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Mario Kart 8 is extremely close now, and aside from some cheeky people that have found gullible retailers the vast majority are eagerly awaiting delivery or to hit up the eShop on launch day. We figured now would be a good time to let you know of some of our plans to enjoy the new title with our favourite people. That's you, of course!

We'll be utilising the Mario Kart 8 Tournament feature to run weekly contests of varying rules to cover weekdays and weekends, and also to cater to different tastes. At launch, however, we've set up a tournament that's no frills and accessible for everyone. Below are the details.

  • To join in, head to Online Multiplayer and select 'Tournament'.
  • Ours is code-only access, so it's for you. Simply select "Search Using a Code" and input 4199-6769-9674.
  • It's called NLife Launch Party, and has the following conditions:

150cc Grand Prix
No Teams
All Vehicles
No Limit on races
Normal CPU (allows races to go ahead when short of human players)
Global
All Items
All Control Methods
All Rankings

  • This tournament will be open from midnight on Friday 30th May UK / 7pm 29th May Eastern until 5am 2nd June UK / midnight 2nd June Eastern.
  • We'll then open a fresh tournament with some different rules on 2nd June.

This opening tournament is all about having a bit of fun, plus it means that if you want to race fellow NLifers rather the whole web as you get used to the new tracks, it's an ideal meeting place. On top of that this humble writer and Anthony Dickens will be live-streaming the game, playing you in the Tournament via Twitch on launch day. We'll post a fresh article with the details on the day, but we'll be racing you all live at 8pm UK / 3pm Eastern time on 30th May.

If all that's not enough, our colleagues at Eurogamer are live streaming the game today at 5pm UK time / noon Eastern. We'll embed that below for your viewing pleasure once it goes live.

So, we'll see you on the track.