There's one character out there who's practically synonymous with video gaming. Moreso than Pac-Mac, Sonic the Hedgehog or Lara Croft, Super Mario is gaming's unofficial mascot, and even today his titles are true masterpieces; regularly getting the same rave reviews as Super Mario Bros for the NES did way back in 1985. For over thirty years, the portly Italian plumber has been smashing blocks, chomping mushroom, leaping over barrels and stomping on Bowser. I mean, seriously: how often has Princess Peach been kidnapped now? That woman goes missing more regularly than my car keys.

However, what you might not have known is that Mario was actually based on a real person - a man who recently died at the ripe old age of 84. Mario Segale was an Italian-American real estate developer and businessman, who at one point was the landlord for Nintendo of America's offices in Seattle, Washington state.

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After the developer visited the developers one day and demanded the payment of late rent (only being assuaged by Nintendo of America President Minoru Arakawa), the company decided to rename the character of 'Jumpman' Mario as part of their US release of the Donkey Kong arcade game. The game, which was developed by the legendary designer Shigeru Miyamoto, was released in 1981 and went on to become a smash success - followed up by the revolutionary Super Mario Bros four years later.

The businessman kept his distance from the cartoonish gaming character, and in a 2010 profile on Segale, an associate close to the real estate developer stated: "From my understanding, Mario wants nothing to do with being related to the 'Super Mario' character in fear it might interfere with his business, financial, political and private relationships … Obviously, from his standpoint, it wouldn’t benefit him and could possibly publicize him." However, he did joke that he was "still waiting on royalty cheques" from Nintendo as a result of their usage of his name. Indeed, he was never given any financial payment from the corporation, although he managed to amass a considerable fortune in his own lifetime.

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The son of two first-generation Italian immigrants, Segale died on October 27, 2018, leaving behind his spouse Donna (whom he married in 1957), his four children, Lisa, Mark, Tina and Nita, and nine grandchildren.

Segale's obituary states: "Although he took little time away from work, Mario loved hunting, fishing, his airplane, a good joke, the colour red, great Italian food (with no cheese!), an excellent cigar and his view of Puget Sound. His passion was figuring out how to do things in new and better ways, which often included drawing things on the backs of napkins and placemats."

It adds: "The innovations he brought to the construction industry that are still seen today attest to his remarkable creativity ... For generations of his family to come, and for the people who had a chance to know him well, his impact will remain ever-present."

Rest in peace Mr Segale. You will surely be missed.

Despite the fact that we are in an age of incredible technological advancement and progress, we can't help but long for the games consoles of old. Yes PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch are great consoles in their own right, but you cannot beat a little bit of the old school. I guess that this notion applies to all aspects of life, we can't help but still be enamoured by the things we grew up with. Whether it's music, clothing or technology; what goes around, comes back around. It seems that once you exit your teens and enter your twenties, you can't help but long for the items that defined your adolescence. In fact, writing this now, I'm wearing a pair of sneakers that are a Nike re-release of a model from 1997 and wearing all second-hand clothing while listening to music from the 1990's. While I'm writing on a MacBook and will play my PS4 when I'm home, I still have both my N64 and SEGA Mega Drive boxed and ready to play. In light of this trend, it's hardly surprising to find out that the Game Boy is coming back. While the new and improved model looks set to be better than ever, it's believed that it won't stray too far away from the classic handheld console that inspired a generation of gamers. Developer Hyperkin is working on an unofficial re-release of the Game Boy which is set to be practically identical to the original, iconic 1989 Nintendo model. The device, which is currently being titled the Ultra Game Boy, will be made of aluminium rather than grey plastic, making it far more idiot-proof than the original, which would get more and more beaten up with every Pokemon battle. Gizmodo claims that the device will have a backlit LCD screen in order to help gamers see the black and white games - which include Tetris and Super Mario Land - in clearer detail. However, if you're looking for the genuine and dimly lit experience, you can turn this screen off and opt for turning the console away from the sun every time you play it. The console will have six hours of battery life, a USB port for charging, stereo speakers and even an option to compose your own music to run alongside your digital adventures. It is set to hit the shelves in the summer, with it costing less than $100. Also, just like the original, games will not be built in, meaning you'll have to go rummage through your cupboards and give those old game cartridges a good blow before you get to experience the console for yourself. While the re-release will undoubtedly be successful among the growing millennial appetite for retro gaming, it will be hard-pressed to match the sales figures of the original Game Boys (including the Game Boy colour), which sold 119 million units over their 14-year lifespan. In light of this news, I'm going to head home, dust off my old Pikachu bag with all my games in and load up a bit of Pokemon Red and get transported back to the year 1999. See you there!

Ah, gamers. You gotta love em. Lemme give you a history of gaming. In 1913, Vladimir Lenin invented gaming while- okay, so actually, Shigero Miyamoto invented Mario in 1981. Pong had existed since 1958, but it was the home consoles, machines like the NES, Atari, and the like that popularized it, primarily for kids. Today, games compete with movies for budgets, advertising and attention, but they had some unique cultural cache in 2014. There was a big dust-up in the gaming community called Gamergate that totally ruined politics forever and rendered the political one-hundred percent cultural. Basically, what happened is that a campaign of harassment against women and genuine grievances against the state of games journalism got entangled into a gigantic mess that then pushed tons of gamers to the right, into arms of journalist Milo Yiannopoulos and others who used the conflict to build their public profiles. [[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/BXnxlDbjEQU/]] Ever since then, cultural right-wing resentment against journalists has grown in gaming circles and the whole culture wars have been intractable ever since. basically, gamers took the fall for being the first sect of people to be swallowed by identity politics and culture wars. Then, in 2015, Donald John Trump rose to ascendency on the wave of anti-political correctness, much of it fostered by the Gamergate movement. Did gamers create Trump? No. But Pepe the Frog and meme culture in general, conflated with harassment, are totally at the root of millennial support for Trump. And millennial gamers were not a major voting bloc, but you know, you're hearing about the alt-right and alt-lite and groups like them because of it. SO here's this damn gaming hotel up in Taiwan. What you think? [[facebookwidget||https://www.facebook.com/1844971809085849/photos/a.1909536209296075.1073741832.1844971809085849/1909536302629399/?type=3&theater]] It's called the I hotel, the perfect destination for gaming couples and singles alike. Every room comes with two massive gaming computers, surely with the top specs that I don't understand, but are probably rather impressive. PC master race seems to have prevailed. It costs around $100 per night, but you can pay $12 an hour just to come use the facilities, or $75 for 15 hours. The hotel is also five-stars, so the other amenities are quite proper. It's located outside Taipei, in the Taoyuan district, if you find yourself in Taiwan. I also believe the TVs are all 4,000 resolution. Damn. The chairs are all DXRacer gaming chairs, so they're quite comfortable. A Chinese YouTuber named Joeman took a tour of the facility, so you can get a good grasp on it here - except the video is in Chinese. Still a good way to see a lot of the inside without forking over the cash to fly to Taiwan for it. Gaming is great, and gamers too are not even a category of people so much as just the general population. Everyone is involved in interactive entertainment, and for good reason too. If people won't read, they can create their own stories through digital choices. Taiwan is a small island nation, off the coast of China, and is the site of much political turmoil over China's claim to its sovereignty. Still, no reason not to enjoy a gaming holiday. If you can afford such a thing, that is. May be cheaper to buy yourself a PS4.

The first trailer for the upcoming Super Mario Bros. Movie has dropped - and fans have had a mixed reaction online.

Last night, the creator of the beloved plumber, Shigeru Miyamoto, introduced the world to the first look at the upcoming movie, which is based on the popular video games.

Of course, fans of the franchise may remember the dreadful live-action Mario movie from 1993, which starred Bob Hoskins as the titular Koopa-stomping hero. That particular effort was deemed a flop, so fans were hopeful that Nintendo and movie animation studio Illumination would finally be able to deliver a feature-length movie that was worthy of Super Mario.

During the introduction to the trailer, actor Chris Pratt - who will be playing Mario - revealed that he has spent "years of his life" playing Super Mario video games, and said it has been "a life-long dream" for him to play the iconic plumber.

Pratt also introduced his co-star, Jack Black, who will be voicing the infamous Mario villain, Bowser. Black said that he was "so proud" to have worked on the movie, and promised that the flick would "make its mark on the Mario fandom forever".

Check out the trailer below:

And the trailer looked amazing, kicking off with King Koopa attacking a colony of Penguins in order to finally reach the invincibility-granting Starman.

The trailer then cuts to Mario falling out of a pipe and into the Mushroom Kingdom, where the dazed and confused plumber is greeted by Toad, before embarking on their journey.

However, fans couldn't help but take issue with Mario's voice in the trailer.

In the video games, Charles Martinet has provided the voice for Mario since 1992, with many fans being able to instantly recognize his iconic catchphrase, "Let's-a-go!"

But in the trailer, there was no over-the-top and upbeat Italian accent from Mario - in fact, many fans were disappointed to hear "Chris Pratt's normal voice".

One Twitter user wrote: "who would have thought that chris pratt's big secret voice in the mario movie would be his normal speaking voice [sic]".

A second added: "Chris Pratt as Mario is a prime example of why you should hire voice actors for voice acting roles because what the hell is this."

"JACK BLACK IS DOING A CHARACTER VOICE AND CHRIS PRATT IS MOST DEFINITELY NOT," tweeted another.

"Literally the only the meh thing about the Mario Movie trailer was Chris Pratt's Mario voice," another Twitter user wrote. "Everything else was f***ing AMAZING."

Another added: "Chris Pratt saying he worked so hard on the Mario voice only for it to sound like Chris Pratt is the funniest thing."

Indeed, the revelation was even more confusing considering that Pratt told Variety back in June: "I’m providing a voice for an animated character, and it is updated and unlike anything you’ve heard in the Mario world before."

I mean... I guess fans have never heard Chris Pratt's voice in the Mushroom Kingdom before.

Others shared their love for the long-standing Mario voice actor Charles Martinet, with one person writing: "Regardless [of] how you feel about Chris Pratt voicing Mario, seeing the voice acting industry coming together and sharing their love towards Charles Martinet is indeed heartwarming. It a real wakeup call for Hollywood that celebrity casting isn't always for the best."

Of course, Martinet is set to appear in the upcoming movie, so some fans are speculating over whether or not the voice-acting legend will provide the narration as an "older Mario", with Pratt being the "young Mario".

I guess we'll have to wait and see. The Super Mario Bros. Movie is currently set to be released in April, 2023.

Featured image credit: London Entertainment / Alamy

I'll admit, I play a lot of video games. So maybe I don't devote my whole life to it, but I usually play a few hours of Mario or Zelda a week, just to take the edge off after a hard day. Sometimes, if I'm playing something I really enjoy, with an engaging storyline or a steep difficulty curve, I might get a bit obsessive, but these days I have to ration my gaming time carefully.

Why? Well, because real life gets in the way. It's just one of many hobbies that I enjoy, and I have to juggle it alongside my job, my social life, family, exercise (yes really) and household chores. When you know how to divide up your week, there really isn't that much time left to fiddle with joysticks.

But if you're a professional gamer, the kind of guy who takes a competitive video game as seriously as a major athlete takes a sport, then gaming can quickly swallow your whole life. Hardly surprising when eSports are bigger than ever, and there's big money to be made via sponsorship deals for playing titles like Call of Duty, League of Legends, and even Super Smash Bros in tournaments.

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The sacrifices that pro gamers make to support their lifestyle can be tremendous, but has one of the most famous ones gone too far? YouTuber Douglas ‘FaZe Censor’ Martin is a pro Call of Duty player, who has just revealed that he and his girlfriend - weather forecaster Yanet Garcia - have broken up so he could focus more on video gaming. Garcia, who is known as "The World's Sexiest Weathergirl" boasts 6.5 million followers on Instagram, while Martin has 1.5 million, as well as 2.5 million YouTube subscribers.

In a series of tweets made to his followers, Martin stated: "I appreciate ALL the support, criticism, etc. Being a YouTuber I know that sometimes you'll get challenged by the decisions and moves you make by people online, but that's what I signed up for. I'm excited for the future," and he then later added "COD is life."

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The reaction from Martin's followers has been decidedly polarised. One Twitter user wrote: "He just threw away an entire future family for a game that’s going to die in no less than 2-3 years. He’s delusional. [sic]"

However, other people were more supportive, and one person tweeted: "Self-happiness and focusing on what matters to you is more important than a significant other. Sacrifices got to be made in order to achieve your goals and that’s what Doug is doing ... He’s pursuing what he wants to do by making HIMSELF happy and doing what he feels matters. Also, I agree with Doug. You can’t give a relationship less than 110 per cent when you got other priorities. There is only so much time/energy you can put into so many things man. Girls come and go. [sic]"

Personally, I don't think I would ever dump a girlfriend over a video game, no matter how much I love the medium ... unless I was about to be number one in Fortnite. I do have priorities, after all.