Mario Kart 8 (Wii-U)

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

REAL LIFE MARIO KART is happening people! I guess htis is the radical marketing nintendo was talking about

http://nintendoenthusiast.com/news/pennzoil-and-nintendo-of-america-brining-mario-kart-racing-experience-to-sxsw/

 

Mario Kart is finally being re-imagined in real-life

What originally started as an extremely vague rumor has turned into an official announcement. Nintendo of America and Pennzoil are teaming up to promote the launch of Mario Kart 8 for Wii U with a real-life racing track.

JWT Atlanta is launching a promotion effort called Pennzoil Presents Mario Karting Reimagined which aims to push Mario Kart 8. All SXSW Gaming and Interactive attendees will be permitted to race each other on a custom-built track.

Set outside the Palmer Events Center, the custom-built, Mario Kart-themed racing track will be free to enter to SXSW Interactive & Gaming attendees. As with many go-karting tracks, the live racing will employ RFID technology to communicate between the track and the karts as well as to provide the kart driver and the audience with an interactive, authentic Mario Kart experience.

The races will be broadcasted from the driver’s point-of-view to television screens all over the activation and the Austin Convention Center. The kart’s performance is controlled by RFID technology as drivers come in contact with icons on the course. No, you read correctly. There will be real-life power-ups serving the purpose of either boosting speed or slowing the kart down in real-time. The goal

will be to collect all five icons so that drivers may receive complete protection.

In the end, Pennzoil receives promotion for their Platinum oil, the first oil to be made from natural gas, and Nintendo gets the promotion it so desperately needs. It’s a win-win situation for Nintendo and Pennzoil.

The track will be open Friday, March 7th, 12PM – 6PM, Saturday, March 8th, 12PM – 6P and Sunday, March 9th, 12PM – 6PM.

 

 

So anyone going to that event is in for a treat

[Milo]

This event, as well as partnering up with Pennzoil could turn out to be a great way to advertise the game prior to/around it's release.

[DarkRula]

I really hope videos of that get shown on Youtube. That really is a treat, although I really don't think we'll get anything especially wacky.

Although, it they can make Coconut Mall...

[Chaos Warp]

.......That is fucking awesome. Add that to the list of places to visit. Too bad it's only temporary.....

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

Oh great, bowser's invading so its time for a race! get ready to fall off a lot!

 

[Toby]

That looks incredible! 

[Lady Soniko]

May can't come soon enough, holy shit I need this game injecting into my veins.

[ProfessorZolo]

I'm looking forward to losing to literally all of you online when this comes out.

Hell, as long as the game is more fun to play than Mario Kart Wii, I'll be set. ANYTHING is more fun to play than Mario Kart Wii... *shudders*

...I guess I should elaborate. To me, the bikes felt kinda cheap (although perhaps I just couldn't make the best use of them), and the additional four racers upset the balance a little too much. It meant being in the middle of the pack was chaotic to the point of being unfair. Again, I guess if you're a pro at MK, then you probably were at the front with no issues, but as for someone who just plays for fun... It's not fun.

Also the character roster was awful, but that doesn't really affect how the game plays, so... Yeah.

[DarkRula]

Well, since Sonic Lost World is kind of losing it's fun factor with me, and I'm slowly but surely working on 100% LEGO City Undercover, with the campaign of Pikmin 3 still to finish and having got Mario and Sonic 4 [do not make me say its full name] today, I'd say I'll have cleared the pound per hour basis I work on for three of those games by the end of May. Possibly all four. Mario Kart 8 then, will come at an opportune time. [Mario 3D World will never reach the forty hours required...]

 

Still, Ever since it was announced, I've been excited for Mario Kart 8, after 200+ hours of Mario Kart 7, I need some new tracks in my Karting diet. Played all of them bar the original, and all of them since Double Dash have been played for hundreds of hours, mostly on singleplayer [i hardly ever venture online] and the other lot of time in local multiplayer. With Mario Kart 7 though, I started going online more, so with MK8, I hope to get online even more.

[jords]

Loving most of the tracks so far I am simply excited to play this game. Best ones so far ive seen were koopling club and the airship track.

Lets see what we got so far.(The tracks is not in order, I just simply listed them to see what we need left.)

And some names i made up .

Mario Circuit

Thwomp Ruins

Twisted Mansion

Sweet Sweet canyon

 

Toad Harbor

Sunshine Airport

Dry bone desert 

Shy guy falls

 

Koopling club

Cloudtop Cruise

Water park

Dolphin shoals 

 

4 more new tracks left and we know we getting a Bowser castle in some way, Same with Rainbow road. Who knows what will they do this time.

 

Mario circuit (GBA)

Dry dry desert (GC)

Music park (MK7)

DK Island (MK7)

​Piranha Plant Slide (MK7)

Grumble volcano (Wii)

Tick tock clock (DS)

 

9 more to go unless I missed some. I'm still hoping for Toad factory and DK summit from Wii and Neo bowser city  from MK7. Im just glad they got all my Favorite tracks from MK7 so far. Hyped!!! 

[Doctor MK]

Nintendo of Europe have just announced a Limited Edition, which includes the game and a Spiny Shell collector's item:

 

 

No word on where it'll be available or how much extra it will cost, but still, it's pretty neat!

 

EDIT: Whoa, the Limited Edition even gets its own CGI trailer!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbUcAIEfA6M

 

It's meant to be available to pre-order now on the Nintendo UK Online Store, although the links don't appear to be properly working yet.

 

EDIT 2: Even more news! Super Mario Kart is hitting the European Wii U eShop on 27th March and if you download it before 30th June you'll get a £5.49 discount off a digital copy of Mario Kart 8.

 

Also, if you've pre-ordered a copy of the standard edition Mario Kart 8 from the Nintendo UK Online Store, you'll have the option to upgrade to the Limited Edition while stocks last.

 

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/452562/mario-kart-8-limited-edition-announced-with-trailer/

[canderson]

They're really going all out with this game, I see.

Really hoping we get something as amazing as that Limited Edition in the US.

[Doctor MK]

And the goodies just keep on coming! You can now pre-order either the Standard or Limited Edition from the Nintendo UK Online Store in a special bundle and get a Bullet Bill t-shirt and a Red Shell keyring as a bonus:

 

 

http://store.nintendo.co.uk/elysium.search?search=mario+kart+8

 

Also, lots of pre-order incentives have been revealed. GAME are offering the Limited Edition for £59.99 but if you get the Standard Edition (online, at least) you also get a Mario Kart 8 themed Wii Wheel accessory.

 

 

But that's not all! Different retailers are offering different keyrings as pre-order bonuses. A Golden Dash Mushroom keyring will come with pre-orders from Very and Littlewoods, while a Bullet Bill keyring will be included with pre-orders from Grainger Games, Game Centre, 365 Games (online only), Game Seek (online only), Base.com (online only), Playtime, The Games Exchange, That Game Shop, Gamescene, Xpress Games.

 

 

So... for European Wii U owners at least... which combination of goodies will you be opting for?

[LimeTH]

Oh great, bowser's invading so its time for a race! get ready to fall off a lot!

 

 

 

 

This remind anyone else of Beanstalk Park from Kirby Air Ride?

 

[Dantemustdie00]

Holy crap, the UK is getting some fantastic goodies.

 

 

Now if they announce Wii U Bundle with it and MK8, that will be even more delicious. Plus it would be a smart thing to do to get folks to buy a Wii U if they get MK in the process.

[SilentDoom]

I love how on the site it's like "You can buy just the game for £50 or you can buy the game, a t-shirt and a keyring also for £50!"

 

GENIUS

[Dejimon11]

I hope the US edition has something similar

[PSI Wind]

I hope the US edition has something similar

Implying Nintendo of America will give us a limited edition :')

[Dejimon11]

Implying Nintendo of America will give us a limited edition :')

It's possible

[Doctor MK]

I love how on the site it's like "You can buy just the game for £50 or you can buy the game, a t-shirt and a keyring also for £50!"

 

GENIUS

 

I guess someone might just really prefer to not receive the t-shirt and keyring...? it's kinda like GAME offering the Limited Edition for £60 but you can get the same plus the t-shirt and keyring from Nintendo UK for the same price - there's pretty much no reason to get it from GAME at all! Unless you want the Standard Edition with the Wii Wheel of course, but... that's not quite as cool by any means!

[LunarEdge]

I hope the US edition has something similar

I hope for the same too. I barely buy limited editions and such, but that little blue shell figure looks cool as hell. If not the same, I want something very similar XD

[Lady Soniko]

As cool as a blue spiny shell is, I would of loved a Diorama of Mario using his anti-grav on a piece of the Mario Circuit track with blue sparks, like the limited edition box art more, but thanks for this Doc MK! Instant pre-order.

 

Although I've just realized how willing I've been to throw like, £60 at video games this year lmao.

[LunarEdge]

I'll take anything that isn't that Wii Mote Wheel Accessory. Especially if MK8 uses the Wii-motion plus since I still have an old wii mote with the plus attachment, so it will never fit. Plus, I could just use the Wii U pad anyway.

[Doctor MK]

So if anyone wants some big, juicy, high quality pics of the Limited Edition to drool over... here you go!

 

 

 

 

 

Hot diggity damn I want this bundle and I want it now

 

EDIT: Mario Kart 8 is currently sold out on Amazon in North America! We may finally have our first Wii U big seller!

[jords]

Dang that is some big news, if they keep the hype up until release, then this game will get some crazy sales.

I'm so excited!