Nintendo announces online Wii Mario Kart, Wii Wheel

38 Comments by Kyle Orland Jul 11th 2007 12:51PM
Filed under: Nintendo Wii, Driving, Online

At Nintendo's E3 press conference today, Reggie Fils-Aime announced the first online-enabled console Mario Kart will come out for the Wii in the first quarter of 2008. Fils-Aime said the game is "not your father's Mario Kart," and hinted that the game will have a large number of characters. He also announced a "Wii Wheel" peripheral which will be packaged with the game and "level the track for beginners." More pictures of both the game and the wheel after the break.

Tags: breaking, breakingnews, e307, mario kart, MarioKart, online, wheel, wii, wii wheel, WiiWheel

(Page 1) Reader Comments

JonnyBoy2U: Jul 11th 2007; 12:55PM

I CANNOT WAIT!

I hope Online on this game rocks....

And I hope the graphics are top quality (that is for the Wii).

Ian: Jul 11th 2007; 6:41PM

Here are some early screenshots from the game

SCREENSHOTS:
http://mariokartwii.com/viewtopic.php?p=1337#1337

Savok: Jul 11th 2007; 12:55PM

ZOMG NINTENDO HATE ONLI.... oh

Farseer: Jul 11th 2007; 12:55PM

Wow, I love Mario Kart, but I don't know about that wheel....

Stevo: Jul 11th 2007; 1:29PM

haha, yeah...the wheel looks just a bit cheap.

t_m: Jul 12th 2007; 10:54AM

Yeah... i'm a bit confused by all these peripherals.

Surely the whole POINT of the wiimote was that it could duplicate lot of varied actions. But now we have WiiFit with it's balance pad, RE with it's Zapper and MK with it's wheel.

If every darn game for the wii comes with it's own peripheral then that is gonna be (a) expensive, (b) messy and awkward to find, and (c) confusing for beginners.

History has shown that buyers don't like having to splash out on peripherals that they'll only use with one or two games.

Farseer: Jul 12th 2007; 12:00PM

I completely agree. I'd be more than happy to use my wavebirds with this one as well. That controller worked just fine for DoubleDash.

TheMag: Jul 11th 2007; 12:57PM

Wow...a Wii wheel...i havent seen one of those since....the Wii launched...

FrankTheCrank: Jul 11th 2007; 1:08PM

The Reginator holding that dinky little steering wheel looks hilarious.

First Moore with the Halo 360, now this.

Viridium: Jul 11th 2007; 1:10PM

A Wheel for the Wii? Great, it'll be even MORE useless than the wheels for the 360! How many titles are going to use it, again? Hopefully it'll be cheap...

Vidikron: Jul 11th 2007; 1:16PM

According to the Joystiq posting one wheel comes with the game.

john: Jul 11th 2007; 1:17PM

It comes with Mario Kart, so I'm guessing most people will have one.

Viridium: Jul 11th 2007; 1:29PM

Vidikron/John - what about the other people playing at my local console? Kinda sucky if only one player gets a wheel advantage?

Vidikron: Jul 11th 2007; 1:15PM

At least each MK game has been pretty good, IMO. It's their one series of which I have enjoyed each iteration even if the formula doesn't vary much. And it does make a great game to play with friends. Not sure about that wheel though. Seems a bit small. At least one comes with the game.

Rob Accomando: Jul 11th 2007; 1:15PM

come on Ninty, it's a WIIL... Take advantage of the Wii name already! (wiimote, Super Marwii-o, etc)

Vidikron: Jul 11th 2007; 1:17PM

Hahah... Wiil... nice one. Much better than Wii Wheel.

Rob Accomando: Jul 11th 2007; 1:18PM

come on Ninty, it's a WIIL... Take advantage of the Wii name already! (wiimote, Super Marwii-o, etc)

Rob Accomando: Jul 11th 2007; 1:18PM

come on Ninty, it's a WIIL... Take advantage of the Wii name already! (wiimote, Super Marwii-o, etc)

kilodelta: Jul 11th 2007; 1:25PM

that thing looks like my ex-girlfriends diaphragm.

'bout the same size, too.

oni-link: Jul 11th 2007; 1:25PM

wow those screens behind reggie looks magnificent!!! Can't wait for 2008 so I could do some next generation karting Mario style!!!

Jonathan Tran: Jul 11th 2007; 1:29PM

LAME dammit this whole E3 is lame.

Unless Sony announces it has cured AIDS or that they have solved the israeli-palestine conflict, E3 has totally sucked.

btw, only the Cell(tm) processor has the power to cure aids. Waggle can't cure AIDS.

BrutalDeluxe: Jul 11th 2007; 2:06PM

Are you implying that PS3 owners can cure AIDS because they don't have sex?

Staggs: Jul 12th 2007; 7:42PM

BAZIIIING!

accidental: Jul 11th 2007; 1:30PM

There are 5 Mario Kart titles dude, two for handhelds. Nintendo has had 2 more generations of consoles and 3 generations of handhelds ahead of Playstation and even more ahead of Xbox. This naturally means there will be more iterations of a given franchise. You can bet that if Halo had come out in the SNES/Genesis generation and Microsoft had handhelds there'd be a Halo on every system.

Catprog: Jul 11th 2007; 1:32PM

How many final fantasies have there been?

I count 6 Mario kart games. 1 per console.

Snes,n64,Gc,wii
GBA,DS

SuperChuck: Jul 11th 2007; 1:45PM

Nintendo will stop making Mario Kart as soon as people stop buying it. Kart 64 is fun, Kart DS is fun, and if Kart Wii is fun, I'll buy that, too.

Compared to sports games or first person shooters, 5 iterations of a game is nothing.

I've been buying Madden religiously every year for more years than I can count and the only thing that ever changes is the rosters (and they pretty up the graphics a little).

And, despite some graphical treatments, aren't most FPS games just another rehash of Quake?

Admiral_Mike: Jul 11th 2007; 1:55PM

I probably won't use the wheel attachment, But i'm glad it uses the exite truck style control

Number Six: Jul 11th 2007; 2:17PM

Honest question: How is this wheel different from the wheel Ubi packaged with those two launch rqacing titles? Just that hole on the back to secure the wrist-strap? Or does it house a new set of accelerometers or something cool like that?

NvM: Jul 11th 2007; 2:28PM

I think its smaller, allowing you to use buttons. Ant there might be a trigger or button on the back.

Almack64: Jul 11th 2007; 4:25PM

The wiimote appears to actually dock (using the expansion/nunchuck port) into the wheel. One reason for this is there seems to be an actual trigger on the back of it. Also unlike the other wheel(s) there's a hole so that the IR sensor is not blocked.

RUSKULL: Jul 11th 2007; 2:32PM

I won't be getting the stupid wheel, but the game can't come soon enough.

;happygolucky: Jul 11th 2007; 4:12PM

oh a wii wheel...you gettin this joystiq? this is a good time to come up with a clever wii acessory name.
wii-L possibly?

jchensor: Jul 11th 2007; 4:24PM

By the "level the track for beginners" comment, it really sounds like the Wii Wheel (Wiil... haha, nice) is not the only way to control and can only really get you so far. Hopefully, hardcore gamers will still be able to use more traditional controls (the Classic Controller) for precision hopping, steering, and mini-boosting (please let the hops still be in there).

If Smash Bros. is supporting four different control schemes, I can only imagine Mario Kart is gonna do something very similar.

Abscissa: Jul 11th 2007; 4:36PM

I'm largely in the Nintendo camp, but I have to somewhat agree with you. I've played every Mario Kart game that's come out, and frankly, the original and the DS one are really the only ones that are any good. And the best is still the original.

I saw Reggie talking about the wheel on TV, and he was so full of hubris I could barely stand it. That wheel is about as exciting as and will "level the playing field" about as well as the wheel Ubisoft packaged with their racing games at launch. I think Reggie was just trying to pretend that a piece of cheap plastic was a worthy substitute for REAL skill-based online matchmaking.

Adwiian: Jul 12th 2007; 5:29PM

There have only been five MK games before this one; SNES, N64, GBA and the Cube version. The final fantasy series numbers 13 games, and sure they changed a bit every game, but the first ones especially are very similar. Does it have an excuse because it's not a racing game? Well, one cannot forget that Project Gotham 8 is coming out soon, along with Nascar 08. And what about those MLB, Madden, golf and even Mario Party games that come out every year? Aren't they the franchises you should be going after.
Mario Kart releases one game per Nintendo console, not 3, so it's not a big deal.

ferrarimanf355: Jul 12th 2007; 7:26PM

Apparently, some people here are forgetting about the arcade Mario Kart...

TisMe: Jul 16th 2007; 10:51AM

I bet they spoil it by making it more suited for non gamers rather than focusing on the hardcore gamers who love mario kart.

Catprog: Aug 2nd 2007; 11:30AM

test

TGS 08 hands-on: Spelunker (PSN) The mystery of Sony's 'unannounced' TGS games TGS 08: Full Square Enix Closed Theater impressions	Planning for the Hallow's End title The Art of War(craft): PvP in BlizzCon 2008 All the World's a Stage: So you want to be Forsaken
Deals: Gift card with Dead Space, B2G1 at Toys R Us and more Soulja Boy calls out Xbox Live gamers Activision calls in the budget Secret Service	Reminder: Wario Land is up for grabs Wii Warm Up: Worn around the edges High Voltage announces new WiiWare racer
Reminder: Millionheir is up for grabs DS Daily: Camera games DS Daily: Saving up for a Flowery, Sunny, and Rainy day	PSP worldwide releases for the week of October 12 TGS 08: Full Square Enix Closed Theater impressions TGS 08: LocoRoco 2 and the curiously embargoed trailer
The Best of Big Download: October 6-12 Yep, more BlizzCon Blizzard looking to "monetize" Battle.net in the future	LL Cool J Says He Doesn't Use Steroids: 'We Don't Want the Prunes to Turn Into Raisins' High School Cheerleaders Under Fire for Staging Mock Executions at Pep Rally The Top 10 Franchises That Are Most Likely to Move

Breaking News »