Check out this amazing Super Mario Galaxy cake. All I can say is wow. It was made by a father for his 4 year old daughter’s birthday. I wonder if she will grow up to be a gamer?

Head over to Kotaku for a closer look at the cake in action. Yes, the cake moves, complete with Bowser stomping, Mario outrunning Bullet Bill and Luigo spinning.

So, how did dad of the year contender make it? Here’s what he had to say.

“I had an extremely hard time deciding what to put on the cake. If you’ve played the game you might understand. There are so many levels its ridiculous. I had to have the castle and one round world. And for some reason I got bent on having the glass pill looking planet thing which I just thought would look cool on a cake. The silver disc was an add on at the end of my decision so I could add Luigi and some Galaxy like spinning. Seriously, I had the worst time cutting out worlds I wanted on here.”

Anyone have anything remotely similar to this growing up?

If you cast your mind back a few weeks you will remember that Fayyaad Hendricks was the lucky winner in our Super Mario Galaxy competition.

Well now that he has had the chance to take the game for a spin, let’s find out what he thought about it. You can compare Fayyaad’s thoughts (below) to Pete’s in El33tonline’s review of Super Mario Galaxy.

Did the game live up to the hype?

It was expected that Super Mario Galaxy would receive good reviews; Nintendo’s chief mascot’s appearance on the Wii has been a well-anticipated game. Thanks to El33tonline, I’ve been able to play around with this game for a bit to see for myself what all the hype was about. I admit that I wasn’t disappointed. Galaxy delivers in terms of sheer fun. But then again, this review wouldn’t be worth reading if all I did was praise the game. Other Mario fanboys have that angle covered. But for completeness sakes, the good points about the game are that it can be consumed in bite-sized, 5 to 10-minute chunks per level, saving occurs frequently, and the levels are, for the most part, varied and designed to a degree to present enough of a challenge, but I’ll get back to this point again later.

Post continues, click to read more…

Thanks to everyone who entered our Super Mario Galaxy and Mario Kart DS competitions.

We have drawn the winners…drum roll! Congratulations to Fayyaad Hendricks who won himself a copy of Super Mario Galaxy and Marc Crowther who walks away with Mario Kart DS.

Thanks again to Core Gaming for sponsoring the prizes. We are sure our winners are going to spend many happy hours gaming.

If you did not win this time, fear not because we still have some amazing Thrustmaster prizes up for grabs as well as a copy of the Guinness World Record Gamers Edition 2008 to giveaway to one lucky reader.

As if this was not enough to keep you occupied we have just added two more competitions to El33tonline. We have a couple of copies of Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures and Kung Fu Panda to giveaway - thanks to Megarom for the prizes.

Head over to our competitions page for more details and make sure you read our Lego Indiana Jones and Kung Fu Panda reviews to see what you would be missing if you don’t enter today.

Just a reminder that the Super Mario Galaxy and Mario Kart DS competitions close on the 28th of June.

Head over to our competitions page for more details on how to win a copy of these great games and what other terrific prizes are up for grabs.

In case you haven’t heard, we have been running two great competitions on the site.

To stand a chance to win a copy of Super Mario Galaxy for the Wii and Mario Kart DS, simply answer an easy question and send us your contact details.

It doesn’t get much easier than that, so what are you waiting for…give it a shot!

We have decided to extend these two competitions until the 28th of June. Thanks to the many entries we have received so far.

Head over to our competitions page for more details.

Good luck!

Just a head’s up that El33tonline is giving away a copy of Mario Kart DS and Super Mario Galaxy.

Head over to our competitions page for more information. Simply answer a question and send us your details to be in the running, it couldn’t be easier!

We have even made it possible for you to secure two entries into each competition so be sure to make use of our generosity.

Thanks to Core Gaming who kindly sponsored the prizes.

Stay tuned for details of upcoming competitions soon.

We are reporting live from the Nintendo DS Lite launch in Johannesburg. Following the success of the Wii launch in September last year, Core Group has pulled out all the stops to put together a great launch event for the DS.

First things first…the Nintendo DS Lite will be available in all major retail outlets for a retail price of R1 799 from 1 February. The question on everyone’s minds has been what launch titles will hit the streets, and today we can confirm that New Super Mario Bros. (R449), Nintendogs (R449), Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training: How Old is your Brain (R349) and Mario Kart DS (R449) will be available from 1 February.

The DS Lite will be available in four colours: white, black, silver and pink.

Also launching in South Africa today is the big slugger titles for the Wii including the legendary Super Mario Galaxy (R499) and Mario Party 8 (R499).

More to follow later regarding how well the Wii has been received in South Africa and more coverage of the event.

Update:The DS Lite will be in stores from 1 March and not 1 February as stated.

Word on the street is that Nintendo of Europe has a Super Mario Galaxy Wii bundle in the wings.

This according to an unnamed UK distributor who started the tubes buzzing with reports that the Nintendo Wii bundle will include Super Mario Galaxy, Wii Sports as well as a Nintendo carry bag. If the rumour is to be believed, the bundle will be heading exclusively to Europe.

With Wii Sports as the pack-in game since launch, it is possible that Nintendo are looking to shake things up a bit with the Wii’s first European birthday just around the corner. However, the recent release of Super Mario Galaxy to critical acclaim around the world coupled with the Wii still selling really well and stock availability issues still hounding Nintendo, I think this bundle could well turn out to be just a rumour.

Although with the European Nintendo website currently under renovation, what better way to launch than with a new bundle announcement?

I have been trying to decide what games to purchase this month and thanks to a fantastic mate I managed to get myself a NTSC copy of Super Mario Galaxy this weekend. I played it for a good 7 hours today and it is beautiful beyond description.

This is one of those occasions when the “a picture is worth a thousand words” saying does not even do the game justice. The music alone is sufficient to move hardened criminals to tears; combine that with fluid gameplay, beautifully rendered worlds and imaginative art and you are going to need CPR.

The most astounding aspect for me is the sheer innovation at every turn. Nothing is repeated and you are constantly in awe at how this game makes 3D worlds a pleasure to play in. There is nothing jarring, annoying or even mildly irritating for me to have a go at. Watch for the review later this week and do yourself a favour and order it now. A must own title for any Wii owner!

It was a bumper weekend for me with Zack & Wiki and Battalion Wars 2 arriving at the same time as Super Mario Galaxy. Whilst they huddle in the shadow of the magnificent SMG they look to be true gems. Understandably I didn’t have much spare time after SMG to put them through their paces but here are my initial thoughts.

Both games have clean and “cute” graphics with great use of color. The controls are intuitive making it easy to get your characters moving along quests to claim untold riches and bring about world peace respectively. Too early for more than that but I think I am going to like these two games immensely.

Budget, pace yourself and most of all don’t panic! Yeah right, it is that time of year when credit cards expand, leave is finally an option and there are a ton of AAA titles begging for your attention. How is one to cope with all the pressure I ask?

First you need to figure out what to buy and go through all the usual nonsense of am I getting a good deal and can I get my hands on a review copy (do these actually exist?). This is exacerbated by the quality of the titles out at present whereby the cost is a mute point and you start looking at paying a premium to have it couriered within the hour. Sure it is great if you can walk into a retail outlet, sniff the shrink-wrap, cradle the sucker in your arms and make a bee line for the cashier… however in South Africa things are slightly different. Here it is all about planning and patience. If you want a title anywhere around the actual launch date you need to purchase online and have it shipped. The retail outlets are slowly improving but unless you get with a very proactive gaming specialty store you will end up waiting even longer for the title that has already spent years in development.

So that is where I am currently at… planning! Hey, we review games for fun so naturally we have every console which makes it even worse. Sure I love my Wii but there are so many stunning titles out on all the platforms at present. I have a wish list on Play-Asia that could bankrupt a small country and refuses to be reduced any further. So this is what I am aiming to get and after selling a kidney I should be good to go. Wish me luck and let me know how you are supporting your gaming addiction.

• Super Mario Galaxy - Wii
• Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune - PS3 (eye-candy + story = winner)
• Wii Zapper with Link’s Crossbow Training - Wii (necessity to relieve stress after work)
• Rock Band - (tough one, can’t choose between PS3 or Xbox 360)
• Mass Effect - Xbox 360
• Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - Xbox 360 (online abilities)
• Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles - Wii
• Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games - Wii
• Battalion Wars 2 - Wii
• Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 - Wii (plunger shooting just doesn’t feel right on other platforms)
• Guitar Hero 3 - Probably PS3, maybe Wii, tough one … does one really need GH3 and Rock Band.

The day that many North American gamers have been waiting for has finally dawned with the latest Super Mario adventure arriving on US shelves. Super Mario Galaxy sees Mario journeying into space and features a unique two player Co-Star mode which enables beginners to explore the galaxy as well.

Super Mario Galaxy will be released across Europe on the 16th of November. It was released on the 1st of November in Japan, with the first four days since launch recording sales of 251 000 units.

Reports are circulating that upcoming Wii title Super Mario Galaxy has 700 000 retailer pre-orders in Japan so far. Retail pre-orders are usually a good indication of the how the game will fair in its first week of sales so it looks like Mario is destined for great things once again, especially if you add customer pre-orders to the mix.

Meanwhile over the pond it is being reported that pre-orders received by online retailer GameStop have reached 400 000 in North America. I can’t wait to see what happens once the advertising starts.