Donkey Kong Country Returns

Platforms: Wii

Donkey Kong Country Returns

He typically plays second banana to Mario, but this week original Nintendo tough-guy Donkey
Kong swings back into action as the star of his very own Wii game. Donkey Kong Country
Returns is the spiritual successor to the 1994 Super Nintendo platforming great Donkey Kong Country -- and if critics are to be believed, its 16-year evolution was worth it.

Averaging a potassium-packed 89 at Metacritic, the Wii-exclusive is garnering some pretty glowing praise.

"The magic of Donkey Kong Country Returns lies in its
ability to genuinely capture the sensibilities of the original without
pretense," says writer Christina Troup in an 'A' review for 1Up,
adding

Wii, DS: still crazy (popular) after all these years If a lack of games is dampening consumer interest in Nintendo's market-leading Wii and DS consoles, you wouldn't have known it from this year's Thanksgiving sale offers. Widespread Black Friday discounts on the machines brought an early Christmas present for Nintendo, according to its internal
estimates.

DS sales -- buoyed by discounts, bundle deals, and the release of new
hardware colors -- totalled 900,000 over Thanksgiving week, a number
significantly in excess of the half-million or so units Nintendo could
reasonably expect to sell over a normal month. The Wii did almost as
well, "only" selling 600,000 or so systems, again easily more than the
system's normal monthly tally.

Nintendo's

Your Shape: Fitness Evolved Remember when Wii Fit was considered the most cutting-edge exergame
on the planet? It's hard to believe Nintendo's slickly-executed fitness phenomenon
came out a mere two-and-a-half years ago, reshaping gamer waistlines and
turning the bundled Balance Board into a must-have piece of tech.

Nowadays? It's downright old-fashioned.

Such is the way of the world in gaming, where technological innovation is as common as an extra life. And courtesy of the motion-sensing systems of PlayStation Move and Microsoft Kinect, fitness gaming has stepped off the scale and into an entirely new home gym.

Ubisoft's Your Shape: Fitness Evolved (Xbox 360) is one such effort. Tailor-made for Kinect, this

Gran Turismo 5 Six years in the making, the latest in Sony's genre-defining Gran Turismo
series skid onto shelves Wednesday. It's been far from a smooth road,
though, as the game was originally scheduled to be released in March,
but repeated delays left some fearing it would miss 2010 altogether.
Those fears proved unfounded, but have the delays given Sony's Polyphony
Digital time to deliver fans the polished experience they wanted?

Yes, says Destructoid's Dale North.
Scoring it a perfect 10, he lavishes praise on its size ("massive"),
its driving feel ("both accurate and exciting at the same time"), and
its visuals ("one of the most visually pleasing games ever released").
Its damage modeling, a new

Holiday shopping for gamers should, in theory, be an easy affair. After all, with so many titles on the market, it's just a matter of choosing the best one, right?

But there's a good chance your gamer already has a copy of what you're buying. Or, perhaps, he or she isn't a fan of the blockbuster that GameStop or Best Buy employee assured you was a surefire winner. And gift cards? They're just so impersonal.

Video game culture, thankfully, extends beyond games themselves. Here are a few alternative suggestions you might want to consider:

Gunnar glasses Gunnar Optiks computer glasses — ($79-$189)

Hardcore gamers can spend hours staring at their monitors. Gunnar Optiks glasses not only relieve the

Give thanks for games - Nintendo Thanksgiving isn't just about getting stuffed on stuffing and cramming your pie-hole with pie -- it's also about lounging on the couch
with your family as you try to shake off a tryptophan-induced haze.

Hmm...comfy sofa...food coma...sounds like the perfect combo
for a little gaming, eh? Since you'll likely be surrounded by relatives, try a
little family bonding with these great turkey day games. They'll thank you in
the morning.

Disney Guilty Party (Wii | More Info | Buy on Amazon)

Yes, there have been roughly 5,000 party games for the Wii,
and yes, roughly 4,995 of them have been terrible. But this one is actually
pretty great. Part 'Clue', part mini-game compilation and all kinds of

Wahlberg, meet Drake - Getty Images Sorry, Nathan Fillion -- you're not funky enough for this
role.

I'm talking about the role of Nathan Drake, the rough-and-tumble
lead in Sony's hit Uncharted games for the Playstation 3. In an interview with MTV,
actor/producer/ex-dancer Mark Wahlberg revealed that he will, in fact, play
Drake in the big-screen adaptation.

It really shouldn't come as any surprise. The film is being
helmed by David O. Russell, who directed Wahlberg in the acclaimed 1999 war
film "Three Kings" as well as the upcoming Micky Ward biopic
"The Fighter." Like Drake, Wahlberg is tough as nails.

"David is one of the best writer/directors I've ever worked with," Wahlberg told MTV. "The idea that he has is just

Axl Rose - Getty ImagesLOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) Axl Rose really doesn't want to be associated with ex-bandmate Slash.

The Guns N' Roses frontman has just filed a $20 million lawsuit against "Guitar Hero" maker Activision claiming its use of the GNR song "Welcome to the Jungle" violated a deal not to include any imagery of ex-guitarist Saul Hudson (aka Slash) in the popular game.

In an amusing lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday, Rose and his Black Frog Music claim Activision Blizzard fraudulently induced Rose into authorizing "Jungle" for use in "Guitar Hero III" by telling him during negotiations that it wouldn't feature any reference to the former GNR member or his subsequent band