It’s Mario Kart 7 week! The last big release of the year (provided you’re not devoting your life to Star Wars: The Old Republic in a couple weeks) zoomed onto shelves this Sunday, and I’ve been playing it a ton since then. You won’t find any odd mechanics like doubled-up drivers or motorcycles in this edition of Nintendo’s classic kart racer–they’ve opted to play it safe and give the 3DS a more traditional Kart. I’m totally fine with that.
One of the biggest innovations in Mario Kart 7 actually has to do–shock–with the online multiplayer, and is the introduction of communities, which are persistent, player-created online lobbies. Yes, they do require a new breed of friend code, but they make it a little easier to match up with people online. In fact, we’ve already got our own VGH community up and running! If you’ve got the game, add it to your community list with the code 20-7403-9734-6418 and let us know in the comments if you join up! If you’re still on the fence about the game, we’ll be discussing it in more detail on this week’s show.
The rest of this week is pretty light on releases, but there’s a gem coming out if you’ve got a PS3. Square’s classic RPG, Final Fantasy VI, is out on the PlayStation Store today as a PS1 Classic. It’s widely regarded to be the very best of a series that’s already packed full of classics, and if you’re an RPG fan who’s never played it, now’s as good a time as any.
Finally, as if to apologize for all the Nickelback they dumped on us a couple weeks ago, Harmonix is releasing a new pack of nine Queen songs for Rock Band today. It’s a killer selection, including “Don’t Stop Me Now,” “Bicycle Race,” “The Show Must Go On,” and–one of my personal favorites–“Seven Seas of Rhye.” I’ve got to get a keyboard so I can fail it repeatedly!
Are you playing Mario Kart, or are you still battling through your undoubtedly massive backlog from the last couple months? Let us know in the comments!
For a full list of this week’s releases, check out Amazon.com.
Added VGHangover to my Communities.