video of the Super Mario Galaxy running in HD after the break (don't forget to turn on HD in the player). It's in HD. Did we mention that yet?

[Via CVG]

Alright, perhaps "debate" is a somewhat enthusiastic label for a question none of us have ever seriously considered. Which is more worthy of a prestigious award -- the cratered theater of war in Activision's Call of Duty 4, or the smiling planetoids of Super Mario Galaxy? We can't come up with a way to decide, which is precisely why we're grateful that the GAME British Academy Video Games Awards (for games that are sold by GAME) have decided to lump both into the "Best Game" category:

• Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
• Fable II
• Fallout 3
• Grand Theft Auto IV
• Rock Band
• Super Mario Galaxy

Before you object to the British Academy of Film and Television Arts' seemingly outdated choices, note that the period of valid entries spans October 26, 2007 to December 31, 2008 due to an earlier delay in ceremonies. The messy result, of course, is two Novembers duking it out. You'll see the rest of the quality-riddled categories after the break.

Bad news, everybody: 2008 is the new 2007. Those of us lucky enough to have survived last year's unyielding flood of exquisite games expected the new holiday to provide some respite -- perhaps an influx of blessedly mediocre games -- but alas, our wallets are once again tugged in every $60 direction.

But what's worse? The deafening din of desirable games, or that irresistible impulse to play and master every adventure the very second it becomes available? Provided you can defeat the latter reflex, we have a simple suggestion: Live in the past. It's cheaper!

We've dredged up our decisive, if ever-so-slightly controversial list of the ten best games of Oh Seven, hoping you'll find a fantastic experience you mistakenly overlooked. You'll find that the passage of time has taken a pleasing toll on the recommended price of admission. In fact, we've traveled forward in time to this very moment, hoping to pick up our 2007 nominees on the cheap. What do you think? Should we make Portal our Game of the Year?

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

What we said then: "Perhaps the most surprising thing about the game is how few actual revolutionary concepts are contained within. It selects existing game design tools, hones them to practical perfection and creates what is, in our opinion, the military shooter against which all others must be judged."

What we say now: "An essential 'tunnel of fun' shooter with a rewarding multiplayer component. If you find yourself disappointed by this year's Call of Duty: World at War, it's probably this game's fault."

Current retail price: $39.99 (Game of the Year edition)

We're assuming that this is a clerical error of some sort -- perhaps a new intern keeps uploading the wrong images and product descriptions for Wii Fit wallpapers. For the second week in a row, actual items have been added to the European Stars Catalogue, and they are cool.

For 3,850 and 4,850 points, respectively, European gamers have the chance to buy the Gold and Platinum Super Mario Galaxy soundtrack discs previously exclusive to the Japanese Club Nintendo. The Gold edition features 28 tracks, and the two-disc Platinum set contains a staggering 81 tracks.

It's been roughly one year since the items' release in Japan, but considering that nobody expected to see them available anywhere else ever, we have a hard time calling this "late." If you somehow have a ridiculous stock of Stars, go now! These items probably won't last the day.

[Thanks, RICANJO!]

He may not be intimately familiar with Ratchet and Whatshisface, but at least revered game designer Shigeru Miyamoto has had the pleasure of tumbling through dimensional shortcuts and outsmarting acerbic computers. In an interesting chat with MTV Multiplayer's Stephen Totilo, Miyamoto admits that he, like most rational human beings, thought Portal was "an amazing game."

Games that go without the "amazing" label? The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, which the Mario maker describes as "not a bad game, by any means," but one that felt "like there was something missing." And while Miyamoto submits that Super Mario Galaxy did "some things that were very new and were very unique," he ultimately feels that some elements seemed "somewhat conservative."

And it's at this point that we strongly advise you to open an umbrella or don a durable raincoat. When faced with the choice of vehemently defending two prominent Nintendo games or agreeing with the creator, fanboy brains tend to explode quite violently.

MTV's Stephen Totilo has posted the third and final part of a lengthy interview with Shigeru Miyamoto. Though the bulk of the article was lent to discussion of Wii Music, the pair broached other subjects, including what Miyamoto perceives as a lack of innovation in titles such as The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Super Mario Galaxy.

Though Twilight Princess was "not a bad game," Shiggy felt there was "something missing," and was also semi-criticial of the previously untouchable Galaxy, which he thought was "very new and [...] very unique," but "somewhat conservative in terms of how far we branched out with design." If we may mount the Wii Fanboy soapbox for a moment, we'd concur that Twilight Princess was far from being the best Zelda, but found Galaxy to be consistently creative and entertaining.

Elsewhere, Miyamoto referred to the "next Galaxy," which may or may not mean we'll be getting another Mario-in-space game (we wouldn't read too much into it), and that he loves Portal. Nintendo fanboys we might be, but we can probably all appreciate that last statement.

In these belt-tightening, penny-pinching times, it literally pays to have a nose for the bargains. That's where we, or rather Gamefly, comes in. The game rental outfit has a broad selection of used Wii software for low, world banking crisis-friendly prices, and we chose ten of the best sub-$20 games to tempt you. Thar be bargains ahead!

• Baroque for $12.99
• Battalion Wars 2 for $17.99
• Blast Works: Build, Trade, Destroy for $9.99
• Dewy's Adventure for $13.99
• Geometry Wars: Galaxies for $16.99
• Mercury: Meltdown Revolution for $15.99
• NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams for $12.99
• No More Heroes for $17.99
• Sega Superstars Tennis for $9.99
• Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure for $17.99

There's actually a ton more we could have mentioned, including Super Mario Galaxy for $32.99, Super Smash Bros. Brawl for $30.99, and Metroid Prime 3 for $26.99. Sadly, "One hundred and fifty-eight for under forty-two" just doesn't work as a headline. Hit up the "Source" link for the full set.


[Thanks, William!]

The Wii has been on shelves for close to two years now. That means there are plenty of games to experience on the console. What we want to know is what games do you think have the best story? Did you really enjoy the yarn that Okami spun? Think Super Mario Galaxy had a great story? Which Wii games have had the most memorable plots to you?

By now, you've no doubt heard: Nintendo is rolling out Club Nintendo in the U.S. by the end of 2008. Wahey! Yeah, we know that Japan (generally speaking) gets the most excellent items when compared to elsewhere, but listen here, bub: it's free stuff. We're not about to complain, and nor should you (if you want to feel sorry for somebody, Australia's Club Nintendo scheme has gone AWOL, and check out South Africa's piss-poor Stars Catalogue).

Anyway, as these are happy times for North Americans, we thought we'd reflect on some of the bestest Club Nintendo gifts and trinkets from both Japan and Europe to date -- some of which could end up in the U.S.! Hit the gray button to start DS Fanboy's whirlwind Club Nintendo Tour of Wonders!

Nintendo has announced a new deal with Marriott, through which hotel guests will be able to opt for rooms with special Wii systems loaded with 20 games. The program is only available in six locations right now during the pilot test of the program. Currently, guests must pay an extra charge for the Wii, access to which lasts for the duration of the trip.

The preloaded games include Mario Kart Wii, Super Mario Galaxy, Wii Sports, and even Wii Fit, suggesting that the system comes with a Balance Board or is really boring. We're glad to see the tradition of weird hotel Nintendo systems continuing -- we've wanted to steal one of those LodgeNet controllers for years.

This week, graphics professionals and enthusiasts flocked to SIGGRAPH to share and discuss the latest technologies and techniques for making gorgeous computer graphics. The focus of the convention is mainly offline rendering (the stuff that we see in print, movies, and television that's too complex to be rendered in real time), but as computers and game consoles become more powerful, many of these methods and effects make their way into the realm of realtime rendering. Ten years ago, the opening cutscene for Super Mario Galaxy would have needed to be rendered by a cluster of computers and converted into full motion video.

Even though the Wii is not pushing graphical fidelity the way this generation's HD consoles are, we've still come a long way and there's much to be appreciated. There are all sorts of graphical effects that, over the years, have been added to the game artist's palette, and in this edition of Revolutionary, I'd like to draw your attention to a few of them.

When games like Super Mario Galaxy come along, we find ourselves questioning how it's possible for them to look so good, while most other Wii wares have the appearance of games designed for a much weaker platform. It's easy to forget that the Wii's hardware comes from the strong pedigree of Gamecube when much of what we're looking at reeks of Playstation number two.

With multi-platform shovelware, and even a few high profile titles that didn't get any special consideration on the Wii (Guitar Hero 3 and Rock Band, I'm lookin' at you!), developers often drop assets and effects to a lowest common denominator. In the class which Wii is placed, the Playstation 2 has the lowest and most common specs, so our Wii graphics are brought down to its level. The PS2 has had its share of beautiful games, but the methods for making them so beautiful are uncommon enough that they're largely ignored when making games that will have to be replicated on another console in the same class.

It's often the first and second party games or that rare, exclusive third-party effort that is given the budget and time to explore the depths of the Wii's fixed-function graphics hardware and pull off something it wasn't expressly designed for. And considering that the core technologies in the Wii were designed nearly a decade ago, there's a lot of "new tricks" that artists and programmers have had to teach the "old dog."