Hey, do you remember how Europe's trade-off for having to wait a possible six months for Super Smash Bros. Brawl was the fact that we'd be getting Mario Kart Wii early? Well, think again, because despite the fact that Brawl is way more anticipated than Mario Kart (as confirmed by Reggie himself), it's been revealed that Europe only gets the game sixteen days ahead of America. This of course means that in just over two weeks, America will have both games, and the PAL territories will still be stuck waiting for a still unannounced Brawl release.
I'd like to know exactly what Nintendo's problem is, but then again, I guess it's not worth begrudging my American friends a game with "let's race!" speech bubbles in place of actual online voice chat and a stupid plastic wheel in place of something interesting. Oh wait, sorry, I forgot that the prevailing attitude is to be grateful every time Nintendo so much as looks in your general direction.
Right, sorry, just had to have a little moment there. It's not that I'm bitter or anything over the way Nintendo likes to take a huge steaming dump over its European market every other week. It's not that I'm bloody sick of it on principle alone. What's that thing writers have? Oh yeah, professional integrity, I have a job to do -- Mario Kart Wii is released in America on April 27 and the full press release is after the jump, we are all super excited.
There. Job done.
Nintendo Speeds Into Spring With Mario Kart Wii
Hotly Anticipated Racing Game Includes Innovative Wii Wheel
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.
Jim Sterling serves as reviews editor for Destructoid.com, head of the Podtoid podcast, and produces a number of news stories, original features, one-of-a-kind videos. With his passionate argumentative style, controversial opinions, harsh delivery, and dedication to brutal honesty Sterling is a name that you can't help but recognize.
Likes
PS2, iPod Touch, Silent Hill 2, Metal Gear Solid, Dynasty Warriors 3
Meet the rest of the team
| BBcode help |
| [b]Bold text[/b] |
Bold text |
| [i]Italic text[/i] |
Italic text |
| [url]http://www.dtoid.com/[/url] |
http://www.dtoid.com |
| [url=http://www.dtoid.com/]Web link[/url] |
Web link |
|
| [img]http://www.example.com/robot.jpg[/img] |
 |
Post a comment! You can also post a photo below:
Comment with Facebook
Click connect and comment instantly!
|
Comment with Dtoid
New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds
|
82 comments | showing # 1 to 50
|
Comment with Facebook
Click connect and comment instantly!
|
Comment with Dtoid
New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds
|
Comments policy
Destructoid is an open discussion community. You don't need to "audition" to post a comment - just speak your mind. We respect differing opinions on the site, so have at it. Be smart, funny, insightful, clueless, or cute -- but back it up with substance. Keep your cool, keep it fun. We only ask that you act respectfully and above all: don't be a troll and ruin it for everyone else. Don't bring down gamers or we'll, you know, gently shoot you in the face and stuff you into a flaming mailbox. Each comment is your opportuntity to make this community awesomer. Is that even a word?
Avoiding the banhammer only requires common sense: spamming, trolling, racism, NSFW stuff, and other forms of sucking will not be tolerated. If anyone is griefing please report abuse. Be good. Don't suck!
Contest:
8:50 AM on 03.12.2008
| 
Maybe you should do a test and review for the sake of dtoid users :)
But Jim, please man, don't freak out and waste your talent on a post that is basically you ranting on about how America didn't get their game delayed unlike your region which is so oftenly neglected.
I'm glad you guys got it earlier than us, you deserve it, and I'm happy it's coming out sooner than I thought for the US. So can't we all be happy for that instead of this post that could easly be mistaken as a Rant and Rave on Craigslist?
Or just move to America.
When Reggie says something like "Oh yeah, they get Kart, but we get Brawl," I feel insulted, especially as it's not even a fair trade-off -- most people want Brawl more, and 16 days is nothing compared to six months. It's a really shit way to treat the European market and it makes me angry that so many Europeans are still loyal to a company that does this to them.
Reggie had to MAKE NICE to Americans because they had to get a game a mere sixteen days late. Where is Nintendo trying to make Europeans happy? It's not there.
Like I said, I don't even care about the games anymore. Nintendo systematically killed my interest in its products a while ago. However, it doesn't stop me being disgusted by the company's attitude.
I want to know what its fucking problem is with Europe.
I am bleeding, making me the victor!
You hate things. We get it.
-Kevin
I'll look past the hate and of course I agree what they've been doing is criminal ONLY because I'd be just as pissed if I had to wait that long for Brawl. Yet I wouldn't make every 'fuck you Nintendo' post reference the Brawl delay, it's a waste of your talent and I hardly think it'll help the situation.
Cereally, Nintendo just don't like you blimey wankers.
house of the dead 2 & 3 comes out end of april woo
But fuck if there methods don't still piss me off. IF i didn't enjoy their games so damn much, they wouldn't get a cent from me on principle, but i just can't help myself.
CodeJunkies have released the Wii version of the FreeLoader, that lets you play any region/imports Wii games.
http://uk.codejunkies.com/Products/Wii-FreeLoader__EF000595.aspx
I want to know when Europe's getting Super Mario RPG!?!? It's been like 12 years now! >:(
In all seriousness though, it's been like this as far back as I can remember. Games would appear in the Nintendo magazine, the articles would get you all hyped up about it and then a few months later Europe finds itself with a cancelled release or a hefty delay. Even back then we were having to make do with import devices to play the latest and greatest games.
It confuses me beyond belief, if Nintendo would give us a plausible answer for such delays or cancellations I'd be inclined to believe them but as it stands it doesn't appear to make any sense. I mean, is the European software attach rate worse or does Nintendo's marketing department have some sort of master plan rescheduling release dates? The last time I checked there were 720 million of us in Europe, that's a pretty huge market so what's the problem?
Of course we must say "fuck you" to Nintendo once in a while!
Should we just shut up and give them the impression that its ok what they're doing?
It sucks that Europe gets shafted on most releases but unless Europe adopts English as its primary language, that is always going to be the case. It's not a vendetta against Europeans. I'm sure Nintendo of Europe would love to have its games out earlier and not have to hear "Nintendo why do you hate us?" every single day.
It's not as if Nintendo is the only publisher who releases games months and sometimes years after US/Japan.
Final Fantasy XIII? You'll be lucky if you see that 6 months after the US gets it (which will be 6-9 months after Japan gets it). At least in that case though the PS3 is region free and you can import from the US...
I just don't understand the rabid hate towards Nintendo when ALL publishers do this to Europe.
I encourage people that have a problem with the services of any company to speak up and complain, but sneaking in 'fuck you we don't have brawl yet' in all Nintendo posts does get lame after a while.
Still, I won't stop what can't be helped, so go nuts.
I don't give a rat's ass about the Wii Wheel. I don't give a rat's ass about not having voice chat. I do care about firing green shells at Toad's Car while I cut off Yoshi with a power slide in my Waluigi Crane. I'm not saying I think keeping those things out is a good idea, and I'm not saying that we should just take it becaus eit's Nintendo, but is it really worth totally ruining an otherwise excellent game over such tiny, insignificant things in the long run?
Not going to comment about the Europe thing, as I don't live there; but it's getting really tiring to hear you rant on Nintendo fans all the time.
But Brawl made me realise just how fucking ridiculous this is, and I'm glad to know I'm not alone in my sentiment.
In every post about Mario Kart he's made, Jim's made this huge deal over the game not having voice chat. And while yes, it's silly of them to leave out, the game is still perfectly fine without it. And now he's calling every Nintendo fan a retard in his front-page articles over it? Not cool. Not cool at all.
Haha, thanks for proving my theory that people take words said against a faceless corporation as some personal insult. I never ranted on Nintendo fans, I ranted on Nintendo. Stop taking it personally.
A total myth. A lot of games these days can actually manage it. Only the lazy publishers, usually Japanese, have a problem with it. Just look at the vast majority of 360/PS3 games and how soon the European release is to the US. We usually get things three days after the US, simply because games are released on Friday here. Capcom can manage it with DMC, Lost Planet, etc. Most Western companies can do it -- Halo, CoD4, Bully, etc. etc.
Even Nintendo ITSELF managed it with Galaxy, but is holding out on Brawl. No, it's not "more complicated," that's such a falsehood it's amazing people still swallow that line.
Kojima is planning a worldwide release date for MGS4. If a game that packed full of dialog can manage it, there is NO excuse for Nintendo. None whatsoever.
Europe always got the short end of the stick in terms of release dates, I remember that from being a kid and reading Nintendo Power and Sega Visions. But it seems like it's gotten a lot worse lately. Between the indefinite Smash delay, and the entire PS3 clusterfuck, it seems like Europe is being dumped on pretty bad these days. Is it business as usual or are things indeed worse over there?
Again, not trying to be a shithead, just seriously asking.
I dunno, Jim. That doens't look like a comment about Nintendo as a corporation to me.
In many ways, things are better, and that's what makes Nintendo so infuriating. As I said, a lot of publishers these days have got their shit together and actually recognize that there's no need or excuse to delay European games, especially with online play being so big now.
However, Nintendo and a few other Japanese publishers have stuck to their guns with this prehistoric, discriminatory train of thought and it's fucking shameful. It's an outdated mode of thinking and they seem to do it just because they've always done it.
The world's fucking changed, it's a global audience now. This shit should not be tolerated, and PAL gamers need to let Nintendo know that "Y'know? Your games aren't worth this kind of wait."
That IS the prevailing attitude. Someone once told me to be thankful the game was coming out. Thankful. So yeah, that was aimed at whomever told me that.
Oh, and it's hardly me calling everyone a "fucking retard" like you claimed.
Scare tactics. "Give us Brawl and Mario Kart NOW or we'll bomb you again." Nintendo Ltd. hasn't forgotten that. Europe needs to be way more aggressive. Tax their tea or something. That'll work.
Then again, it's sooo hard to print and read dual layer dvd's in this age of BluRay and the such. So that must be a fair cause of delays! :P
It's a good thing that we have "other" options for these kind of corporations. And no, it does not involve paying extra for a Freeloader that might or might not work for a while, and paying 19% import tax on imported games. Yarr!
Although I don't really blame Nintendo. It does take quite a while to translate things into that incomprehensible gibberish slang that British people for some reason claim is "proper English". :p
I mean, both countries speak English, so it's not like they're translating shit (not that there's anything to translate. The announce in the Japanese version speaks English anyways for God's sake). I don't get it either, and I am pissed off for you guys, but I don't think Nintendo as a whole doesn't care about Europe, I think that it might just be that NoE isn't trying hard enough.
Or maybe Nintendo's a bunch of jerks. Either or.
NoE is pretty much completely seperate from the Japanese and American branches, last I heard.
Jim: Well that guy's a dipshit and so is anyone who agrees with him. I still don't think it's a "prevailing attitude" though, as I've only ever met a handful of people, even online, that seem to think that way.
has anyone here in the uk got thier freeloader and brawl yet? do you have any problems getting online? and for the US crowd: is the online multiplayer good or does it suffer from lag. I NEED MY KIRBY KILL FIX!!!!
Nintendo are lucky the freeloader has come into existence as i was seriously considering modding my wii. and anyone with an R4 will tell you, once you open that pandoras box of torrents you will never buy software again. so ill buy games for noe, but if an update kills the freeloader then thats it. ill just chip the machine and have done with it. if xbox can release games worldwide then why cant nintendo, dammit.
last time i buy a pal nintendo system.
Rant over :(
Get over it. It's not changing anything and it's just making you look like a constant whiner.
That's a good question. Have you tried answering it?
If I had to guess, it could be because Nintendo is a games-only company, unlike Sony and Microsoft. So instead of having corporate-owned distribution outlets everywhere, perhaps Nintendo relies more on regional companies and distributors to get its games out. And on a geographical basis, Europe has the densest collection of regions.
Seriously, I'd love to see you do a post that actually gets to the bottom of this. I don't think Nintendo has a bias against taking money from Europeans, or that Nintendo doesn't have access to the European internet in which displeasure is routinely voiced.
And is the NA market more profitable than the EU? Maybe they're going about this at a strictly financial angle as well. They can get such and such amount of money from NA Brawl for this quarter, then compound those sales with EU Brawl in whichever quarter that comes out in.
the reason we all keep whining is because it's still not acceptable.
i'm glad it's easy for YOU to get over OUR problem, but if we do then you can guarantee that it won't ever be resolved.