Days after confirming plans to stock Grand Theft Auto IValongside movies on its outer release wall, Blockbuster today announced that the recently released Wii flavor of Mario Kart will make the leap as well. The move is part of what the rental giant calls a plan to "significantly expand its game business," which includes a greater emphasis on selling retail games and hardware, as well as stocking a larger number and variety of games to rent.
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.
GoNintendo citedGerman 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.
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?
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.
We've known for a while that Mario Kart Wii would support twelve-player online races, but given Nintendo's less-than-stellaronlinerecord, we were a little worried about how smooth the online experience would be. Well, we're a little less worried now that the Nintendo UK web site has revealed some details of how online racing on the Wii will work. Among the details discussed:
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.
The site also revealed a dedicated Mario Kart Wii channel, which can be run independently of the disc-version of the game. The channel lets players view global rankings, share and download ghost data, and download daily missions (similar to those found in Mario Kart DS). Can we suggest a mission dedicated to arranging dropped banana peels into jaunty patterns? That would be awesome.
Things continue to look rosy for UK-based mega-retailer Game Group, as the company today announced that it raised its profit expectations for the year from £73 ($145 million) to £74 million ($147 million). Says the financial gurus at Bloomberg, the chain has much thanks to lay at the feet of Nintendo and its platforms' appeal to "women and older customers" for the elevated expectations.
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.
Twelve players might be a nice round number for straight-out races, but we've still been waiting patiently to see how many online opponents Nintendo will allow us in Mario Kart Wii's version of the classic battle modes. Jeux France reports that eight players will be able to duke it out in the game's battle modes.
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.
The Wii is woefully behind the curve in terms of online features, a problem that Nintendo is slowly trying to fix with upcoming AAA titles like Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Mario Kart Wii. While the former won't offer much by way of in-game communication, the latter will in fact feature chat room options, allowing users to text it up with anyone on their Wii Friends list.
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.
Mario Kart fans worried that the Wii remote/Wii Wheel combination would lead to an uncomfortable lack of precision in the upcoming Mario Kart Wii (yes, that's the official name) can breath a sigh of relief. A new 1UP preview of the game reveals that, much like Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the racer will also support more traditional controls via a GameCube pad, a remote/Nunchuk combo, or the Wii's Classic Controller.
While the preview notes somewhat predictably that the Wii Wheel controls "took a little while to get used to," the other play styles were reportedly "quite responsive and instantly familiar." There are some advantages to the motion-sensitive controllers though -- while a quick shake of the Wii Wheel and/or Nunchuk will perform the game's new mid-air tricks, the Gamecube and Classic controllers require players to "awkwardly [reach] for the directional pad," according to the preview.
The full article goes into more detail on the game's new items, new motorcycles, new power-sliding options and a new Mario Kart channel for online play. Check it out if, uh, you like hearing about new stuff.
File this under "amazing gamer gift ideas." Sure, we haven't really touched slot car racers since we were ten, and all we can really recall is flying off the damn track every twenty seconds, but this still makes our hearts flutter. German slot car manufacturer Carrera has created a high-quality Mario Kart slot racing set, complete with star-laden track, and Mario and Wario racers in their own unique karts.
The Mario Kart Go! set is officially licensed by Nintendo, and features about 20 feet of track (we're not slot car racers, so we don't know if that's good or bad). The set is apparently popular, because it's already sold out, with a new shipment due in this Tuesday, December 12th.
We'd prefer to see Yoshi, Luigi, or even Bowser as Mario's slot car rival, rather than Wario, but who can complain? Mario Kart and slot car racing is truly a match made in heaven.
Amidst all the Sonic celebration and delay debacle, we seemed to have a missed a crucial bit of info regarding Nintendo's other multiplayer prodigy. As 1UP graciously points out, Satoru Iwata made the formal announcement at Nintendo's Japanese press conference that Mario Kart Wii will support up to 12 players in an online race, making it the largest Mario Kart yet, and the biggest multiplayer effort on Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection so far.
According to 1UP, Iwata also stated that Nintendo would attempt to streamline the matchmaking process in Mario Kart Wii. We'll go ahead and put in a "second" for that "no friend codes" request, futile though it may seem.
We haven't heard much about Mario Kart Wii since it was unveiled at E3. Thanks to one intrepid forum goer with just a scanner and a dream, we now have a little more info on the game from the UK's Official Nintendo Magazine.
Apparently MKW will support up to 16 players in a game (does that translate to 16 different characters?) and will be the first in the series to offer Battle Mode online. Oh, and you can now perform stunts in the air. We're not yet sure if we should be troubled by the fact that in addition to some Wii-exclusive maps, "classic DS tracks will be recreated with Wii graphics." We're going to hold off on getting worried until we see how many new tracks are being included. But let's hope for at least half-and-half, eh?
Update: According to CVG, Official Nintendo Magazine has released a statement saying, "The details printed in Official Nintendo Magazine 21 regarding Mario Kart Wii were healthy speculation on our part and are in no way an official announcement from Nintendo. We are sorry if we have mislead anyone. We do not set out to mislead our readers. ONM apologizes profusely for any misunderstandings that this has caused."
So, did ONM spill a few beans too early, or were they just making stuff up?
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.
Ever zoned out playing Mario Kart, only to find yourself driving down an interstate some time later, eager to bypass your fellow motorists with the aid of a few well placed turtle shells? Yeah, us neither, but we can totally imagine it and we imagine a similar sentiment contributed to the creation of Invisible Harleys: A Mario Kart Parody by UCSB students Michael Figge and Jess Rigel, part of a short film contest sponsored by Harley Davidson. Keep a close eye peeled for non-canonical weapons like the Giant Magnet™ and Super Hammer™ ... what, Chomps not good enough?
According to Jeux-France (who cite rumors that "appear credible"), Nintendo is planning to drop several bombs at the upcoming min-E3 in mid-July. Release dates for Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Mario Galaxy will be divulged, and the company will also unveil the next Mario Kart game for Wii. Also on the mystery roster is a vague hardware-related announcement that Jeux-France describes as a "large revelation". Could it be the Nintendo Revolution headset we've been waiting for?!
Release dates for Smash Bros. and Mario Galaxy are a no-brainer, and even our grandmother could tell you that Nintendo is working on another Mario Kart game. But with the company's other major franchises already dominating the scene, is it too early to show off another big gun?
