Sunday afternoon I went out and scored a copy of Mario Kart Wii. It comes with a little plastic steering wheel that you stick the Wiimote into. I wasn’t sure if I’d actually like it, but I knew the kids would be pissed if I only brought one home. A second wheel is just $10…no biggie, so I grabbed an extra one.

The kids managed to play for a few minutes while I cooked dinner. Looked fun. Looked like Mario Kart from what I could tell. I did notice Jamie showing interest in the wheel. She made the comment, “I might even be able to race with the steering wheel.”

Another case of Wii taking the intimidation of gaming and making it accessable to all. (hugs and happiness)

I didn’t get a chance to sit down with it until after we did the podcast and everyone was in bed. I like it that way.

I booted up the Wii a little after 11…say 11:15 or so. I started playing through the circuits with the 50cc karts to get a feel for the game and the tracks. Two hours later I had finished all 8 circuits winning them all but one.

So I decided to connect to the Wi-Fi and play a little online action.

This may be the most addictive thing since masturbation. I kept saying, “One more race” over and over until I finally forced myself away from the TV and to my desk to write this. It’s now past 3:30am. I’ve played for a little over four hours and haven’t even gotten to try out the bikes yet.

What can I say about the game – it’s Mario Kart. It’s a lot like every Mario Kart game you’ve ever played. I suspect people either like Mario Kart or they don’t.

There’s a few new features or new ways of doing things, but nothing that should be too foreign to those familiar with the game. I happen to LOVE the little plastic wheel as a controller. The driving motion feels so natural (and familiar from other Wii racing titles) and it takes just a few moments to get the ‘feel’ for it. Nothing sweeter than lounging back deep in the couch and racing away.

The online aspect is where this game is going to shine. This is worth the price alone. Racing people from around the world is a blast – complete with a scoring/rating points system. I didn’t check out the online battle mode, but it also has the scoring/rating system in place. It looks like they’ll be doing tournaments in the future and already you can see record-holding times from your country or worldwide and compare your times. You can even download ghosts of record holding runs to study or race against. It just feels like there’s so much potential there – more than any Wii game to date.

This looks to be a HUGE time waster for me. Don’t expect me to get much done online anytime soon – I’ll be racing.

I play as Gonchar – big surprise. If any of you guys score the game, drop me a line with your friend code if you’re feeling froggy.

I gotta get to bed, school in the morning (for the kids, not me) and more Mario Kart!

UPDATE – I’ve since had the chance to check out the online battle mode and it’s even more addictive than the online racing. My kids can’t turn the damn game off, I’m staying up until all hours of the night playing kids in Japan, it’s Mario Kart Mania around here.

Definitely worth the price, but avoid this one unless you have large chunks of life to give to the game.