80°

Nintendo UK Says Mario Kart 8 Will Have A Year-Long Marketing Campaign

Nintendo UK has revealed to MCV that their flagship Wii U title Mario Kart 8 will have a year-long marketing campaign. The first step is a social media programme which is designed to get gamers nostalgic about classic Mario Kart games. This will then lead up to a full-blown online and TV marketing campaign that will run till the end of the year.

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mynintendonews.com
AKR3643d ago (Edited 3643d ago )

This is going to be very interesting to see; and it makes sense.

Mario Kart is Nintendo's BIGGEST system-seller (excluding the Wii Series. The last three Mario Karts sold in the MULTI-MILLIONS. The lowest selling entry is Super Circuit; yet it sold 5 million+ units.

Moral of the Story: - This is Nintendo's ace card, and they're going to use it as best as they can.

P.S ~ Proof the sales right here: http://vgsales.wikia.com/wi...

randomass1713643d ago

A year long marketing cycle? GOOD! I and many gamers like me have been totally perplexed at Nintendo's marketing or lack thereof. A year long marketing campaign for one of their heaviest hitting exclusive franchises is definitely in order. Combine this with Smash Bros. and maybe even a price drop at the end of the year, and I guarantee that Wii U will see its biggest boost yet.

Lightning Mr Bubbles3643d ago (Edited 3643d ago )

I wish Nintendo would go back to the days of old. They lost me after the GameCube, because they were no longer a gaming console just a gimmick. I don't care about the sales, I would just perfer a real Nintendo console like the GameCube.

wonderfulmonkeyman3643d ago (Edited 3643d ago )

If you thought that the Wii was nothing but a gimmick, you missed out on some incredibly good games over your unwillingness to get used to a new controller.

Vegamyster3643d ago

Nintendo has always tried new things or tried to refine old concepts, each console was different and unique so they're doing exactly what they've always done. The Wii-U has the touch screen but it hardly relies on it and its more of convenience to make things easier, its biggest benefit is offscreen play. The system currently has a good selection of exclusives with other upcoming ones.

LexHazard793643d ago

Gamecube was also my last Nintendo system. But the Wii U is looking good. Im waiting til after E3 to make decision. Just want to see what they have in store for future.

Activemessiah3643d ago

Wow, looks like someone at Nintendo finally got the memo.

ChickeyCantor3642d ago

They didn't. They really didn't.
WHERE IS MY F-ZERO?!

Venoxn4g3642d ago

Fast Racing Neo for Wii U incoming, a good alternative to F-zero, cant wait :)

randomass1713642d ago

Better than late than never. Kinda seems like Nintendo's catch phrase. But when they get to the party, they know how to deliver.

Father__Merrin3643d ago

this is the problem with Nintendo. promote their own but not third parties. I remember seeing 3ds stands at demo units with boxes of different Mario titles plastered all over stand.

but they might use this to peak interest in the wiiu

OtakuDJK1NG-Rory3643d ago

exactly what big third party Wii u game is coming in two months.
Nintendo is promoting Indies and exclusives on their YouTube channel.

LexHazard793643d ago

Why should Nintendo promote 3rd party games tho?

Idk but when I play a Nintendo a system it was usually for their games. If I need 3rd party I go with Xbox or PS.

AKR3642d ago

They're promoting Child of Light on their YouTube channel; which is being made by Ubisoft - even though it's not exclusive.

If you look at the U's eShop; third-party titles have tiles just as big as the first-party titles and exclusives.

Nintendo does promote third-parties; but of course, they'll give their own products a bigger push. Sony & MS mostly rely on third-parties (especially MS!) - so of course they're going to appeal to them more.

randomass1713642d ago

Nintendo does promote third parties. They post trailers on their YT channel and there's always news on their website. TV commercials are the responsibilities of the third parties though. It does not help if the third parties themselves don't do anything to help their games sell on Wii U.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 3642d ago
WeAreLegion3643d ago

Good idea. With a good marketing team behind it, it can push the system until Super Smash Bros. releases, which should help even more.

wonderfulmonkeyman3643d ago (Edited 3643d ago )

Starting March 30th and running till the end of this year.

Show all comments (34)
280°

Xbox's Preservation Step Sets A Much-Needed Example, Especially For Nintendo

Hanzla from eXputer inquires: "If Xbox can care about preserving its games and legacy, what exactly is wrong with Nintendo, trying to kill game preservation single-handedly?"

purple1012d ago

Ahh yes the good old game preservation of saving all your games to a removable hhd on the Xbox 360, taking it round your mates house, setting up multiple tvs to
Be met with “save data corrupted, please re download”

Or how about removing 360 games
From the store
, download them now or else, and, better hope to god that save data doesn’t corrupt, or it’s lost for ever

Nice one ☝️

Zeref1d 18h ago

It's better than what Nintendo and Playstation is doing. It might not be perfect but at least they are TRYING. Unlike the others.

DarXyde1d 17h ago

Trying? Take off the blinders for a moment, mate.

1. A failure to preserve games is just that: a failure to preserve games. Don't try to sugarcoat it: NO ONE is doing it properly. Better than awful is nothing to write home about.

2. At the time of this comment, isn't it the case that you need an internet connection to play Xbox games even if you buy physical discs that are hardly in circulation anymore? I don't have a Series X and I can't verify, but I think that is correct. I'm fairly certain you can at least play PS5 games at version 1.0 (not much of a win really when many games require day one patches). I think Microsoft's all digital, licensing approach is by far more aggressive than anyone else's. They really try to push you to game pass where you lose your entire library by umm.... Skipping a month of payments.

I don't think anyone is doing it right whatsoever. Don't get me started on Nintendo, who goes after anyone looking to preserve their games better than they ever would with extreme litigation.

Don't be a simp for any of these companies. Get it together.

PhillyDonJawn1d 17h ago (Edited 1d 17h ago )

@DarX never speak on Xbox again. You lost all credibility with your internet connection comment. Smh you have 0 clue and misinformed yet speaking on something you don't no squat about.

Einhander19721d 15h ago

What has Sony done exactly? You guys keep deflecting to Sony but I am not actually seeing any results, and ai am certain nothing that you can come up with even comes close to what Microsoft has done and what they have tried and failed to do, like tie all your disks to your account on xbone.

Microsoft removed their whole indie section when they moved to the xbone because they were going to only allow games on the service that came from a publisher, id@xbox started after xbone launched and it only exists because Sony embraced indie and Microsoft was forced to cancel their plans and reverse course.

And every single game that was part of games for windows live including disk games (I have gta 4 on disk that won't work) so hundreds of games that use that DRM no longer work unless the company themselves patched it out which of course very few did.

MrBaskerville1d 15h ago

Not trying. Tried. they killed of the backcomp program years ago. They set something up again, but sounds like it's more of an attempt to save the current library on whatever they are planning next. With luck they save everything and more, but let's see. I could see them killing off parts of the OG xbox and 360 libraries. Can't imagine that they would allow us to play Forza 5-7 in the future.

With that said, I do like what they've done and really wish they could have done more.

shinoff21831d 7h ago

Zeref

So killing off physical media is trying what exactly. Ms don't really give a fk if you think they do your kidding yourself.

Profchaos1d 6h ago

They are not trying this team is established for forward compatability the team is. It interested in preserving Xbox or 360 games.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 1d 6h ago
isarai2d ago

Is that why Hellblade 2 is digital only?

Zeref1d 18h ago

Just because it's digital only doesn't mean you can't preserve it. Just put it on an external and you have the exact same functionality of what a disc does.

MrNinosan1d 18h ago

Guess you're trolling, but if you actually think that's how it works, I'd recommend buying some braincells.

mkis00722h ago(Edited 22h ago)

Volitile vs nonvolitile data. A disc will not corrupt either. A drive can be corrupted.

Einhander19722d ago

This is just a scammy PR move to distract from the fact they are going digital only and trying to push streaming and subscriptions only.

No gaming company has pushed harder to remove ownership than Microsoft.

Without discs there is no preservation, preservation can't be done by the rights holders it can only be done by the consumers, anything else is a lie.

2d ago Replies(3)
Einhander19722d ago

Anyone remember xblig which Microsoft removed their whole 360 indie section removing hundreds of games from people?

2d ago
2d ago
Zeref1d 18h ago

Do you know you can put your games on an external and preserve them that way? There are no benefits to discs. ZERO. Idk why some of you are still obsessed with them.

DarXyde1d 17h ago

Because games like Persona 5 exist. It's STILL V1.00. On Playstation, that's a win because 1.00 is installed on the disc—no need to download anything.

If a game does not require any updates, it's all on the disc.

Extremely low bar in the modern era, of course. It's not much of a win by any stretch.

But for now, physical media does have a purpose, at least on Playstation.

Einhander19721d 16h ago

That is factually not how game licensing works, try plugging your hard drive into someone else xbox, It's not going to work, and it won't work if the licensing servers ever go down.

Einhander19721d 16h ago

Anyone remember games for windows live.

I have around a dozen games, some on Steam itself that will not work because Microsoft shut off the licensing servers.

BehindTheRows1d 16h ago (Edited 1d 16h ago )

I do. I STILL have games (Gears of War being the big one) I cannot access because Games for Windows LIVE is total garbage and no one has held Microsoft accountable.

Zeref1d 14h ago (Edited 1d 14h ago )

You don't have an Xbox apparently. Because you can 100 percent plug in your external and play games from it on any Xbox console lol. You just have to be logged in to prove ownership.

Chevalier1d 13h ago

"You don't have an Xbox apparently. Because you can 100 percent plug in your external and play games from it on any Xbox console lol. You just have to be logged in to prove ownership."

Damn how many times do people got to explain your idiocy to you? You can take a copy of Persona 5 like someone used as an example and play that game on ANY console WITHOUT logging in which means I can lend the game to a friend without internet and they can play my game. Can you lend your hard drive to anyone without logging in for them to play? NOPE. That is a huge difference and if you think otherwise then sorry you're an idiot.

Tacoboto1d 15h ago

"No gaming company has pushed harder to remove ownership than Microsoft."

Ubisoft is literally erasing games people bought from their libraries... My PS1-3 discs are useless on modern hardware. Nintendo's re-published and resold almost their entire Wii U library, and the eShop is completely dead with no BC mechanism in the Switch software. Microsoft publishes everything they make today day one on Steam and Xbox/Windows. Sony only brings to PC the titles they think you might want some years later and Nintendo won't even design a functional long-lasting joystick.

You're absolutely trolling and not serious if you think Microsoft today is the worst offender.

shinoff21831d 7h ago

Yay steam

Not everyone fks with computers though. The disc is still the best way as a console player. Period.

Tacoboto1d 4h ago

How do Sony and Nintendo feel about these discs from 2001-2013?

Don't be stupid, you know Xbox is the best at this today.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 1d 4h ago
Hofstaderman1d 19h ago

Nobody wants this. Sales or the lack of it in the case of XBOX is very telling. I wonder how the adorably all digital series X will fare. Adorably dismal perhaps?

crazyCoconuts1d 15h ago

Only time will tell, but for from someone like me suspecting that Xbox is trying to gracefully exit the console market, that "forward compatibility" team is trying to get Xbox games playing on Windows PCs. I mean, it's nice that they're not planning on exiting with a "enjoy your games while the hardware still works" message, so that's nice. They still have a brand to protect via Microsoft so probably feel obligated to have a better exit strategy.

Xeofate1d 12h ago (Edited 1d 11h ago )

That is not their plan, their plan is to transfer users accounts to the cloud.

Phil Spencer himself said as much a few months back, plans could have changed but I think people are reading way too much into one statement where Phil said he would allow Epic on xbox because he wants to be able to sell xbox games directly on other platforms. Aka, instead of selling Sea of Thives through PSN he wants to have an xbox store to sell his games on PlayStation without giving PlayStation any money.

Again, it's extremely unlikely that Phil plans to put PC on xbox and licensing would prevent them from just giving out other publishers games purchased on xbox copies of thier games on PC, Microsoft does not own their games.

crazyCoconuts17h ago

The thing that doesn't align with the cloud strategy is the giving up on exclusives. You'd still need strong exclusives for cloud streaming - it's still a "platform" , just with a lower upfront hardware investment. I feel like they've learned what PS learned with PSNow long ago. We're not ready to stream games and it's only gonna lose them money to try at this point

FinalFantasyFanatic1d 1h ago

I would love that, I'd buy up some of the Xbox games if they could run on PC, like the Rare Replay, Lost Odyssey and Dead or Alive Ultimate, probably a pipe dream though.

Show all comments (43)
80°

Looking Ahead: The Lingering Questions About the Next Mario Kart

VGChartz's Mark Nielsen: "10 years. It’s been almost 10 years since the last mainline release in the Mario Kart series. Mario Kart 8 came out for the Wii U in 2014 and became the best-selling game for the system by a sizeable margin, and later pulled the same magic trick on the Nintendo Switch under the stage name Deluxe. All in all, it's sold nearly 70 million copies over the last decade and is still selling like hot cakes to this day, so it’s no wonder Nintendo has been in no rush to replace it. However, with rumors of a new system being just around the corner, and reports a few years back that a new Mario Kart is indeed under way, it seems the era of 8 might very well be drawing to a close. It’s an exciting prospect to be sure, but after two Nintendo systems with Mario Kart 8 at their heart, a lot of questions remain about how Nintendo will choose to follow it up."

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vgchartz.com
Yi-Long3d ago

I hope they just keep building on Mario Kart 8; Add a track-creation tool, and probably open it up to more Nintendo IPs with new tracks and characters, so Metroid, Punch Out, Starfox, Animal Crossing, etc etc.

gold_drake3d ago

there wont be a new one until the switch 2 comes out.

nintendo needs their bangers early on

90°

Nintendo's War Against Player-Made Content Will Hurt The Company In The End

Danish from eXputer: "Nintendo has historically gone against player-made content and emulation of its games. This has done much to harm the company's image."

XiNatsuDragnel8d ago

I agree nintendo hire some these folks to help in your games it'll help imo.

banger887d ago

They need to stop announcing these mods and fan remakes until they're finished. Finish it, upload it, and then if Nintendo dmca's it tough shit. Once it's online, people can share it around, even if the original download gets taken down.

Jingsing7d ago

True, but most modders need constant admiration during the process to motivate them.

PRIMORDUS7d ago

Yup, once it's a torrent nothing can be done Nintendo is helpless at that point. But it would be wise if they just had a site on the dark web, it's also easy to use with Tor and no one will bother you.

mastershredder7d ago

This is all coming from the mouth of short-sighted fandom and grifting madness.
No.... it wont. There is a clear defined reason why they don't. This is nothing new. Make your own shi7 from your own original ideas especially if you are trying to capitalize of it it. Duh.

Yeah, hire people that have zero respect or understanding for an established process. Wow. Yep. Totally makes sense.

shinoff21837d ago

Those guys that made that sonic game got a gig from sega or something along those lines and that game was dope as hell. One of the best sonics as of late.