Slash wounds for all

It's almost been five years since Super Smash Bros. Melee hit the GameCube, and people are still maddeningly addicted to its frantic, four-player bash-athons. We've got quite a wait until Brawl makes its way to Wii (sometime in 2007, ugh), but at least new screens are pouring out of Nintendo on a regular basis.

The game's official site, www.smashbros.com, has posted 11 new, sword-studded images for your aching eyes to soak in.Game Director Masahiro Sakurai also states that updates may be few and far between after this, however, as he's in dire need of focusing solely on development. Given the crushing amount of anticipation for Brawl, it's easy to understand exactly why Sakurai wants this game to shine. Hit the images tab to check up on this work in progress.

In other Smash Bros. news, rumors abound on the ever-reliable internet that some of Ubisoft's marquee characters could make an appearance or twoin this top-tierWii exclusive. Chief among those hinted at include the man currently known as Prince from Prince of Persia, the limbless hero Rayman and, perhaps most excitedly of all, stealth-kill master Sam Fisher of Splinter Cell fame. Solid Snake versus Sam Fisher? We're there. Period. Keep in mind, though, that right now this is all message board hearsay.

However, it's no small secret that Sakurai is interested in obtaining more third-party combatants for Nintendo's best to scuttle with. If we had our way, we'd see Sonic, Metal Gear's metallic Ninja and maybe one of Capcom's horrorific Darkstalkers fighters.