Now here's the story of a guy named Mario.

It's an old story. You've probably heard it before. Princess is lounging around, minding her own business. Giant turtle jumps out of the sky. Drags her away. Sticks her in a cage and waits for Mario to follow.

The specifics might change every now and then—a frog suit here, a toy planet there—but the story's always the same. Mario's always going to power up. He's always going to make those jumps. He's always going to save the girl.

That's not why we play Mario. We play because of the real story. The one that's hidden in the details.

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It would not be unreasonable for you to wonder, when picking up New Super Mario Bros. 2, which is out this Sunday for Nintendo's 3DS, why it so prominently features the word new. It sure doesn't look new. There are Koopas and fire flowers and raccoon tails and blocks and Goombas and mushrooms. It all looks and sounds much like the first New Super Mario Bros., released in 2006, which by video game standards is almost 400 years old. Definitely not new.

You'd be right to jump to that conclusion. This is not an innovative, boundary-pushing platforming experience like Super Mario Galaxy or even last year's Super Mario 3D Land. New Super Mario Bros. 2 is a bedtime story, another incarnation of a timeless set of tales that never seem to get boring. It's warm. It's familiar. It's well-tread. You know exactly what you're getting.

The story of New Super Mario Bros. 2, like the story of all Mario games, is told in split-second moments. It's the little burst of joy that surges through your body when you make a jump that's just high enough to clear the next ledge. The sudden brain pulse telling you to dive into that pit that looks a tiny bit out of place. That groan you try to hold back as you enter a new stage and see nothing but a pond and a pipe, a sign that this is going to be one of those water levels where Mario moves like he's carrying a sack of anvils.

Like all the best stories, New Super Mario Bros. 2 can be enjoyed both in short doses and marathon sessions, although your marathon sessions might not last very long. This is not a large game. There are six main worlds, each of which has fewer than ten stages to play through. Padding this out somewhat are three secret worlds—and I use the term "secret" rather loosely, as they're clearly marked on your system's bottom screen—and a bunch of hidden levels, some of which I still haven't figured out how to reach. Hardcore speed-runners could probably plow through the whole game in mere minutes, though it took me a solid eight or nine hours to get through each level and take apart its secrets.

Really, it's those secrets—the hidden little stories you can find in every nook and cranny—that make this game worth experiencing. While hopping my way through deserts and caverns, I found myself addicted to the thrill of chasing down the optional, hidden Star Coins on every stage. I couldn't stop hunting for secret levels, extra blocks. I re-discovered the joy of accidentally unleashing a vine that could take me to a set of treasure-stuffed platforms in the sky. I gobbled up those tiny nuggets of brain-tickling satisfaction. It was almost like the game's designers were talking directly to me. "You got us," they would whisper. "Nice work!"

What's brilliant about these secrets is that they're never unfair. Mario games are crafted to reward curiosity, and this one is no exception. Jump up where it seems like you can't reach something? There's an extra life. Try to slip through a hole in the wall that looks inaccessible? Here's a hidden world.

Maybe you're a collector. Maybe you're addicted to achievement-hunting and level-grinding and gamifying your life as much as possible. New Super Mario Bros. 2 has got you covered. The game tasks you with collecting a million golden coins—a goal that is mostly unreasonable. After beating every level—and taking my sweet time with each one—my coin counter hovered somewhere closer to 40,000, way short of that million-dollar mark. Reaching that number will probably take a great deal of your time.

But there are coins everywhere. Big coins and small coins. Coins from boxes and coins from enemies. A box that temporarily turns Mario's head into a coin-spurting volcano. Golden fire flowers that transform all of your enemies into coins. This is Mario not just for explorers but for wanton number hunters. Same story, different audience.

It's a story that could have been told in better ways. Some new music would have been lovely. The bulk of the game is set to a single song. The boss battles are an insult to your intelligence and curiosity, each fight following a simple, repetitive routine that feels like it was thrown in just because Mario games have to have bosses. They don't, do they?

The story of Mario is one that has been passed along for many years now. It's the story of secrets and coins, yes, but it's also the story of a perfectly timed jump off a Koopa Troopa's shell, of a duck-and-slide through a narrow gap that leads you to a mushroom that will make you grow to screen-sized proportions so you can rampage through a level, splitting pipes in half and knocking down everything you see. It's a story about saving a princess. But it's mostly a story about the things you find along the way.

This video preview of the newest add-on to Blizzard's mega-successful MMO premiered today at Gamescom. Enjoy the pandas! And the mists!

The Warcraft franchise looks like its entire world was made from children's balloons. It's nothing but big shapes and bright, bright colours. Love it or hate it, it's become an iconic style, something that's helped World of Warcraft not only run on anybody's computer, but look unique in doing it.

But have you ever wondered why Azeroth and its people look the way they do? When so many other fantasy games, Blizzard's own Diablo included, opt for styles a little less "Saturday morning cartoon"?

There's a couple of very good reasons. And they date back all the way to the development of the very first game in the franchise, Warcraft: Orcs vs Humans.

In part two of his big look back at the making of the landmark RTS title, former Blizzard exec Patrick Wyatt says "If you consider the artwork of the Warcraft series, you'll see that the colors are shockingly loud in comparison to, say, Diablo, where only in a dim room is it truly possible to see the beauty of the art. The bright, cartoony art-style was different from the style of many other PC war games of the era, which hewed to more realistic color palette."

"Part of that difference can be explained by the past experiences of our artists, who had worked on several Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis console titles, where games required more dynamic colors since televisions of that era were so much worse at displaying colors than PC monitors. Console games on TVs, which had lower pixel resolution and color bleed, needed high-contrast artwork to show well."

That's one reason. Makes sense! The other one's a little stranger.

"Another reason was at the behest of Allen [Adham, Blizzard's co-founder], who charged all the artists with drawing artwork in bright conditions. He'd regularly stalk the halls of Blizzard turning on lights and opening window-blinds."

"His view was that most folks play games in bright rooms, so our artists should be authoring our games to play well in that environment. He argued that it's easy to draw artwork that reads well when viewed in a dark room with no outside light can distract from the monitor. But when computer art is competing with bright lights it's much more difficult to see. And fluorescent bulbs are the worst form of light available - the cold, flickering glow of their tubes tires the eyes and washes out colors."

"So the lights were always on in the art rooms to force artists to compensate for terrible lighting by creating art that accounted for those conditions. These working conditions chafed on some (all?) of the art team, but ultimately led to artwork that stood out compared to products of the day."

Art that, the odd imitator aside, continues to do so today. You can read more of Patrick's fascinating look back at the link below.

The Inside Story of the Making of Warcraft, Part 2 [Kotaku]

Square Enix's new/remade MMORG, Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn was shown at Gamescom 2012 in Germany yesterday. During the stage event, producer/director Naoki Yoshida stood on stage to show what has been developed so far.

As can be seen from screenshots, FFXIV: A Realm Reborn has some pretty spectacular grapchics. Yoshida proudly announced that the game boasts "the highest quality graphics of any current MMO."

In combat, a new Limit Break feature reminiscent of Final Fantasy VII has been added to the combat system that allows for parties to execute powerful attacks. Parties will have a shared Limit Break gauge that is filled through normal combat and the well-timed execution of attacks and support maneuvers. Battles are also being re-tuned for quicker, smoother encounters.

The initial game system itself has also been altered to allow for a more tutorial-style that allows new players to smoothly gain levels while learning the basics of the game as part of their quests. Yoshida warned that current players of Final Fantasy XIV may find the system restrictive at first, but that this was necessary to prevent players used to the old system from being thrown straight into the new system without any idea of what's changed.

As for the hardware requirements for playing the game, while the specs for the demo machine used at the event were unannounced, apparently, any machine powerful enough to play the current Final Fantasy XIV will be able to run A Realm Reborn without any necessary upgrades.

No official release date has been announced other than "this year," but Square Enix has announced that there will be a beta test scheduled for "Winter 2012."

「ファイナルファンタジーXIV：新生エウオルゼア」のβテストは2012年冬に決定。吉田Pへの合同インタビューもあったステージをレポート [4Gamer.net]

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For years now, Team Ninja has been talking up the breast physics in its Dead or Alive fighting games. And now that DOA5 is coming out, Team Ninja is...talking up breast physics.

According to website PSU, Team Ninja producer Yosuke Hayashi said the DOA5 development team went "hands on" with partners and other studio staff to get the game's breast physics "right".

Oh. Yep, once again, Team Ninja proves the amounts of fucks they don't give is the stuff of legends.

But DOA5 is more than just jubblies. "DOA5 is a fighting game for this generation," said the producer, adding, "Our game engine is built from scratch." And, apparently, it's built from groping, too.

Team Ninja goes hands-on with breasts to create 'the cutest chicks in videogames' [PSU via NeoGAF via インサイド]

Here's the latest entry in The Avengers line of collectibles from Hong Kong figure maker Hot Toys. As with other Hot Toys figures, the amount of detail and craftsmanship to marvel at is simply staggering.

Staggering ain't cheap! As with other Hot Toys figs, you're need to open your wallets for this Hulk (the Japanese pricing is ¥35,000, which is over US$400; however, it's $299 in the US).

The 1/6 scale, fully poseable Hulk will be out next March and comes with an extra set of fist. That's it? Well, the figure also has ripped pants and green nipples. What else do you need?

ハルク [Hot Toys]

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UK comedian Adam Buxton (one half of Adam and Joe) recently uploaded this song to YouTube. As Kotaku reader Sam pointed out, it was for a section called Song Wars in which both Adam and Joe have to make a song on a theme and listeners vote on the winner. This is the result.

Dubstep Warning: Yes, there's dubstep, but don't let that scare you away.

The PS Vita will be getting a firmware update soon which will allow for a bunch of new features, including the long-awaited PS1 game compatibility. However, by opening the doors to older classics, Sony could potentially be exposing or creating new security holes to hackers who would eagerly exploit them.

The new system update, version 1.80, will be available on August 28th by jumping over 1.7 will be adding several heavily anticipated upgrades from the current version 1.691. The new features will include:

• Compatibility with PS1 games (It is still uncertain whether the PS1 archive games already out will be Vita compatible, or if Sony will be releasing a Vita specific lineup)

• Added use of button control for certain applications where previously only touch screen interface was allowed

• Speed control and repeat function for video

• Playlist compatibility with PlayStation 3 and iTunes playlists (Ver 10.6.3 or newer for iTunes)

• Increased cross-platform functionality with a "Cross Controller" feature to control specific PlayStation 3 software with the PS Vita through the Remote Play LiveArea

Hot on the heels of the new firmware update, the hacker, wololo, who developed one of the first executable custom software (Vita Half Byte Loader or VHBL for short) for the Vita, has announced he will release a new VHBL on the same date as the firmware update release, or shortly after in September, which will probably annoy the Hell out of Sony. Wololo's original hack utilized a weakness not in the Vita's firmware itself, but in games run on the PSP emulator in the Vita. This means that by enabling a PS1 emulator to run on the Vita, there could be a whole new batch of potential security holes that could be used to run custom software on the Vita. No doubt there will likely be several subsequent updates to follow.

PlayStation Vita 2012年8月28日（火）のシステムソフトウェアアップデートバージョン1.80により、新機能追加 [SCEI]

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Here's some gameplay footage of the relaunched Final Fantasy XIV. The presentation shows off some of the game's drag and drop inventory system as well as jumping. Yes, jumping!

First Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn Gameplay Footage [Siliconera]

"Haikyo" are abandoned buildings—ruins. Last year, a couple ex-BioShock developers read an account by Gakuranman.com of exploring a haikyo. It inspired their new indie game Gone Home, a game that revolves around exploration, instead of cheap scares.

The house featured on Gakuranman has since been known as "The Royal House". Steve Gaynor on the Gone Home developer blog explains:

The house had been abandoned for many years, but had gone undiscovered and remained almost in the same state it was when it was last inhabited. And it was filled with tantalizing and mysterious clues as to who lived there, what happened to them, and why the house had been left to rot.

The relics in the abandoned house showed that a British man had married into a Japanese family. The relics pointed to the pearl trade as well as falling out, culminating in a group portrait with the foreigner cut out with scissors. For the developers of Gone Home, the ruins showed how the sense of mystery—mystery in ordinary lives—deepened the more you shifted through the ruins.

Other sites, such as TokyoTimes, have also been exploring Japan's haikyo—from schools to love hotels. You can also see some of the photos taken by TokyoTimes' Lee Chapman in the above gallery (his images are watermarked).

Gone Home is being developed for PC and should be out next year.

How an Abandoned House in Japan Inspired Gone Home [The Fullbright Company]

Haikyo/Ruins [TokyoTimes]

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