Camelot's Mario Tennis franchise debuts on Nintendo's 3DS handheld with Mario Tennis Open. But this isn't another RPG-fueled handheld installment that have veers from the groundwork laid by console games. Mario Tennis Open is designed to be a console-quality experience for the 3DS.

That made for an ultimately unsurprising gameplay experience in the recent preview build I was able to sample -- it felt just like you'd expect a Mario Tennis game to feel. But hiding under the surface was something far more interesting and exciting. Super Mario Tennis is an inventive mini-game that reimagines Nintendo's classic platformer.

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Normally we wouldn't post about a single cosplayer found at PAX East, much less one there at a publisher's request; however, this Kid Icarus: Uprising Pit costume, designed and worn by PikminLink, is too amazingly accurate to ignore. The wings! The weapons! The character-accurate bike shorts! The reflective tape to create a glowing effect when a camera flashes! (See after the break). Anyway, if we can't post impressive cosplay once in a while, what's the point of coming to PAX?

Even though PikminLink is an "official" costumed character present at Nintendo's booth, Nintendo reps told us that she designed and created the costume herself. Nintendo helped her by providing design reference.

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Hirokazu Yasuhara, co-creator of Sonic the Hedgehog, has begun working at Nintendo Software Technology in Redmond, Washington, Gamasutra reports. Yasuhara worked at Sega from 1988 until switching to 2K Sports in 2000, Naughty Dog in 2002 (senior game designer for the Jak & Daxter and Uncharted franchises) and finally Namco Bandai, which he left last month.

Nintendo Software Technology generally develops DS and DSiWare titles, having worked on Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem and Metroid Prime Hunters.

We still have no official word on the aftermath of Sega's restructuring -- how many employees were laid off, or which games have been canceled. However, we obtained confirmation from a Sega rep on the PAX East show floor of one upcoming packaged game that has not been canceled: Rhythm Thief and the Emperor's Treasure.

The representative told us explicitly that the 3DS rhythm action game is "still happening." Good news, because we've enjoyed our brief time with it so far. It seemed like a relative lock, given that it's done, and out in Europe, but given Sega's recent issues no packaged game seemed safe. We're glad to have confirmation of that one.

We were also assured that Aliens: Colonial Marines was still going to make it to retail, but the recent media blitz, explicit mention as a profitable franchise in Sega's restructuring plan, and giant, separate booth were already clues to that.

Colors! 3D is the heartwarming story of how an unofficial, homebrew DS app "graduated" into a for-real downloadable 3DS eShop game. It's also an app that allows you to draw and paint on your 3DS, and share your drawings online with the Colors! 3D gallery.

Other new content on 3DS this week includes a video interview with Warren Spector about the two new Epic Mickey games, and "The Rifle's Spiral" by The Shins (available tomorrow).

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GameStops are about to be overrun with toys in an epidemic the likes of which we haven't seen since the late-90s Pokémon figure thing. Pixelitis published what appears to be an internal GameStop document detailing a nascent Skylanders figurine trade-in program being tested at some stores.

Surprisingly, they seem priced by rarity, with harder-to-find figurines reselling for up to $20. Trade-in values range from around $2 to $8. There's currently no information on which stores are participating in the offer, but given the popularity of the game it'll be everywhere soon enough.

Theatrhythm (pronounced as two words: theater and rhythm): Final Fantasy (also, two words) will make its way to North American shelves on July 3. Square Enix reiterated that the title will launch with 70 scores spanning 25 years of the Final Fantasy franchise.

PAX East attendees can check the 3DS game out by heading over to booth 850.

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How would you like to be Oda Nobunaga right now? First, you're turned into a cartoon character who plays second fiddle to imaginary forest critters in a video game for children, and then your name is bumped out of the title of said video game in North America.

And on top of that annoyance, you've been dead for 430 years.

For the rest of us who aren't 16th-century warlords, Nintendo released two trailers for Pokémon Conquest, and some new screens.

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It's not often we hear about near-concurrent DSiWare/iPhone releases, so any such game automatically gets an element of novelty. Intrinsic Games, creator of DSiWare's Divergent Shift, is doing just that.

Amoebattle is a simple RTS in which you control a group of amoebas in a microscopic campaign. Originally designed as a DS game, the iPhone version made it to market first -- it's available from the App Store today for $5. The DSiWare version has been approved by Nintendo and will be released soon, though there's no specific date yet.

Intrinsic seems to be developing "iOS/DSiWare" into a full-on business model; a previous App Store release, Penguin Patrol, is due for release on DSiWare tomorrow. All are published by Grab Games, who recently acquired Intrinsic.

Heroes of Ruin will bring co-op dungeon crawling to 3DS on June 26, Square Enix announced today. If you want a chance to play it before then, Square will exhibit the game at PAX East this weekend.

If you want a less hands-on preview, the above video introduces the "Alchitect" character class, whose name is not a typo.

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Disney has officially announced Disney Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion for 3DS, for those of us without Nintendo Power subscriptions. It allows you to draw objects "that magically transform into classic Disney-style 2D illustrations," which then become 3D on the 3DS's top screen.

Dreamrift's 3DS sidescroller pays tribute to the Genesis game Castle of Illusion, portraying a future in which that game's title environment has been transported into Epic Mickey's "Wasteland." The witch Mizrabel attempts to drain the cartoon essence from popular Toons to pull herself out.

This plot point seems to be a convenient excuse to bring in more Disney characters, as the screenshots are absolutely crawling with them. Power of Illusion will be out this fall alongside Epic Mickey 2.

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Yes, that's a factual headline above: Nintendo is publishing the bizarre crossover of Pokemon Plus Nobunaga's Ambition in the US as "Pokemon Conquest" for the Nintendo DS. And yes, you also read that right -- Pokemon Conquest marks the second Pokemon game heading to the DS in 2012 rather than the 3DS (Pokemon Black/White Version 2 being the other).

Unlike main series Pokemon games, Tecmo Koei handled development rather than Game Freak. Conquest is also a 2D adventure set in the world of Ransei, where players inhabit "a young warlord who is linked with a Pokemon." Pokemon Conquest arrives on June 18.

If you've got a bunch of Club Nintendo Coins burning a hole in your virtual pocket, you could do worse than spend them on this month's selection of downloadable games. For April, Nintendo is offering Kenji Eno's WiiWare puzzle game You, Me, and the Cubes; the WiiWare bike retread Excitebike World Rally, and a 3DS-only download of DSiWare shmup Metal Torrent (all right, they can't all be winners).

As always, these games are also available through your console's online store for regular money, but you have the extra option of trading your fake Club Nintendo currency this month.

[Thanks, Adam!]

Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy isn't just about celebrating Final Fantasy games of the past. New DLC coming to Japan this week features a song from a game that isn't even out yet. One of the four songs coming April 4 is "Somnus" from Final Fantasy Versus XIII -- making that song the first actual part of that game that can be played.

Square Enix announced a localization of Theatrhythm for this summer. We feel a bit better talking about DLC, knowing that you'll eventually have the opportunity to experience it for yourself.

Fractured Soul's release status may be in question, with Endgame Studios tentatively planning to put it on the 3DS eShop in two parts, but it's worth hoping the game finds its way to players. The side-scroller takes one clever DS-friendly mechanic -- parallel worlds, one on each screen, that the player can jump between at any time -- and then cranks that to every possible extreme, to challenge and/or punish the player.

The main gimmick is easy enough to understand, and the first few levels ease you into it nicely. Two side-scrolling environments exist in parallel, one on each screen, but they're slightly different from one another. There might be a bridge on the top screen where there's a gap on the bottom screen, or a wall in place on one screen that isn't on the other.

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You'll be able to try Nintendo's upcoming 3DS lineup at PAX East. This morning, the publisher announced that it's bringing Mario Tennis Open and Spirit Camera to the convention, playable by all attendees, alongside a selection of released games. The eShop title Ketzal's Corridors can also be sampled at the event.

Along with game demos, Nintendo is also holding a series of special Kid Icarus Uprising events, including ... a scavenger hunt for AR Idol Cards and a multiplayer tournament on Friday night. If you want to join the battle, bring your game and 3DS, and equip your very best weapon and powers.

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This has been a quick time coming -- Game, the UK games retailer, slipped into a downward spiral early this year, and since the first public announcement of its money troubles in February, Game has closed almost 300 stores, stopped stocking major titles, cut 40 percent of its workforce and entered "administration," the equivalent of filing for bankruptcy.

The best outcome of these events would be for someone to step in and buy Game outright -- which is exactly what happened. Private investment company OpCapita's Baker Acquisitions Unlimited has purchased Game, bringing it out of administration and saving 3,200 jobs across a remaining 333 stores and administrative positions, Eurogamer reports.

Baker will provide Game with "the capital it needs to trade on a normalised basis" and will re-hire a small number of people fired from the Game head office last week. There are no plans to close more stores in the future, Baker said.

Game may have been bought for £1, after paying off an £85 million debt to Game's lenders, Eurogamer said.

A motion filed by EA to dismiss a class-action lawsuit filed against it by 6,000 retired NFL players has failed, reports Gamasutra. As you'll recall, the players that filed the suit claimed that their likenesses were used in Madden 09 without permission or compensation. While the player's names and numbers were changed, vital and identifiable statistics were left unchanged.

Rather than argue that it in fact didn't replicate real-world players without authorization, EA's motion to dismiss postulated that Madden 09's use of player likenesses was covered by the First Amendment, and therefore did not require consent or compensation. Since this motion was denied, the case will move on to court. Plaintiffs are seeking legal fees, damages and all profits generated through the use of said plaintiffs' likenesses.

Sega's forecasts for the fiscal year ending March 31 have been adjusted down -- expected net income is down 47.4% -- and Sega Sammy's board of directors have enacted a drastic plan to reduce operating costs in the future.

Sadly, this plan involves the "streamlining" of Sega's operations in the US and Europe, to "create a smaller company positioned for sustained profitability." There is currently no word on how many jobs are being cut, or where, to create this smaller company.

The plan also includes a narrowing of Sega's lineup, to focus on franchises that the company expects to sell in the US and Europe, including Sonic, Football Manager, Total War, and Aliens. That refocusing means some games have been canceled, though specific titles were not announced.

Sega's "extraordinary loss" (caused in part by costs from this restructuring) will see the company's expected profits drop from 38 billion yen ($462 million) to 20 billion yen ($243 million,) with sales revenue dipping about a half-billion dollars. The cancellation of these projects and this reform is estimated to have a 7.1 billion yen ($86.5 million) price tag.

Update: After the break, find Sega of America's full statement.

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