Mario Kart Wii: Online heading to Wii this June
Following the success of Mario Kart Wii, Nintendo has announced what development lead Katsuya Eguchi says "perfectly compliments the Mario Kart Wii experience": Mario Kart Wii: Online. This fun addition will take Mario and friends online with 12-player races and battles and the ability to rank yourself on an online leaderboard. A scheduled Wii firmware update will disable current Mario Kart Wii online functionality as it was only a beta of the upcoming spinoff. A copy of Mario Kart Wii and Mario Kart Wii: Online are required to play online.
Mario Kart Wii: Online will feature frantic, fast-paced races on 32 new and classic tracks with all of your favourite Mario characters such as Yoshi and DK. After a month, 12-player functionality will expire unless a $6 per month server fee is paid. A special Mario Kart Channel may also be added to actively download ghost data for a small fee - this is exclusive to Mario Kart Wii: Online.
Nintendo's VP for Online Entertainment David Green exclusively revealed that Mario Kart Wii: Online will feature downloadable content (DLC). DLC will include kart decals at between $10 and $15, and new characters at between $15 and $25. Using WiiWare, new tracks will also be available for under $35 each. This content is exclusive to Wii and you can enjoy it with a friend because an exclusive feature of Mario Kart Wii: Online is the ability to play online with two players per Wii.
The online leaderboard will track your progress against others, and a $10 per month maintenance fee is required for participation in this. You can see others' Time Trial scores in relation to your own and even challenge them for as little as $1.50 per event. You can also subscribe to exclusive, limited-time Missions which Nintendo will hold and these will be funded with discreet in-game advertising to cover costs.
Due to child safety concerns, Wii Friend codes will be required to challenge anyone online. A registration fee of $15 will be needed to set this up. Once online, a Nintendo ID (allowing special future promotions and products to be automatically posted on the Wii Message Board) must be obtained; to reserve an ID costs only $8 per year. To play with others online, a game-specific Mario Kart Wii account must be subscribed to for $3 (Gold), $7 (Premium), $15 (Pro) or $26 (Elite) membership per week. Due to abuse of the system and because children's privacy was at risk, anyone who gives out their friend code to anyone else will be banned.
Mario Kart Wii: Online will be available on June 12th for only $69.99. A Starter Pack will be included with new retail copies of Mario Kart Wii, but previously bought copies are not eligible for this.
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