With 2010 on its last hours, Pedro thinks about the possibilities of the new year.

As I write this it is 1:46 AM in Puerto Rico, December 31, 2010, the last day of the year. I always tend to be very reflective as the beginning of a new year slowly approaches. I reflect on everything from my personal ambitions as well as the uncertainty of the future. Will disaster happen in my life? Who or what are we going to lose to the winds of change? Will things get better from this point on or will it just get worse? It's questions like these that make me contemplate all aspects of my life, gaming  and entertainment included. So bear with me as I think about what the future has in store for me, not just as a Nintendo gamer, but as a human being.

This week brought us the US names of the starter Pokémon in Black and White, as well as the imminent release date of March 6. With only three months to go, which starter Pokémon will you go for, and why? Let's meet them all in preparation.

Up first is Snivy, the Grass-type for this game. Snivy is a grass snake, remaining as a pure Grass-type throughout its evolutions.

Here's our little guy's Pokédex and in-game images.

Image is of course of utmost importance in a game where the characters are constantly in your view. Moveset looks to be standard for a Grass starter, and levelling up to 43 will reward you with the powerful Leaf Storm attack.

You know the Beyblade games suck, but what about the TV series?

As I mentioned in my review of Beyblade: Metal Fusion - Battle Fortress for the Wii, I have a fondness for cheesy, Japanese shows based around the "it" game of the month. I just love how campy and over dramatic they can get, especially if the game in question is as childish as they come. Beyblade: Metal Fusion is the latest graduate of this school of thought, using fighting tops as its reason of being... on store shelves around the world. The Wii game comes with a DVD featuring one episode of the TV series currently airing on Cartoon Network. It serves as an introduction to the series and its characters, and yes it is a lot of fun... for me anyway.

With video!

The other night while I was playing Super Mario All-Stars Wii (you can read my review here), I noticed that something was going on in Super Mario Bros. 2. While playing level 4-1, the characters started to jump around, the scenery disappeared, and everything went crazy. That's when I realized... I GOT A VISIT FROM THE GLITCH GREMLIN! It was a very odd event. I hadn't experienced a game glitch in ages, much less old-school glitches like the one I just saw. I did get video, but only of a part of it. By the time I started recording, the glitch gremlin had gone home. Still it was an interesting event!

Pedro looks through the special edition version of the classic SNES game.

I really enjoy limited edition versions of video games and movies. Yes, they are quite expensive, and at times you get the shaft on what you are really getting, but the more elaborate the set, the more I feel like I am owning something special, a piece of the story so to speak. Granted, the Super Mario All-Stars limited edition isn't that elaborate, but there are a couple of things to like about it.

You've heard the audio, maybe you were even physically there (ha!), but now you can finally see the full video of our first-ever live panel discussion at PAX East 2010.

We had a couple of people shooting video of the Radio Free Nintendo panel at the Penny Arcade Expo East back in March 2010, but we thought those videos had been lost or corrupted. Jared Rosenberg recently discovered a pristine, complete video of the hour-long panel discussion and put it up on our YouTube account. All five chunks of the video are presented below for your convenience. If you've ever wondered what we look like or how we would handle the unusual situation of recording together at the same table, this video should prove to be enlightening (and so deliciously awkward).

One of the many things that emerged from last week's RFN Live special was Jon Lindemann's horrifying rendition of the D.K. Rap from Donkey Kong 64. Not only did he decide to perform one of the worst songs in recorded history, he got the lyrics wrong.

While he was reading them.

In case you missed the monstrous moment, here it is below in Technicolor, with download link.

We're doing the podcast LIVE, all day long, to raise money for Child's Play. Content schedule added!

It's over! Thank you so much for helping us raise over $2000 for Child's Play. Our donation link will be up for a little while yet, so you still have a chance to contribute to this great cause. The recording is now available for download: part one, part two and part three.

Join us in the chat room while we're on air. Schedule is below the chat box. Having trouble? You can also connect with a dedicated IRC client. Server: irc.browsingtheinternet.com Channel: #nwr