Sonic isn’t an accurate portrayal of what a Hedgehog really looks like. Many of us have probably found that out the hard way through a documentary on the National Geographic Channel or a textbook as we grew up. But what if our beloved Sonic were to look like an actual Hedgehog? Using Adobe CS3 and Wacom Intous3 Pen Tablet, computer artist Marcus Blattermann drew what he believes is Sonic the REAL Hedgehog. An amazing piece of work, but I prefer my blue, more attractive Sonic over the brown one any day.

essenmitsosse

Just like last week, gains all around. except for the DS Lite. The biggest jumps in hardware sales were enjoyed by Nintendo platforms, though Sony’s PSP still maintains a commanding lead in Japan for the week ending May 4th. On the software charts, Mario Kart Wii wins top honors yet again, Phoenix Wright 2, 3, and 4 place within five ranks of each other, and Super Mario Galaxy creeps back onto the charts at #46.

• PSP: 100,870 (+8,459)
• Wii: 71,518 (+22,722)
• DSL: 52,542 (+10,107)
• PS3: 10,177 (+1,070)
• PS2: 8,802 (+1,694)
• X360: 1,725 (+442)

Full software sales rankings can be found after the break.

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Daily. Haha.

So I finished my spring semester of school yesterday and made the two hour drive home after getting soaked in a downpour while loading everything into my car. Alright, it didn’t downpour the whole time - just when I went out one last time to actually get into car. I finally get home and find everything just as I left it - including these old Sega Game Gear collectible cards that came with some bubble gum. I was reading one of the game tips on these cards to Matthew over spring break, just for fun. If you can’t read it above, you can read a close-up image here.

Can you imagine getting walkthroughs like that for today’s games? Or someone reading it to you as you play? “Wait, slow down, I lost you after ‘Begin the level…’”

News & Information
Ex-Nintendo president named Japan’s richest man
Peter Moore wants to pump you up
Dr. Mario given a title, price, and date
GameStop ceasing Wii Fit pre-orders
Nintendo plays Big Brother with the Nintendo Channel
Select Wii games on sale at Circuit City next week
VGChartz data shows record-setting April for Wii
MLB Power Pros 2008 ships in July for Wii, Fall for DS
Top Chef heading to Wii?
$10 off Wii Fit at Best Buy
Hanabi Festival continues as PAL regions get four VC games
Pay-to-Samba coming in August
At the Drive-In’s “One Armed Scissor” confirmed for GH: Aerosmith … I think

Game Media
European Wii Fit website launches

Society & Culture
reNESED makes the original NES chic, attractive
NES controller coffee table promotes playing with furniture
Metroid Prime 3…D! Sort of.
‘Will It Blend?’ takes on a Wii Remote
Prince William beats 18-year-old in Wii Tennis at a social gathering

Punknews.org reports that At the Drive-In’s “One Armed Scissor” will make an appearance in Guitar Hero IV, but says the title is releasing this June and alongside “more conventional tracks from band’s like Aerosmith and Def Leppard.” It’s safe to assume they have mistaken GH IV for Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, which I wasn’t going to purchase, but now that they mention At the Drive-In I may just take the dive. I’ve been a fan of that band since forever, and their more recent project Mars Volta.

Punknews.org
via NeoGAF

Just when you thought you could get excited about a promising new entry into the Samba de Amigo series, SEGA has gone and slapped an unmistakably orange icon on the game’s box art. GameStop’s entry for the game, listed as shipping on August 19th, suggests that the game will be the first confirmed game to offer Wii Pay & Play services.

There aren’t any other details on what the service will offer (I dunno…songs maybe?), but we’ll be finding out in the coming months. Considering that the game was shaping up to be worth buying in the first place, these costly downloads better be worth it as well, or the Sega fanboys may throw down their maracas…

GameStop

Three of this week’s Virtual Console offerings in the PAL regions are new to said regions, continuing this month’s invasion of import classics. I’ve not played some of them, but we all know you can’t go wrong with Puyo Puyo games, right? Also, joining those three games is the always-entertaining Metal Slug. You can check out the full list below…

• Puyo Puyo 2 (Mega Drive, 900 Wii Points)
• Break In (TurboGrafx-16, 700 Wii Points)
  
• Cho Aniki (TurboGrafx-16, 900 Wii Points)
  
• Metal Slug (NeoGeo, 900 Wii Points)

Expensive week, huh?

We all know that anyone, no matter age, gender or race, can enjoy the Wii, but royalty? Apparently they do as Prince William served an unfortunate person some whooping in Wii Tennis at a benefit held for the Valleys Kids Project. After his victory William went as far as saying “you know you’re not allowed to beat me.” Nothing like adding a little salt to the wound, eh William? When asked what happened, the 18-year-old named Martyn James replied, “I was stitched up.” A good sport, indeed.

Yahoo! News UK
via GoNintendo

Using the coupon above (and provided in the link below) you can get $10 off any game software and accessories as long as it’s over $75. Yes, that does include Wii Fit; so print out the coupon, head out to Best Buy and save some of your hard-earned cash. Just a heads up: this coupon is not valid for BestBuy.com purchases.

Best Buy

According to a post on Licensing.biz, NBC — who owns Bravo, the station that airs Top Chef — has chosen DSI Games to make a video-game based version of said show on the Nintendo Wii. First Cooking Mama, then Iron Chef and now this? One thing will be guaranteed at the end of this gaming generation: we’ll all be executive chef’s.

Licensing.biz
via Desructoid

2K Sports today announced that MLB Power Pros. 2008 will ship this July for the Nintendo Wii and later this fall on the Nintendo DS. The game will feature 10 different game modes including Home Run Derby, Practice, Exhibition and Season, as well as the opportunity to be a General Manager, giving the gamer control of their teams fate by enabling them to make trades, sign free agents and the like.

There is also a story mode where you take a Minor League team trying to make their way through the ranks while managing their personal lives at the same time. An interesting addition to a sports game. Hit the jump for the full press release.

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