Mario Kart Wii (Live, Online)

Last night I played Mario Kart Wii with Chris, Stephanie, Justin online. We had a little problems figuring out how to actually get to race at first, but after we figured out that you have to exit the message system to play a game. The experience itself would have been a little weak on it’s own as there is no way to communicate, and their characters would have just been like an AI character, and you can’t exit once you start a 4-race set. That being said, we had a great time because we suplimented it with Skype. We both set up a laptop with video conferencing, and it was almost as good as playing next to each other. There were so many curse-words flying around, and I think that Chris is still sore from Steph, but we were all laughing our asses off after almost every round. It was just like the old days.

I made the switch to the Game Cube controller, and I will not switch back. The wheel is fun, but you really just don’t have the fine control that you get with the conrtoller. When I first played with the wheel, I figured that either my skills had eroded more than I thought, or that I would just have to get used to it again, but using the controller was almost like no time had passed (especially on some of the classic tracks).

I still have to try the Tournament mode, and a few of the other modes, but I think that this is the best Mario Kart ever. There are a few things that I wish were in the game that aren’t, but over-all, I am very impressed. I can tell that we are going to be spending a lot of time on this game. Finally, the Wii is translating it’s social/party fun to online play, even if you have to supliment it with Skype.

To Chris, get a Game Cube controller. It’s more fun when I only beat you by 6 or so seconds. When I am half way around the track ahead of you, it’s just sort of lonely out in front.