This week we're revisiting this overlooked and over-the-top Wii racing game.

After so many weeks of 3DS games, this week's NWR community event is going back to a Wii racing game that many overlooked: Excitebots: Trick Racing. As usual, we're starting at 9 p.m. Eastern/6 Pacific, so if you're one of the lucky few who owns this hidden gem, post your friend code in the TalkBack below and prepare for an intense night of racing.

We do these Wi-Fi events every Tuesday night, and if you have any feedback or game suggestions, please let us now.

Join us in the chat room during the event. Having trouble? You can also connect with a dedicated IRC client. Server: irc.browsingtheinternet.com Channel: #nwr

After a year since its release, Pedro finally witnesses a 3DS in action.

It's funny how things work in life sometimes. Despite me writing for the site for a long time now, detailing previews and news stories about the 3DS, I had yet to see what the 3DS was all about. In other words, I had never seen a 3DS, much less held one, until very recently. The reason why I still don't own one is simple: when it first came out it was too expensive, and when my job ended in the summer of 2011, I couldn't afford it.

But thanks to some great students of mine at my newest job, I was able to see what the 3DS was all about. When school was out, a couple of my students were playing with their systems. I politely asked them to show it to me. The very thing I decided to check out was the fabled glasses-free 3D. When the 3DS was first announced, I found it very hard to believe that the handheld would be capable of pulling off such a feat. Even when people said that it was amazing, I still found it to be hard to believe.

To mix things up a bit, this week we're playing Mario Kart!

Come join the Nintendo World Report community this Tuesday, April 24, for a night of Mario Kart 7 starting at 9 p.m. Eastern/6 Pacific (that's 1 a.m. UTC for anyone overseas who's still awake and wants to join in). You can exchange friend codes in the Talkback below, or go stock up in our massive 3DS Friend Code thread. You can also add the official Nintendo World Report Community Code, which is 15-7711-2023-1792 for Grand Prix at 150cc with All Items.

It starts at 11 PM EST. Join us for discussion and news!

Another Nintendo Direct is happening very soon in Japan (at 11 PM EST/8 PM PST, and we're going to be covering it. Come for the live blog, and stay for the IRC chat!   

Having trouble joining the chat? You can also connect with a dedicated IRC client. Server: irc.browsingtheinternet.com Channel: #nwr

We could see some Luigi's Mansion 2, and maybe even some new Kirby stuff.

At 11 p.m. EST, Japan will host another Nintendo Direct event. We'll be covering it as it happens. Nintendo of America will be translating the news from it for North American audiences at around 11:30 p.m. EST. Europe is getting their own Nintendo Direct at 7 a.m. EST.

So what will happen at this event? Like most of the other Nintendo Directs, it will likely be focused on the next few months. My guess is that we'll see a focus on games coming out between now and July.

I can almost guarantee that Mario Tennis Open, Project Zero 2: Wii Edition (the Fatal Frame 2 remake), and Pokémon Black and White 2 will make appearances. All three games are scheduled for Japan release in the next few months. This event will likely give us confirmation of whether or not Project Zero 2 will make the leap to North America. Currently, we know it's confirmed for release in Europe and Japan in June. The release date of Pokémon Black and White in Europe and North America might be clearer as well.

We're doing another week of angel-blasting mayhem!

Join the staff and readers of Nintendo World Report on Tuesday April 17 at 9 p.m. EST/6 p.m. PDT to play some Kid Icarus: Uprising. Exchange Friend Codes in the Talkback forum thread below, and join in the IRC chat room to chat with people while we play. You can also visit our giant 3DS Friend Code thread for more people.

We plan on doing these types of community nights every Tuesday at around the same time. If there are other games you want us to break out, let us know.

The news today isn't a revelation.

Today started off with a bang, as a new Mario game was revealed for Wii U! Yay!

Wait. Didn't we already know that? Like, didn't Aaron play that game at E3 last year? The official line from Nintendo is that the E3 2011 demos were just "Wii U experiences," but New Super Mario Bros. Mii seemed a like a pretty full-featured experience and concept, especially when compared to the snippets of gameplay from the other demos.

After years of planning, the RFN shirt is finally real, and you can order one now.

UPDATE: New t-shirt designs have been added to our shop! Now you can choose the original RFN "character art" design or a simpler RFN logo on a few different shirt styles, as well as a Connectivity shirt! And as always, every purchase supports NWR and its podcasts.

Creating a t-shirt based on a podcast isn't easy. We learned that after many failed attempts, broken promises, and difficult design iterations. Finally, the Radio Free Nintendo official t-shirt is finished. Your body is ready!

It started out diverse, and now it's just Kid Icarus all the time.

My game of the month was clearly Kid Icarus: Uprising. When a game comes around and shocks me by how good it is, then I generally take notice. Thank you, Sakurai. Aside from that, I bounced around a lot of stuff, some of which I regret (MGS 3D, Darksiders), not because they're bad games, but because I just can't get into them. Oddly enough, I can get into Dance Central and Def Jam Rapstar. Life's weird.SSX (PS3): At the tail end of February, I got SSX for PlayStation 3. For a few shining days, I basked in this game's excellence. Then, my freaking PS3 broke. I only got it back a few days ago. I look forward to shredding powder again soon.Dance Central (360): My first separately purchased Kinect game! Yay! While the lack of the two-player mode I enjoyed in the demo for the second game is a bummer, I really enjoy playing this game with friends. I suck at it, but it's amusing. The song list is pretty solid, too.Crush 3D Demo (3DS Download): I really dug the demo for this game, and I ended up buying it at GameStop last week, but thanks to Kid Icarus: Uprising, I haven't opened it.Mario Party 9 (Wii): Before I sent this to Pedro for his review, I had a blast playing it with my wife and a friend. It honestly improves the formula and makes Mario Party fresh and fantastic.Skylanders (Wii): I love this game so much. I had a lot of fun going back to it and leveling up characters, trying new ones, and unlocking more stuff. Bring on Giants!Assorted Arcade Games: I went to Barcade in Philadelphia in early March and while I wasn't totally blown away, I had a blast playing Tapper, Punch-Out, Crystal Castles, and Magic Sword.Touch Solitaire (DSiWare): It's solitaire. I play it from time to time.Punch-Out!! (3DS Virtual Console): I enjoy having this game on the go, though it's totally not optimized for it. Regardless, it's Punch-Out.Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D (3DS): I bought this the day it came out. I opened it in March and watched the opening cut scene. Then I fell asleep. Just call me Jon Lindemann...Rock Band 3 (360): A friend of mine who is getting more schooling in Europe was home, and he enjoys singing in video games. We busted open the Rock Band and treated it like a karaoke game. I did play some guitar for the first time in months, though.Def Jam Rapstar (360): See above. Also, I bought Regulate, so my life is complete.Super Mario 3D Land (3DS): We'll be talking about this more in an upcoming Connectivity segment on comfort games, but I played this while I was waiting in the hospital for news about my grandma. It was comforting, and I finally started the march to playing every level with Mario and Luigi.Darksiders (360): I was supposed to go to a Darksiders II event in the middle of the month, which in my eyes, necessitated me playing the original. It's cool, but there's so much mindless brawling. I'd rather have the padding in Skyward Sword than the padding in this game.Sonic the Hedgehog Triple Trouble (3DS Virtual Console): I don't know why I bought this. I guess for a few minutes I thought it would be fun, but eh. It's a Sonic game on Game Gear. It might be the best Sonic game on Game Gear, but at the end of the day, it's still a Sonic game on Game Gear. If you didn't know, that means the sprites are huge, everything looks kind of shitty, and speed is the enemy.Shinobi (3DS Virtual Console): I was more impressed by this game, which is a weird Shinobi/Mega Man cross. It still suffers from giant sprites (as do most early portable games), but it's still a lot of fun. Save states help out greatly as well.A Boy and His Blob (Wii): Our first site-wide Game Club game! I rekindled my memories of this game, which are largely positive.Kid Icarus: Uprising (3DS): I love this game, though at this point, about halfway into April, I'm getting a little tired of it. 40+ hours will do that to you.Zombie Slayer Diox (3DS): Ugh.Back to the Future: The Game (Wii): I was thoroughly unimpressed with everything about this game outside of the voice acting. It runs like absolutely garbage on Wii.Xenoblade Chronicles (Wii): Played an hour of it before sending it to Alex for review. I now have it waiting to be played.3D Classics: Kid Icarus (3DS Download): Played for five minutes and then remembered it was Kid freaking Icarus. Maybe I'll slog through it someday.Colors! 3D (3DS Download): A very novel painting application that works even for drawing neophytes like me.

Alex tells a story filled with love, loss, and too much StreetPassing.

Almost three months ago, I started writing for Nintendo World Report with no expectations whatsoever, being nothing more than a listener of Radio Free Nintendo and occasional reader of the site. I had never been to a video game convention, I had never been given access to a game before a majority of the public, and I had never even had in-person video game conversations with people until this point. After one thing leading to another (as is often the case) I found myself with a media badge talking to developers and hanging out with members of a site I've had a one-way relationship with for about four years or so. The point of this blog is to chronicle my day, the day of someone who went from doing absolutely nothing to doing absolutely everything.