What's the release date on this??

I'm not sure we can answer that for sure before playing, but in general its very sensitive to motion, so I would expect it to actually be more precise (then again, I've always hated both d-pad's and the sticks).

I guess it may depend on the programmer, but I know "excite truck" used the exact same mechaninc.

This made me laugh, and my wife roll her eyes. I tip my hat, good sir

As for controls, if it handles like excite truck, then the wiimote shouldn't be horrible to use. Otherwise, gamecube controller all the way

Have you had a chance to play around with the multi-player?

I picked this up yesterday, and it's been a lot of fun so far -- the gameplay tweaks (new drifting system, tricks to boost on jumps, bikes, etc.) all seem to work well, and there's a huge selection of tracks on offer. I've nearly finished working my way up through 50cc and 100cc so I'll be on to 150cc soon.

The tilt controls with the crappy plastic wheel surprised me by not being awful, though I had the same problem with the game drifting the wrong way that lancejt described above. It seemed to get better with practice, but I soon went back to an analogue stick. I tried the Nunchuk, Classic Controller, and Wavebird, and the Wavebird seemed best overall, though they were all great.

I haven't played online yet, but the Mario Kart Channel with its leaderboards and downloadable ghosts is a nice addition, and there seems to be some way to invite your Wii friends to become Mario Kart friends, though I haven't tried that yet.

Got this in today. So far I really like it. It's basically Mario Kart DS on a bigger screen and prettier graphics. I played an online battle with a bunch of Brits because it couldn't find any people in my region....guess cuz offical street date isn't till tomorrow. The online is definately no xbox live, but it's alot better than Nintendo's online offerings up till now. Basically if you like Mario Kart you'll love this. If you're one of those people who've never really had thing for MK, don't expect this to change your mind.

Suckers. We've had it for weeks.

It appears to me that this game also makes use of the moronic practice of generating friend codes for every game.

Mine is:

3566-1942-1151

Aside from the friends code thing, I'm impressed. The wife and I paired up for some random online battles and cooperatively kicked some Canadian ass. Hopefully the ability to play with big groups (10+) will encourage some GWJ nights (with Xbox Live chat, for those with 360s).

My friend code: 2020-0061-2466

I played some online earlier today as well, and I was surprised by how well it worked, if a little simplistic. Like Staats, I think it's a bit silly for the game to require a separate code than the actual console one to play online, but what can you do.

Anyway, my code: 0473-8174-1509

My code is 12 digits. Just type in any 12 digits and then yell my name into the Wii. That should work.

I'll get my actual code later on, but first I want to say holy crap I've been having fun with this today. This may be my favorite Mario Kart, yet. The only thing I don't like is that I don't see any way of customizing the Battle Mode. What if I don't want to play 6 Vs. 6 for 5 minutes? What if I want classic Battle Mode? Do I need to unlock it?

I've added everyone so far. Let's get this thang in gear!

Here's mine.

Datin: 2277-7049-8416