Don't call him  hardcore, he takes it as an insult ;)

I've said countless times, this game will decide if I get a Wii right now.

And a perfect review, pointing out its flaws, and then went back to the fact that it is still fun and stayed to its core gameplay. This is exactly why MKWii will stay around low 80 in gamerankings.

I will wait until a price drop.

It is easy to come from behind when you're playing the AI karts and get a succession of good items but you have no chance against the really good online players.

Meh. The complaints about removing about removing snaking is about as ridiculous as if they had whine about wavedashing getting cut in Brawl. Definitely agree about more items that affect everyone being bad, but can't comment on the rest.

Looks to me like Nintendo has put way more effort into Galaxy and Brawl than the new Mario Kart, though.

I think the real reason they changed the drifting dynamic was because of the Wii Wheel.

I use the wheel when I play but if I had to steer left and right in order to get my turbo boost, there's no way I'd even think about moving away from the classic

Well, ruin is a little bit harsh, but I agree that there are some flaws in game there:

1. Offline you have to race with Computers, but can choose teams.

2. Online you have to race without them, but can not choose teams (even if in private rooms, whats really bad, because you just can't play "Clanwars" online that way.