Last Saturday saw the arrival of the greatly anticipated Nationwide Mario Kart Grand Wii event. This was not only the first event of its kind to be held in the UK but it was also a Mario Kart Wii 
worldwide public premiere.
30 of our GAME stores got together with Nintendo to host the affair, allowing members of the public to not only have a go on the pre-release Mario Kart Wii, but to compete for some great prizes!
The guy or girl who put in the fastest lap time from each of the stores was set for a £250 experience day voucher and an all expenses paid* trip to Mercedez World, Brooklands for the glamorous 
Mario Kart Wii launch party and competition Mario Kart Grand Wii Grand Final - where they will compete on a big screen for that star prize; the Mario themed VW Beetle!
I took the trip down to the GAME store in the Oracle centre at Reading to be included in this exclusive preview of Mario Kart Wii.
The Mario Kart Grand Wii event was handled by dedicated staff (the Pit Crew) 
and involved a quick tutorial on Mario Kart Wii's controls before the wannabe Mario Karters were let loose to put down their times. One of the pit crew kept and eye on the stop clock to record the all important times whilst another kept an eye on the race to lend a hand to any uncertain players.
After the three lap race had completed the times were 
recorded, personalised Mario Kart Wii certificates given out and the all-so-crucial Mario Kart Grand Wii leader board was updated.
The Mario Kart Grand Wii event ran for the whole day so like many of the contestants I didn't quite make it to the end - however, the winner from each of the 30 GAME stores was later contacted, congratulated and advised on the next step of the competition.
Due to the fairly large gathering I didn't get a chance to have a go myself (grrr), however despite the high level of competition there was great atmosphere surrounding the Mario Kart Grand Wii pod. The overall feeling seemed to be that it was an awful lot of fun, with many of the racers enthusiastically rushing to the counter to pre-order their copy of Mario Kart Wii straight after competing.
Review by: Tom Marshall
Photos by: Charlie Fabian
Review Published: 08.04.08