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Gaming to Go: Mario Kart DS
by Matthew Madeiro 
{ Sep 22nd 2008 at 2:29PM }
Go ahead. Roll your eyes.
Mario Kart? An incredibly obvious choice, perhaps, but for one important reason: it's good. Very good. It's easily the best racer on the DS and one of the greatest titles in the handheld's library, if the review scores are any indication. But beyond the numbers and critical analysis rests the simple fact that Mario Kart DS is fun, fast, and very much worthy of your attention, especially if you're looking for motor madness just as enjoyable now as it was when the game raced onto shelves back in late 2005.
Sure, there's this newfangled Wii version making the rounds, but for all of its technological advances, Mario Kart Wii is lacking in one vital area -- you can't take it on the toilet. If that realization is all it takes to convince you to dust that tiny cartridge off and put it back in action, you're in the right place. Grab a few bananas and peel out* to the second page as this week's edition of Gaming to Go revisits a portable classic.
*I'm so sorry.
Gallery: Mario Kart DS
Tick tock of the clock ringing in your ears? Tell your timepiece to shove it! We live busy lives, but remember this: there's always time to game. Check back with Gaming to Go every week for the latest and greatest titles you should spend your precious few minutes with.Revolutionary: Mario Kart Training Wheel
by Mike Sylvester { May 21st 2008 at 2:00PM }
The Wii Wheel was supposed to make racing easy enough for anyone to jump right into a session of Mario Kart Wii with no prior experience with either traditional game controllers or the Wii Remote. When used properly, it works as expected. The trouble is that it's not always used properly. Watching your parents try to get through Wario's Gold Mine, you'll notice that they're sometimes holding the Wheel the wrong way, and it's making them drive off the track into chasms of eternity. This observation led me to examine how Mario Kart Wii's steering works and come up with a solution for keeping n00bs on track.
Blockbuster expands game focus, takes on retail game, hardware sales
by Jason Dobson { Apr 28th 2008 at 11:29AM }
Blockbuster specifically noted plans to offer a special $499.99 PS3 bundle in its corporate-owned stores, which will include a 40GB console, a copy of the movie Spiderman 3 on Blu-ray, Activision's video game adaptation of Transformers, and the opportunity to rent one free PS3 game or Blu-ray movie a week for 12 consecutive weeks. However, while we appreciate the added attention Blockbuster is giving our favorite hobby, we doubt even this will sway us into venturing out into the sunlight to rent anything.
DS Daily: A longtime companion calls it quits
by David Hinkle { Apr 23rd 2008 at 9:00AM }
This weekend, we had to do something that made us feel horrible, but in the end, was for the best. Like that scene in Old Yeller, we had to put down one of our DS carts (Mario Kart DS, oddly enough). You see, all of the inserting and ejecting of the cartridge with our DS caused something to get loose in there and now the cart cannot be read by the system.It got us to wondering about this happening to others, namely you all, who probably play their DS a lot more than we're able to. So have you played a game so much this has happened? Have you never heard of this happening? What's your oldest DS game?
Rumor: Mario Kart Wii may also be plagued by disc read errors
by Griffin McElroy { Apr 13th 2008 at 5:30PM }
Did your nearly two years of anticipation come to an anticlimactic conclusion last month when your stubborn, soiled Nintendo Wii refused to play the pristine copy of Smash Bros. Brawl you'd just purchased? If you were one of the unlucky owners of an unkempt Wii whose dust-covered laser couldn't read the dual-layer Brawl disc, we've got bad news -- there's a chance your bedraggled home console will refuse to read Mario Kart Wii as well.
GoNintendo cited German gaming news site GameFront with reporting numerous complaints from owners of the Japanese version of the game, saying it often refuses to load and is plagued by frequent crashes -- likely due to the same dual-layered woes suffered by Brawl. Thing is, we can't find any reports of Mario Kart Wii being a dual-layered game -- on the contrary, some early purchasers (and those who obtained the game through more ... dubious channels) are certain it's single-layered. We doubt it's cause for widespread panic -- but keep a wary eye out for further complaints.
Mario Kart Wii Japanese intro video excites
by David Hinkle { Mar 22nd 2008 at 4:00PM }
The color is off a little in the above video, but the intro cutscene for Mario Kart Wii in Japan shows off some sweet stuff. We're sure it'll be no different than the intro we get here in the states, but we're glad to have had this early look. The whole "stunting thing" looks a lot more manageable and it appears to actually flow with the game nicely, dashing our fears that our beloved Mario Kart franchise would not be enjoyable on the Wii. Personally, we don't know why we ever had any doubt. It's Nintendo we're talking about, after all!
Gallery: Mario Kart Wii
[Via Joystiq]
Japanese Mario Kart Wii video smorgasbord
by Griffin McElroy { Mar 22nd 2008 at 3:00PM }
If you weren't turned off from Mario Kart Wii after the announcement that it would be sans-serpentile-steering, the gaggle of (somewhat poor quality) gameplay videos recently posted by GameTrailers might just tickle your fancy. Featuring the above intro for the Japanese version of the game as well as a number of features on some of the series' returning maps, it certainly fired a nostalgic red shell into our heart of hearts. We'll be bringing those blue sparks when the game hits U.S. store shelves on April 27 -- who wants to be first for a five-course meal consisting solely of banana peels and our dust?
Official Mario Kart Wii site launches (for Japan)
by David Hinkle { Mar 21st 2008 at 12:00PM }
Gallery: Mario Kart Wii
[Via Go Nintendo]
ONM reports no snaking in Mario Kart
by Candace Savino { Mar 17th 2008 at 5:00PM }
When we reported rumors that the dreaded snaking technique would worm its way to Mario Kart Wii, many of you vented your irritation in the comments. According to ONM, though, snaking won't be exploitable in the upcoming Wii racer.
The magazine reported in its review of the game, "Ever since the N64 game, practically every Mario Kart game has included the ability to get a speed boost by waggling the controls left and right as you powerslide. This has finally been scrapped, and now your speed boost is determined by how long you can hold the slide." Sounds like a better system to us.
Yet, we're sure that some of you are advocates of snaking, and are not happy by this turn of events. So, now it's your turn to vent in the comments -- let us hear your woes, snakers.
Gallery: Mario Kart Wii
[Via GoNintendo]
Mario Kart Wii snakes into stores April 27
by Ludwig Kietzmann { Mar 12th 2008 at 8:40AM }
Nintendo has announced that its frantic shell-flinging racer, Mario Kart Wii, will see its long-awaited US release on April 27th. The game will include the "intuitive" Wii Wheel, otherwise described as a large hunk of plastic capable of housing your Wii remote. We envision it being less useful for the actual game and better suited to the imaginary car we'll be driving everywhere, complete with lip-powered puttering and unexpected honking to annoy the coworkers at the office.
Once you stick Mario Kart Wii into your console, you'll be able to compete with up to 11 other drivers online across 32 courses (half of them recycled from previous games). You can also expect to encounter Mii integration, 10 battle arenas, alternate controller support and a festering hatred for blue shells.
Once you stick Mario Kart Wii into your console, you'll be able to compete with up to 11 other drivers online across 32 courses (half of them recycled from previous games). You can also expect to encounter Mii integration, 10 battle arenas, alternate controller support and a festering hatred for blue shells.
Nintendo details Mario Kart Wii channel, online play
by Kyle Orland { Mar 5th 2008 at 12:40PM }
- Spectator mode - When you join a room in progress, you can watch the race unfold while waiting for a new one to start.
- Global friend view - Lets you view your friends' locations and online status.
- Room structure - Host chooses race type, but player votes determine course selection.
[Via WiiFanboy]
Euro retailer Game expects greater profits thanks to 'buoyant' market
by Jason Dobson { Mar 3rd 2008 at 12:30PM }
The group's like-for-like sales for the fifty weeks leading to January 12 were up around 43 percent while the company expects further growth of around 5 to 10 percent in the current year, driven by a "buoyant" video game market. Preliminary financial results are expected to drop on April 29, though given thin competition and what Game calls "a strong pipeline of innovative software," including such titles as Nintendo's Wii Fit and Mario Kart, as well as Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto IV, we expect those calling the shots for the retailer to remain swimming in the deep end of the money pool for a good while longer.
The DS Life: First-person gaming
by Eric Caoili { Feb 27th 2008 at 11:50PM }
We're breaking away from our usual routine this week -- instead of fawning over touching scenes of handheld gamers, we'll look through ten pictures taken from the gamers's point of view. These photographs can reveal a lot about the shutterbugs who took them! You know, besides what game they were playing at the time.
Mario Kart Wii supports 8-player battle mode
by Scott Jon Siegel { Feb 27th 2008 at 11:30PM }
To arrive at the magic number yourself, check out the radar in the lower-right of the above picture. Eight icons are clearly visible, making for ample amounts of balloons to burst, and stars to steal. We're sad that twelve-player support isn't possible in the battle mode, but we'll definitely take what we can get.
[Via Wii Fanboy]
Gallery: Mario Kart Wii
Mario Kart Wii features text chat; still no voice support
by Scott Jon Siegel { Feb 27th 2008 at 12:55AM }
IGN reports that the texting option in Mario Kart Wii is limited to people you've swapped friends codes with (of course), and text-chatting is only possible before, and presumably after, racing matches. Text entry via Wii Remote is assumed, and IGN wagers that USB keyboards may be supported as well, as keyboard support has been included in most Wii software.
It's no voice chat, to be sure, but at least we'll be able to argue with friends over the fairness of blue shells.
[Thanks, Bigfoot]
