Nintendo Wi-Fi: Mario Kart

Nintendo's WiFi is their first true online venture since the measily GameCube flings with Phantasy Star Online, which I think ten people bought.

Mario Kart was one of the two opening titles for their new WiFi service on the DS. I'm not really sure how I feel about it being called WiFi, because there aren't really any Nintendo stores or kiosks around. I mean a lot of people might already visit McDonald's, but hell if I'm going to go there just to play games.

So most users are stuck using their home's internet access and a wireless router. What's so special about that? I can do that on my XBox if it would take a USB reciever. I guess the DS having wireless capabilities is the key there.

So Mario Kart DS. Good game. Solid graphics. But how's the online. I'll break it down real simple like. Pros and cons style.

Pros:
- Friends list
- Worldwide versus
- Nintendo.com stats (though very little info)
- Racers vote for each track to race

Cons:
- Friends list only works by trading "codes"
- Can't choose who you race.
- Can't create a room to race specific tracks
- Can't vote someone out of a race
- Can't communicate to other racer
- Quiting a race doesn't hurt stats
- Can't start a race manually
- If more than one racer doesn't cross the line after first place wins, your stuck waiting maybe 3-5 minutes

Nintendo has a lot to learn about options in online gaming. Traditionally their view is to make it simple, but sometimes simple is frustrating and annoying. Hopefully this is just a service created to test out Nintendo users for interest in online gaming and their Revolution service will be much more robust.