Fun fact: I'm a total Mario Kart fanboy. For the record: Double Dash is my favourite (I know, I know). So I'm used to watching the Mario Kart series take small, baby-steps forward with each new version. In this case, I was expecting just that. Small steps forward. Mario Kart Wii, however, feels more like a step forward, a shuffle to the side then, after a brief pause, a tentative step back.

This is by no means the most scientific of measurements, but GTA IV for both Xbox 360 and PS3 is currently being outsold on Amazon by Wii Fit, Mario Kart Wii and the Wii Wheel. Things to keep in mind: the Nintendo games are each single platform (effectively doubling their sales) and Wii Fit pre-orders may be more common than GTA IV pre-orders this close to GTA IV's launch (at this point, gamers may be more likely to just go to the store to get their Liberty City fix). Still, we didn't expect Wii Fit's pre-sale numbers to come out on top today on Amazon. At all.

Bestsellers in Video Games [Amazon]

Jason Priestley, who Nintendo was kind enough to remind us is an actor, hit up this weekend's launch of Mario Kart Wii at the Nintendo World store in New York. While there he took on fellow actor Chace Crawford of Gossip Girl fame in a bit of Mario Karting. If that fat cat smile and double chin is any measure it looks like Priestley totally schooled the kid. With a wheel too!

Mario Kart Wii, like Smash Bros, is hedging its bets when it comes to control schemes. Probably because, like Smash Bros, it's ostensibly a GameCube title, with its gameplay mechanics in place long before the now-mandatory waggle was ever brought to the table. Which explains why, when you sit down to play it, you'll have a choice of five control schemes, a mix of the new (waggle) and the old (no waggle). Having played the game for the past week, and played using all available control schemes, I figured I'd let you know how the five shape up.

One will be your default control option. One will be a part-time novelty. The other three should be avoided at all costs.

It's official Mario Kart Wii is live and in stores. Tristan and I have been playing it for a few days now, and I think it's a pretty solid, albeit, familiar title. This latest iteration of Mario Kart really doesn't stray from the formular, but why should it?

What are your thoughts on the game? If you're spending the day playing it and are looking for some fellow Kotakuites to play with drop your Friend Code (and impressions) here. Mine is 7261 8567 6364 9952.

Now get to racing... and no blue shells!

Disincentives [Penny Arcade]

Toys R Us is alerting customers that they will have "more Wii in-store than ever before" this Sunday, SUNDAY, SUNDAY!!! They also plan to have bucket loads of the current best reason to buy a Wii: Mario Kart Wii. Both can be pre-ordered, which I would assume would guarantee you copies, though I bet I'm assuming wrong.

The big ad push for the Wii comes hours after we first broke the news that Nintendo would be upping production of their tiny, white console. Wow, that was fast!

[Thanks DragonYen]

The FedEx guy just dropped Mario Kart Wii off at my house. I think my son is going to faint when he comes home. The timing is perfect. It gives me something to play with him until Grand Theft Auto arrives and I disappear from his life for several weeks.

"Mommy, is Daddy dead?"

Good times, good times. Hit the jump for plenty of pictures of the wheel. SEXY!

Works? Check.
Combines two otherwise cluttering peripherals? Check.
Takes like 5 seconds and requires no adhesives? Check.
Seriously? We're really lazy. Check.
Sends at least one fanboy into "angry coma?" Check.

SOLD!

The Wii60 wheel [GoNintendo]

You've seen it before, but not like this. Not in such agonising detail. With the standalone version's Japanese box. And shots from various angles, with the wheel and Wii Remote in various states of undress. And probing. And penetrating. And the soft, longing caress of...an old man with lady's fingers but a man's hairy knuckles. Hit the gallery for more. It's safer for work than it has any right to be.

Not content to get pwned by me in Mario Kart Wii, Mario is heading over to New York City later this week to take New Yorkers for a ride.

This Thursday from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. and noon to 2 p.m. Mario (not that creepy Denver Mario, the real deal) will be at the Sheraton Hotel, 811 7th Avenue between 52nd and 53rd streets, helping New Yorkers into cabs and dropping some cash to help pay for their rides in the city.

I hear that this won't be the only city that Mario is handing out rides in. More details to come.

As you probably noticed, I went by the Denver stop of the Mario Kart Wii Driving School this weekend. I didn't spend as much time as I would have liked to with it, because I was busy doing interviews and such, but I got a chance to sit down with the game for a few minutes.

The game was set up with the wheel, and while I refuse to rescind my right to mock the Wii Wheel for being a silly peripheral and getting way too much face time at last E3, the thing actually works quite well.

The game is a solid racer with everything you'd want and expect out of a Mario Kart racer, including plenty of tributes to past tracks. Tristan loved the game, and the wheel, and the two friends he brought with him said they were going to start saving immediately to buy a copy.

Now if only they could fix the whole Friend's Code thing...

[Special Thanks to Patrick Lewis for the photos and faux Mario Kart Wii Pwnage]