"I haven't had a day off since 1981."

A new Mario game is in the works, according to a report published on Gaming Target. The revelation comes courtesy of Charles Martinet, who has provided the voice for Nintendo’s mascot since the early 90s. Posting on his Twitter page, Martinet emphasised that is to be an entirely new entry in the long-running series. The post was later deleted, suggesting that Nintendo may not be prepared to make an official announcement just yet.

This has been yet another banner year for Mario devotees with four new or re-imagined titles already hitting the shelves. Still to come in 2009 are Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story for the DS and New Super Mario Bros. Wii. How many original properties has Nintendo launched during the same period? Excluding downloadable titles, that would be one, the DS excusive Fossil Fighters.

Nintendo’s Mario production line shows no signs of slowing down, with Super Mario Galaxy 2 already on the schedule for 2010. Here’s hoping that the secret game referenced by Martinet is a sequel to 1992’s seminal Mario Teaches Typing.

Black Panel Podcast 4

In this episode: Dust 514, Final Fantasy XIII, Modern Warfare 2, Eight Days, Scivelation, Scribblenauts, Jessie’s Girl and more!

Recent episodes of The Black Panel

07.09.09 l 21.09.09 l 05.10.09

Welcome to the Black List, our regular retrospective on the week that was.

On Monday, we took a look at Dust 514, the ambitious console shooter designed to compliment EVE Online.

On Tuesday, we were shocked to discover that Eight Days and the Getaway 3 may yet see the light of day.

On Wednesday we reported that a censored version of Left 4 Dead 2 had received an MA15+ rating.

On Thursday we assumed that the Ukraine’s Black Wing Foundation was planning to take over the world.

On Friday we revealed that Savage Moon was on its way to the PSP.

Thanks for reading.

Erin Marcon

Editor

Recent editions of The Black List

11.09.09 l 18.09.09 I 25.09.09 l 02.10.09 l 09.10.09

Imagine: Family Tree

Savage Moon is on its way to the PSP, according to Sony and developer FluffyLogic. The interstellar strategy game was originally released for the PlayStation 3 in December 2008. The portable version, dubbed Savage Moon: The Hera Campaign, will feature an original storyline, reconstructed interface and additional maps, modes and enemies.

The latest in the burgeoning (some might say saturated) tower defence genre, Savage Moon: The Hera Campaign challenges players to prevent human mining colonies from being overrun by desperate alien soldiers known as Insectocytes. Why are they so desperate? That would be because we forgot to ask permission before we stripped their worlds of precious resources. I guess some things never change.

In order to stave off the relentless alien assault, you’ll be forced to enter into peaceful negotiations with… just kidding… construct a network of deadly turret guns. Mining the environment generates income, as does mowing down enemy soldiers. You’ll need to keep the money flowing in order develop more advanced weapons and infrastructure.

A release date for Savage Moon: The Hera Campaign is yet to be announced.