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Play Mario Kart Win the Race and drive home with a new real Mario Kart VW Beetle Convertible. It’s the same old PR crap blah blah blah! I am sorry just bitter I don’t live in the UK.Â
To celebrate the launch of Mario Kart Wii, Nintendo and GAME are challenging the nation to take part in the Mario Kart Grand Wii, a tournament set to find the country’s best Mario Kart driver. Keen drivers will be first off the grid, trialing the new game before it goes on sale anywhere in the world and could win themselves their own Mario Kart VW Beetle Convertible.
Thirty GAME stores across the UK will be opening their doors to fans old and new of one of the world’s best loved racing games from Saturday 5th April. Heats will be taking place at each of the specially selected GAME stores throughout the day and the finalist from each location will go forward to race for a chance to win a Mario Kart Wii inspired VW Beetle Convertible.
Prizes up for grabs at GAME stores include copies of the game and £250 of ‘Experience Vouchers’ for activities including Karting, Paintballing, Quad Biking and other action packed family adventures. In addition, each GAME store will feature its own prize draw with the winner receiving a Mario Kart Gift Card worth £50 to spend in-store! The ‘Grand Wii’ final will take place at an exclusive racing day event at Mercedes-Benz World, Brooklands, Surrey on the 12th April which will see a winner cross the finish line and claim their prize.
You may think you’ve been racing as the Mushroom Kingdom’s finest for a long time, but now there’s a new racer in town: Your Mii! Put your Mii behind the wheel and take on all comers! For those who want to get into the game even more, Mario Kart Wii comes packed with the Wii Wheel. Shaped like a steering wheel, you place the Wii Remote inside the Wii Wheel’s casing and get ready to ride! In addition to the Wii Remote, you can also use the Wii Remote and Nunchuk controllers in combo, or use a GameCube Controller to take those tight turns and challenges Mario Kart Wii throws at you.
Those looking for world ranking domination can take on up to 11 players simultaneously worldwide using the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service which will offer them the chance to race other players across the globe in a nail-biting contest of speed and skill! Prefer to keep the rivalry a little closer to home? Try the Multiplayer Mode, in which up to four people will be able to challenge each other in the comfort of their own living room, bringing the on screen excitement into a whole new dimension.
MARIO KART GRAND Wii EVENT DETAILS:
WHEN: Saturday 5th April 2008
WHERE: GAME Stores at the following locations:
MANCHESTER Unit 59 Arndale Centre
TRAFFORD 124 Peel Centre Trafford Centre
BOURNEMOUTH Unit 4, Avenue Centre Commercial Road
PORSTMOUTH 226 Commercial Road Portsmouth
STEVENAGE Unit 4A The Forum
MERRYHILL Unit 87, Lower Mall Merryhill Shopping Centre
READING Unit 18 Oracle Shopping Centre
BASINGSTOKE Unit 15 Festival Place
BRAEHEAD Unit 57 Braehead Shopping Centre Kings Inch Rd
GLASGOW 146 Sauchiehall Street Glasgow
MILTON KEYNES 15 Crown Walk Milton Keynes
NOTTINGHAM Unit 308A Victoria Centre
LEEDS 50-52 Albion Street Leeds
LUTON 142-144 Arndale Centre Luton
CHELTENHAM Unit A 100/104 High Street
CRIBBS CAUSEWAY Unit LR53 Cribbs Causeway
CARDIFF 92 Queen Street Cardiff
NEWCASTLE FENWICKS (GAME CONCESSION) 39 Northumberland Street Newcastle
GATESHEAD
METRO CENTRE 17 Red Pathway Metro Centre
BLACKBURN 10-12 Market Way Blackburn
WIGAN 27 Standish Gate Wigan
HANLEY 214-215 The Potteries Hanley
LONDON HAMLEYS 188-196 Regent Street London
LONDON 100 Oxford Street London
THURROCK Unit 106 Lakeside Shopping Centre
ROMFORD Unit 15 Liberty 2 Centre
TAUNTON 45-46 Fore Street Taunton
EDINBURGH 127 Princes Street Edinburgh
DUNDEE 51 Murraygate Dundee
KINGSTON-UPON-THAMES 3rd Floor The Bentalls Center
Mario Kart Wii launches in the UK on the 11th April at the estimated retail price of £35.
Harmonix has announced that the Wii version of their best selling music-based multi-instrument title Rock Band will be released on June 22. The Wii version will come with a total of 63 songs, including five bonus tracks. Rock Band for Wii will be released as a Special Edition bundle including the software, drums, microphone and a wireless guitar. The stand alone instruments and software will also be available at the time of release as well.
Nintendo adds new games to the Wii Shop Channel at 9 a.m. Pacific time every Monday. Wii owners with a high-speed Internet connection can redeem Wii Points to download the games. Wii Points can be purchased in the Wii Shop Channel or at retail outlets. This week’s new games are:
KING’S KNIGHTâ„¢ (NES®, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone - Mild Fantasy Violence, 500 Wii Points): In the kingdom of Izander, the fair Princess Claire has been kidnapped by a foul and insidious dragon, and it is the mission of four brave fighters to save her. Through five thrilling, fast-action stages, our gallant heroes-a knight, a wizard, a monster and a thief-will take on an army of incredible enemies. You must help them reach their goal, as you are now part of the team that will fight to free the princess from her imprisonment. Keep your wits about you, plan your strategy and set off on an exciting adventure.
POWERBALLâ„¢ (Sega Genesis, 1-2 players, Rated E for Everyone - Mild Fantasy Violence, 800 Wii Points): Eight different teams representing various nations are vying to become the POWERBALL champions, and you control one of the eight in your quest for the championship. A hybrid of games like rugby and football, POWERBALL is played on a 100-yard field. Try to score by either carrying the ball into your opponent’s end zone or kicking it into your opponent’s net for points. This one- or two-player game offers both exhibition and league play. Jump into a game of POWERBALL and try a brand new sport.
Like many of my peers, I enjoy slashing, shooting missiles at, ramming with a motorcycle, and blasting others. Virtually, of course, and what better game to do all of this in than Super Smash Bros. Brawl, arguably the most hotly anticipated game to come out so far this year.
Nintendo wisely decided not to mess with the multiplayer much, the only really significantly new feature being the Final Smash Ball, an item that allows players to use their characters crazy special move. The four player battles are still amazingly fun, and nothing is more satisfying than getting the Smash Ball over and over again.
The single player game is about as much as you could ask for in a fighting game, including an arcade mode and an adventure mode called Sub Space Emissary. While the Sub Space Emissary mode is enjoyable and there are some “oh snap!†moments in the story, it’s unlikely anyone will play it for anything more than unlocking all of the characters.
The new characters, including third-party favorites Solid Snake and Sonic the Hedgehog, all fold into the brawls well. Some of the characters can be a tad over powered (I’m looking at you, Pit), but never so much that it completely unbalances the game. Obviously it’s a major disappointment that other third-party characters like Mega Man or Dante didn’t make it into the game, but it is Nintendo’s show. At least there’s always next time.
The graphics, while not on-par with some of the incredibly good looking games on the other next-gen systems, are very good for the Wii. I suppose there’s always that asterisk of a Wii game looking good for the Wii, but does anyone really notice after playing for five minutes?
Over the past week, and likely into the coming months, you’re going to hear a lot of different things about Brawl, but there’s one very important thing you must understand if you consider buying this game: don’t look to it for deep mechanics and ultra-combos. This isn’t a game you sit at home with and practice at until you’re ready to take on the Daigos of the world for ultimate tournament championship wins. What this game is great for is gathering a bunch of your friends and just having fun with ramming Peach butt first into Solid Snake, whether this is for hours late into the night or during your 15-minute break. This is true not only of the multiplayer, which the series is known for, but the singleplayer as well. If you come into this game with the mindset of just having fun it’ll be great game. I know I love it. But if you expect it to be anything like Tekken or Street Fighter, well, there’s other good news on the way for you, but this game isn’t it.
Nintendo today announced that Mario Kart Wii will launch April 27, a few weeks after Europe’s April 11 release. The game ships with 16 new courses, 16 old ones and the ability to go online with eleven other players. Also included is the Wii Wheel shell, which holds the Wii Remote.
PRESSRELEASE: 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.
Anyone I know that has played the Wii has found it be an incredible piece of gaming hardware, but it turns out the Wii remote is capable of even more than we thought. Johnny Chung Lee, a graduate assistant in the human-computer interaction department at Carnegie Mellon University, has adapted the Wii remote to serve as a digital whiteboard and a head tracking for VR displays.
Hopefully Nintendo will figure out a way to use this in a game.
Update: I talked with Lee about his applications of the Wii remote, and he said the whiteboard and head tracking headset were “relatively old research concepts.”
“I basically just looked at those ideas and then mixed that technology with the Wii remote,” Lee said.
Lee, who said he plays “a fair amount of games,” said a great variety of games could benefit from the headset.
“The nice thing about the head tracking is that it provides you with a concept called motion paralax,” he said. “So any game that uses space could be retrofit to use head tracking: 3D games, and even 2D games or tabletop games.”
Lee also said he has gotten e-mails from hundreds of educators from around the world who have used his whiteboard software, and the head tracking headset could also have military and medical applications.
Lee said he hopes games are made using this technology, but developing hardware such as this is a “pretty big risk.”
“It will sort of have to be up to a marketing department to say if it’s safe enough to make a game like this,” Lee said, “but hopefully that’ll happen.”
A new feature of the Wii Shop channel beginning this week is the ability to send a friend a Virtual Console title as a gift–just in time for the holidays. There is a catch, though; gift giving will require you to start learning and trading those 16-digit friend codes.
Ghosts’n Goblins (NES®, 1-2 players, Rated E for Everyone—Mild Animated Violence, 500 Wii Points): Ghosts’n Goblins was a popular arcade game before it made the leap to the NES in 1986. Like later games in the series, Ghosts’n Goblins presents quite a challenge to players brave enough to take on the role of Arthur and delve into the realm of demons and monsters to rescue the kidnapped princess. Choose your weapons wisely and take advantage of their strengths to deal with the situation at hand. Pass through the six gates that stand between you and Astaroth, and teach him a lesson in chivalry he’ll never forget. Demonstrating a high level of technical prowess for a game of its era, Ghosts’n Goblins presents a unique and unforgettable universe. The stage for adventure is set. Are you up to the test?
BASEBALL STARS 2 (NEOGEO, 1-2 players, Rated E for Everyone, 900 Wii Points): Lace up your cleats and step onto the diamond with the pros of BASEBALL STARS 2. You’ll find everything you’d expect in a classic game of baseball, but with an arcade feel and intense action that distinguish it from the pack. Pick one of six unique teams from cities around the world, then get ready for nine innings of excitement, whether you’re taking on the computer in a 15-game tournament or squaring off against a friend. There are two modes of game play, so even the most inexperienced player can compete at the major-league level (with a little computer-aided fielding). Watch as the game develops through split-screen views and close-up shots worthy of any highlight film, and see if you can catch the numerous over-the-top animations of the large and detailed player models. Think you have what it takes to win the pennant?
Three new classic games go live at 9 a.m. Pacific time. Nintendo adds new games to the Wii Shop Channel every Monday. Wii owners with a high-speed Internet connection can redeem Wii Points to download the games. Wii Points can be purchased in the Wii Shop Channel or at retail outlets. This week’s new games are:
ZANAC (NES®, 1 player, rated E for Everyone - Mild Fantasy Violence, 500 Wii Points): ZANAC is a vertically scrolling shoot-’em-up game that was released in November 1986. Take control of the state-of-the-art fighter, ZANAC, with the objective of destroying the bases of the mechanized enemy forces. Use your full array of regular weapons as well as eight special weapons to clear the 12 intense areas of the game. Be careful, though, as the game changes the degree of difficulty in real time based on how well you play. This ensures that it feels like you’re experiencing a new game every time you play.
Eternal Championsâ„¢ (Sega Genesis, 1-2 players, rated T for Teen - Animated Blood, Animated Violence, 800 Wii Points): This 2-D fighting game introduces a cast of different characters that met untimely deaths in their lives on Earth. Now they have been given a chance to compete against each other, with the winner taking on the Eternal Champion, the ultimate fighter in the universe. The reward for defeating the Eternal Champion is a return to Earth for the opportunity to avenge death and restore balance to the universe. Choose from nine unique characters with a variety of fighting styles, and bring your best moves to defeat all comers in your quest to topple the Eternal Champion.
The Dynastic Hero (TurboGrafx16 CD-ROM, 1 player, rated E for Everyone - Comic Mischief, 800 Wii Points): The Dynastic Hero is an action RPG featuring a cast of insect characters. The story begins with the invasion of their peaceful homeland of Tarron by the evil Drilkor Empire. Rushing to the insects’ aid is Dyna, the prince of Beetras. Take control of Dyna as he battles through action-filled stages. Equip weapons and items to vanquish the relentless foes, and acquire special items that enable you to brave the journey across the perilous desert or open sea. But it’s not just all action. Correctly answer multiple-choice quizzes, and play the ocarina to find the right melody to open doors. Plus, there are countless traps and other puzzles packed into this fun game to keep you entertained and ensure you continue coming back for more.
The Wii’s Virtual Console has sold 7.8 million downloads so far, totaling 3.5 billion yen, which is about $33 million, according to a post by IGN quoting Nintendo executive Shinji Hatano. With 175 games available, according to that most trusted of sources Wikipedia, that comes out to about $188,500 per game and about 44,500 downloads per game.
Apparently, Nintendo doesn’t know whether that’s good or not.
“We’re currently unsure if this is a lot or low,” Hatano said. “They’re not bad figures.”
The costs for maintaining the Virtual Console service can’t be very high, so I would guess that they’re at least making a tidy amount. Then again, when you’ve sold over 1 million consoles and grossed $172 million in one week, $33 million in about a year can’t be terribly exciting.
Well This is not the place to find them. But If you Think you can do a better job of posting or reporting on news stories? Prove it. OLGn is searching for talented writers to assist in the site’s daily news writing duties.
We are looking for smart, capable freelance news writers to lend a hand [...]
In case you haven’t heard, the word on the street is that Jeff Gerstmann, long time reviewer and current editorial director for Gamespot, has been fired for giving Kane and Lynch a mediocre, though very negatively worded, score. According to the rumor mill, Eidos got pissed and threatened to withdraw the huge amount of advertising [...]
Video Game Chartz has released the hardware sales chart for America for the week ending Nov. 10, and once again Nintendo’s Wii is first and Sony has come in last.
The Wii came in first for the week at 192, 482, followed by the Xbox 360 at 173,895 and the DS at 142,299. Sony’s PSP [...]
KING’S KNIGHTâ„¢ (NES®, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone - Mild Fantasy Violence, 500 Wii Points): In the kingdom of Izander, the fair Princess Claire has been kidnapped by a foul and insidious dragon, and it is the mission of four brave fighters to save her. Through five thrilling, fast-action stages, our gallant heroes-a knight, a wizard, a monster and a thief-will take on an army of incredible enemies. You must help them reach their goal, as you are now part of the team that will fight to free the princess from her imprisonment. Keep your wits about you, plan your strategy and set off on an exciting adventure.
POWERBALLâ„¢ (Sega Genesis, 1-2 players, Rated E for Everyone - Mild Fantasy Violence, 800 Wii Points): Eight different teams representing various nations are vying to become the POWERBALL champions, and you control one of the eight in your quest for the championship. A hybrid of games like rugby and football, POWERBALL is played on a 100-yard field. Try to score by either carrying the ball into your opponent’s end zone or kicking it into your opponent’s net for points. This one- or two-player game offers both exhibition and league play. Jump into a game of POWERBALL and try a brand new sport.
