Let's not bandy about here, we're pretty much God's gift to green shell snipes, and hook us up with a few red shells and perhaps a banana or two and you can pretty much kiss your Flower Cup goodbye.
Nintendo just announced some extensive online functionality for its upcoming
Wii-based Mario Kart title, including an undisclosed amount of "more" online competitors, which is always a plus. Nintendo is also packing a free Wii Wheel with each copy of the game to help ease the newbs into the Kart action. No word on how much the new wheel will cost on its own, but we'll be seeing both it and Mario Kart in the first quarter of 2008. More pics after the break.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jon @ Jul 11th 2007 1:04PM
Mario Kart on the Wii? F-ing cool!
k!ng fr!day @ Jul 11th 2007 5:37PM
It looks as thought its a separate controller. Possibly with its own buttons and accelerometers.
Adam @ Jul 11th 2007 1:25PM
I'd buy a Wii just for this game and the controller alone. Its f'ing awesome to little ole Nintendo taking on the high-tech giants of the world. At the end of the day, it works out better for for all of us when innovators continue to raise the bar for everyone around!
Wiserun @ Jul 11th 2007 1:39PM
I'd buy one now, if I could find one without having to wait outside a store every morning in the hopes that they'd received one. Seriously Nintendo, ramp up production already.
Dave @ Jul 11th 2007 1:29PM
So, what's the wheel? Is it just a piece of foam you stick a controller in?
Demetrius @ Jul 11th 2007 1:44PM
It would be nice to have it as a lap-stand with pedals. I doubt that it will be comfortable trying to 'Air-steer' while trying to release the green shell at the right time!
MatthewJ @ Jul 11th 2007 2:28PM
Its probably just a thing you pop your Wiimote into (like some of the 3rd party accessories) so that you can play THE MOST AWESOME GAME THATS LIKELY EVER TO BE EVER.
Seriously though, this indicates to me that they're going for a 'hold the Wiimote horizontally and push it down/lift it up to change speed' style of control, which will be real fun
jwoger @ Jul 11th 2007 3:51PM
I agree, but ebay has plenty of new and used ones. I might be getting one. I can't decide if i should buy this or a 360. I'm strictly a pc gamer right now. Although i once owned a ps1 just for FF7. (still one of the best games ever)
Duncan @ Jul 11th 2007 2:31PM
I hereby dub the new controller the Wii-l.
jordan @ Jul 11th 2007 3:35PM
I think you may be on to something here.
I shall support you and continue calling it the Wii-l, as well, or at least the Steering Wii-l.
kwekee @ Jul 11th 2007 2:45PM
No its not only foam, it has shoulder buttons. You plug it in like a nunchuck
av @ Jul 11th 2007 3:02PM
dont you guys realize that the only people making good games for the wii are nintendo themselves... like i bought one the day it came out and was all excited, but i havent used it for a couple months now because after Zelda there wasnt anything to do. I'm gunna probably sell it for a 360 and to be honest theres no point to having it if i have to wait six months for a good game.
MatthewJ @ Jul 11th 2007 3:13PM
Not really true, but then sell it if you want, you'll probably only raise half the money you'd need for an Xbox. And to be honest, none of the next gen consoles have released anything so far that excites me at all, just the same old FPS types. LittleBigWorld and GTA4 are about the only things that excite me, outside of Wii games I mean
av @ Jul 11th 2007 7:22PM
Name some good games that are in the pipeline that aren't being made nintendo. Zelda was awesome, and Super Paper Mario was pretty sweet, but I mean those are the only two games I've actually enjoyed and they provided a couple weeks of entertainment. I shouldn't have to wait almost a year for another good game to come out thats even close to Zelda. Super Mario Galaxy, Metroid, and Super Smash Brothers are going to be amazing I'm sure, but you can't say that developers are clamoring to make games for the wii. As for the Xbox, my friends and I still play Halo 2 and its two years old. The 360 has Halo 3, Gears, Assasin's Creed, GTA, Rock Band. However all the talk about Metroid is making me consider keeping it.
Dave @ Jul 11th 2007 7:30PM
I don't have a Wii--but people I know who do have made similar statements. I do expect that, considering the install base and the rate of purchase of the console, good games are imminent--but I can't really argue with the statement. I don't see why everyone's modding him down.
I think it's unfair to say that there are no good games for the 360. It's not just the same old FPS games. There are a lot of original and unique titles for that console. Of course, the 360 has had a pretty good head start--and the peripherals are certainly not as innovative as those for the Wii.
kyle allen @ Jul 13th 2007 1:30AM
WHAT?!!! even wii sports is worth buying a wii for!!!
Tigah @ Jul 20th 2007 11:14AM
It really is a lot like the DS. It took awhile for the developers to figure out, "Hey, we can do more than fun little minigames. And look, we don't have to use every single feature!" If you give it some time, it'll get a lot better.
CaptSaltyJack @ Jul 11th 2007 3:31PM
Hehe..caption for the very first image: "Ooooh, look everyone, it's a Wiiiill. Oooooh.."
Frank @ Jul 11th 2007 3:51PM
noone has commented on the shitteous graphics of Mario Kart Wii??!! Do you all work for Nintendo or something?
HyperHacker @ Jul 11th 2007 4:29PM
These photos aren't good enough to judge the graphics.
drew @ Jul 11th 2007 4:00PM
It definitely doesn't look like a piece of foam because it looks like it has some huge buttons on the front.
HyperHacker @ Jul 11th 2007 4:30PM
Mario Kart FTW. Let's just hope it's better than MKDS, especially online. (Let's have the physics from MKDD back please!)
harpreet @ Jul 11th 2007 5:09PM
nintendo wii is one of the most innovative products of its time....its gonna make alot of kids help lose weight and also help to increase television sales!!!(bad for insurance companies though)
vid33nyc1 @ Jul 11th 2007 5:11PM
Damn you think the wii has enough peripherals now?my god they have the nunchuck,classic controller,wii blaster,wii racing wheel and wii balance board.Its peripheral city.
cdman98 @ Jul 11th 2007 6:41PM
Yea really. Next well get Rob 2.0 and a Michael Jackson White Power Glove.
Tom @ Jul 11th 2007 7:30PM
I still say driving games are the one place the Wii can't truly shine. Fact is, to get the most realistic driving experience you actually need a mounted wheel. I've always found the Wii-wheels to be really awkward, just floating there all untethered and whatnot.
Fordi @ Jul 11th 2007 9:38PM
I hope this is not just a piece of plastic to hold the wiimote but I bet it is. If they put a motorised weight or gyro in to give some decent feedback this would be excellent.
Fred!23 @ Jul 12th 2007 1:21AM
the Wii is not marketed toward hardcore gamers. thats why there aren't a whole lot of "great" titles being developed from anyone but Nintendo. this is a casual system used for having some fun every once in a while. thats why it only costs $250, its not meant to be your only form of entertainment.
Shadow @ Jul 12th 2007 2:46AM
this is just like ubisofts, except it looks cooler, and is ree with a game i'd actually play, and its just a plastic shell, that button on the back is either to release the remote, or it pushes down on the B button, just don't quote me, its my observation, not a fact
Kenneth @ Jul 12th 2007 9:45AM
seeing there's a strap, it's most prob a wiimote stuck into a plastic holder.
otherwise money would be waste giving it to all...and that's a no-no for Nintendo.
Chris P @ Aug 10th 2007 11:04AM
Did any of you even bother to watch the entire E3 coverage on G4? In the press conference Reggie told us that there is a button on the back of the wheel. If you can notice in these blurry as hell photos, Reggie is holding it backwards. There is a hole in the wheel so the wii strap can fit through, and on the exact opposite side, there is a "button" so to speak, kind of looks more like a side ways trigger to me, that is going to be used for drifting. So don't doubt it if there are more buttons that they are planning on putting on the front of the wheel. The one at E3 was probably just a prototype. And as far as graphics go, considering the game probably won't be out until March 2008, and these images are from July 2007, i'm guessing that they have time to polish the graphics, and this was probably just a sample video to show at E3.
Kenneth @ Aug 10th 2007 11:31AM
wow...smartass fanboy sighted.
that button is just a proxy for the "B" trigger button on the wiimote itself. in the end it's still just a plastic holder for the wiimote. it won't have the connection of a nunchuk. go see the picture of the wheel at the wii wiki. get a life man.
BrettB @ Jul 12th 2007 10:07AM
You do put the wiimote in the wii-l. Confirmed it on Nintendo's home page. Not sure about extra buttons but could be. Really though, I've found several games that were a lot of fun for the wii. The above mentioned are all pretty good, as well as Blazing Angels, which uses the wiimote and nunchuck in a unique and challenging way to control WWII fighter planes. Then you can't discount all the virtual console games, as well as wii sports, which may not be really fun by yourself, but is a blast when friends are over. If your life consists of playing games all day by yourself, maybe you have bigger problems than "not enough good games being made for the wii." For the rest of us, there are more than enough games for the wii to keep us having fun and coming back for more.
Peter Hamby @ Jul 12th 2007 12:10PM
it's the nintendo whiile