Released on Dec. 4, I bought Mario Kart 7 for the Nintendo 3DS a few days after the game came out at a Best Buy. Call me a fanboy if you want, because I would too.

Before I begin, I must say that I’ve played nearly every version of Mario Kart (except for the Japanese arcade version) spanning the SNES, Nintendo 64, Game Boy Advance, GameCube, Nintendo DS, Wii and now Nintendo 3DS.

The six previous games are: Super Mario Kart, Mario Kart 64, Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, Mario Kart DS, Maro Kart DS and Mario Kart Wii.

Since the original release of Super Mario Kart for the SNES in 1992, the game has remained almost without change — save for a few minor tweaks, here and there. I’ve basically been playing the same game for the last 20 years and yet, I still jump for joy at the newest iteration of the game. It’s almost like gamers who play Pokémon, Street Fighter, Pac-Man, Call of Duty, or any video game franchise.

As a gamer myself, I keep up with gaming news like a junkie, and yet, I still hear all this whining from my friends, my colleagues, game journalists, bloggers, and the entire Internet about how the top selling games are always sequels, how there are no original games anymore, blah blah blah.

Reviews of Mario Kart 7 started flooding the Internet weeks before the game’s U.S. release and nearly all of them resonated one thing: Mario Kart 7 is the same old Mario Kart, but with a few new race courses, a few new kart customizations and a few new items.

Still, I ordered Mario Kart 7 and picked it up in-store.

I popped in Mario Kart 7 into my 3DS and after a mandatory software update, dove right into racing. The title screen is virtually the same as every Mario Kart before it, with a choice of racing circuits ranging from 50cc, 100cc and 150cc. Each circuit has the same familiar Flower, Banana, Leaf, Mushroom, etc. cups as every other Mario Kart game. The first four cups are entirely new, each with four tracks in total. Cups four to eight are old tracks from Mario Karts of yore.

Racing is handled exactly the same as I last remember it, with gas handled by the A button, brake with the B button, jumping with the R shoulder trigger, L shoulder trigger for selecting and using power-up/attack items.

I didn’t have to learn anything new. Since I’ve played the old games, I immediately felt at home, and at ease with playing Mario Kart 7.

Graphics looks beautiful. When I first got hands-on with Mario Kart 7 at the New York Comic-Con, I was floored by the 3D. This was a game with 3D done properly. As with all 3D games, when you flip on the 3D, the quality drops, but the frame rate doesn’t seem to suffer here, which is fantastic and why Mario Kart is still the king of kart racing after all these years. Seriously, take a look at Mario Kart 7, squint real hard, and you’ll be hard pressed it’s not pushing Wii-quality graphics.

New for the game is a first-person mode that automatically flips your controls to gyroscope mode. You won’t be tilting your 3DS much in those mode with the 3D depth on high or you’ll get motion sickness. Of course, you can override the tilt controls with the regular controls, and I actually played a few cups in first-person mode, finishing in first, the camera view really is a gimmick.

Coins are now back in the game. Collect 10 and you get a quick boost. Collecting coins is essential to Mario Kart 7 as it helps unlock more customizations.

Speaking of customizations, you can now pick more kart bodies, different kart wheels, and hang-gliders. Each have their own strengths and weaknesses, but again, kind of gimmicky. Yoshi is still the fastest of them all.

There are also a few new items. You’ll find the Super Leaf (Tanooki tail) is here and it’s sometimes effective for wagging off incoming shells, and the Fire Star that shoots fireballs is kind of fun. You’ll almost never get the Lucky Seven, which gives seven items to choose and use. Frankly, I’m a little upset that the “fake item” box is not in the game. I really loved screwing with opponents by dropping a fake item box in the middle of the road in Mario Kart DS. One more thing to note about items: why so many goddamned bananas? The ratio of bananas to other items makes the game unbelievably stale.

Sound is really where a lot of Nintendo – mainly Mario – games fail, save for the incredible Legend of Zelda series. You won’t find many new tunes here or even ones that really push the boundaries of Mario Kart. At times I almost wish Nintendo would go with a track that is more Fast and Furious and less It’s-a-me-Mario!

To wrap up, Mario Kart 7 is easily one of the best Nintendo 3DS games out right now. I haven’t played Super Mario 3D Land yet, but from what I’m hearing, these two games are literally carrying the 3DS up from an early death. The price cut back in August from $250 to $170 for a 3DS did much to help boost the handheld’s sales, but systems are sold because of great games. Mario Kart 7 is just in time to save the 3DS’s butt. Now, Nintendo needs to keep them coming.

Retro Studios, makers of the Metroid Prime series deserve a huge pat on the back. They really did Nintendo proud by not messing with the tried-and-true formula of kart racing, but still giving it that 3D depth. I highly recommend Mario Kart 7.

^ If you’ve played the old Mario Kart games, you’ll feel right at home with Mario Kart 7.

^ All the items in the game. No fake item box? Me sad.

Haven’t had time to test Mario Kart 7′s online features, but if they’re as alright as the Wii’s offerings, things shouldn’t be too terrible.

^ Mario Kart DS on the left and the new Mario Kart 7. Pretty boring cartridge design.

^ Three modes to play.

^ You can play as your own Mii like in the Wii version. Here you can see my crazy customized kart with batwings as a hang glider.

^ A few Wii tracks make it to the 3DS game.

^ More modes. I still love the Grand Prix the best.

^ Another look at the customization features.

^ First four cups are all new tracks. Last four are old tacks.

^ It’s like having a portable Wii!

Oh yes. Underwater modes automatically give your kart a propeller. You can also collect coins again!

The first-person mode. Not a huge fan, but it is usable, like the Wii Remote for the Mario Kart Wii. Hardcore players will brag that they can beat you in this mode and with gyro controls too!

The holidays are now over, so what presents did I get? For Christmas, I received a pair of PJs, a Grid-It gadget organizer, a small jar of Vaseline lip balm and this: a Sangean WR-11 Wooden Cabinet Receiver.

I’ve never heard of the brand Sangean, but a quick Google and Wikipedia search says it’s a Taiwanese company that specializes in making radios since 1974 and actually makes radios branded for other big-name companies such as Panasonic, Braun and Siemens. I know what you’re thinking, someone got you a radio? It’s 2011, who listens to radios when Pandora, list.fm, Spotify and a bunch of other apps are out there? Well, to prelude this review, I’d like to say I happen to enjoy a little retro-goodness. I’m all about what’s new, but it’s also interesting to look back and see how far we’ve come.

With 105 reviews (as of this writing), Amazon has 69 positive 5-star ratings for this radio and most of the rest being 4-star ratings.

The WR-11 has a built-in AM/FM tuner that is loud, but not all that crisp, especially at higher volume levels. I hooked it up on Christmas and tuned into a few favorite stations that I haven’t listened to in years such as 106.7 Lite FM (Christmas music all day, every day since Thanksgiving) and Z100 and noticed that there is significant distortion at higher volumes. As with the many reviewers on Amazon, I have to agree that the bass is a bit much as well.

Tuning into stations is as easy as turning the huge knob, and the veneered wood is absolutely beautiful. It isn’t the best-sounding radio in the world and it isn’t a Tivoli, but that’s alright because it works for what I’ll be using it for – I’m not one to blast up the radio anyway.

Aside from its radio functions, it can act as a speaker for other devices, but here’s where things take a downward turn. For radio, a mono speaker is passable, but for piping in your tunes from an iPhone, MP3 player or even your computer, it’s quite awful. Audio comes out muffled and you quickly find yourself switching it off and begging for stereo channel speakers again. Even an iPhone 4′s speakers pump out clearer audio.

Back to the loud bass – had the WR-11 been built with stereo speaker, the loud bass might not be so bad, but since it’s not, it’s more of a hindrance than a benefit.

You don’t really appreciate music until you knock it down to mono and suck all the quality out of your favorite songs. Even with music encoded at high bitrates, the music still pipes out with crappy mono.

Normally, the radio sells for about $140 on Amazon, but it’s on sale for $80 (as of this writing).

Verdict: I wouldn’t recommend buying the Sangean WR-11 for the most part, unless you’re buying it for someone who just needs a decent AM/FM radio for whatever reason – maybe grandma or grandpa (but why not upgrade them to the 21st century?). It falls short of being a great piece of audio kit simply because it only packs a mono speaker, which screws its bass up, and the audio-in is pretty awful on the ears.

Since I received the WR-11 as a gift from a very special person and I do love its retro looks, I’m keeping it. Is it worth your $140? No way. $80? That’s a little better, but I’d say if it doesn’t sell for $50 or under, you’re getting ripped off.

^ I can’t fault the radio for its wooden looks. It’s as good as in these photos.

^ Here you can see all the ports. Lots to love here.

^ It’s not wireless my friend. You will need to have this thing jacked into a wall outlet. One day we’ll have wireless for powerful gadgets and this will look silly.

^ Little raised nubs to keep the wood radio slightly off the surface.

^ I read reviews about the volume and tuner knobs slipping, but my unit didn’t seem to have that problem.

^ Here it is, the lovely face of the WR-11. I really do love how it glows green.

^ I kind of like that cheesy sticker on the speaker. I’ll probably keep it on there. It adds to the reto styling.

^ Of course, the box also comes with all the necessary cables and sockets dongles and stuff. I don’t think I’ll get much mileage out of these, as I’m sticking to radio.