geekosystem

I was walking through the Phillipsburg Mall in Phillipsburg, New Jersey the other day with my family and stumbled across the single greatest doghouse ever to exist in history. I present you with "Bow Wowser's Castle" by artist Sam Boglioli. There were a bunch of dog houses around the mall, but none of the others were geek-themed, so I didn't bother taking pictures of them.

Thanks to E3, we saw our first look at the upcoming Super Smash Bros. games for Wii U and 3DS. Three newcomers to the roster of Nintendo's all-star fighting franchise were revealed: Mega Man, Wii Fit Trainer, and Animal Crossing's Villager. At first, gamers seemed to be extremely hyped over the inclusion of Mega, but then something strange happened. Seemingly overnight, the Internet noticed just how creepy the Villager could be. This caused a new meme to arise, and it's only gotten creepier since inception.

A day after they spilled new information on many upcoming titles with their E3 Direct presentation, Nintendo still had something new up their sleeve. CEO Satoru Iwata mentioned in a Q&A with press yesterday that Nintendo have another project in the works -- a free-to-play game. Free-to-play games are all the rage these days, with titles like Team Fortress 2 and League of Legends finding massive success. While Nintendo is not a company that is always keen on capitalizing on current industry trends, this is one it turns out they apparently want to get in on. And really, who wouldn't want a Nintendo game you can play for free?

I really loved Duck Hunt as a kid, and as a result I really hated that dog. Laughing. Always laughing. Artist Chris Carlson must love Duck Hunt too because he went to great lengths to render this beautiful scene in chalk. He even added the nice touch of a little stop-motion animation game play. 3D chalk art always blows my mind, so it's fitting that Carlson's channel on YouTube is called AWE Me. Consider me awed, sir.

The Internet may have collectively chuckled a bit when Nintendo said they were going to bring a new Sonic the Hedgehog game to market, but it turns out Nintendo may have been on to something. The trailer for Sonic Lost World has dropped, and it frankly looks better than any of the franchise's recent installments. That's saying a lot considering it's in 3D.

In a move that's going to have them receiving curses from a very vocal minority of people, Nintendo's now going to profit from user-generated videos that people upload to YouTube. As in, all those really sweet Let's Play videos that people upload to show off their wicked skills? Yeah, Nintendo's going to get the whole pie on that, not just a slice.

Brothers fight, sure, but some brothers have more to fight about than others. As far as family issues, go, Mario and Luigi probably have their fair share. They're always trying to grab the same power-ups, battle the same villains, and, of course, save the same Princess. Sometimes, it's bound to feel like the Mushroom Kingdom just isn't big enough for two Mario Brothers. In the latest episode of their new webseries Shrinkage, SCTV takes a look at the emotional toll their decades long rivalry has taken on these two noble plumbers, and it's pretty entertaining.

Nintendo is reportedly sending developers of smartphone games conversion software to encourage game designers to port their products to the Wii U. Considering the touchpad nature of the Wii U's GamePad controller, this is a logical if not desperate move. Sure, you could probably play games like Angry Birds on the GamePad, but will that be enough to save the Wii U?

Well, it's hard to call this good news for Nintendo: The storied game company announced late yesterday that it will not be putting on the standard "big goofy to-do" press conference at this year's E3 gaming showcase in Los Angeles.

EarthBound is making its way to the Wii U console later this year, which has fans excited, but what of it lesser-known sequel Mother 3? The game was never released in the U.S. but a group of fans went ahead and translated it as a patch for the game's ROM. They've even said Nintendo could use their translated script for free if they ever bring the game to America. Ball's in your court, Nintendo.

Tired of playing video games now that the sun is starting to make regular appearances and the outside world is looking more inviting? Good news! Now there's a computer program that can play your video games for you! Computer scientist Tom Murphy has developed an artificial intelligence that can play NES games like Super Mario Bros. all by itself. It doesn't even have to trade off the controller with its kid brother every other life.

Nintendo sure would love it if you went out and bought a Wii U, their shiny console which is still warm from the factory. Particularly because it's a product they're still supporting. It's actually best if you don't even look at the older ones. They don't really count anymore. In fact, Nintendo is shutting down a some of the Wii's online services -- you don't use those anymore, right? They seem to assume not.

Ever see DuckTales? The 1987 cartoon or the '89 Nintendo game made by Capcom, doesn't matter which. The show was fun, and as for the game, what's not to like about controlling the pluckiest, richest, and most self-assured duck in the world who bounds about his world on his cane as well as any? Well, it's coming back! Capcom announced Duck Tales Remastered at PAX East, and it's set to launch this summer on the PlayStation Network, Xbox Live Arcade, and the Wii U eShop.

Have you ever daydreamed about having your own theme song? Like, you walk through a door and suddenly a certain piece of music kicks in, heralding your arrival. I don't care if it's the Star Wars theme, "The Final Countdown," or "Tubthumping," it'd be something that makes people respect you, hate you, or at least groan. But you know what? This modification of an NES by Mark Rober might be even better. It's an "8-Bit Annoying Person Remover." Genius is what it is. Have a look!

With Sony's big Playstation 4 event yesterday, and details continually being rumored about the next Xbox it looks like the next round of console wars is heating up. Sure, it doesn't actually matter whether Sony or Microsoft come out on top, but it's still something people love to speculate on. Now you can get a little skin in the game by betting cash money on which console is going to come out ahead.