We’re well into April, and baseball season is in full swing (pun intended). You know what’s also going on around this time of year? Nintendo’s semiannual media summit, which is currently being held outside of San Francisco in Redwood City, California. As many of you know, Destructoid has a significant amount of Frisco-based staff; for example, Tiff Chow was able to bring us a preview of Fallout 3 by attending an event there.

So it wouldn’t be outside the realm of believability for Destructoid to get invited to the Nintendo event, right? Well, as the inimitable Kevin Spacey famously said, “WRONG!” Apparently, they didn’t have enough room for us, or [insert lame excuse here]. So instead of bringing you this story in a drunken haze from the media summit itself, we’re relegated to merely posting the press release after the jump. Damn you, Nintendo.

Oh wait, I should probably say something about the game in question. So, yeah, we’re going to see another sports game filled with Nintendo characters, à la Mario Strikers Charged and Mario Tennis. But it’s a sport that Nintendo hasn’t done before on the Wii (unless you count Wii Sports, which I don’t). Drumroll, please... The game is Mario Super Sluggers on the Wii! Check out this post’s header image for the only media of the game thus far.

As you probably figured out, baseball is my favorite sport, so I’m really excited to try this game out. We don’t know anything about it yet except that it’ll work like Wii Sports, but really, it’s not that hard to surmise what it might comprise. A few classic Nintendo characters here, some minigames and powerups there, and voila...a Nintendo-themed baseball game that’s fun for the whole family! Are you guys stoked, or what?

Nintendo Hits a Home Run with Mario Super Sluggers

Nintendo Announces Surprise Addition to Wii Lineup

REDMOND, Wash., April 10, 2008 - The ongoing excitement over Nintendo's groundbreaking Wii™ system gets a surprise springtime boost with the announcement of a new game. Kicking off its semiannual media summit in San Francisco near the company's new sales and marketing offices in Redwood City, Calif., Nintendo of America today revealed plans for Mario Super Sluggers™ for Wii, giving baseball fans even more reason to root this season.

"Mario is truly a one-of-a-kind character; clearly fans can't get enough of him and his friends," said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. "We're giving Wii users brilliant new ways to enjoy him while expanding our series of active-play games."

In the same spirit as other sports-themed Mario™ games on Wii like Mario Strikers® Charged and Mario Kart® Wii, Mario Super Sluggers blends richly interactive baseball action with eccentric characters and elements from across the popular Mario universe. Players can swing the wireless Wii Remote™ just like a real bat or wave it toward the plate to deliver a masterful pitch, enjoying the same intuitive, easy-to-learn controls that helped make Wii Sports™ a living room hit. With Mario and his unpredictable pals filling out the roster, imagination and active-play innovation are sure to dominate the diamond in this lively title, scheduled for release later this year.

Remember that Wii features parental controls that let adults manage the content their children can access. For more information about this and other Wii features, visit Wii.com.