Nintendo, earlier this year, said it was hoping games like Mario Kart 8 would spur people to buy the Wii U – and help it return to profitability.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t appear to be happening.
Mario Kart 8 is proving to be quite the power-up for Nintendo’s Wii U.
Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime told Yahoo Games that the kart racer has resulted in a significant bump in hardware sales since it hit store shelves in May, and the company has high hopes for that trend to continue.
Nintendo’s counting on its biggest game of the year to spur people to buy a Wii U.
The company, somewhat predictably, plans to bundle Mario Kart 8 with its console system, throwing in the now familiar Wii steering wheel and a Wii controller as well.
It’s a move that makes plenty of sense. Mario Kart might be familiar territory, but it has historically been a system mover for the company. What’s baffling us is the price.
The game might be named after him, but there was no way I was going to let Mario win this race. After all, this is apparently still the year of Luigi.
That sort of competitive thinking generally goes through my mind whenever I play Mario Kart on a couch, but when you’re sitting in a real Kart with real speed boosts and obstacles, it’s only amplified.