I really hope this is false.

Such a waste of talent, anyone can make a Kart Racer, we need Retro on something worthwhile.

But Retro's kind of talent isn't necessary for it to be successful. What they're good at is the more "hardcore" games that appeal to an audience the Wii U desperately needs to court. Nintendo has many studios that could do Mario Kart, but only one that could do a game like Metroid Prime.

I think if Mario Kart was Retro's project, they wouldn't have announced that it would be playable at E3. They know people are foaming at the mouth thinking about what Retro is working on and to just say "Oh hey, by the way, Mario Kart will be at E3" if that was their secret project, would be dumb. Nintendo definitely knows how to make big announcements (Miyamoto's Zelda announcement comes to mind) so I doubt it is their main project.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE2Dc1sx71U

It is definitely within the realm of possibility that SOME people might be working in conjunction with the main Kart team on courses and such though.

If this is true, I think I will throw my wiiU into my pool.

I want Metroid Prime 4 damit!

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/11/25/retro-took-mario-kart-7-from-emergency-to-2011-launch/

well they did it with mario kart 7, though I don't think if that's the case here it would be that bad. And all it would do if anything would delay retro's current project for an amount.

Also, it turns out that Retro has been hiring.....big. They have hired 2 fairly big name artists, and a real-time 3d graphics programmer responsible for Crusta (link in the link...). The artists were from Naughty Dog and Vigil, environment and character respectively.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=34161262&postcount=1

They have also acquired devs from Junction Point (Epic Mickey) and Bioware. While those might not seem to be the greatest considering those studio's most recent works, it doesn't mean they were solely responsible for what made them....not so hot.

Just think; a Bioware developer out from under the thumb of EA, environment artist from Uncharted 3, character designer from Darksiders, camera systems/cinematic/level designer from Force Unleashed 2 (Wii version), the Crusta guy (who also interned at Visceral), PLUS all of Retro's already stellar talent and the guiding hand of Nintendo and you've got yourself some SERIOUS dev power.

I don't think that would be used on Mario Kart, it would seem like a waste. 3rd person game perhaps, and there is always the possibility of Metroid with that kind of environment talent.

Seems a pretty safe bet to say they aren't working on MK. Whatever it is though.....it's going to be huge.

Well, I do agree on that - if they still actually want to atract that portion of market, they need some exclusive "hardcore" titles - whether it's some action-rpg or action-adventure (I discussed M rated Sheikah spin-off based on Zelda universe several times in various threads here) or some FPS different from current crop of shooters out there, I think they do need to come up with some new IP - I'm honestly doubting that any of the old once will be enough...

I agree, and Retro would be the perfect pick to helm a new IP like a Nintendo Uncharted or Resistance.

Sadly, I don't have faith that Nintendo's management are smart enough to realize this anymore.

If it's just a small help team I'm okay with it. But I really hope that they rather focus on a big scale western rpg.

Right. As Uncharted amptly demonstrates, one can develop a hugley successful T-rated game aimed at teens adults (and likely while retaining their pristine image). Nintendo is halfway there, but most of their recent efforts aimed at that crowd are niche titles, particularly RPGs.