Mario Kart Wii to race to stores on April 27th

by: Chuck - posted: 3/12/2008 9:07:00 AM

It looks like it's going to be a good 2008 for Nintendo fans as Nintendo announced today that they will be releasing Mario Kart Wii on April 27th.  The game will feature 12 player online play and will ship with the Wii Wheel that Nintendo showed off at their E3 press conference last year.  It looks like Nintendo is packing this one to the gills with content as their will be 16 new courses and 16 courses from previous games and gamers will get to choose from racing in karts or motorbikes.  Sounds like fun if you're into these games.

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.
"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.

About Nintendo: The worldwide innovator in the creation of interactive
entertainment, Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets
hardware and software for its Wii(TM), Nintendo DS(TM), Game Boy(R) Advance
and Nintendo GameCube(TM) systems. Since 1983, Nintendo has sold nearly 2.5
billion video games and more than 430 million hardware units globally, and has
created industry icons like Mario(TM), Donkey Kong(R), Metroid(R), Zelda(TM)
and Pokemon(R). A wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in
Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo's operations in the
Western Hemisphere. For more information about Nintendo, visit the company's
Web site at http://www.nintendo.com.