So adorable

I wish I could be this joyful while I'm losing.

Well, that's pretty much the target audience.

Haha, he was only half paying attention to anything Crecente said.

I'm still not buying the game.

He looks uncomfortable playing. I bet his shoulders are tired from keeping his arms up. that's why he has his elbows tucked to his sides.

I was actually pleasently surprised at how well it works... but didn't take long to get back to the trusted Wavebird. Respect to anyone who can win online games with it though!

cute kid ... honest review, nice.

Kids. Annoying.

But then again who else is the Wii for other than retards?

(Retreats behind his Wii and Super Paper Mario which he still hasnt finished).

I love the Mario Kart license I got. This was a really neat little setup Nintendo had going right in downtown Denver. And I agree with Tristan, the Wii Wheel is difficult to get used to.

He's a closet 360 fanboy! Rabble rabble rabble!

This may be a good idea you've on your hands: children critics. They can't be bribed (well, maybe by junk food, but parents can easily counter-bribe them), they're often honest to a fault, and when they say something you don't like it's incredibly difficult to get angry at them.

Way to load the kids questions. The interviewer would be a good (bad) cop.

Yes kid it is hard but you learn to love it... then you realise you can set better time trial times with the gamecube pad and you never go back.
If only they had a separate time trail listing for each control type, sure they would also have to have an overall but it would be of been nice.

Did that guy at the end have a Luigi hat?

@KirbyMorph: lol yes, I had to look back but yes.

@Communist_Gamer who hates EA: You do realize A) that's Brian Crecente's son B) today is Ban Monday, right? You are, as my mother used to put it, "Cruisin' for a bruisin'."

@Doomstalk:

Sarcasm. Much?

@Doomstalk:

I was being sarcastic btw. Thats why I said about how I have a Wii.

I have kids of my own so ya know...

I do apologise if you took that seriously.

You guys know the game is out in Europe right...has ever occured to you that some guys from that faraway fairy tale land might already have told you guys over and over and over that the Wiiwheel is fine, not great, but fine.

Then again, who am I to question the authority of a adowable little kid? ^_^

@Communist_Gamer who hates EA: I thought the Wii was for everyone? Good review, kudos to Ryan

Pretty cool review, lol. I'm still buying the game but probably not the Wii Wheel.

Oh yeah, and...

@Communist_Gamer who hates EA: You are an idiot.

I found that disturbingly cute. Please put cuteness on that level past the jump, will nobody think of the Diabetic?!?! :)

I hope Tristan appreciates not just what an awesome job his dad has, but that he looks and dresses like a badass vampire hunter without any negative hits to his masculinity.

I think there will rarely be a "My dad can beat up your dad" discussion he legitimately loses, barring extreme cases ;)

Ok we can all lay off Communist Gamer now, he made a stupid joke, thats all. No law here against failing to be funny; I'm sure they'd have given me the boot long ago if there was ;)

@BassForever:

Hmmm indeed it is I suppose. But like I said, sarcastic it was.

I got Mario Kart (UK here) and I prefer the Gamecube controller. Sorry I'm such an old fart like that.

@Communist_Gamer who hates EA: I didn't sense the sarcasm, guess I missed the part about you owning a Wii. My bad.

Looks like a lot of fun... Its targetted towards the kids and they love it so why not.. I think its a great strategy.. I remember those steering wheels microsoft use to sell back in the day with the force feedback. those were duds!

@Conrad: LOL. Thats exactly what I was thinking. Also I wonder how many times he's passively heard dad praise the living daylights out of that 360 controller.

Even the kids who are supposed to love the Wii like the 360 controller better... yay. I never did like the Wii. But on to the subject at hand. I thought Excite Truck was hard to play, and even with a little steering wheel attachment, I don't think that it would change the awkwardness of a floating steering wheel. If it came with a little stand to make it stationary, that would be a different story.

I pre-ordered Mario Kart Wii the other day and bought an extra Wii Wheel for my girlfriend. I figure it's going to be more natural for me to play using a controller, but that wheel just looks like fun so I am going to make myself play with it. Plus, it's probably the only way I can get my girlfriend to give the game a try. A steering wheel (a familiar object) is much easier to approach than a button-laden controller I think.

Oh noes....all the old reviews are gone!

@KingDavid73: Yeah I'm very curious to see how long it takes a peripheral maker to come up with a "steering column" piece that this wheel can sit on top of, that does seem a pretty straightforward addition.

@Moonshadow101: No arguements here. I agree.
What a cute kid, he sure is a nice kid. I'd think with all those questions he'd get fustrated. Of course he could have been just scared of Crecente's Vampire look ;p

I can't wait to play mario goes to lunch!

Kotaku editors have the cutest kids. Tristan is one handsome little boy.

You're kid's pretty adorable Crecente.

But I was hoping you'd ask him whether he likes the gamecube controller or the steering wheel more. It would probably be the controller though.

I have decided not to get Mario Kart after seeing it in action. I refuse to pretend to drive with a wheel not attached to anything.

I'm not really interested in the game, but TBH I'd probably have to just spend a bunch of time with the wheel to make a good decision on it since I tend to stick with older methods that already work well. I kind of liked the Wii Play and Warioware driving games with a normal Wiimote sideways though. In my experience things like that tend to lose calibration fast and go wonky, so maybe the bare wiimote is better because it lets you feel exactly how it's tilted, maybe the wheel is better because if it drifts off center you can just hold it crooked. Regardless I bet the wheel helps make sure it tilts along the right axis for steering.

I use the sticks on Gran Turismo and Burnout, switch between sticks and D-pad on Ridge Racer, and use D-pad only on Wipeout games. I've actually never tried Sixaxis steering on anything yet because I haven't heard anything good about it outside of Wipeout HD. Maybe I'll warm up to motion sensing steering over the years; I'll probably just get a traditional wheel controller before then though.

@Communist_Gamer who hates EA: Sorry, man. It's a sad statement about the comments lately that I immediately assume the worst.

@Communist_Gamer who hates EA: How do you set up the Wii to use the gamecube controller for MK? Don't konw how to do it and I am too lazy to go through the users manual. Been using the wheel, which although it handles fine, I don't know how to get the mini boosts.

I cant believe all the wii wheel hate. I bought this game the other day along with mario galaxy and it is awesome. The wheel takes a litte geting used to but after a few goes its like second nature. It feels a bit wierd at first but you get used to it.

Youll be issing out on an awesome game if you dont get it.

@ruslander: "I figure it's going to be more natural for me to play using a controller, but that wheel just looks like fun so I am going to make myself play with it."

thats exactly what i feel, but my girlfriend thinks the wheel is going to be great, she preordered it and is excited about the midnight launch at my store lol.

hheheheh this kid knows his controller really good, so if he says it easier than exite truck I believe him.

@darvos: Yeah, nowhere near as realistic as pretending to be a big guy with a chainsaw attached to his gun fighting giant aliens. Moving a wheel to pretend to drive a cart? Just ridiculous.

I was bitterly disappointed at first. The graphics on an HD TV look worse than Double Dash did on my old SD TV and using the wheel made me angry at how unresponsive it was.

However, take away the wheel, add some beer and 3 mates and suddenly it's my favourite game; adding (amazingly) to the insanity and mayhem of all the previous titles.

My thoughts at the moment though are that the wii is the last console that Nintendo are going to get away with rehashing old mechanics, characters and graphics. For their next console they are going to have a lot of work to do. No quantity of Mario, Mario Kart and Zelda games are going to be sufficient unless they are happy to slip completely into the casual, brain training, sisters and mum's market.

@Doomstalk: I know how you feel. it's a sad day when you feel utter jealousy and envy towards this joyful kid playing with the wii-wheel on mario kart.

MUST.HAVE.EXTRA.WII-WHEEL. ARRGGGHHHHHH!!!

I have mario kart wii, and must i say the wii wheel doesnt work that well... @_@

Don't you understand what the word joke means?

It's nice to see kids before the internet corrupts them into being vulgar, screaming console militants.

Especially when they aren't afraid to say they like Microsoft (or Sony) stuff, since they are supposed to be right in Nintendo's wheelhouse or whatever.

@Kamix: give the wheel to me.

i need more then one.

D:

You can almost see the cogs in his head turn when he's answering.

Tristan likes the 360 controller, huh? I wonder what he thinks of the original Xbox "man-hands" controller. You probably have one laying around. Ask him!