Maybe you're like me and spent your weekend fighting against illness, unable to brave the cold world to pick up a copy of New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Or maybe you're just not yet convinced after our stellar review of the title. 

Either way, here's the first ten minutes, which will probably not push you away if you were on the fence and may only serve to motivate you to grab a copy. The game is great fun and I'm really enjoying my run through it thus far. Of course, it's hard to go wrong with a 2D Mario title.

Lots of you have already grabbed the game, but what about the rest of you? Does the new propeller hat compel you as it has me?

Last year, when Destructoid's staff laid dibs on the survivors in Left 4 Dead, I saw things in Francis that nobody else did. They were so quick to write him off as the least desirable survivor and that simply was not the case. I still feel confident that I made the right decision and Francis was my partner for most every game I played.

Now that I have watched my associates unnecessarily malign Ellis, I once again feel compelled to not only defend the underdog but to show why he is clearly the best possible choice.

I have dibs on Ellis.

Here's why.

[Sexy Time! is a regular series where we take a look at some of the more, shall we say, erotic aspects of video games.  You're welcome.]

It's been a while since we delved into the tawdry land of pixellated pleasure. That's because we've been making Sexy Time even sexier by changing the format to a full-on video feature.

This time, we're taking a look at some of the scintillating scenes in the latest Grand Theft Auto IV expansion, The Ballad of Gay Tony. I was absolutely shocked by how many times I found myself watching people do the nasty while playing through this game. If you'll click the play button, I'll give some thoughts on that.

I should not have to tell you that this video is NSFW. It's probably not safe for anywhere else someone might catch you watching it either.

Rght around the time that WiiWare was just becoming known to the public, a little company in New Hampshire called Medaverse Studios announced that they would be jumping in on the fun with a game called Gravitronix. About a year and a half after the initial release expectation, the game hit the service a couple of weeks ago.

I've spent some time with it and my thoughts on the game are written below the fold. I'm not going to lie to you, it isn't particularly flattering -- either to me or to Medaverse Studios -- but I think I made a joke in there which might have been funny.

The idea of Dissidia: Final Fantasy is probably more entertaining than the game will be (Jim's review was less than exuberant), which is why I've held off on picking up a copy for myself. Today may be the day, as Amazon has the series-spanning button-masher at a 43% discount. That means it's $22.98 if you didn't want to do the math yourself.

Of course, it's their Deal of the Day and will only be available at that price for twenty-four hours or until they run out of stock. While I'm doubtful that the latter will occur, I'm sure there are some people out there who have at least been curious and waiting for a price drop.

Any of you going to pick this up today? Do you guys think this is a bargain or should the price have to dip a little further?

Just as happened with Kurt Cobain's appearance in Guitar Hero 5 and the screams from the bloated, sucking mass which rallied to his defense, Activision is taking some heat for the use of likenesses in their music games. The issue comes this time from No Doubt who are outraged that their avatars can be used to play the full playlist of songs.

The suit filed today alleges that Activision withheld information on how the avatars could be used in the game and, when asked to prevent the use of the avatars on unapproved songs, refused to accommodate the band by stating it would be "too expensive."

While I do think it would be pretty slimy if Activision had in fact not been clear with them, the way the suit approaches the issue is a bit disgusting in it's own right. Instead of making that the main complaint, they dress it up as a bruise to their ego, as if the internet isn't already full of images of Gwen Stefani's head on Marv Albert's lingiere-wearing body.

I want to get behind No Doubt on this because I think people should be able to have at least some measure of control over the use of their likeness in a commercial product but it's really hard to do that when they're going to be such crybabies about something I thought should had been written off as a kinda funny but ultimately harmless thing by now anyway.

Coinciding with the release of Windows 7, Microsoft has opened their very first Microsoft Store in the Scottsdale Fashion Square mall in Scottsdale, Arizona. People camped out overnight in sixty degree temperatures (brrr!) to be among the first to enter the store, and the line persisted in being almost a quarter of a mile in length hours after opening. The allure of free tickets to an Ashley Tisdale concert may have contributed to that.

I took the opportunity to swing by the store and see what all the fuss was about and I have to admit that I walked away rather impressed with what Microsoft is doing here. Follow along with me as I take you through what this new retail outlet has to offer gamers.

Microsoft is really making a serious push into retail, as evidenced by what I've seen today at the opening of their first retail store. One of the biggest issues with software sales at retail is the real estate that it takes up on the sales floor. You can't possibly have every product available for the consumer to buy. Or can you?

At Microsoft Stores, customers will be able to purchase anything in the Microsoft catalog of PC software, even if the retail box is not carried in the store. Using a kiosk with a touchscreen display that resembles a stripped down, user-friendly version of the Microsoft online store, customers will be able to add products to a cart. Once finished, you save your cart with a name and approach any of the store's representatives with a handheld computer.

After paying with cash or credit card, the disc, cover and manual are printed in the back of the store. The entire process takes about four minutes and the final result looks just as good as if you'd purchased the retail box. 

This is the kind of thing I've been waiting to see for years (in fact, about five years ago, I proposed a similar solution to the executives at a major retailer I worked for to better manage CD and DVD sales). Having a one-stop shop for everything Microsoft has to offer without having to worry about shipping times from an online store or praying that the big box retailer down the street will have what you want in stock is a huge advantage for the new chain. Well done, Microsoft.

The very first Microsoft store opened today in Scottsdale, Arizona. I ran over to check it out and we'll have more on that a little later today, but there's one story that I'm sure will interest all of the 360 owners out there who have ever had an issue with console failure (i.e. most of us). MS is taking some of the hurt out of the repairs process by allowing for in-store repair service.

Microsoft stores will be equipped to handle some basic repair tasks. All you have to do is walk in the store with your console, drop it off at the Answers Desk and a Microsoft Store employee will then diagnose the issue that you're having. If it's something simple -- such as a faulty power supply causing the Red Ring of Death -- they'll rectify the situation immediately.

If it has to be shipped out, however, things are just about as awesome. Once the store has received your console, the main distribution center is notified and a replacement unit can be sent right away.

Yeah, it's only any good if there's a Microsoft Store in your area, but it's exactly the way this sort of thing should be handled. I really have to give them credit for this one. Come back a little later for a closer look at the Microsoft Store.

[dTunes is a community organized blog showcasing the musical tastes of Destructoid's users. For two weeks, the editorial team is commandeering the series because, hey, we like music too. To further expand your horizons, make sure to check out the dTunes blog.]

I absolutely adore pop music and I'm not ashamed of it. When I started to write my contribution to dTunes Editor's Week, my first inclination was to fill it with David Bowie, Elvis Costello and Lady GaGa. The more I thought about it, I realized what a colossal waste of time that would be. Everybody knows who those artists are, for good or ill.

So, instead, I dug a little deeper and thought about the bands that have had an impact on my listening but may have been overlooked by the general populace. There's a variety in there, and some of the bands are rather well-known but for some reason I rarely hear of other people enjoying them. Perhaps this will help to change that.

I love NERF guns. In my household, NERF guns are kept within easy reach at all times because you never know when an all-out war is about to occur. This probably happens more frequently than it should amongst a group of generally mature adults.

The NERF N-Strike Switch Shot EX-3 is a gun which serves two purposes, as a gun which fires NERF darts or as a gun casing for a Nintendo Wii Remote. It does one of these things very well. Read the review to find out which.

The 1989 film Big, in which a child wishes himself into becoming a grown-up, is probably something you're familiar with. One of the interesting elements of the movie is a graphical text-based adventure game which the main character, Josh Baskin, plays in a couple of different scenes and serves as a link between his childhood and the premature adulthood he finds himself experiencing. At the time, the game looked awesome and I really wanted to play it but, sadly, the game never actually existed.

Twenty years later, BoMToons has sought to remedy this situation by creating a little Flash game which very closely resembles the one seen in the film. There isn't a whole lot to it, as there was very little to work with from the source material (which consists of one room in a cave and one text command entered). The game, called The Cavern of the Evil Wizard, takes place entirely in that one room and is solved in exactly the same manner as in the film, but there are a few other commands in the text parser that you can play around with.

It is a neat little trip down memory lane and those of us who have a fondness for Big should get a kick out of it. Go ahead and give it a try.

Sometimes I like to challenge myself and do something that's a little different, a bit unusual, when it comes to the things that I write. So, when Casually Hardcore e-mailed and asked if we'd be interested in reviewing some of their gaming-related fashions, I figured I'd give it a shot.

Minutes later, I thought, "How the hell do you review a t-shirt?" That question has been plaguing me for many weeks now, as I wore the shirts and tried to ponder exactly what it is one can say about this kind of product. Of course, it never hurts to try.

The Warriors is the sort of film which should lend itself almost perfectly to a gaming experience. Its simplistic plot centered around eight gang members trying to cross New York City with every gang in the city looking for them practically begs to be made into a 2D brawler once you take out all of the running they do. It's practically a no-brainer.

Not that this has stopped anyone from screwing up a licensed game in the past. Still, the prospects when you're working with a license that already has a following, a distinctive visual style and a tale which is hard to do injustice to are decent. All that's needed is a strong follow-through.

Can The Warriors: Street Brawl make it all the way home? Read on.