The American automotive company Tesla, Inc (formerly Tesla Motors) is all about making electric cars more viable and affordable. Elon Musk, the co-founder, CEO and tech entrepreneur behind it - who is also responsible for the SpaceX program - is known for thinking outside the box.
According to IGN, Musk reportedly tried to get Nintendo to collaborate with Tesla and release an in-car version of Mario Kart. This was discovered during a brief Twitter exchange when Musk was questioned about making particular video games playable within the Tesla automotive line while the cars recharge. When a user asked about the Mario Kart series, Musk said the manufacturer had approached Nintendo, but the Japanese company wouldn't license it to them. Apparently, though, Musk is open to the idea of Valve's digital Steam service eventually becoming an option.
Unfortunately, Musk did not reveal why Nintendo denied Tesla. We'll take a guess and say Nintendo wanted to remain loyal to German automotive manufacturer Mercedes after special DLC was released in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe a number of years ago.
In-car video game setups aren't exactly new. In fact, Musk previously announced classic Atari titles such as Missile Command and Centipede would be playable in Tesla cars and this became a reality in October. Thanks to Nintendo's past and present systems, nobody has to sit there wondering what Mario Kart would be like within a car as it's already been possible for several years now. For the record, it's cramped, and if the car is motion it can be a rather sickening experience for some people. We'll presumably get an even better idea of what it is like when Mario Kart Tour arrives on mobile in 2019.
What do you think about the Elon's idea to add Mario Kart to Tesla cars? Do you think this would have been good publicity for Nintendo? Or do you think it made the right decision? Tell us below.
[source au.ign.com, via twitter.com]
Comments 45
Tesla is like my dream car.....vwould of been awesome to have one in the game!
@Ttimer5 seems like you misread the heading and not the article
That’s an amazing idea! There aren’t any stop signs in Mario Kart, so why even obey basic traffic rules when playing a fictional game in your car?
@Coach_A @Coach_A .... No I read the article. I am saying a Tesla in game as a car would have been sweet. As to playing in the car . . Not so cool
Tesla may be cutting edge but Nintendo wants a more advanced manufacturer that can produce anti-gravity vehicles.
@Elvie They’re looking for devs for the next F-ZERO but can’t seem to find any
When is Skyrim: Tesla Edition coming?
Good, Nintendo is too good for Tesla. Elon Musk can load up his toy cars with games that more appropriately reflect the quality of his products. Maybe Goat Simulator and some censored visual novels from Steam.
"Unfortunately, Musk did not reveal why Nintendo denied Tesla."
Other than Nintendo is legendary for being very stingy with licensing their IP?
@Majora101 Dude, teslas are really high quality. And for the record goat simulator is a amazing game 😉
Tesla is really a great car but Elon Musk is a guy to avoid with his strange social media behaviour.
I'd love to own a Tesla and I wish Elon Musk nothing but success with his various projects, Tesla, SpaceX and Solarcity. Amazing man, more amazing products.
Kind of a bummer that Nintendo wouldn't make a deal with him. But not too surprising. Tesla is hardly known in the US. In Japan they are very obscure. I do know they have a dealer of sorts in Osaka, or at least did have one. But basically none of my students know the company and most of my Japanese coworkers didn't. (a handful of the more internationally minded did, but that's it)
I see Elon Musk as nothing more than a snake oil salesman.
@Hordak Who delivers actual magic snake oil? Homeboy is literally responsible for shooting things into space and a ongoing revolution of electric cars. What have you done for humanity recently? He's a weird dude, but boy do people love to hate for no reason.
I like Tesla.i also like Nintendo.
Nothing but an attention bore with a capital W.H.
A Mario Kart subsidized by US tax payers??? ...No thank you. Nintendo did right.
@kepsux I teach kids. I literally create the future.
Surely it's because Musk himself is such a divisive figure. Nintendo would be partnering with someone very outspoken and sometimes controversial. It's not really their style.
Good call Nintendo.
Let's not forget Musk is the guy who repeatedly called Vern Unsworth, the hero who saved all those kids and their coach in that Thailand cave, a pedophile.
@Mrtoad after Skyrim the toaster version. They are looking to release on all household items first
@JHDK,
The guy has said some foolish things for sure,and to be honest I am not all that happy with the Mercedes cars in the game,it does not fit with the rest of the game imho.
I wonder if in car Mario Kart would have controlled via the cars actual steering wheels and pedals...
There’s a theory out there that Elon Musk is actually an anagram pseudonym for a ‘James Bond type supervillian’ called Noel Skum.
Seeing some of his business moves (like telling everyone he was buying back shares in his company to drive the price up then didn’t), you can see why.
@Majora101 I love Tesla Electric Cars. They and other similar electric vehicles are the future. Hopefully the fuel bigwigs don't try and get in the way of progress.
@Stocksy Skyrim Iron Edition would work great with one handed motion controls and the steam and water would create real life magic effects.
@Blister Imagine the destruction!
That story is old news.
The most logical reason has nothing to do with anything except Tesla cars not being Ninty hardware.
@Hordak Yeah he has his fanboys but the reality is he is mostly just a big time narcissist who pushes agendas so he can make money.
Likely he didn’t write a big enough check. Oh he wasn’t willing to put mario in a commercial. Benz did that at least. These wre companies... they aren’t going to advertise your stuff for free.
Probably becuase Musk is a douche
Videogames on the in-car computer isn't really that great of a message to send in the first place.
At least not traditional ones.
I`m guessing smoking a blunt live didn`t help...
Hmmm,....
Maybe they are working out an f-zero deal? A man can dream.
I imagine due to safety concerns. There would be at least one accident involving the autopilot feature and a distracted driver playing Mario Kart. If it ended up as fatality that is bad press Nintendo do not need
@OorWullie unleashing a red shell after being cut up...
I can't imagine why Nintendo wouldn't license their brands to be associated with a ridiculously unaffordable statement car known for exploding on contact with water.....
I like Musk well enough (one of about 3 Silicon Valley kingpins I don't loathe, actually), I love SpaceX....but Tesla should join it's triceratops friends in history's dustbin. The future of automotive is going to come from Toyota or Hyundai, not the toys for rich boys experiment that was Tesla. They don't have the scale and facilities for robotics and automation their Japanese, Korean, and even Chinese contemporaries do for doing it, and doing it at scale for mass market turnaround.
More practically for Nintendo though, licensing the game would likely have meant porting their games to a different OS. Not sure if Teslas are running Tegra X2 hardware or not (they probably are?) so it might not have been a hard hardware port, but the OS port is probably a control risk they're not willing to take. They ported to Shield in China, but that's about it.
Just have a HDMI port.
In high school a friend had a stereo system in his civic that would come out and rotate up as a 10 or 12" monitor. We hooked up a N64 to it and played Goldeneye.
@MrGawain Yes, a theory from the extremely reliable source of Atheist Forums.
Really doubt the Mercedes promo which was one or two dlc cars had a lot to do with this. Seems more likely to me it’s something along the lines of about not wanting to hand over the IP to be used in Tesla’s infotainment units, not wanting the PR of a car crash while the game was playing, possibly timing around Musks own antics of late, Nintendo preferring people just bought a Switch, not being worth their development resources etc etc.
@JHDK
I’d understand Nintendo making a decision solely because of that due to professionalism and avoiding controversy.
About that, though... Musk is clearly “on the spectrum”, and probably had the best of intentions, and Vern struck first, being a real , talking a lot of monkey doo doo and casting judgement. I admit that I’m pretty weak skinned, myself, and would probably respond the same as Elon did in that situation.
To be fair, without the social media and modern 24/7 news cycle, we’d never know about these trivial spats of words. I’m going to presume that neither of the two are terrible people.
A great idea for sure, but when I get a Tesla model X someday, I’ll just get inside it with my Nintendo Switch. Then I’ll have a super strong games library in my ride
@MasterJay
ehh...... the motors and batteries yes.
the car itself? not so much.
Frivolity doesn’t suit engineering, Elon.
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