Christmas is saved! Nintendo releasing 'Mario Monopoly' early (note: it's actually called Boom Street)

Just when we thought we'd have to stick with the old tried-and-tested Wii family favourites this year over Christmas, Nintendo has announced that it's bringing forward the European release date for Boom Street to Wednesday 28 December. It'll be like a slightly late Christmas present. That we have to pay for ourselves. But at least it'll give us some respite from yet another sodding year of Wii Sports' bowling.

You might be thinking "This is undoubtedly great news but could you inform me of what a Boom Street is please?" Boom Street is a board game simulator. It's Mario and Dragon Quest themed. The object of the game is to make loads of money by buying and investing in property. 'Mario Monopoly' would have been a better name, but that would probably have been a bit of a headache for licensing to get sorted so Boom Street it is.

In the US, Boom Street is called Fortune Street and has already been released. We reviewed Fortune Street and gave it a 7. On the GamesRadar review score scale, a 7 = 'Good'. Here's a trailer for Boom Street:

So like Monopoly but loads better because it's on the telly and your brother can't cheat by hiding money under the board and none of the bits are missing and you can play as Mario. The chances of Christmas actually being happy this year have just increased by at least 14%.

Matt Cundy
I don't have the energy to really hate anything properly. Most things I think are OK or inoffensively average. I do love quite a lot of stuff as well, though.