Nintendo has finally rolled out the pre-order availability of the Mario Kart 8 racing wheel for the Wii U for gamers outside of Europe. The wheel is available right now at GameStop for only $9.99. Previously, you could only pre-order the wheel from the UK's GAME outlet.
Nintendo News picked up the good news, as Nintendo could use some positive spinning in their favor, following several months of a wheel spinning Nintendoom, incessantly.
As noted in the article...
“The plastic wheel — currently only available in white — features artwork for the upcoming racing title with the game’s official logo set in the middle of the accessory; the top portion of the wheel comfortably houses the Wii Remote. Design wise, there doesn’t seem to be too much of a difference between this and the former racing wheel released for Mario Kart Wii.”
This is true. The old racing wheel for Mario Kart Wii was pretty much the same thing. In fact, you can compare the two in the images below and see if you see a difference.
Nevertheless, the thing is still awfully cheap, so it's more-so for people who may have misplaced or lost their original wheel. Heck, it could be for people who just bought a Wii U but didn't have any of the previous console's accessories.
Mario Kart 8 has slowly been building up quite a presence in the game space, though. Things first got underway with a rise in pre-orders in Japan following a Nintendo Direct video trailer. Shortly thereafter, Mario Kart 8 ended up selling out over on Amazon.
There's a strong measure of positivity shaping up around a narrative that supports the belief that Mario Kart 8 could help jump-start the Wii U's console sales to allow it to directly compete with the PS4 once more in head-to-head sales.
Right now, the PlayStation 4 is in a league of its own as gamers have taken greatly to Sony's pro-consumer and anti-Microsoft policies that helped shape the messaging of their latest console.
All Nintendo needs to do is keep their word about focusing strongly on their marketing and make good on that throughout 2014 for their first-party exclusives, as well as their overall line-up of games for the Wii U, to capitalize on that momentum and propel their console forward in the hardware sales department.
If you would like to support the Big 'N' or if you need a new racing wheel accessory for the upcoming release of Mario Kart 8, feel free to check out the GameStop page.
Mario Kart 8 is set for release on May 30th in North America. Excellence awaits.
