And it's full already!

If you're into Mario Kart, you might want to take a look at the new Then & Now: Mario Kart Wii feature that I just put up. It examines how some of the characters, tracks, and items have changed over time on the console versions of Mario Kart. Also of interest is the video, which shows the tracks in motion over time.

Today was an amazing day for a few reasons. First and foremost, I put a monkey on the homepage and PS3 hub.

(Not really the text in the original)

This immediately makes today the best day ever (I've saved that image since CES for this glorious day). Unfortunately, I had to almost instantly pull it down afterwards cause of some issues with the deployment of the reason I put it up. So if that image interests you for non-monkey-related reasons (and why would it?) then don't worry, it will make its return soon.

Another thing of note is that if you frequent our Mario Kart Wii or Grand Theft Auto IV launch centers, I've had countdown timers added! This is something we've done a few times in the past, and I want to see us get back to it--especially since a ton of users have requested it. So go check it out!

Something that most of you probably don't know is that I manage our launch centers, so if you have any cool, reasonable ideas of things to add to them in the future, let me know! I'd really like to see them grow and am constantly thinking up or looking for new things to do with them.

Finally, the other thing I got to do was make fun of Aquaman. No day should be spent without some good ol' fashioned Aquaman bashing. Check the homepage and news page polls (I write our polls too) and voice your opinion about the craziness that is Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe!

So we launched Work In Progress, our previews blog the other day. As Ricardo mentions in the inaugural entry, we're going to use it to let you know a bit more about the various previews we have going on, answer questions, and keep you up to date on the events we visit. I just had the chance to write the second entry in the blog, which I am going to mirror here. It may be because I'm too lazy to type anything more, or it may be because I'm too busy. WHO KNOWS?

Today we received a package from the Land of the Rising Sun stuffed full of the magical goodness of Mario Kart for the Wii. We eagerly set out on it and put in a few solid hours of single-player and four-person multiplayer, and so far, the general consensus is that it's pretty awesome. There are a lot of really minor gameplay changes, from the addition of the handy "you're about to get hit" alert indicator to the way power slides are handled, but it's important to note that even with these changes, the game is still very much the Mario Kart that you have come to know over the years.

Be sure to check here for some gameplay footage we took of our various exploits and check back next week for even more media and coverage!