I'm picking up a copy sunday, but I'll only have 2 days to play it before GTA 4 takes over my life.

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/04/25/the-definitive-mario-kart-wii-controller-showdown/

They did a comparison here, and (not surprisingly) the gamecube controller results in noticeably faster lap times. The wheel looks extremely gimmicky to me, but I'll give it a chance anyway, at least offline. Seems like you'll be at a disadvantage using it online though...

yea, from what I've heard, Mario Kart's online functionality is excellent overall. Supposidley lag is nonexistent, even in 12 player races. Makes me wish they put the same kind of effort into brawl...

Technically, I can go pick it up @ midnight tonight from gamestop, but that feels way too nerdy on a saturday night just for mario kart. Plus I'll most likely be too drunk to drive by then. Depending on how the night goes and if I get bored enough, it's a possibility though...

Yea, we'll see. There's still a whole 5 and a half hours left till midnight in california so a lot can happen between now and then. If I do end up getting it I'll post my thoughts here after an hour or 2...

So I got the game and have been playing it for a little over an hour, and I have to say it's pretty damn fun. So far, I've only used the wheel, and while it is kind of disorientating at first, I more or less got it down after 2 or 3 rounds of time trials. While it isn't super precise (especially noticeable on sharp turns and power sliding), it is a lot better than I was expecting, and a very usable option. I played through mushroom and flower cups on 50cc and got 1st place in every race with no problems so I'm going to stick with it for the time being . Now, I haven't played a kart since MK64 so perhaps this is nothing new, but the power sliding has really been dumbed down since then. No longer can you elevate the color of the sparks by steering from left to right, you simply initiate the slide and hold it until the sparks turn red, which takes a good 5 or 6 seconds it seems. This is my biggest problem with the game so far, but I'm sure I'll get over it. The tracks in the first 2 cups didn't really wow me, except the last one in flower cup was pretty cool, wario's mine or something like that. I like how each character has a selection of karts with different attributes. The AI is kind of cheap and you will get a shit storm of items thrown at you if you are in first, but nothing that can't be overcome, so far. I didn't bother reading the manual so I haven't figured out how to pull off the tricks or anything, but every track so far seems to have ramps for pulling them off. I did try out bikes a few times on time trials and they are a lot of fun. Much faster than karts and they can turn on the dime, but that also makes them harder to control. The wheel doesn't seem too good for controlling bikes. I was able to break my fastest kart record on luigi circuit (which took like 5 attempts) on my first attempt with the bike so I guess that speaks for itself. I didn't get a chance to try out online yet, but I'll give it a go tomorrow. Anyway, I apologize for the random order of comments here. It's 2AM and I just wanted to post my initial thoughts on the game. OK, going to bed now...

GPFontaine wrote:

So, I like it, but so far I have yet to be convinced that it is anything but an easier version of DoubleDash with new tracks. I haven't unlocked the big tracks or all characters yet, so I'll reserve final judgement.

I guess it's a good thing I never played double dash then because MKW seems mostly fresh to me. Sure, it's nothing groundbreaking (and I wasn't expecting it to be), but I'm having a lot of fun with it and I definitely think it was worth the 50 bucks.

Also I fully agree on the items, they need to be toned down. Or at least the major ones like lightning and blue shells should be more rare. They really should have added an option where you can customize items like in brawl, but it doesn't ruin the game IMO.

If you haven't figured out the turbo start, you hit it when the 2 is fully illuminated during the countdown. Took me a while to figure that out...

You can also get a boost when latiku recovers you from a fall, which is nice

I also agree with the DK comment, wtf? Wario also sounds pretty strange...

I initially said the courses weren't too interesting, but they do improve in the star and special cups. Bowser's castle is pretty incredible and probably my favorite so far. Koopa cape and the new star road are cool ones too. I also like the inclusion of the retro tracks, especially how the ghost valley track from the original super mario kart has that pixelated SNES look to it. They could have taken some better tracks from the N64 iteration though. Sherbert land and Bowser's castle were good choices, but Mario Circuit and DK Jungle parkway...not so much.

I've decided that I like the wheel and will continue using it, though it's probably not going to be for everyone.