We're mixing it up and bringing out Camelot's recent tennis title.

Join the Nintendo World Report community for a game of tennis this Tuesday, May 29. The action starts at 9 p.m. Eastern/6 Pacific (1 a.m. UTC for anyone overseas). You can exchange friend codes in the Talkback below, or go stock up in our massive 3DS Friend Code thread.

Do you like these weekly Wi-Fi meetups? Is there anything you'd like to see done differently? We do these events for you, the readers, so please let us know if you have any suggestions.

Have you guys heard about this thing?

As a writer and editor for a Nintendo-focused site, I have certain responsibilities: stay atop the company's endeavors, keep up with the latest wave of games, have a deep and intimate connection to the hardware, etc. Which is why, a good year after its launch and almost that long after I joined NWR, I picked up a... what are they calling this thing, a 3DS? 

I'd always meant to grab one, honest. Since the launch, though, I simply found every reason not to. First, it was too expensive, and lacked the games to sweet talk me into purchase. Then I missed the Ambassador boat. Finally, I solemnly decided to duplicate my consumer pattern with the DS, and wait for a sleeker, more robust revision to turn up, sweep me off my feet, and rocket me into Nintendo nirvana. 

Alex discusses the value of what has become the subject of much argument in recent weeks.

One of the hotly debated aspects of Mario Tennis Open well before its release (and well after) was the lack of an RPG mode, a fan-favorite feature present in past Mario Tennis handheld titles. On one side of the debate, some people say Mario Tennis Open was created for the mechanics, and an RPG mode would not fit comfortably or improved the experience. On the other, the sentiment is that an RPG mode (or at least a lengthy single-player experience) needs to exist in the game, since it's a handheld Mario Tennis experience no matter what, and will seem malnourished without such a mode. After playing the game for almost 18 hours in a few days, I can sympathize with both sides to some extent.

Welcome to my semi-regular merchandise focus! Today: Goldie figures.

It's no secret that I'm a completionist.

Games with checklists give me a dirty, nagging, unsatisfied feeling if I quit before seeing 100% on my save file or leave that one blank space in the list of achievements. It's for this reason that I'm hesitant to ever play another Animal Crossing game again after spending two years on Wild World.

This compulsive need to acquire everything doesn't just apply to games, and I'm a sucker for merchandise related to the games and series that I love. The words "Limited Edition!" or "Collect the whole set!" are usually enough to get me to throw down the cash without question. I have way too many expensive One Piece figures.Nonetheless, a hobby is a hobby and I love researching whatever awesome Nintendo related stuff hits the store shelves. I figure my obsession might at least be of use to like-minded collectors out there. And so, welcome to the first of many merchandise spotlights I'll be writing up, showing off some of my personal collection, presenting exciting news about cool new collectibles on the market or reminiscing about rare gamer swag from the past. This is my Mariobilia.Today I'll be taking a look at the Goldie line of Super Mario Mini Figures.

Gamers in Japan get all the cool stuff. 

In early April, I reported on a really cool gift Club Nintendo members in Japan had a chance to snag: customizable, Nintendo-themed polo shirts. For 550 points, not only would you get a limited Club NIntendo shirt, you would actually get to semi-design the thing! Eight colors were available: black, navy blue, red, yellow, green, light blue, pink, and white. After choosing your color, you could choose from one of six Nintendo emblems. These included Rover from Animal Crossing, Mr. Game & Watch, Donkey Kong, the Triforce, three heart pieces from The Legend of Zelda, and a fire flower.

Beat the staff at Kid Icarus on Tuesday night.

Come join the Nintendo World Report community this Tuesday, May 22, for a night of Kid Icarus: Uprising beginning at 9 p.m. Eastern/6 Pacific (1 a.m. UTC for those outside North America who want to join in). You can exchange friend codes in the Talkback below, or go stock up in the NWR 3DS Friend Code thread in the Handheld Discussion section of our forums.

If you have any feedback or game suggestions for these weekly events, please let us now.

Best. Reward. Ever.

Sometimes I'm hard on the Club Nintendo rewards, but I like to think that in those instances, I'm hard because the rewards deserve it (Handheld History cards, Wii Remote holder). Other rewards are pretty great, like the Kirby patches or last year's Platinum reward. I'd already procured one of Club Nintendo's game cases, and I found it pretty nice but hobbled by lack of a clasp or some other "keep it closed" mechanism. So it sat, unused, in my "gaming stuff" cabinet. Just recently, however, Club Nintendo introduced the 18-game case which can be used for DS and 3DS games. It was so popular it sold out almost immediately. Part of the kicker is that it only costs 250 coins! I got one before they sold out, but now they're back in stock, and I just ordered a second one. You should, too!

Let's all play Maka Wuhu and not cheat!

To celebrate the newly patched Mario Kart 7, we're going to play it tonight in our latest NWR Community Night. The fun starts at 9 p.m. Eastern/6 Pacific (1 a.m. UTC for oohhboy and any other overseas readers who want in on it). 

You can exchange friend codes in the Talkback below, or go stock up in the official NWR 3DS Friend Code thread. You can also add the Nintendo World Report Community Code, which is 15-7711-2023-1792 for Grand Prix at 150cc with All Items.

Features Nintendo can learn from Brawl to make Wii U the best online console ever. Confused? Read on!

Achievements

One my the first (and best) implementations of achievements was in Goldeneye back on the N64. Completing levels under certain times gave you meaningful unlocks, such as cheats and other bonus options for multiplayer such as turning off the radar. In the current generation of consoles however, achievements (or trophies) have been changed into a point system, mostly with the purpose to spur you on to beat your friends. Good achievements give you incentives to explore more, beat levels you wouldn't normally attempt or go places you wouldn't try to normally. In Smash Bros Brawl you had the best of both of those systems, meaningful unlocks like back on Goldeneye, but also incentives to try new and challenging tasks like beat a certain score or amount of enemies. Your rewards were extra characters, trophies, soundtracks, pieces for custom levels and more. For the truly impossible tasks you could even use a golden hammer to skip the ones you know you'd never achieve.

Those faces might look bad, but the overall art design is to die for.

I've heard arguments on both sides over the matter of Xenoblade Chronicles' graphics. "Man, this looks like a Nintendo 64 game!" "What? This is the best-looking game on the Wii! No contest!" The stark contrast of opinions makes my head spin a bit.

My personal reaction to the graphics? Well, I think a lot of the textures and models are kind of crappy, but the game runs smooth as butter and the art design is gorgeous. Simply put, the graphics technically aren't spectacular, but it doesn't matter because the game is awesome, bolstered by some of the best art direction and world design I have ever seen.