Topic: Mario Kart 8 - OT

6 days, guys. JUST 6 DAYS.

I've seen some conflicting information and I'm just curious if anyone can clear this up. Will MK8 run in native 1080p or 720p? I've seen both and am just curious. (I'm downloading at midnight either way )

This article will be able to give you that answer and a lot more.

Today, I went to the London MCM Expo and MK8 was there so I got to play the game myself. It's obvious at this point but the game was fantastic! I played the whole Flower Cup plus Grumble Volcano and I saw others race and I must say everything looks awesome up close.
Interestingly, Blue Shells were a bit rare. Almost as rare as the Super Horn, imo. They showed up once every couple of races. Also, 2nd place racers can get the Crazy 8. This happened twice, one of which where its Red Shell screwed me out of 1st place (dang my friend's luck XD).
Overall, had a great time. 10/10, would race again

6 days!!!! So close

Finally put my preorder in with Best Buy for in-store pick up (didn't trust their free shipping to be on time, plus as long as I can pick it up by about 2pm, I'll be able to grab it on my way into work), couldn't pass up on the gas card deal and I've decided I'll probably get Pikmin 3 as my free game. This'll be my first Pikmin game so hopefully I like it.

Pre-ordered at Walmart. Picking it up at Midnight~ Hooray for 24/7 stores. ^^

Also, still haven't chosen between WindWaker HD and Pikmin 3, but definitely leaning towards Zelda. Only real reason I'm not sure is because I might prefer to have the physical disc for WindWaker HD.

Last night I finally bothered to go and play the demo for a couple of hours with a friend while I was in the city after Pokemon regionals.
The game looks amazing and feels really balanced compared to previous entries (took about six races or so till I saw my first Blue Shell), but I definitely have a couple of concerns.

For one, the heavier characters seem to have a really big advantage this time around.
Once a good player with a heavy character gets in front, it's almost impossible to catch up with the item balancing.
I always played as Peach in Mario Kart 7 without a problem, but I was having a bit of trouble consistently winning with her here and found it a lot easier when I gave Bowser a shot.
It was just the two of us on 100cc, however, so it's hard to say how much of a factor this'll be till I can actually play with more competition.

My other major issue is the fact that you can get coins as items.
I often found that I could go for a whole lap with getting nothing but coins from item boxes, and quite often shortly after my friend would get triple red shells right behind me and it's an automatic loss right there.
I was actually losing my voice by the time we stopped playing due to how much I was yelling about the stupid coins.

All in all, had a really fun time though, and can't wait to play the game for real in less than a week.

Had the best banana snipe against my friend.
We were getting towards the end of the race on Sweet Sweet Canyon and he was just chilling in first with a red shell, and I got triple bananas so just took my time and waited for a bit of a straight, lined it up and threw it right on top of his head.
Always a good feeling.

Coins really?? I hope it can be turned off. Love your story btw!

"For one, the heavier characters seem to have a really big advantage this time around."
I find this to be almost true. I've played the demo and easily adapted my MK7 skills, kart setups and found no trouble winning as light weight characters.
I played as Toadette with tons of different vehicle combos an it was pretty easy to win, but when playing Pink Gold Peach, I found myself so far ahead of the pack, I felt little challenge, which was disappointing to me. So I will have to say that speed and drifting plays a big part in this game, not just weight.

I know this was a problem that people pointed out in some reviews and videos, so I've developed / adapted to MK8's item mechanics.
If you find yourself in first and you're using item after item, you're bound to get lots of coins.

Try this: If in first and you're holding a coin, don't use it right away if an item is going to hit you and there's no item box in sight. Instead use it after you get hit so you can reduce your coin loss to only -1.
-3 per hit + 2 per pickup= -1 coin lost.
Use the coins when you're approaching an item box so that the game is less likely to give you the same item coin.

It's official. You can now count the days until Mario Kart 8 using one hand.