Thanks to Astrogamer for first telling me about this! Apparently in just 2 hours from now, an embargo will be lifted allowing sites like IGN and GameXplain to post coverage on Mario Kart 8, presumably from a closed event/private demos. You can bet I'm excited as they're bound to bring us plenty of new details on the game, and just seeing more of Mario Kart 8 in general is always awesome!

For some reason this link stopped working for me, but it's to GameXplain's Twitter page where they confirmed they'd be able to talk about the game tonight.

http://twitter.com/GameXplain

-=UPDATE=-

The embargo has been lifted! I'll be posting links below to the newly unveiled goodness!

-New Courses and Items Trailer-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYBz6HWBw3A

-GameXplain's Mario Kart 8 Preview-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLfLbxmtr9A

-GameXplain: 16 Mario Kart 8 Tracks-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4wxCtCvXO4

-IGN's Impressions-
http://ca.ign.com/articles/2014/04/03/mario-kart-8-is-gorgeous-fast-and-incredibly-fun

-IGN: Mario Kart 8 vs N64 Rainbow Road-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcpK0_f1whs

-Two Mysterious Items-
http://www.gonintendo.com/s/225467-ign-two-more-mysterious-mario-kart-8-items

And now a brief rundown of all the new details!

-Shy Guy, Lakitu, and Metal Mario are confirmed to return!

-Two new items make their debut, being Piranha Plant and Boomerang, and the Coin item returns aswell!

-Two more new items, but it's unknown what they do at this time. One look's like the lightbox from SM3DW, only with a speaker, and the other is the "8" from Mario Kart 8's logo.

-Only one item can be held at a time!

-New track, Mario Kart Stadium confirmed!

-Wii Moo Moo Meadows, DS Cheep Cheep Beach, GCN Sherbet Land, N64 Toad's Turnpike, N64 Yoshi Valley, N64 Royal Raceway, N64 Rainbow Road, and SNES Donut Plains 3 all confirmed to return!

-While in anti-gravity mode, bumping into another racer gives you a speed boost!

So this was IGN's "Nintendo Fans Should Stay Awake Tonight" tibit.

Great! I love gamexplains content, will definitely check it out.

an hour and 30 minutes left.

not worth the watch.

Idk about you all but I just hope to see more of Dolphin Shoals! xD

Cobretti2 said: not worth the watch.

April Fools is over and done with mate!

this kinda confirms that grand prix mode that was circulating around

mii-gamer said: this kinda confirms that grand prix mode that was circulating around

But then that would confirm no 5 player support, so I hope not! D:

Just one moar hour! Hype hype hype! *mouth waters*