Topic: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

@Fizza It's mostly a timing thing. If Nintendo is planning on releasing 3 waves a year, then sometime in July would make the most sense in order to keep the release dates balanced. To go along with this, it looks like they are finishing up with their highlights of the other tracks before the new ones are announced, and then hopefully released within a couple of weeks.

EDIT: I should say that there is still a chance that this means nothing and Nintendo will just drop it when they feel like it. But it just seems like this is what they would do.

@StarPoint
Honestly, I just be real with this Nintendo's attempt with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
$25 for the not ready yet all the tracks (will be complete by the end of year 2023) it was not really a good idea for me to spend right now as it felt like Nintendo want to take control the hype back on Mario Kart 8 Deluxe while for me I can trying other games I have never played before when I literally not getting all the DLC tracks at the moment.

Yeah, after I bought the booster pass, I came to the realization that I'll be totally over the game by the time the last waves are released.

edit: I have 340 hours in MK8 already. Love the game, but I'm burned out on it.

I did play some Crash Team Racing online races over the weekend. If it wasn't for the load screens before and after races, I'd still play this more often.

@Anti-Matter @WoomyNNYes Huh, I guess maybe I'm in the minority here. I usually don't like Nintendo's drip-feed approach to their games, but MK8D is already so packed with stuff that I don't mind it here. I also feel like if Nintendo would have just dropped all 48 courses right away, then the hype for the game would have died down again much quicker. I feel that their approach here will keep the game relevant for longer. That's how I feel, at least.

@Anti-Matter @WoomyNNYes @StarPoint I think a middle ground would've been best, so like 3 waves of 16 tracks. Given that the tracks are being ported over from Tour, if all 48 tracks for MK8 Deluxe were being released at the same time it would've been in late 2023 given Tour is still getting new tracks. Meanwhile the current rate of 8 tracks at a time is too small given it's still extremely common online to find a lobby with no DLC tracks appearing for like 5 races in a row (the highest streak I've noticed is 10 races in a row with no DLC tracks appearing).

The next Mario Kart Tour track is one that already exists in MK8 Deluxe, 3DS Piranha Plant Pipeway:

Petey Piranha seems to be confirmed to be a newly playable character who hasn't appeared in Mario Kart since Double Dash in 2003.

Fantastic. Looking forward to the remix track

Eh, this is just making me impatient for getting the wave 2 courses. Where the heck are they, Nintendo?

Wave 1 was March 18. Maybe Nintendo will pick a similar date of this month, or opt to tease us with secrecy and delays. What's the last day of July? 31. July 31.

@WoomyNNYes Unfortunately I predict late-August. 😱

It came to mind that the balanced waves prediction would mean nothing happens around the 30th anniversary of Mario Kart on August 27th so maybe waves 2 and 3 are closer together but further away from wave 1 like what happened for Fighters Pass 2. Nintendo tends to celebrate anniversaries like they did for SMB in 2020 and Kirby this year (wouldn't be surprised if a Kirby Game & Watch gets announced).

@WoomyNNYes Probably the latter. Having a new wave every four months sounds logical (March > July > November > back to March) since that ensures that this year and the next have an equal amount of courses. But we currently have no clue what they'll be up to next, especially since they did a Xenoblade 3 direct and a partner showcase last month.

@MarioLover92 It also makes it easier not to crunch. If some are 6 months apart, but others are only 2, it might cause delays and reduced quality of dlc on waves that are rushed...

@Fizza I think this window makes the most sense. I am expecting an announcement tomorrow and then maybe a release next week.

@Fizza @StarPoint Something feels off. I mean there's this, the updating of the Bayonetta 3 youtube playlist, the rumour about Pokemon news on Wednesday, etc.

You'd have thought that if Nintendo wanted to cram everything into a short time they'd have done a general Direct instead of last month's Partner Showcase.

@Grumblevolcano I mean, with Nintendo, it hasn't stopped them in the past. Remember the shadow drop hell that was 2020? Anything and everything could be announced with zero warning, it was an absolute nightmare (I remember learning about Pikmin 3 Deluxe through the Switch News app, I'm not joking). Now granted, 2020 was a different time for..... obvious reasons but it has set a precedent for this kind of announcement and I wouldn't be surprised if that's the angle they chose to take (especially when everything you've listed there are updates to already existing games).

By the way, when they say Wednesday for potential Pokemon news, would you say they mean this Wednesday (as in tomorrow) or next Wednesday? It would be so hype to wake up one morning, check the channel and suddenly a brand new trailer is up, I'd very much appreciate that.

@Fizza Back then it was weekly announcements (like 1 thing per week), what we're looking at here is potentially a load of stuff happening in 1 week. As for Pokemon, trailers are usually announced a day before airing so if the Wednesday rumour is true there'll likely be an announcement on Tuesday (as in today).

Honestly I prefer all tracks available from the DLC rather than being treated as live service contents.
I will not purchase $25 DLC until all the tracks from DLC already out.

@Grumblevolcano I agree. Not sure why Nintendo’s taking this approach, but then again, it’s Nintendo. They must be planning on doing the dreaded shadow drop approach for some upcoming things.