For Mario Kart Nerds, A Dream Come True
As Mario Kart fanatics in Europe and Japan are finding out this week, the much-anticipated Mario Kart Wii is living up to its hype - a fact that we modestly think may have something to do with its stellar multiplayer experience. (Cue rubbing of knuckles on jacket collar.) The game has hit shelves in both territories, and we can confirm that people are already racing their wheels down to nubs online in unprecedented droves.
US fans (at least, those who haven’t already picked up their copy of the game from their favorite import shops) will be waiting until late April to hit the starting line - but, in the mean time, they can revel in some of the coverage being given to the game’s online features.
As IGN UK’s recent “Online Impressions” article details, there’s a lot to love here: Up to 12-player racing across 32 tracks; interactive, graphically fun leaderboards; the ability to race against “ghosts” of top-ranked players; and weekly “Competitions,” objective-based challenges that show off Nintendo’s ability to reconfigure individual tracks-on-the-fly. The cap on the mushroom? Virtually lag-free online multiplayer races and dead-simple matchmaking, which put players into matches quickly and delivered quality races the minute their wheels hit the track.
As with all Wii titles, the Nintendo Mario Kart team worked directly with GameSpy Technology to power all of these online features, putting a unique spin on the standard tools and services that we make available to all Wii developers. We’ll detail all of this in depth in a future case study when the game launches in North America - for now, start revving your engines.
Quickly…