Nintendo has announced the first worldwide tournament for Mario Kart Wii. The tournament begins today on the Mario Circuit, where players will compete for the fastest time.
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Looks like Nintendo is trying to hype up Mario Kart by sponsoring some tournaments via the Mario Kart Channel. Interesting that the tournaments will have specific rules like having to use certain controls schemes...
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Core Gaming recently launched Wii Fit in South Africa. With the launch tucked securely under their belts, EL33TONLINE managed to catch up with The Nintendo Team who gave them the scoop on some dates to diarise.

Mario Kart Wii will be launching across South Africa in mid-May. The latest instalment in Nintendo's popular racing series has yet to be stamped with a price but mid-May is just around the corner so you better start your engines! The game comes bundled with a new accessory, the Wii Wheel, which looks set to revolutionise your Mario Kart gaming experience.
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Fun fact: I'm a total Mario Kart fanboy. For the record: Double Dash is my favourite (I know, I know). So I'm used to watching the Mario Kart series take small, baby-steps forward with each new version. In this case, I was expecting just that. Small steps forward. Mario Kart Wii, however, feels more like a step forward, a shuffle to the side then, after a brief pause, a tentative step back.
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In today's show they discuss:
-Everybody's Nintendo Channel
-The Conduit (New FPS game for Wii)
-Announce our Mario Kart Wii Contest Winner

And also talk about:
-New Quantum 3 engine
-Epic games against the Wii
-A heartfelt story
-Deca Sports
-Guitar Hero IV(4)
-Okami
-Vitual Console Releases
-Need for Speed:Prostreet
-Thrustmaster's classic controller
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Joystiq helps you get aquainted with Mario Kart Wii's online multiplayer.
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This will certainly go down as one of the most highly anticipated release week's for 2008! Highlights include Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3, Xbox 360) and Mario Kart Wii.

Check out the full list of new video game releases (USA) for the week of April 27, 2008 on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Sony PS2, PSP, Nintendo DS, and PC!
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Next Weeks Big Releases Dominate!

Grand Theft Auto IV takes the top spot on the Gamefly Top Ten 'Most Queued' list. Not surprisingly, Mario Kart Wii continues it's reign at the top of the Nintendo Wii list, while PlayStation 3 gamers also have Grand Theft Auto IV queued up at the top.

Queue up the complete Gamefly Top 10 most requested list:
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WhatIfGaming writes: "Nintendo is celebrating the highly anticipated release of Mario Kart® Wii and the companion Wii Wheel accessory with a fun-packed launch party at the Nintendo World store in Rockefeller Plaza..."
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On Thursday, April 24th, unsuspecting New Yorkers will be in for a shock as they call for a cab... and wind up with a plumber?
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While those of you in Europe and Japan are enjoying Mario Kart, the rest of us are trying to wait as patiently as we can, not knowing what to expect. Sure, we've seen and heard many racing-related things when it comes to Nintendo's upcoming title, but there's been one aspect of the game that hasn't been talked about much -- Battle Mode.
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A guide on what steps to take to unlock each of the 14 secret characters in Mario Kart Wii. For example on how to unlock the Miis:

* Mii (Outfit A): Win the 100cc Special Cup.
* Mii (Outfit B): Unlock all 32 Expert Staff Ghost Data in Time Trials mode.
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Consumers might be seeing price cuts for Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 in the coming months, claimed analyst Jesse Divnich of research firm EEDAR in a report sent to Gamasutra following today's NPD sales figures for March.

Divnich pointed to the lower-than-expected sales of Xbox 360 and PS3 as evidence that the systems might be plateauing. "These hardware results would indicate that both systems have likely saturated their potential market at their current price points," he wrote. "If we do not see any price cuts in the coming weeks, we can likely expect some hardware cuts once GTA IV loses some steam (before July) or if the GTA IV release significantly drives hardware sales for one console over the other."
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Kotaku writes:This isn't confirmed, and we're going to have to wait until Media Create releases the "official" numbers, but apparently Mario Kart Wii moved 300,000 copies on launch day. To put things in perspective, Mario Kart DS did 160,000 at launch, while Mario Kart Double Dash did 180,000 on its first day.
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Nintendo overtakes Sony's 'Gran Turismo 5: Prologue' at the top of the All Formats Chart as 'Mario Kart Wii' records the 8th biggest launch week ever in the UK. 'Mario Kart Wii' is far and away the biggest launch of any Nintendo published title. It's also bigger than the launch weeks of all 5 other Mario Wii games combined (Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games, Super Mario Galaxy, Mario Strikers, Mario Party 8 and Super Paper Mario). Mario has performed heroically on Nintendo's next-gen format with Wii games featuring Mario accounting for 21.2% of all Wii units since the launch of the console in December 2006.
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Nintendo has told Eurogamer that it has had no reports of problems with Mario Kart Wii discs.
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The exact same issue that happened to Japanese gamers that bought Brawl is now happening with Mario Kart Wii. Some people that purchased the game are complaining that their Wii cannot read the disc, and the game is freezing/crashing. Nintendo has once again stated that the problem is due to Mario Kart Wii being a double-layer disc. Nintendo will clean your Wii for you, which should do away with the problem.
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Mario Kart Wii was released just a few days ago, yet people managed to use cheating exploits to gain the upper hand in the Wi-Fi community; more specifically, the Time Trials mode. People have been earning ridiculous times that clearly cannot be achieved by racing normally. Nintendo seems to be on the case, however. Reports have began to drop in that Nintendo has rectified the issue. It's great to see the big N taking expeditious action, but at the same time, it's a shame people are trying to ruin the online experience.
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Kotaku writes: "There's word that cheaters (you bastards!) are apparently moving in full force on Mario Kart Wii. Either that, or there's a bug. The Time Trials mode is getting hit hardest with all sorts of impossible times appearing. According to Mercurys Phoenix at the Official Nintendo Magazine forums writes:

'I've only seen it on the Snowboard track - a guy with a time of 53 point something or other seconds. There are about three other people with exactly the same time. Like others have said, on the replay the guy just does one lap (excrutiatingly slowly) and then turns the opposite way just after the finish line. Then the replay doesn't stop.
Personally, I think its a bug. I've only seen it on one track and there are others with the same time.'"
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VGChartz via ameblo is reporting that the first day sales in Japan on April 10th were as follows:

First Day Sales : The numbers in () shows the shipments info

Mario Kart Wii (Wii): about 300k (about 400k)
Battle of Sunrise (PS2): less than 1k
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