It's a little cold in Austin, but we're warming ourselves with reflections upon last night's Fiesta Bowl. In that championship spirit, thought some might like to know that a new video game has the Eye of the Tiger when it comes to best-selling console game of all-time.

The GOAT that was Super Mario Bros. has been passed by—wait for it—Wii Sports. Yes, in the true under hyped Wii fashion of slow but steady, Wii Sports eclipsed all other sales to become the best-selling Game Of All Time. Just like the old title holder Super Mario Bros., Man Zero blog points out that Wii Sports' insane distribution of 40.24 million titles has a lot to do with it being bundled with most every Wii system shipped. So, whether Super Mario or Wii Sports, the way to the sales title seems to be all about becoming the linchpin game in a transcendent console by Nintendo.

I hear Dennis Hopper has not said no to a Wii Sports movie. Yet.

Image Source: Nintendo of America, Inc.

Writer, activist, and all-around Web hero Jon Lebkowsky sat down with SXSW for the New Year to discuss what panels have him excited for March.

SXSW: So, first lead us through what you'll be doing at SXSW this year? Who are your fellow panelists and what topics have you excited?

JL: In our panel, we're talking about using digital technology and social media to accelerate sustainability, which is about doing more with less, and using materials "cradle to cradle." In the next economy the emphasis shifts from resource extraction and labor to knowledge and engineering, mediated by social/collaborative technologies. This is a futurist discussion - we're still coordinating panelist commitments, but I expect to have a combination of futurists and social media thought leaders.

SXSW: You were on the panel picker advisory board this year. What do you look for when picking panels?

JL: Advisors look at all the entries submitted for a particular category and suggest which of those are particularly strong and compelling based on the description, the participants, and the key questions they expect to address. We provide a balance, and make sure that significant entries aren't rejected just because they didn't get votes. My area was community and social networks, consistent with my field, and there were 190 entries. Careful consideration of all of those took quite a lot of time, but it was wonderful to see how many potentially great entries there were this year.

SXSW: I'm told you and Bruce Sterling are pretty tight, any word on what he'll be up to at SXSW? Any other panelists or speakers we should keep a particular eye out for?

JL: Bruce is coming, but it's hard to say what he'll be discussing - he probably won't know himself until close to the date. I think he'll want his talk to be fresh and timely, though I suspect he'll be talking about his latest project, "The User's Guide to Imaginary Gadgets."

As for other panelists, I'm looking forward to Heather Gold's talk on the web and feminism, Charlene Li on The Future of Social Networks, Beth Kanter on Social and Nonprofits, Jen Bekman on Curating the Crowdsourced World, Jon Wiley on user-generated discovery in science, Rachel Weidinger on Sustainable Food 2.0, William Brent on Living Buildings, Katrin Verclas on mobile web hype vs reality, Adam Fisk on "P2P 2.0," Doc Searls on "Free Everything," Jonathan Zittrain on Civic Technologies, Brian Zisk on the failure of copyright law, and Derek Powazek on Design for the Wisdom of Crowds.

SXSW: Okay, for all us ScreenBurn fans, I have to know what games you're into right now? Anything you like on the horizon?

JL: I've been in ongoing conversations over the last year about what you might call the sustainability metaverse - the creation of a digital layer fed by real data about the environment, and our interactions with and within the environment - sort of like a highly dynamic, highly interactive form of ecological footprint, accessing more and more data as we evolve our ability to access data from all systems. Remember how we used to say "IP on everything," talking about an Internet of things? The mantra for the project I'm describing would be "API for everything."

Imagine a world where, in any given built environment, you could interface with the building and all its systems to get a clear picture of energy use, emissions, anything that has an impact on the sustainability, not just of the building, but of the building, its occupants, and the various ongoing interactions and processes within. That's not exactly a game, though you could build games within and around it - I would think collaborative rather than competitive games. That's what I've been thinking about, and I know some people who are interested in building it.

I should also note that Obama, in his interest in government transparency, wants to create an API for the Federal budget, and eventually make all government financial data - and other forms of data - accessible for use in building external models that could facilitate far better informed citizen participation and input. That would be a source of games, as well... "Bust the Budget"!

ScreenBurn wants to thank you for all the superb Game Design Competition entries. Keep in mind that we'll be announcing the semi-finalists in mid January; so stay tuned and good luck!

The deadline for the SXSW Web Awards // Presented by Adobe has also been extended through December 31st. So if you have a gaming site, or a community site, or a blog, or any of these other categories set up in the last year— let us know.

Have a great and safe holiday and New Year. We'll be back on the 5th for more news, interviews, and ScreenBurn at SXSW awesomeness. Feel free to continue pressing Start to skip til then and enjoy these Top 10 Best Intro Scenes.

Jonathan Zittrain is the author of "The Future of the Internet -- and to How Stop It" and has been a professor at the Harvard Law School and the University of Oxford. Scheduled for Saturday, March 14, his SXSW presentation will cover how to keep Internet innovation alive in the face of ever-tightening content controls.

SXSW: What's our key responsibility as Netizens to allow the Internet to remain generative but also mostly safe to use?

JZ: Look for a way to pitch in -- the way that new users flow onto Wikipedia and correct typos or vandalism there at a rate faster than it happens. The Berkman Center is developing some new tools that will allow Internet users at large to have their PCs report their general happiness level, so that we can for the first time get a sense of what the landscape is out there -- what machines are running what, and which software has a negative impact on the ecosystem. Another application we're launching in 2009 will allow people around the world easily to report Web sites as blocked. For the first time we have a chance to generate a realtime map of Internet filtering as it happens

SXSW: Could you talk a bit about the Oxford Internet Institute and what you've done there and your plans for the future?

JZ: I've just moved from the OII back to Harvard Law School full time. OII is terrific -- it's launching a brand-new masters program next autumn -- and I'll remain as a research associate there. It's good to consolidate one's carbon footprint, though! (I'd been going back and forth term by term for three years.)

SXSW: I admit that I first saw you on the Colbert Report (and it convinced me to pick up your book), what's it like being a guest on the Report?

JZ: Terrifying but fun. Stephen Colbert clearly loves his job -- I get the sense that he can't believe he gets paid to come in and have such fun each day. The near-universal advice: don't try to be funny. And treat Stephen's character as if he were a drunk at a bar.

SXSW: You recently mentioned on Facebook that you were deciding to pick up an Xbox, I believe. Any games lined up, and why the Xbox over a Wii or PS3?

JZ: The Wii seemed fun, but Xbox a little more intense -- plus I'm interested in the community features of things like Xbox Live. I suspect that networked gaming may turn out to be the platform for networked everything -- especially if the platform makers allow easy development of third-party networked apps.

SXSW: Have you taken a look to see what other panelists or bands you might catch when you come in March?

Not yet -- it's pretty overwhelming. SXSW is the one conference I've been completely jazzed to attend.

Image Source: Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University

Blizzard has released an incredible bit of video marketing on their website. It's a 20-minute two-player match between the Protoss and Terrain in StarCraft II Alpha.

However, the game is video is only part of the fun. StarCraft II lead designer Dustin Browder and Robert Simpson, from e-Sports, provide running commentary during the match. Simpson's work with e-Sports certainly shows with his dedicated color commentary throughout the match.
All in all, we may be looking at the Summerall and Madden of strategic versus play. It definitely gives me ideas for our coverage of the ScreenBurn at SXSW Arcade in March.

Image Source: Blizzard Entertainment.

A few weeks ago, we sat down with Stephen Baker, who writes for BusinessWeek and authored the new book The Numerati. Well, Baker has a new article out at BusinessWeek concerning a just-released study by Networked Insights on game interactivity.

The study takes a look at all the conversations about hot games on social networking sites to try and see how all this correlates to all those gamers not on the sites. Some interesting stuff about how some games manage to sell well without being social media darlings, particularly Wii games and sports games. However, anyone who has seen the recent moves at SI.com or ESPN.com knows that the sporting world is knee deep in social media.

A few panelists will discuss related topics this March, like Adam Simon's Social gamers: Away from the Keyboard and Ian Schafer's EA Dead Space - A Transmedia Marketing Case Study.

Metallica made it official in announcing on their website that Guitar Hero: Metallica would be out in 2009. The band says the game will include, "28 Metallica songs along with a few from some of our buddies like Alice in Chains, the Foo Fighters, Slayer, Machine Head and Queen."

The move follows announcements for a Beatles version of Guitar Hero and an announcement from Pearl Jam and Rock Band that Pearl Jam's entire Ten album will soon be available for download on the Rock Band Music Store.

If any of this surprises you, you may want to check out Nabeel Hyatt's panel at SXSW in March, Are Music Games the New iTunes?" You can also see a list of all the gaming panels set up for March.