Kotaku

Wow people really are excited for Mario Kart huh? I mean I am still working through Smash Brothers, I'll eventually get Kart but not for a while.

They had an actual Kart? better do that here Reggie...

Dear God...

Someone better get the riot police in fast.

I love the Irish.

And I was gonna go there and pick up a copy of Mario Kart after work...

Damn.

Why do they have Paris Hilton on that Kart?

@Beano Her name is Pippa O'Connor I think she is supposed to be some kind of TV star or something. Gamestop even sent out a press release yesterday about this but nobody really wants to cover it.

If you name drop its nice to say what the person is supposed to be famous for. Imagine saying Halo as played by P Diddy but not saying who he is.

That's the Gamestop outside Henry street. I remember hearing about it on the radio a couple of days ago. They said it was a Mid-night release. Maybe everyone bought it then and went home? Or it could be that we Irish don't really like the Wii. :)

I'm just happy for them that it's safe to frolic in the streets now. I remember when we had slightly different perception of Ireland. Just goes to show the phrase "times have changed" doesn't always mean for the worst.

"I'm just happy for them that it's safe to frolic in the streets now."

Oh dear...

Dude, that's Dublin, the Republic of Ireland, the conflict was in Northern Ireland (a different country )
Beside which, having lived in Belfast (that's Northern Ireland's capital city)for more than thirty years, I did plety of "frolicking".

Anyway, Mario Kart, it's Ok, but nothing to get excited about, the Dubs have it right.

The more astute of you will notice our capital city monument in the right background. Its a big pole.

Yeah, there's a lot of Poles in Ireland these days...

It's a spire, not a pole, have some national pride ffs

@Cruithne: excellent, didn't even realise that one

@Shane86: Its actually The Spire or An Tur Solais.

WOO! I've had it since yesterday, thanks to GAME online :D

It makes up for the terrible Double Dash. Nearly.

@Billkwando: Never been to the beautiful city of Dublin, I see....

Wow the Stiffy neaar the Liffey is still standing. I suppose I could get the game but I would go to the local Xtra Vision rather than waiting a hour on the bus to get a Mario Kart game. But than I never knew the game was out today.

@Anto103: There wasn't much advertising for it, was there?

If I'd have known there was a 2m tall inflatable Mario on Henry street, I might have gone in. I'd have stayed away from GameStop though, they're the most expensive place to get anything.

Where's that, Henry St?

@RobertFoster: I did hear that there was a midnight launch on FM104 last night but I didn't pay much attention to it, to be honest I probably won't get the game after losing so many times to my friend on Mario Kart DS, I stopped giving a damn.

What ever that model got paid to sit in that kart, it wasn't worth it.

I was at the midnight opening... It was handy on the way home from the pub. There may have been as many as 15-20 people there. There were competitions too. You had to name the princess in Mario Brothers... ehh... apparently they just wanted to hear Peach though. I won a copy of Naruto for the Wii

wow.. clean streets..
dont they sell gum in Ireland?

Wait, Mario Kart is out? I had no idea.

I'd say I'd been living under a rock, but no, no rocks in sight.

I remember when the 360 launched that same gamestop had a couple of 'Dancers' outside pretending to enjoy themselves in rain and freezing weather like they were in a nightclub. It was probably the most pathetic piece of marketing I've ever seen.

Actually, I guess it's the second most pathetic now.

Wild.
Look at all those shoppers.

Hey, is that the GameStop near Trinity College? If so, I've actually been there.

*sigh* I want to go back to Ireland.

@Billkwando:

How old are you exactly? The Easter Rising was in 1916.

In other news, streets of London now safe to walk following end of The Blitz.

Good to see a few Irish peoples wanderin the Kotaku streets :) And about the game, I didn't even know it was out...ah well.
@RobertFoster: HMV, no?

once more i'm proud to say i'm Irish.

In fairness, Irish Gamestops are always empty just because they're robbing bastids regularly charging €5 to €10 more on games across the board.

You know what's the sad thing? That's the biggest game release in Ireland EVER. ;_;

I am always amazed at how little we Irish give a fuck about. We are all to busy fightin pints of Guinness with our pet Leprachauns

Wait, they have GameStops in Ireland?

@fatso4gotso: ...What? No really, I can't tell what you were trying to say.

@Huxleyhobbes: Sure, eletricity and runing water too, I even hear that next year they're getting telephones...

Oh crap, I forgot this game was out today.. be back in an hour :D

@Billkwando: Oops, brainfart! Of course I know better, I just got the two reversed in my head this morning. Feel free to call me an ignorant American. :) At least I meant well and didn't mention U2! LOL

@jayntampa:
No it's the other (north) side of the Liffey as evidenced by the spire being in the picture.

@Cruithne: My reply was to you good sir. ;)

@Cruithne: Funny enough, GS do not actually have a global presence, and seeing as they are nowhere to be found in Britain I was surprised at this.

There are a few Gamestop's in Britain, although Game and Gamestation pretty much rule the roost here.

Was in Gamestop today and the kart had been unceremoniously dumped in the middle of the floor up by the 360 games. There was also a Nintendo man at hand to give us Dubliners a go at the Wii Wheel. Didn't have a go because some extremely enthusiastic fellow was praising the control scheme while hogging the wheel.

But nice to see our capital city on Kotaku. Unfortunately our game culture isn't particularly noticable yet, but we're getting there.

*facepalm*
I'm actually conflicted as to whether this is a good thing, or a bad thing?

@Huxleyhobbes: And now we see why they decided to buy out the Free Record Store chain in Norway. Gotta start getting a solid foothold on the continent somehow.

As for me, I am so totally uninterested by the game. None of the Mario Kart games have interested me much outside of the one time I got to play Double Dash with 7 other people at E3 for prizes... and everyone got a t-shirt anyway. I see the incredibly high scores and rave reviews of the game and all I can really think is that it's another case of "People will go insane over anything that has 'Mario' on it." Pretty much all of the people I personally know that have Wiis aren't interested at all about this game. :-\

What is that, Henry St.? We pulled out all the stops, right.

Great to see so many Irish Kotakuites! Dublin rules! Though our game launches suck. I didn't bother picking this up today. Hearing mixed reports. Just imported Brawl to work with my Freeloader, and it's eating my time. It's totally epic.

@Billkwando: No big deal, sorry for my pissy tone when replying to you.

Mario Galaxy Launch was great craic, Im ust upload the pic of the queue which went all the way round dawson street from game, free pizzas n stuff while you waited, even though I felt bout 50 in the queue (im 27), and the Halo launch was even better, free booze and loads of Halo in the pod, but hey, maybe ya gots to know people who know people!

Gears launch was great aswell, free booze and food, and a go of gears on the xbox bus!

@Cruithne: No offense taken! ;)

It was a really dumb-sounding thing to say, even if I meant well.