Nintendo is inviting fans to meet the one and only Mario as he makes his way across Canada to showcase his latest games. Be among the first to play the new Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7 games on the Nintendo 3DS system. While your there enjoying the 3D Gaming don’t miss out on your very own souvenir photo with Mario himself!

Schedule (subject to change – confirm dates here):

Vancouver:

• November 13 – Comic Con* at Heritage Hall, 3102 Main Street, Vancouver from 1:00pm-3:00pm PST
• November 13 – Vancouver Giants* at Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver from 6:15pm-10:00pm PST
• December 2 – Bright Nights in Stanley Park from 5:00pm-9:00pm PST
• December 3 – Nintendo’s Holiday Mall Tour at Metropolis at Metrotown from 11:00am-2:00pm PST
• December 3 – Best Buy Metrotown, 4805 Kingsway Street, Burnaby from 3:00pm-5:30pm PST
• December 4 – Rogers Santa Claus Parade from 10:00am-12:00pm PST (pre-parade appearance)
• December 17 – Breakfast with Santa at the Vancouver Convention Centre* from 8:30am-11:30am PST
• December 18 – Breakfast with Santa at the Vancouver Convention Centre* from 8:30am-11:30am PST

Whistler Blackcomb:

• December 17 – Roundhouse Lodge*, Whistler Mountain, Whistler Blackcomb from 10:00am-3:00pm PST
• December 18 – Rendezvous Lodge*, Blackcomb Mountain, Whistler Blackcomb from 10:00am-3:00pm PST

Calgary:

• December 9 – Calgary Hit Men* at Scotiabank Saddledome, Calgary from 6:15pm-10:00pm MST
• December 10 – Nintendo’s Holiday Mall Tour at Cross Iron Mills from 11:00am-6:00pm MST
• December 11 – Nintendo’s Holiday Mall Tour at Cross Iron Mills from 11:00am-6:00pm MST

Edmonton:

• November 25 – Best Buy Edmonton South, 9931 19th Avenue NW, Edmonton from 3:00pm-5:30pm MST
• November 25 – Future Shop South Edmonton Common, 1320 99th Street NW, Edmonton from 11:00am-1:30pm MST
• November 26 – Edmonton Oil Kings* at Rexall Place, Edmonton from 6:15pm-10:00pm MST
• November 27 – West Edmonton Mall from 11:30am-4:00pm MST

Toronto:

• November 20 – Toronto Santa Claus Parade from 10:00am-12:00pm EST (pre-parade appearance)
• November 27 – Future Shop, Trinity Common, 149-70 Great Lakes Drive, Brampton from 11:00am-1:30pm EST
• November 27 – Best Buy Downsview, 695 Wilson Avenue, North York from 3:00pm-5:30pm EST
• December 10 – Nintendo’s Holiday Mall Tour at Square One Shopping Centre from 11:00am-5:00pm EST

Montreal:

• November 18 – Best Buy Marche Central, 8871 De L’Acadie Boulevard, Montreal from 11:00am-1:30pm EST
• November 18 – Future Shop Montreal-Centreville, St. Catherine Street, Montreal from 3:00pm-5:30pm EST
• November 19 – La Récréathèque*, Laval from 11:00am-6:00pm EST
• November 20 – La Récréathèque*, Laval from 11:00am-6:00pm EST

*These events may charge a fee for entry

Here is the make good on our absence…

ZELDA AND LINK ARE COMING TO TORONTO and you can get your hands on the game early if you show up over the weekend to see them (details below).

The first 150 attendees present at the event on Friday, November 18th and the first 150 attendees at the event on Saturday, November 19th will obtain a wrist band (limit one per person) for the opportunity to buy The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword bundle on Saturday, November 19th from 9:00pm-10:00pm at Future Shop Yonge and Dundas.

Designed from the ground up, the lounge will be located on the upper level of the EB Games’ downtown location at 267 Yonge Street in Toronto, Ontario (Yonge and Dundas area). The goal of the PlayStation lounge is to provide customers with a one-stop shop for all their PlayStation needs.

This weekend marks the official PlayStation Lounge Grand Opening event, and we are all invited, details below:

Sunday, November 13, 2011
2-5 PM
267 Yonge Street, Toronto
Luke Schenn signing 2-3:30 PM / Naughty Dog signing 3:30-5 PM

Special guests will include Luke Schenn from the Toronto Maple Leafs and Robert Cogburn, Game Designer from Naughty Dog, the creators of the Uncharted® franchise.

The first 100 fans to line up will receive autographed hockey pucks from Schenn and autographed Nathan Drake scarves from Cogburn.

So join PlayStation Canada for the grand opening of the lounge, have your picture taken with Ratchet from the award-winning Insomniac franchise, and pick up some autographed swag too!

GameStop‘s flag ship location at 267 Yonge St, Toronto is promising to be a major blowout with COD Prizes and giveaways ranging from Consoles and games, to hoodies and Touques, and a special appearance by Call of Duty Modern Warfare Developers. Tonight’s events run from 6 pm to 1 am.

Can’t make it to Toronto? Fear not, GameStop is running events at 274 of their stores, find your nearest location here (Quebec residents go here).

BestBuy will also be hosting Major events in the Toronto and Vancouver areas tonight: Launch parties at Cambie and Bay & Dundas:

• First to play opportunity with Xbox Street Teams
• Green Screen photo opportunity embedding you into the game
• Meet two of the game developers (only at Cambie)
• Line up to be entered to win a Hardened Edition copy of the game
• Dress up for your chance to win an additional Hardened Edition copy

Launch Parties:

• Toronto – 65 Dundas St. West (Bay and Dundas) – being at 9 p.m. on Monday, Nov 7
• Vancouver – 2220 Cambie St. (Cambie and 6th Ave) – being at 9 p.m. on Monday, Nov 7
• Doors open at all midnight opening stores* on Tuesday, Nov 8 at 12:01 a.m.

Other BestBuy Promotion/notes tied to CoD:MW3 -

• Pre-order Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 in advance and get 800 Reward Zone bonus points ($10 value)
• Trade 3 games and get credit for the full value of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
• Free t-shirt for the first 100 customers in line at each store
• Guaranteed 15 Hardened Edition copies at every store

*stores in Quebec and Sudbury will open at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, November 8

And not to be out done Future Shop will be kicking out the jams at THREE locations (it’s only fitting for MW3).

Future Shop’s midnight release and release day offers include:

• Opportunity to win a grand-prize draw for a LG 47” Cinema 3D home theatre package (a $2,099 value) at above locations
• Trade-in two used games from qualifying list for a new copy of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
• Receive $10 credit for any future gaming purchase in December with purchase from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. (Games must be priced $19.99 and over.)
• The first 75 customers purchasing the game at each store location will receive a free Modern Warfare Collection SteelBook case (Shown Right), exclusive to Future Shop.
• Line up early for your chance to get cool MW3 stuff!

Advance Modern Warfare 3 gameplay from 9:00 p.m. – midnight (local time) at the following three downtown locations:

• Toronto, ON, 325 Yonge St. (at Dundas)
• Edmonton, AB, 10304-109th St. N.W. (at 103 Ave. N.W.)
• Vancouver, BC, 798 Granville St. (at Robson)

* Stores in Sudbury, ON and Quebec open earlier on November 8, 2011 at 8:00 a.m. local time.)

Have Fun and Game on!

Toronto’s local Radio Gaming and sports Voice Zack Cooper, from the Fan 590′s* “Got Game” radio show/podcast brings you “We Got Game!“, which is one step closer to your dreams of being a semi-pro gamer, this upcoming weekend (November 5th and 6th, 2011 from 10am – 7pm) tournament, at The E-Zone.

We Got Game will be running team matches for all those FPS fans out there consisting of: Black Ops, Gears 3 and Halo, but not to forget you sports fans out there (after all Zack’s into sport, he is a sports talk radio personality) FIFA 12 will also be running competitive team matches on the Saturday, with the possible addition of Madden 12 and NHL 12 (as side games while your waiting your tournament rounds to start).

So pick your game, pick you team and try not to come home empty handed.**

Details:

Saturday:
• Call of Duty: Black Ops (4 vs. 4 – $40 each player)
• FIFA 12 – (1 vs. 1 – $25 each)
Sunday:
• Gears of War 3 (2 vs. 2 – $30 each)
• Halo: Reach (2 vs. 2 – $40 each)

Location:

Ezone
120 North Queen Street
Toronto, Ontario
M8Z 2E2

The promise of games while you wait, the added possibility of NHL 12 or Madden 12 (if enough people request it), on site laser-tag and a bit of food and drink (including adult beverages for those old enough to enjoy responsibly), and free parking.

Early bird registration is now closed, but if you need more details or really want NHL/Madden to be made available click over here and ask the event organizers.

* The Fan 590 and Got Game are not affiliated with this even as previously published, Zack and the similar names are the only connections between the too and thus my confusion.
**No idea what the prizes are – sorry – trying to find out.

Players better learn quickly as you will have just over a week to train before taking the pitch on October 7 as you attempt to run over your competition and win the ultimate contest.

The winner of the tournament will receive a trip to London, England in May 2012 to compete against the best in the world in the FIFA 12 Challenge Series.

The trip includes:

• Round trip transportation for winner and one guest
• 5 night stay in a hotel
• Entry fee into the FIFA 12 Challenge Series
• 2 tickets to a soccer game

To register for the GameStop FIFA Soccer 12 “Qualifier Cup” tournament powered by Virgin Gaming, visit http://virgingaming.com/tournaments/qualifier-cup/

*Conditions and restrictions apply.

The next Kinect game I want to talk about is Kinect Star Wars which was one display and all I wanted to due was go pod racing. You use your hands to control the pod racer and a push of the hands forward allows you to add some turbo thrust to go a bit quicker. There seemed to be plenty of aim assist on and sometimes it felt like I wasn’t actually controlling the pod racer. I hope the level of assist can be turned down during the final retail build.

The following trailer I grabbed from Gamespy show’s most of the demo I played of Mass Effect 3. Word’s can’t describe the beauty, fun, smile and erection I had while playing this demo. By far the the best thing I saw at X11. It was very shooter focused in this demo but I didn’t mind as I was trying to save one of the few women Krogan’s left in the world.

Trials Evolution was one of those XBLA game’s that had no line up and I just squatted there until I was kicked off by the gentlemen handling the arcade area. Trails is fun, looked great, new courses, I had a blast and a huge grin on my face. If you loved the first one, you already know your buying this so there is no reason to sell you on it.

I also got to see Assassin’s Creed Revelations this was a hand’s off demo where we see a very old Ezio leave Italy to seek out Altair’s secrets. He’s hunting for five keys that allow Ezio to travel back through time to relive memories of Altair. We were also shown the new bomb crafting system which is accessed at various stations around the city. You can create bombs in three categories lethal, tactical and diversion. Bombs are built by combining a shell material, a gunpowder material, and an “effect” material.

My first stop took us to the Ubisoft booth, where game demos for the latest Raymond, Driver San Francisco, Just Dance 3 and PowerUp Heroes. Remembering their roots Ubisoft is bringing back the franchise that started it all – Raymond, a fun and traditional platformer made for two. If you loved the old Raymond titles, your not going to want to miss this one. Driver surprised me, by taking a traditional experience and changing it up… mission based driving ,where the missions change based on your current car (high speed chases in the police car, and cab fare missions in taxis) bus or truck. Just between cars in free play mode to experience an extremely detailed San Francisco in a whole new way. Just Dance 3 brings the sexy back (did I really just say that?) with the all night party game. Hot new tracks, and multi-player support will have this in your party rotating right next to Rock Band, Guitar Hero and Sing Star.

Driver: San Francisco -

Disney Interactive brought along their latest title ‘Disney Universe’, a platformer that walks you through the numerous Disney franchises like Alice in Wonderland, and Monsters Inc. This four player co-op offers team based challenges and puzzles that will vary in difficulty based on the number of players in the game. Fun for the whole family.

Disney Universe:

Activision/Blizzard treated us to Cabela’s Big Game Hunter 2012. With our rifles blasting – the bears, geese, and deer never stood a chance. Also on tap was the newest in the Spyro the Dragon series, Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure. Combining 32 miniature figures, a cage match fighting arena and the traditional gem collecting game we have all loved for the last 13 years. The highly detailed action figures will be worth it for those that collect miniatures.

Cabela’s Big Game Hunter 2012:

Last up was the Intech booth, where gaming accessories galore were piled high. From steering wheels, to HDMI cables – colour coded for for easy adaptability and console integration identification (green for xbox, red for PlayStation and white/blue for the Wii). I was were also introduced to the iCade, a classic looking micro-arcade for your iPad. A $99 accessory for your iPad that gives you a the retro gaming experience of over 100 Atari classics; from Asteroids to Centipede. One Game Download included from the App store. I found this to be a little big (no room for this in my office) but I was assured a slimmed down and smaller version would be announced soon – offering the space savings I will require to add this to my collection.

Join us and discuss the 2011 Sony E3 Presser during our Live Blog.

 

Do or Die…

Opening it up we find a personal survival kit… is it the Zombie Apocalypse already? I thought that was scheduled for November, just after the Rapture.

What do we find inside; Flashlight and battery, whistle and compass, Rain poncho, Band-aides, hand warmers, thermal blanket, a candle with matches and a self heating hand warmer.

The details…

Microsoft Canada is sending three people to remote location with only a Windows 7 laptop, a windows phone and one other friend. Final selections are happening now go help with the selections and follow the adventures by visiting DOorDIE.ca.

Think you have what it takes to survive this kind of adventure? go to DOorDIE.ca and take the test… Do you have what it takes to survive?!