Mario & Sonic: Why Now?

Now that the shock of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games has set in, I have to wonder why Nintendo and Sega chose now to get these two gaming icons together for the first time.  Leave it to Newsweek of all publications to ask the difficult questions about the pairing, such as how the companies decided which character would get top billing in the title.

Jeffery: Sega's being respectful. Mario is older than Sonic, and we'd like to give the old man some respect by letting him go first.

Kaplan: Here's the bottom line: He's Italian, he's really sexy, and he can get more women than Sonic.

Well, okay, not so hard-hitting there.  But there's still some interesting information to be gleaned from this interview including some details on the planned Sonic relaunch/refresh, just who proposed the team-up and when that proposal was made, and even a little bit about the gameplay.  Intriguing stuff!