Blue Wii with Mario and Sonic brightens up Olympics

On your marks, gamers -- Nintendo is applying a lick of Sonic-blue paint to its Wii console, as part of a new bundle celebrating Mario and Sonic's latest outing at our very own London Olympics.

The Mario and Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games (snappy title) limited-edition pack is out on 18 November, and we hear it comes with a copy of the game, a blue Wii, Wii Remote and nunchuck, and some stickers. Yep, stickers.

In the box we'd also like to see a cuddly Mario dressed as a beefeater, and a collectable poster depicting Sonic being wrestled to the ground by transport police at Oxford Circus, after trying to get through the turnstiles without swiping his Oyster card.

For some reason the blue console isn't quite the same blue as Sonic himself, who sports a regal navy hue. Perhaps the dark blue plastic was more expensive, or maybe the light blue is actually the colour of Mario's Olympic diving Speedos.

The game itself features the two biggest characters in gaming putting aside their rivalry and high-octane platforming hijinks, in favour of competing in horse-riding competitions and rowing in London's Eton Dorney Olympic lake. Where do we sign up?

The Wii you get in this bundle is a new version of Nintendo's popular console, which helpfully strips away the best thing about the Wii, the ability to handle old Gamecube games. Time to stick all those old favourites in the attic then.

Releasing new versions of the Wii at this stage is a move to squeeze every last penny out of gamers in advance of Nintendo's new Wii U console, launching next year. The Wii U has a weird tablet-style controller that houses a separate screen.

At least with this blue version we'll have a cool new console to stay indoors with when the Olympics make the streets of London completely impassible. Are you keen on this new version of the Wii? Or does it look daft? Let us know in the comments section below, or on our Facebook wall.