That up there is Shigeru Miyamoto (left, not right). As the creator of Donkey Kong, Mario, and Zelda, he’s pretty much the Orson Welles, Martin Scorsese, and Francis Ford Coppola of videogames. The dude’s pretty damn important.

Almost as famous as Miyamoto’s games are the things that inspire them. Zelda came from Miyamoto playing outside and exploring as a child, while Nintendogs came from his hobby as a semi-professional dog-breeder. And 2007’s Super Mario Galaxy? Well obviously that was inspired by … er, hamsters.

The game is famous for its 3D planetoid levels, which saw players running about over spherical worlds, a typically unique approach to the traditional platform game. At a recent Japanese games roundtable discussion, Miyamoto revealed that this was to prevent players getting lost.

However, it wasn’t until the Miyamoto family hamster rolled past in his hamster ball that the idea became reality. And thus, a hamster helped develop Super Mario Galaxy. I don’t think I’ll ever tire of hearing Miyamoto’s charming and wacky influences.

[Via Kotaku]

The French Government is in trouble with the European Union (EU) for surrendering the future of an endangered hamster.

The EU claims that the French have allowed the greater hamster of Alsace, the only wild hamster left in Western Europe to decline to the point of extension. The hamster ’s habitat has been decimated by suburban sprawl and its preferred food of wheat, barley, lucerne and cabbages replaced by Maize in French fields.

The EU is asking for fines of up to €17 million, or €68,000 for each of the 250 animals still thought to be living in wild.

According to the NZ Herald, the French Government has previously done what all French Governments do, and offered farmers a subsidy for growing food the hamsters would eat. Like all subsidies though, it’s worked so well that Hamster numbers have declined by 50% in seven years the subsidies have been offered.