Super Mario 3D World Secrets

If you thought Stamps and Green Stars were the only secrets in Super Mario 3D World, you're in for a welcome surprise. Nintendo scattered a variety of hidden goodies throughout its outstanding Wii U adventure. Some you'll discover from simply playing the game. Others, however, require more thought.

If you want spoilers, you came to the right place. That said, here are Super Mario 3D World's coolest secrets.

For level walkthroughs, visit Prima's free Super Mario 3D World guide.

Year of Luigi Secrets

How do I unlock Luigi Bros.?

2013 is the year of Luigi, and Nintendo continues the celebration in Super Mario 3D World. Turns out, you can unlock a special version of the original Mario Bros. game (not to be confused with Super Mario Bros. on the NES). What makes this edition stand out? Both characters are Luigi.

You can unlock Luigi Bros. one of two ways. The easiest way is to purchase a copy of New Super Luigi U and have a save file on your Wii U console. This unlocks Luigi Bros. automatically, and you'll be able to play it by pressing the Luigi icon on the lower left corner of the GamePad touchscreen.

If you crave a challenge, beat the first eight Worlds in Super Mario 3D World.

What about Hidden Luigis?

Nintendo scattered numerous 8-bit Luigis throughout Super Mario 3D World. You'll see them while hitting ? Blocks, or through binoculars during specific moments. You don't receive a reward for finding them. They're just for show.

How do I unlock Rosalina in Super Mario 3D World?

That's right, Rosalina from Super Mario Galaxy makes an appearance as a fifth playable character! To unlock her, complete World Star-2. She jumps about as high as Luigi, and defeats enemies with a Spin Attack. The best part? You can use it standing still, moving or even jumping. That said, she cannot use the Spin Attack with a Power-Up equipped.

For the rest of the guide, head over to Prima Games.

Wayne Brady Knows Gaming, and Wii Party U

The host of the long-running TV game show, Let's Make a Deal, is bringing his brand of humor to Nintendo. Wayne Brady partnered with the Japanese game maker on Wii Party U, the latest family cooperative experience for Nintendo's new Wii U console. The comedian talked about his own gaming cred in this exclusive interview from the set of the Nintendo shoot for a series of viral videos.

What are you doing with Nintendo?

I shot a series of online vignettes for Nintendo, which I have to say as a gamer it probably doesn't get any better than that. Some of my best memories as a kid are wrapped up in Nintendo, which is cool and kind of sad because a lot of my great memories are gaming memories. But they asked me to come and be a part of these vignettes, which talk about the Wii U and the Party games. I got to play this version of Wii Party U before anyone else. I get to play this at home. True, I'm playing it by myself with three different controllers and it's meant for friends, but it's cool. I still have found a way to make it work, and the best part is I always win.

What video games did you play growing up as a kid?

I was a huge, huge Super Nintendo guy. Even the original NES, the very first Mario Bros., that's what got me hooked on gaming. I wasn't a Donkey Kong person. I'd play Pac Man and Galaga when I went to the bowling alley with my parents maybe, but at home, it was Super Mario Bros., Double Dragon, Spy Hunter, Burger Time and 1942, and that was the early version of that. I got into all the other systems and the fighting games. Capcom was a favorite of mine, but it was mostly Nintendo games, because that's all we had growing up was a Nintendo. I pretty much rocked that since I was 14.

What's a favorite Nintendo memory?

Favorite Nintendo memory of all time is when I beat Super Mario Bros. by myself. There was no one else in the room and you have to remember this was in 1989. It was my senior year in high school. Our technology wasn't as developed, so I took a Polaroid of the screen to prove to everyone at school that I beat it. It just shows where I was at the time, where I took a picture of my screen and shoved it into every senior's face when I beat Super Mario Bros., and they were like, "Good job, Wayne."

What are your thoughts on how far video games have come since then?

We don't have enough time to talk about how amazing I find the field of video games right now. To go from a lot of the side-scrolling images in games to where the standard is now to have crisp, real-life, interactive 3D. With the latest Grand Theft Auto, the fact that I can download an app and interact with my dog in the game is ridiculous. I just turned 41, and I've been gaming since I was 12. I had a Collecovision and we also had the Tandy Radio Shack TRS. They made a computer and we played it at school. My generation, everyone who's maybe 38 and up, we're that first generation of people that grew up with video games. Gaming is now a part of our lives. They're doing this amazing stuff with gaming now. I can't wait to see where we are in 10 years, in 20 years.

When I'm 70, I've got a plan. When I'm not touring the country like Bill Cosby still tours and he's 80-something, I'm going to come home and attach myself to my docking station that Nintendo would have invented, and you attach it to all of your localized points and it's like The Matrix. It puts you in the game. You have a unit at home that puts you in the game and I can live most of my life at that point in the game with super powers and a fancy car and a hot super hero girlfriend. It sounds like I'm a nerd who is hopeful, but I'm really a nerd who knows the future. That's going to happen. Video games are the future.

Minecraft picks at parents with Realms subscription, Xbox 360 retail release

Mojang, the indie darling creator of sandbox game mega-hit Minecraft, has announced two initiatives that no doubt have kids--well, their parents rather--in the cross hairs. Headed soon to the PC version of Minecraft is a new service known as Realms. Realms will aim to simplify the processes of managing a Minecraft server for a yet-to-be-decided fee of between $10 and $15.

"Our costumers [for Realms] are parents who are tired of trying to act as server administrators on behalf of their kids," Mojang CEO Carl Manneh said, according to GamesIndustry International. "Minecraft Realms will be a simpler kind of service, aimed at families and kids. In the future we aim to offer certain profiles with mods that are certified to work without crashing, but this will still be a safe and easy way for kids and families to play Minecraft online."



The Realms service will provide subscribers with their own private world with control over which players have access and those players' friend lists. Only one player per Realm will need a subscription, though anyone invited will of course need a copy of the game. And, let's face it, that's simply an eventuality. The developer hopes to release its Realms subscription service on PC in a beta test this May, with a version for Minecraft on mobile devices to follow.

Mojang has also announced that Minecraft on Xbox 360, which is already downloadable via Xbox Live Arcade, will hit U.S. retail shelves on April 30 for $20, the same price as it goes for on PC and XBLA today. According to Joystiq, the disc version of Minecraft will offer all of the features and content offered on the current XBLA edition and receives updates alongside the original.

Parents, beware: Mojang is after your plastic. That said, we can think of fewer better games to be after your dollars on the regular.

[Via Joystiq]

Are you planning on subscribing to Realms to protect the mini Minecraft lovers in your home? Add Comment.

Final Fantasy X X-2 HD Remaster Trailer Leaks Out Ahead Of Schedule

Square Enix’s upcoming trailer for Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster—which is officially scheduled to go up tomorrow—has been leaked. You can watch the video below that shows the HD remaster in motion:

Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster will be released for the PlayStation 3 this year in a single compilation containing both games. The remasters will also be released as two separate titles on the PlayStation Vita.

Read more stories about Final Fantasy X HD & PlayStation 3 & PlayStation Vita & Videos on Siliconera.

The Sims 3 University Life is all of the fun of college, without the stress

We took a brief look at the latest Sims 3 expansion, University Life, earlier this year, but now that we've had a chance to go hands-on with the final product, we've found out the that expansion contains far more content than even we could have initially imagined.

If you're familiar with the University Life expansion from the Sims 2, then you might know what to expect here. However, instead of introducing a brand new age group and then locking that age group to the expansion, the University Life portion of the Sims 3 is open to all Sims of an adult age (even the elderly). Sims can apply for scholarships and take aptitude tests before choosing from one of a few majors, including Communications, Fine Arts, and Physical Education. After college, Sims with degrees will have a chance to enter the workforce at higher levels than non-educated Sims, and they'll also receive higher starting wages.

As soon as your Sim is accepted to college, it's off to the University campus, far away from home, in a new map that comes complete with dorms, private apartments (if your Sim can afford them), lecture halls, student centers, outdoor recreational areas, and more. The world is so large that actions tend to lag or at least take a while to load when you first enter an area, but it's all worth the wait. There are a ton of NPCs wandering the halls of each building, and both boys and girls share dorms or apartments thanks to some great new technical features.

With each NPC having a life all their own, you can lock your portion of an apartment complex or dormitory to only your Sim or perhaps your significant other in order to keep your privacy, and you can even assign beds to keep your non-player Sims in line. Does a Sim have a personality type that conflicts with your own? Contact the proper administrators and they'll have them reassigned. Are your roommates leaving garbage all over the floor? Use new interactions to ask them to clean up after themselves. Thankfully, other issues like TVs or radios being left on can be stopped with a click or two.



Aside from these social interactions, the game's smartphone has been given a major overhaul, unlocking the new Social Networking skill that can be upgraded by sending texts to others, writing entries on your phone's blogging app, or even streaming and sharing video(s) with friends. Texts can be friendly or romantic (and anonymous), but all of the choices and interactions you make tend to go along with one of three new social groups: Nerds, Rebels, and Jocks. Whether you choose to socialize with one group or all three, you'll earn influence among your peers in those matching groups, and can even unlock dream jobs if you excel in one particular age group before you graduate (Nerds can become video game developers, for instance).

Of course, college can't be all about juice kegs, bonfires, and parties, as there's real educational work to be done as well. Classes and out-of-class activities are given timed assignments as if they were work shifts, and each activity works to fill a meter that determines how well you're performing in your classes overall. Students that ace their tests and spend plenty of time studying (or tutoring others) will wind up on the dean's list, but too much studying can also leave a Sim mentally exhausted. If you feel too strained, you can even attempt to cheat to make your way through some tough exams, but each negative action comes with potential consequences if you're caught.

Ultimately, if we went into detail about all of the new features in the Sims 3: University Life, our look at the game could easily double or triple in size: there's that much to do. From the new smartphone upgrades to communal living in dorms, University Life captures all of the fun things about college while leaving out the real world debt and frustration of not being able to find a job afterwards. This is one collect experience that's well worth the price of admission, even if that price is $39.99.

Click here to download The Sims 3: University Life >

Have you tried The Sims 3: University Life? Do you think this is the best Sims 3 expansion yet? Sound off in the comments!