Countdown to Mario Kart!

[Dark Jaguar]

I think they just wanted the image to be taller.

[OB1]

Um, DJ? That wouldn't make the image taller. It would make the image thinner. We're talking about making the game fit the size of a widescreen TV, not a regular 4:3 one. Without the 16:9 enhancement the image will not fit the entire screen.

[A Black Falcon]

And they know that very few people have widescreen TVs... and Nintendo doesn't care much about the minority, just doing what "the most people would like".


And yes, those statements just don't make any sense... I hope its mostly because of translation issues, but I doubt we're that lucky... :( Those "anti-online" reasons are clearly absurd. There were some other strange statements too... but those are the weirdest, for sure.

And as DJ said, Nintendo Japan also clearly has no conception of the idea that western audiences think cartoonish stuff is just for kids... they make cartoonish games and call them "for all ages" because in Japan that's perfectly accepted. When will they figure out that its not like that over here, unfortunately?

[OB1]

Widescreen tvs are in the minority of course, but most games nowadays offer 16:9 support for the growing number of people that are getting such tvs. Nintendo's reasoning for not offering it is absolutely insane. Sega did it with F-Zero, but then again they actually care about these things while Nintendon't. :p

[Great Rumbler]

Hahaha...haha...ha...I don't get it.

[OB1]

What don't you get?


<----- I had to add this so that DJ wouldn't say "Why do you have to start fights all of the time??!!! YOU'RE EVIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

[A Black Falcon]

You don't get it??

Go back to 1990 and look up Sega's ad campaign for the Genesis!

I thought the joke was pretty funny, OB1... and you're right. :D

[Great Rumbler]

You don't get it??

[Dark Jaguar]

:p ;)

:D, now now OB1, sense of humor, remember?

[OB1]

Haha, thank you, ABF. I thought that slogan was perfect. :)

And what are you referring to, DJ?

[A Black Falcon]

It is perfect. :)

And I really don't know what DJ and GR are going on about...

[Dark Jaguar]

I think I can I think I can I think I can I think I can I think I can I think I can

<font size="20">I THINK I CAN!</font>

[OB1]

[OB1]

Uh, this is strange. So far Mario Kart DD has been getting some really great reviews as you can see here (an average score of 94% so far), but IGN gave it just a 7.9. Here's what Franny-Fran had to say about it:

Fellow GameCube and Mario Kart fans, I know what you're thinking. That we've taken too harsh a look at this beloved franchise, which has always been about good, simple fun. But Nintendo itself has said it is a company that innovates and is a company that does not want to deliver cookie-cutter sequels. Unfortunately, that's just what Double Dash!! is. It's good, clean multiplayer fun but it doesn't progress far beyond the N64 version other than in the visual department.

What it has ended up being is a stellar kids title -- and I highly recommend this one to parents searching for the perfect GCN title for their young ones. Few better you will find.

For the older audience and the hardcore devotees to the series, you will almost definitely find an experience very similar to Mario Kart 64, and perhaps something less than that. It's a more simply designed racer, and while that's okay for a new audience of children, it does little for the millions of hardcore fans that have grown up. The production values put into Mario Kart: Double Dash are extremely disappointing; honestly, do we really need two item buttons (X and Y) instead of dedicating one of them to a look-behind function? Having played a title like SSX 3, which redefines what you can do with arcade racers -- how much you can offer the players -- I feel like Mario Kart: Double Dash is missing so much.

I expected so much more than this mediocre effort. I had hoped for more than one selectable costume, skins for the karts, maybe GBA link-up support, remakes of the old levels, more characters, much more high-quality music -- the list goes on.

So, think about Double Dash before shelling out your much-needed holiday cash. If you've got a ton of friends that are into the title, you stand to enjoy multiplayer -- but even that may get old faster than you'd like.

I only hope that Nintendo pours more production into the sequel and remembers that just because Mario Kart was once designed for the younger crowd, doesn't mean it can't become an everyone title with some complexity to it.

-- Fran Mirabella III

Wow. That's the complete opposite of what everyone else has been saying about the game. I sincerely hope that this is just a case of IGN having lost their minds.

[Sacred Jellybean]

That's quite disheartening to read... :( I'd consider renting this game before buying it, but then I remember that the Blockbuster and Hollywood Video rental prices rape customers up the ass. Hmm.

[Dark Jaguar]

??? What rental prices are you getting? I remember game rental prices being HIGHER in the past compaired to now, and I'm talking Blockbuster here. Plus, they used to rent for a lot less time. Rental stores have ONLY improved over the years. It's one of the only things that HAS only improved. Are rental store's prices fluctuating region by region?

Anyway, I played a store demo of Mario Kart DD. I LOVED it myself, and that's all that matters to me (well, that and my friends also enjoying it enough to play with me :D).

[Sacred Jellybean]

You mean you used to pay <i>more</i> than $5.99 for one rental?? Where the hell were you renting them from, the leprositic bum on the corner of 34th and Main? He's the one you're supposed to <i>avoid</i>, silly. :love:

[Dark Jaguar]

They used to be $7 back in "the day" for games, and $5 for videos. Now everything's $5, and by that I mean $4.99, not $5.99. Guess it DOES vary from region to region... Huh, thought only gasoline did that....

[The Former DMiller]

Fran's review talked a lot about what wasn't in the game. That's not a good way to go when writing a review, in my opinion. He dwelled way too much on what he would have liked to see in the game and not on what was actually in the game. Did anyone really care about unlocking the skins in SSBM? The only thing I cared about unlocking in that game was the new characters and levels.

[A Black Falcon]

But if more features should be expected and they aren't there why not complain? Though, it does sound like he went too far... especially given how every other review is so good...

[OB1]

He kept on complaining about the lack of depth in the game and how it should be more like SSX3, which I thought was insane. Did anyone complain about F-Zero's lack of depth? And SSX is a snowboarding game! There's supposed to be depth in the whole tricks system!

[A Black Falcon]

Uh, that does sound dumb... SSX? SSX isn't even really a racing game, its a stunt game like Tony Hawk that's on a mountain...

[OB1]

Yeah.

[Great Rumbler]

Fran's just crazy. *buys two copies of Double Dash*

[Dark Jaguar]

We must drag Fran out of his Fran-Dome and do that thing they did in Clockwork Orange to him.

[Great Rumbler]

Fran must be...re-conditioned!! *pulls out re-conditionererizer...califat*

[The Former DMiller]

I think we need Lazy to talk to Fran. That will certainly recondition him.

[A Black Falcon]

That might work... Fran just hasn't been the same since getting all powerful at IGN and stuff...

[EdenMaster]

It's-a so friggin close I'm inexplicibly starting to speak-a with an Italian accent-a!

[Great Rumbler]

It's only a few more days! *explodes with excitement*

[OB1]

*obies with excitement*

[Great Rumbler]

[EdenMaster]

I cannot-a wait-a! I must-a play the Mario Kart!

[EdenMaster]

GameStop gets the game in on Monday!



New Mario Kart Smilies to commemorate the games (almost) release. Lets-a go!

[Great Rumbler]

"You are now the proud recipient of my supreme and eternal hatred. May you use it in poor health and die soon...you schmuck."
~Great Rumbler

:D

[EdenMaster]

Originally posted by Great Rumbler
:D

:D

[Great Rumbler]

Wooo! Old party!

[EdenMaster]

Argh!!!! GameStop said that they won't get the game in until <b>8:30</b> tonight! I'm still going up after work at 6 to see if maybe they got it in early...

[Great Rumbler]

I'm getting it sometime this week, not sure when exactly.

[OB1]

My local gamestop won't have it until tomorrow. :(

[The Former DMiller]

My EB won't get Mario Kart in until tomorrow! Same with Mario and Luigi! Why do I have to live in a college town in the middle of nowhere?!

[EdenMaster]

Hmm...perhaps there must have really been some shipping problem if they're delayed till tomorrow all over the place.

[Dark Jaguar]

Even I can't get it until tomorrow! What happened?

[EdenMaster]

Oh well.

I (quite literally) dusted off my N64 and played some MK64 for the better part of an hour. I love the cinema that plays during the credits :).

Tomorrow...

[Laser Link]

Silly, silly people. You should know that Nintendo always gives the shipping date. My Babbages will be getting it in tomorrow also.

And I should also mention (not that anyone cares) that the new <a href="http://www.skillet.org">Skillet</a> cd is coming out tomorrow as well. I'm not even a big Skillet fan, but the first song off this cd, Savior, is so freaking good that I have to buy it.

[Dark Jaguar]

For me, it's always been IN on the shipping date (although late in the day). It's odd that it isn't for me anyway.

[A Black Falcon]

I've never bought a game on day one before... and not all that many within a week either, as far as I know.

[The Former DMiller]

Originally posted by Laser Link
Silly, silly people. You should know that Nintendo always gives the shipping date. My Babbages will be getting it in tomorrow also.

And I should also mention (not that anyone cares) that the new <a href="http://www.skillet.org">Skillet</a> cd is coming out tomorrow as well. I'm not even a big Skillet fan, but the first song off this cd, Savior, is so freaking good that I have to buy it.

I like not having to buy CDs to get a single song anymore. :P

[The Former DMiller]

NOOOO! FedEx screwed up and Nintendo's shipments all across Illinois will be late today! I thought EB was bsing me at first, but I called the EB up by my house near Chicago and they told me the same thing! Oh the humanity!

[Laser Link]

I like not having to buy CDs to get a single song anymore. :P

That is nice, but I don't think iTunes or Napster have Skillet. I know Napster doesn't; the only Skillet they have is some southern folk band. Besides, I've heard a few other song clips from this cd that I've liked and the reviews are all great, so I figured I'd go for it.

Of course, this once again brings up the eternal question: Do I listen to the new cd whle I play Mario Kart or listen to the Mario Kart music?