Out of the blue, Nintendo recently announced an update to its classic NES title, Excitebike. Called Excitebike: World Rally, the WiiWare title is just like the original that you know and love, just with updated graphics, user-created-track sharing, and online play. 

At 1000 Wii Points (that's ten human dollars), I couldn't resist. As a huge fan of the original, the idea of an updated Excitebike had me opening my wallet faster than you could say "Nintendo Seal of Quality." After about 20 minutes with the game, I'm happy to report it's exactly what I expected.

While the game features the option for an "updated" control scheme -- one that allows basic bike-tilting with the Wii Remote -- you can play the game in "classic" mode, which feels just like the original. Well, outside of shaking the Wii Remote vigorously to get your rider up quickly after taking a spill. 

In the first ten minutes, I was able to complete the game's training (as if I needed it!), the entire Bronze cup, and play around with the game's track editor. What you don't see is me trying to find a game online... I couldn't. Yes, I cried. 

Anyone else pick the game up today? What do you think so far? Have you had any luck finding games online?

You know you need a new brand name when your own staff can't remember which franchise game is coming out for which platform. That's what happened in the case of Rikiya Koyama, a Vesperia voice actor.

Koyama commented on his blog that "Tales of Vesperia was released on the Xbox 360, and now the PS3, and soon a Vesperia for the Wii." Needless to say, the hint brought tears of joy to Wii-owning fans alongside cries of (further) betrayal from Xbox 360 owners.

A few days later Koyama retracted the statement and apologized, saying that he confused Tales of Vesperia with Tales of Graces, the actual Wii release, due next month in Japan. I feel a little sorry for him, because he's not even going to be in Tales of Graces' voice cast. 

Wii-owners who want a taste of Vesperia's excellent character designs (by Kosuke Fujishima, a.k.a. the Sakura Wars guy) aren't left entirely in the cold, as the first piece of DLC for Tales of Graces is a Vesperia costume pack, of which you can find a snazzy video below. 

Then again, that Vesperia costume pack costs money, officially making Graces the first JRPG on the platform to have paid DLC. Good going, Namco Bandai!

[Via Gameguru and Siliconera]

You know what never gets old to me? The classic Bomberman formula.

On a weekend quest to find something current to tide me over until Tuesday, I said "screw this" after five minutes and proceeded to play Super Bomberman 2 until I lost in the final area. Then I went on a massive winning streak against the lowest level COMs -- I was the champion of the world.

For the most part, this series has always been timeless. As Nick mentioned earlier, the new DSiWare game Bomberman Blitz came out today. With 8-person multiplayer, a non-crappy-3D art style, and a price tag of 500 points, I'm inclined to think it's possibly worth buying.

Unless you're more into clocks, calendars, or calculators, in which case, get out.

Yesterday we reported on British MP and reputed liar Keith Vaz, who pursued his long-running agenda against videogames by complaining about Modern Warfare 2's controversial airport scene and promising to bring the issue up in parliament. Today, Vaz was righteously pummeled by fellow Labour MP Tom Watson, who said politicians should be encouraging, not attacking, the videogame industry.

"It carries a content warning, it is an 18 plus game," Watson told MPs after Vaz claimed he was trying to protect children. "It would be better for members of this house to support the many thousands of games designers and coders and the many millions of games users, rather than collaborating with the Daily Mail to create moral panic over the use of video games."

Junior culture minister Siôn Simon also supported the game, stating that adult-rated games deserve to be released and marketed to adults: "The game you refer to is a certificate 18 game. It should not be sold to children and the government's job is to make sure that adults ... can get what adults should be able to and children are not in danger of being subjected to adult content."

Tom Watson has set up a Facebook Page for gamers who are sick of anti-videogame news, with the message, "Are you sick of UK newspapers and (my fellow) politicians beating up on gaming? So am I. The truth is, UK gamers need their own pressure group. I want to help you start one up."

So there you go. Nice to know that not every politician is an out-of-touch bastard, and it's nice to see that corrupt liar Keith Vaz getting the smackdown he deserves.

We're a week away from the launch of one of the year's most highly anticipated releases, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. So what better way to celebrate the release of the game than by having a contest?

First up, if you didn't know, GameStop has been giving away daily prizes for Modern Warfare 2 for a little while now. All you have to do is pre-order the game from GameStop and then enter their sweepstakes over on Surprize Attack, where they're holding raffles twice a day. There are a ton of prizes being offered, from CoD dog tags and shirts to CoD-themed Hummer. Yeah, a freaking car! The GameStop contest ends on November 10.

If you already pre-ordered Modern Warfare 2 from somewhere else, though, don't worry: Destructoid's got your back. We're holding a big Modern Warfare 2 contest this week, with these prizes:

• First place: The Xbox 360 Modern Warfare 2 Limited Edition Console with a copy of Modern Warfare 2.
• Second and third place: A copy of Modern Warfare 2 (Xbox 360).
• Fourth and fifth place: A $50 GameStop gift card.

All you have to do to enter this contest is to create a perk you would like to see appear in a Call of Duty game. It can be funny, serious -- anything goes. Just make sure you describe your perk in detail when you leave your entry in the comments below. One entry per person only!

Perks, if you don't know, are customizations you can give yourself in multiplayer that give the player an extra advantage, such as increase the damage you give, increase your reload speed, drop grenades when you die and so on.

This contest is open until 11:59 PM EST on November 10, and it's for US residents only. We'll be announcing the five winners on November 11. Now have at it!

It's easy to love 1 vs. 100. A chance to goof off with friends, prove yourself to be an all-out trivia god, and possibly win something nice if you're lucky enough to become The One or land in The Mob. Plus, it's one-hundred percent free.

The 14-week-long Season 2 is starting up soon -- November 19 at 5:00 PST, to be precise. Players will be put into The Mob or become The One based on total scores across the season, week, and current round; I always thought they just picked the people who were the most likely to not win prizes.

The new changes to The One, along with the themed 1 vs. 100 Extended Play shows -- Finish the Lyrics, 80s, and Vampires (it was bound to happen) -- should provide fun gaming on the cheap. Who else is pumped to play?

Did you enjoy last week's Once Upon a Pixel episode? Want some insight as to how and why I created the dark world that Death Ball takes place in? If the answer to either of these questions is "no", then maybe you haven't seen it yet. I'll give you a moment to fix this if you so choose.

Now, if you answered "yes", you're in luck! Below all this text is a gallery of most of the original art used in the episode (it's only "most" because I didn't want to include the boring, slightly different animation frames). If you hit the jump, I talk a little about the Katamari games and how they inspired me to turn their world upside down and drain all the color out.

With some stores going absolutely overboard with the whole releasing Modern Warfare 2 before Tuesday thing, it's not surprising to hear that the retail PC versions of the game will not be playable, according to 1UP, until the official launch date.

Imagine the joy vanish from your face as you get home after scoring an early copy only to realize, crap, this damn thing won't run! You are now an owner of a fabulous new paperweight, my friend. Since MW2 on PC utilizes Steamworks, users are locked out similar to how they were for Borderlands.

It's a bummer, for sure, but when you compare it to the other issues gamers are having with the PC edition, it's not so horrible. I know, I know -- my positivity isn't helping here.

If you've always dreamed of injecting yourself with magic mutant juice, then you'll be thrilled to know that an official replica EVE hypodermic needle has been announced today! Based BioShock's in-game models for the EVE hypos, these life-size replicas bring Rapture's lifeblood into your very home. Soon you'll be squeezing the life out of your infant daughters for that precious ADAM, too!

The hypos come with LED lights that glow from within the hypo, giving the EVE inside a distinct illuminating hue. They're due for release in January and will set you back £14 or $23, depending on where you hail from. I really am tempted to buy one for my desk.

Destructoid teamed up with Namco Bandai to giveaway six copies of Magnacarta 2 for the Xbox 360. All you had to do in order to win a copy was create an image with a photo editing program using pictures of some of the ladies from Magnacarta 2.

Congratulations to BulletMagnet, eightcell, Eltop, Gestault, -PL- and afrowalrus. Your images were voted the funniest/best of the bunch and you'll each be getting a copy of the game. Look for an e-mail coming to you via the e-mail address we have on file for you soon.

The official Magnacarta 2 Web site is still holding their contest until November 29 where you can win an art book, battle atlas and a Magnacarta 2 themed Xbox 360 faceplate. Just head on over to the official site, submit an entry form and you'll be entered into their contest!

Not too long ago, Capcom asked you to decide between having the Resident Evil 5 Alternate Edition content as a new retail package, or getting it as a downloadable add-on. You voted, and more importantly, you voted correctly.

Rather than making us all buy a new copy of RE5 this spring, based on your feedback, Capcom is making the Alternate Edition content available as a download for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in North America, Europe, and Australia.

In the announcement over on Capcom-Unity, Chris Kramer mentioned a little something about there being more stuff on the way that we don't know about yet. Any ideas on what that could be?

A little factoid that usually cruises under "hardcore" gamers' radar is that casual games make money. Make a lot of money. So much money that casual game company execs regularly regularly take money baths, swim in money pools, and inhale their prescription medication though tubes made of money. Incidentally, those prescription meds? Powdered money.

Some of the most casual of casual games are the ones you can play on Facebook or other social networking sites. It's a confirmed fact that 100% of Facebook owners have, at one point or another, received an invitation to join Pet Society, Restaurant City, or some sort of social game involving the mafia.

That said, it makes perfect sense that EA would go and buy Playfish, one of the "big three" social gaming companies. The price? A whopping $275 million. An additional $25 million was tacked on top for something called "equity retention arrangements," and Playfish could snag up to $100 million more for meeting certain "performance milestones" by 2012. All in all, that's enough money to remake Grand Theft Auto IV four times over. 

An interview with Gamasutra confirmed that Playfish would be operating under EA Interactive (EAi), EA's division devoted to wireless and web gaming. Barry Cottle, EAi's senior VP and general manager, said that the move gives EA "the chance to establish ourselves in a leadership position overnight."

Jesus Christ, that's a lot of money.

Played Borderlands to your heart's content? Scavenged all the guns and killed all the Skags? Gearbox Software has you covered. Zombie Island is ready to be unlocked in just a matter of days, as the game's first DLC has been given a release date of November 24 on PS3 and Xbox 360.

The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned is set on Jakob's Cove, where the eponymous Ned has created an army of undead workers. It's up to the plucky Vault hunters to find a cure and save Jakob's Cove from Ned's nefarious crimes against nature. It's going to set you back $9.99 on PSN or 800 MS Points on Xbox Live.

No details have been released regarding this DLC and the PC version of the game.

[New releases is your weekly look at all the hot new titles coming out this week.]

The most anticipated game of the year is finally here: Activision and Infinity' Ward's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 hits store shelves tomorrow and it's no doubt going to be one of the biggest sellers of the year. How many of you are planning on getting Modern Warfare 2? And if not, why? Speaking of which, be sure to enter our Modern Warfare 2 giveaway ending soon!

Two other Call of Duty titles are coming to the Wii and DS, along with a couple of new Dragon Ball Z games, a couple of new Harvest Moon titles hit and as usual, a bunch of shovelware garbage lands on the Wii and DS too. 

What's looking sw33t to you all this week? Hit the break for the full low down on all the releases this week.