Like chucking turtle shells while carting? Have I got a group of gamers for you. Today, Nintendo announced that Mario Kart 7 would be bringing community features to the long-running Mario Kart series.

The center piece is a "Mario Kart Channel", which will serve the same function that the Wii Channel does, namely providing players with new info. Here, players can find stuff they collect during StreetPass mode on the 3DS or the StreetPass races.

It's also possible to play friends or folks you've passed in StreetPass online. What's more, Mario Kart players can make groups to meet with their friends.

Mario Kart now features community leaderboards.

The StreetPass and SpotPass features allow Mart Kart 7 players to exchange data, like racing scores, number of coins, winning record, etc. Via SpotPass, players can get "ghost data" and then race up to seven other ghosts.

Online, up to eight players can race at once. Races are a smooth 60 frames per second. Mario Kart players will be happy to know that Nintendo is taking steps to combat unfair play or cheating. Nintendo did not go into great detail about what these steps will be exactly.

Additionally, Nintendo stated that the Mushroom and Flower Cups will have 8 new courses, including one created by Retro Studios, set in the jungles from Donkey Kong Country Returns.

In total there will be 16 new courses and 16 classic courses, with the Banana and Shell Cups pulling tracks from previous versions of the game.

Also of note are new power-ups, including the Fire Flower, which lets you launch fireballs at opponents, and the Super Leaf, which gives the back of your kart a Tanooki Tail to knock opponents away.

Community features are now standard on many racing games and are a welcomed addition to Mario Kart. Add those to the new courses and power-ups, and it looks like Nintendo is doing a pretty good job of trying to keep things fresh.

Nintendo's just announced that the popular video streaming service will be hitting its best-selling home console and it latest handheld by the end of the year. The move puts Hulu's premium, subscriber offering on all three major home video consoles now, with the service having debuted on the PlayStation 3 last summer. While the basic Hulu service lets users stream a massive back-catalog of TV and film content to connected devices, Hulu Plus allows access to entire seasons of currently running shows.

One has to wonder if the Hulu + Nintendo partnership will continue onto the Wii U, the in-development successor to the Wii that will boasts the ability to place-shift video. With a Hulu Plus-enabled Wii U, one could conceivably stream TV show content through the Wii U base unit to the system's touchscreen controller, while someone else watches another show on the family TV. It's an interesting potential point of differentiation—streaming content to a separate, dedicated screen in the home—that could make the Wii U more attractive than other home console game systems.

Nintendo did reveal new Nintendo 3DS hardware today. But Nintendo isn's selling these 3DS consoles. No, Nintendo is giving them away.

Club Nintendo winners have an opportunity to win special Nintendo 3DS units that feture Princess Peach, Mario, and Toad motifs. There are only three thousand of these 3DS units—one thousand of each.

And the units are only available to Japan's Club Nintendo members to win. Club Nintendo members can enter two Club Nintendo codes that come packaged with games to get a chance at winning one of the consoles. The offer ends Jan. 15.

Simply by entering, you get a free Kid Icarus download via the e-Shop.

Nintendo should really sell these designs. They're fantastic.

In December, there'll be a soft, cuddly Portal turret available to buy. Those who like their Portal companions a little squarer (but just as cuddly), you get yours a month earlier.

In November, NECA will release its first piece of official Valve merchandise, in the form of a plush Companion Cube. No word on price yet, but it'll be 6″x 6″ (x 6″!). And soft.

And, for series purists, probably quite flammable, too.

Portal – Plush – Companion Cube [NECA]

Batman: Arkham City is coming to the Xbox 360, the PS3, and the PC. Website CVG compared the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions. Watch the above clip to see them face off.

Dunno about you, but they look like they're about the same—both look pretty great!

Batman: Arkham City PS3 vs Xbox 360 gameplay [YouTube]

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata is calling today's presentation "Nintendo Direct". Think of it as a fireside chat with the company responsible for Mario.

It's expected that Nintendo will detail Mario Kart 7's wireless features, show new Monster Hunter 3G footage as well as detail the 3D filming functionality coming to the 3DS in the November update.

You can see a stream of the pre-recorded conference below, with a translating liveblog (the video isn't in English) below that.

Streaming Live by Ustream

Today, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata will be speaking to gamers in a pre-recorded presentation called "Nintendo Direct". According to Iwata, there'll be information about Mario Kart 7's wireless functionality as well as a new Monster Hunter 3G footage. @Nintendo]

So says a white guy, but stay with me. Hollywood is on the prowl, turning Japanese manga and anime into movies. And yet the star factory, once again, cannot find a Japanese person to find a Japanese character.

The movie in question is Akira, which is set in Tokyo (well, Neo Tokyo) and which follows Japanese youth. The iconic manga and anime is being made into a Hollywood feature film. It's been in development hell for a while now, and it's being retooled for Western audiences.

The flick is apparently starring a white dude. Garrett Hedlund of Tron: Legacy fame is supposedly in talks to star as Kaneda. Not only is Hedlund older than Kaneda is in the manga and anime, he's certainly not Japanese. And probably won't be in the flick. Maybe Hollywood will change the character's name to something a little more American.

Why even call this flick Akira? The source material is so directly connected to Japan, urban Tokyo, Japanese youth culture, Japanese consumerism, and Bubble Economy Era anxieties. Oh, right, marketing and branding. You've seen what Hollywood did to Godzilla, right?

It does make sense for a Hollywood studio to shoot a movie in America (or Canada or whatever English speaking country gives them tax breaks). Japan is expensive and a logistical nightmare. But, it begs the question: Aren't there Japanese—heck, Asian—actors that Hollywood can find? In a diverse country of over 300 million people, surely, there's one Asian actor they can find to play a character named "Akira".

Hollywood studios will argue that they select the best actor for the role. More often than not, that actor ends up being white—or black. It's not just about finding the best actor, it's about finding a popular actor that can open a movie. It's about getting butts in the theater.

Hollywood is sometimes fairly accused of whitewashing. Other times, such as with Prince of Persia, it's more complex.

Likewise, Japanese artists are sometimes accused of making Japanese characters "look white".

Warner Bros., who recently greenlit the flick, doesn't seem to be taking any chances. The budget is a mere US$90 million, which is small potatoes for a story of this size and scope.

There are Asian actors working in Hollywood. There are Japanese actors, who have appeared in big, Hollywood flicks. Those actors, however, are not starring in Akira.

If you are not familiar with them, the Akira manga and anime are fantastic. The games are not.

Warners Greenlights [Variety via Ain't It Cool]

Former Capcom artist Kinu Nishimura is one of those people who, if I grabbed you and said WHO IS KINU NISHIMURA, you would scream and say I HAVE NO IDEA.

Then I'd show you some of her work, mostly from Capcom's legendary fighting game series, and you'd be all "Oohhhhh, it's her. Awesome!"

Nishimura began work at Capcom in 1991, and while she's not directly employed there any more, still does the odd piece for the publisher from time to time.

In the twenty years since her first gig on brawler King of Dragons, Nishimura has contributed either promotional art or character design work for classics like Street Fighter II, Rival Schools, Street Fighter III, Capcom vs. SNK, Darkstalkers, Street Fighter IV and Marvel vs. Capcom 3.

Much of which you'll see in the gallery above!

To see the larger pics in all their glory (or so you can save them as wallpaper), right-click on the "expand" icon on the main image above and select "open in new tab".

Yesterday, Twisted Metal creator David Jaffe quietly released three new screenshots for the PS3's entry in the franchise. Here they are.

Twisted Metal is a PS3 exclusive, and will be out in February 2012.