Nintendo Wii Fanboy

Although we regard this golden statue of Link and Epona as tacky, we're clearly in a minority. Despite being the most expensive item ever in the European Club Nintendo shop (15,000 Star Points, thank you), it sold out in the blink of a Goron's eye.

How rare is this, exactly? Our guess: pretty damn rare. We've never seen one on eBay. But now it's back in stock, chintzier than ever, and ready for some lucky collectors to swipe. It's still 15,000 Star Points, and we suspect this latest batch will go quickly, so long as somebody out there has resisted splurging their Star Points on Wii Points.

How about you, North Americans? Would something like this catch your eye when Club Nintendo launches in your neck of the woods later this year?


[Via N-Europe]

Character design and concept art are two areas in which Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars excels, and the free gifts for those who preorder the game use both extensively.

Those who reserve a copy at Gamestop will be able to claim the "life-size" statuette above, as well as a pack of eleven Mushroom Men trading cards (a twelfth comes with the game itself) featuring the title's diverse range of enemies. The "Jackalope" has ensured that we shall not sleep easily tonight.

It's probably worth mentioning that a further eleven cards will be offered to those who preorder Mushroom Men: Rise of the Fungi on the DS, as well as a superb Les Claypool/Mushroom Men poster. Red Fly's customized Mushroom Men VW Bus is not, alas, a preorder perk, but it is rad. Take a look.

[Via press release]

First 4 Figures has come back around full circle, after completing Sheik and Sonic and his pals, now they've got yet another Samus statue. This one, in our opinion, totally trumps all of their past efforts. Just look at the thing.

Of course, the catch is that this costs a bunch of money. $224.99 in money, to be exact. For those of you with a winning lottery ticket, this goes on sale Q1 of next year.

First reason to be hyped about Shiren the Wanderer: The Sleeping Princess in the Clockwork Palace's release, even though no one has announced a U.S. localization yet -- Famitsu's review score: 35/40 (9 / 9 / 8 / 9). Though many consider Famitsu to be too forgiving with its reviews for highly advertised, big-budget games, the Shiren series doesn't seem to fit that description. For such a niche game to receive a high score like this, Chunsoft must have done something right!

Second reason -- See Asuka model pictured above (and past the break). We're not the type to leave figures of female anime characters posed around our rooms, giving women even more reason to run away from the mess we've made of our lives, but as we demonstrated with the Koppa remote stand preorder bonus, we have a weakness to Shiren merchandise.

As for our third reason, swing your sword to check for traps, and step past the break for a new Shiren 3 commercial. It features a collection of player deaths set to Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 -- what's not to like?

First 4 Figures have released another well-sculpted, detailed figurine of a Nintendo character. The new figure is the fourth entry in their series of N64-era Zelda characters, focusing on the mysterious, much-cooler-than-Link Sheik.

Sheik stands about 9" tall and is in scale with the other figurines in the series. It will cost $109.99 and can be reserved now for shipping in the fall.

Ocarina of Time is great, but we really want to get these figures to set up our own trophy table like the one in Super Smash Brothers Melee. But for $100+ each, we aren't sure if we could bring ourselves to make them fight.