Kotaku
Mario Kart Wii's arriving in the US in Spring 2008, you say? Little vague there, Nintendo. Need something more concrete. Oh, what's that? It's launching on April 27, 2008? Much better. By my watch that has it 16 days after the European release, so if you'll excuse me, I have to pop outside and catch the flying pigs as they fall from the sky. Dead. Dead from the shock of it all.
Hit the jump for press release readin' fun.
Nintendo Speeds Into Spring With Mario Kart Wii
Hotly Anticipated Racing Game Includes Innovative Wii Wheel
REDMOND, Wash., March 12 /PRNewswire/ — This year, the typical signs of
spring will be accompanied by the sweet sound of revving engines and the sight
of lightning-fast shells whizzing around every corner. Mario Kart(R) Wii is
zooming toward its launch in the United States on April 27. The game comes
with the intuitive Wii Wheel(TM), which makes it easy for novices to compete
against veterans, so no one is left in the dust. And with a broadband hookup
to Nintendo(R) Wi-Fi Connection, players can compete with up to 11 other
drivers from around the world for racing dominance.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080312/LAW040)
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20061011/LAW104LOGO)
"Mario Kart Wii transforms one of our most popular franchises into a race
that every member of the family can join," said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of
America's executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. "Driving with the Wii
Wheel could not be more natural, and this is one place where speeding is
encouraged."
Mario Kart Wii will include 16 new courses and 16 classic courses from
previous Mario Kart games. For the first time ever, players have the option of
racing with either karts or motorbikes. Players can also hit the road as their
personalized Mii(TM) caricatures in addition to the handful of classic
Nintendo characters found in the game. True to the series, the game features
tons of racing, plenty of power-ups and oodles of objects for players to use
to slow down other drivers. And 10 battle arenas will keep players busy
between trips around the circuit.
The easy-to-use Wii Wheel will also be sold as a separate accessory,
giving every driver in the household a chance to get behind his or her own
wheel. And if veteran Mario Kart fans are afraid of getting smoked by rookie
drivers using the Wii Wheel, they can rest assured that Nintendo has them
covered. Mario Kart Wii supports four different control options: Wii
Remote(TM) with or without the Wii Wheel, Wii Remote and Nunchuk(TM)
controller combo, Classic Controller and even the Nintendo GameCube(TM)
controller. So there's bound to be a configuration that fits everyone's style.
Mario Kart Wii launches with a new channel added to the Wii Menu to
enhance game play: The Mario Kart Wii Channel. This new channel builds on the
huge online community of Wii owners and lets players compete in tournaments,
check worldwide rankings, see when their friends are playing and download
ghost data.
Remember that Wii features parental controls that let adults manage the
content their children can access. For more information about this and other
Wii features, visit Wii.com. For more information about Mario Kart Wii, visit
MarioKart.com.
Comments
MGS4 PS3 package > Mario Kart Wii package
MarioKart! Now with broken online! It's a feature!
@PapaBear434: Innovation?
Hey, at least you got a date. I'm starting to doubt that SSBB will ever cross the ocean.
What is that I read? Complainment because the Americans get something later then us poor discriminated europeans?
If I was to decide when you'd get MKWii it would be on our release day of SSBB sometime the coming fall!
I'll neatly just sidestep the fanboy droppings there for a moment and ask if this means that the PAL regions will get a date for SSBB. 16 days after the U.S. release would be nice.
Yay! That's my birthday!
@Weirdwolf:
Ha ha ha ha - 16 days!
Ha ha ha ha! Stop, you're killing me!
@PapaBear434: God forbid something not work perfectly immediately on the first try.
Good news. But not the good news we all wanted.
I worry that MK will be swallowed up by Brawl hype.
Wasn't Double dash about in europe before america aswell?
@Saxboy:
Actually, yes. When you pay half a C-Note and up for something, there is a reasonable expectation that it would, you know, work. That's why I was/am pissed at the 360 for breaking down more than Britney Spears, and why I am pissed at Sony for not getting their PSN up to snuff in any foreseeable time frame with the release of Home. Stuff like this pisses me off.
You sell something, it had better damn well work. A hiccup or two could be excused, but SSBB has been out in Japan for over a month with the same issues, and they have yet to fix THAT.
Besides, I meant my comment as a joke, good natured ribbing to Nintendo fans. Grow some thicker skin or get off the internet.
@jay427:
never fails, everytime a game gets a release date on here it always happens to be on someone's birthday
I haven't been watching the Wii news as closely because it's the console I don't have (yet?)
With Brawl and Mario Kart out in the first four months of 2008, what is in the wings for Wii? What are the holiday titles for Nintendo? Seems like they didn't space out their big two games of the year very well.
Will Animal Crossing be done by then?
See Europe you do get somethings sooner the the US, just not much.
It was pretty obvious nintendo werent going to be ready for the server crush brawl would bring. That is expected. Now they want to stack mario kart online on top of that, so soon??
Europe gets screwed again!
Thank God for the Freeloader. :)
Oh noes, the US gets something 16 days later than the EU? Well, that sure makes up for all the 2-12 month delays we're getting.
@lionkitten: Mario does something XII
"Dead. Dead from the shock of it all."
I gotta tell ya Luke, you have some of the funniest write ups. Great start to my morning :D
And as usual we're paying the extra cost for it too, according to Game it's going to be £34.99 ($70) and according to EB Games it's going to be $49.99
@Deltakiral: If it was really a makeup for the other ones, you'd be getting it 6-12 months later, not 16 days. ;)
@Wuffles: Huh? I thought you were getting it early this time?
Mario Kart Wii, where online play is hit or miss.
@jay427: Mine too! And then GTA IV comes out two days later! I'm-a be a happy 22-year-old come the end of April.
@PapaBear434:
Works as designed. ^_^
I haven't actually bought a Mario Kart game... ever. And I'd probably consider myself a nintendo fanboy, too. This must be the only major nintendo franchise that I don't have.
@njhardcoreguy:
yep, a console, new model controller, and highly anticipated blockbuster game beats a game.
@Kyle81: Yes Kyle, we get it, you don't care for Mario...:P
As to the online, again I remember having all sorts of fun with Halo 2 on its release (lag, dropped games), took them a few weeks to patch it all up. I don't see why Nintendo is getting ragged all over for going through the same phase with Smash and probably Mario Kart, as this is their first real online system. Could it be better, and should it be better? Probably, again lets see how Nintendo responds. If the online play in Smash is still broken in 2 or 3 months, I'll be just as pissed as anybody else, if not moreso.
This means SSBB will be out in Europe around March 27...no?
"The game comes with the intuitive Wii Wheel(TM), which makes it easy for novices to compete against veterans, so no one is left in the dust."
That's Nintendo's reasoning? No thanks, try again.
@Arcadewolf:
If you mean march 27 2009, maybe.
@thefais: You are missing out, dude! Grab a copy of Mario Kart DS now!
This has gotta be Nintendo trying to combat GTA4 being released for PS3 and 360. They are probably worried that the media hype will shift to 360 and PS3 instead of the Wii then, so they are gonna have Mario kart come out then so people still talk about the Wii. If it was up to Nintendo, I'm sure they'd hold onto it a bit longer to give Brawl more time to shine, but thats what competition does.
ign appears to have the only test copy in existence at the moment, and their reaction to the game has me scared. They're claiming that graphically, the game is barely on par with the DS version (which is downright insulting), and that even at 150CC, the game runs ridiculously slow (though at 60 fps), making the game more of a "bridging the gap" title to lure casual gamers in. They say the game's fun, but as of their early impressions, they like the DS version more.
@DaiMacculate:
What I mean is it's hardly compensation for the delays we get to get Mario Kart only 16 days before you guys. Brawl doesn't even have a release date in Europe/Australasia and we wait 4-6 months for most games to come out. Ridiculous.
How the hell do you guys know MKWii's online if it isn't even out yet?
@Hyperfludd:
Because they read coverage about the game.
"Driving with the Wii Wheel could not be more natural"
My car's wheel is fixed in place with a steering column. How about yours?
I want a version without that wanky wheel thing. Price it AUD79.
@Wuffles: Heh and thats fine, I feel for you guys in general, but your post was confusing without the qualification ;)
@Hyperfludd: Heh good question. One would hope that Brawl's online problems would teach Nintendo how to do MK better, but we'll see.
Jesus this gaming deluge just wont stop. Ever since September of last year. April 27th Mario Kart. 2 days later? GTA 4. Nevermind the fact that Brawl is still crawling about.
@Fenris Wolf: It's MKDS that makes me wonder why the Wii online service is having so much trouble at the moment. Isn't it the same service just with a different console?
I rarely have lag issues on the DS. And when Pokemon Battle Revolution came out last year for Wii there weren't any issues like this presenting itself. Provided, PBR is menu driven with stock animation (so it doesn't have to have the kind of real time interaction that Brawl or Kart would demand)
But still...WTF? Was Nintendo just that unpreparred for the massive rush of Brawlers?
I think they should let MK Wii Develop further before this. But yeah I can see the reasoning to combat GTA
Finally.
God I hate the wait between Mario Kart games.
Mario Kart is one of the only truly unblemished franchises out there. There are no bad versions of it.
@DaiMacculate: Hah, fat chance, I'm holding out on picking up kart just because my online experience with brawl has been crappy so far. I'll wait until I hear that people are able to play w/o getting kicked off every five minutes.
just keep the games coming that use the wavebird!
this is the first mario kart ever that im not into, ive bought them all, i even bought their consoles just for mario kart, but this one looks rubbish, it should be called mario rockets, or mario spaceships, not mario kart.
maybe its just me, but im not even bothered about this one
This might be the Wii I finally end up buying.
Damm, I wanted a delay longer than time itself for America, since they got Smash bros so early.
Calm down, people, don't panic.
Don't throw Nintendo of Europe with the bathwater just yet, there's still plenty enough time before early April for the PAL release to slide to Q1 2009. Or at least they'll ship faulty DVDs, hopefully. God forbid Europe ever got ONE major release with nothing to bitch about.
So, huh, when's my black Wii + price drop coming? Will I really have to wait until next Christmas?