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Although most people probably don’t need to be told, MarioKart Wii is out, and it’s loads of fun. The wheel takes a little getting used to (the first few races with it were brutally hard), but if you despise it you can always use the Wii remote + nunchuk or your old Gamecube controller.

I haven’t played all the races yet (two cups left to go!), but I highly recommend the game. Similar to the DS version (which rocked), MarioKart Wii offers 16 new races, and a full 16 races from selected past versions of the game (a mixture of DS all the way back to the SNES). Although the co-op goodness of Double Dash is no more, it’s still a great time with a friend, and also offers the ability to easily play online with up to 12 other people. Owning MarioKart is all but compulsory if you own a Nintendo system, so definitely give it a look. (And at the time of this writing, Wii Wheels on Amazon are only $10 as opposed to the normal $15, which is a bit more reasonable.)

Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword for the Nintendo DS is a fantastic game, and is the best action game I’ve played recently. The graphics are beautiful (astonishingly good, considering the DS’s capabilities), but what’s really brilliant is the fact that the lightning fast movement from Ninja Gaiden Black has made the jump to the DS flawlessly. Combined with the incredibly intuitive and easy-to-learn touch screen controls, Dragon Sword makes you feel like a true ninja as soon as you put stylus to screen.

One of Ninja Gaiden Black’s surprising good points was its punishing difficulty level. It somehow managed to walk the fine line between being too frustrating to play and just difficult enough to become a major challenge that would eat away hours of your life. Dragon Sword is nowhere near as difficult (particularly when it comes to boss battles), but is still just as fun (disclaimer: I’ve also only played through on the normal difficulty as of yet; the higher difficulty levels will likely be more challenging). I think the main reason the DS version is so much easier is that the controls are far simpler. Ninja Gaiden on the Xbox required a lot of button pressing to get the same actions you can get in Dragon Sword simply by swiping the stylus across the screen a couple times.

I was particularly surprised by Dragon Sword’s story, which is cohesive and easy to understand. I’m still not 100% certain what happened in Ninja Gaiden on the Xbox, but Dragon Sword’s plot made perfect sense. Although Dragon Sword doesn’t tread much new ground (almost every enemy and locale is straight out of Ninja Gaiden Black), its new story combined with the nostalgia factor and constant action made me not mind the recycled aspect of most of the game’s enemies and so forth.

If you enjoy action games and own a DS, then Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword is a must-have. Team Ninja’s attention to detail and craftsmanship shines through every aspect of the game, and although it only took me five and a half hours to beat, I’ll easily get triple that (or more) playing through the harder difficulty levels and unlocking the in-game extras.

Now if only Ninja Gaiden 2 would come out a little sooner life would be perfect.

I’m not usually a big fan of the realistic anti-terrorist shooters, but Rainbow Six Vegas 2 for the Xbox 360 (and other systems) is growing on me. My cousin has always been really into the Rainbow Six series, and he convinced me to buy Vegas 2 this week and attend an Xbox party with him and a bunch of his Xbox Live friends on Saturday.

It was a blast. Xbox Live already has voice communication going for it, but it’s so much more fun to actually be in the same room with the people you’re playing with. There were a bunch of people at the party (about 14-15 playing Vegas 2 at any given time, and a few others doing their own thing for whatever reason). Definitely more fun than hooking up to matches with total strangers who all too often turn out to be idiots (or twelve years old).

As for the game, Vegas 2 seems like a pretty standard entry into the tactical shooter genre. It only takes a few shots to kill you, taking cover behind walls, boxes, and so forth and peering out as you wait for an enemy is a standard tactic, and half the time when you get killed you have no idea where it came from (thanks to said hiding and peeking around corners). Normally I find these kind of games really frustrating; I was introduced to shooters (specifically online multiplayer shooters) playing Aliens vs. Predator which was filled with claustrophobic maps where your best survival tactic was to simply never stand still, so retraining myself to approach the map one room at a time is difficult.

The controls for Vegas 2 also threw me off. They’re quite different from most shooters I’ve played, and vastly different from Call of Duty 4 (which I’ve been playing recently).

Where Vegas 2 stands out is the variety of multiplayer options available. The entire campaign can be played through cooperatively, either via Live or split screen, and the various multiplayer gametypes are quite fun. Particularly appealing is the fact that if you can’t find enough people to pull off a good team deathmatch, you can do a “terrorist hunt” which allows you and up to three friends to fight bots on the multiplayer maps. I really enjoy coop games and the occasional bot fight, so the variety of options available in Vegas 2 is great.

I’d definitely recommend Vegas 2 if you’re looking for a good tactical shooter with great multiplayer options. It might not be anything special in the sub-genre of realistic anti-terrorist shooters (I wouldn’t know), but it’s the first one that I’ve been able to get into, and is a lot of fun to play with friends.

Every once in a while my girlfriend and I will take her Wii remotes over to my Dad’s house for some Wii bowling, and having to synch the remotes every time was getting really annoying. I couldn’t find any information about using your Wii remote at a friend’s house in the manual, but after digging through the Nintendo support pages I finally found how to use your Wii remote with a friend’s Wii without synching it. It’s called One Time Mode Synchronization.

One tip: in my limited experience you need to add the remotes after you’ve loaded the game (instead of doing it in the Wii menu) or you’ll have to do the process twice. Definitely nice not to need to resynch your Wii remote when you get home, though.

What is the coolest 3D browser game using the Unity plugin you’ve played recently? Was it Off-Road Velociraptor Safari? Yeah, I thought so.

Who doesn’t like running over velociraptors in an off-road jeep? Freaking hilarious.

Professor Layton and the Curious Village is a great game for the Nintendo DS that’s appropriate for any age. The art is engaging, the puzzles range from laughably easy to head scratchers, and the music and occasional voice acting are both extremely classy. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys logic puzzles.

I’d forgotten how many hours of my childhood were poured into puzzling out logic problems until I picked up Professor Layton and the Curious Village and had nostalgia slap me in the face. It was a very pleasant surprise.

Freeverse is one of the software companies I love, if only for brilliant gems like Kill Monty, and they just released a new game called Neon Tango. I took a peek at it at MacWorld (couldn’t get close enough to play it) and it looks very entertaining. Downloading its surprisingly huge demo now.

Just so you know, Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings is a really great game for DS. I needed a game that wasn’t fiendishly difficult (goddam Final Fantasy III for DS and it’s freaking neverending final battles and no way to save), and Revenant Wings was an excellent choice. A light RPG meets a light Myth-style RTS (no resource management!) and it works beautifully.

Alright, I’ll admit it. In a moment of weakness, I bought myself a Nintendo DS. I am not sure what made me start thinking about buying one, but I found myself peering at them through the glass at the local electronics store, perusing the games, and thinking to myself, “Should I? No! Spending money bad! But they’re so shiny…”

I held out for a while, but after reading the reviews online (highly positive), taking a long bus trip in my now car-less existence and watching the guy in front of me play PSP the whole way, and then agonizing over it for days I finally gave up and just bought the damn thing.

And wow. I’m loving it. Along with the system, I purchased Puzzle Quest and Mariokart DS. Today in another moment of weakness, I also purchased Final Fantasy III.

In any case, this is possibly the coolest piece of gaming equipment I have ever purchased. Granted, the handheld and stylus are slightly uncomfortable after extended usage in my much-larger-than-a-child’s hands. But it’s worth it. The dual screens are gorgeous, the touch-screen mechanic useful, the games that I’ve bought so far extremely fun. And integrated Wifi? It doesn’t get cooler than this.

I may be late to jump on the handheld gaming bandwagon (this is my first handheld), but I am a whole-hearted believer now. If only I had more friends with DSes so that I could play Mariokart against them online…

There’s always something to strive for.