Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

[dezm0nd]

Updated thread with new date for post-patch/DLC game night! I'll turn the items back to normal this time round

[StuartPD]

Hey Dez. Did you get my friend request?

[dezm0nd]

Looking at it right now, man! Sadly, my list is full

[dezm0nd]

Well, after last nights news of THIS!




I hope we're all ready to tear up the track this weekend!

[dezm0nd]

Stats in a Mario Kart game? Oh my!

[ratsoalbion]

Ace! I love a few stats, I do.

[dezm0nd]

Double booked myself what with the extra special news of my engagement last night. Apologies! Please, still join in!

Friday, August 29th. 9PM!

[ratsoalbion]

A reasonable excuse I suppose

Bloody idiot

[dezm0nd]

I was all yay let's go see this show... Oh no, wait!

[Flabyo]

Not sure I can make the Friday at the moment. Shall we just do it at 9pm on both days?

[dezm0nd]

I don't see why not!

[dezm0nd]

Tournament code! 0955-3016-6644

[Flabyo]

[Grimsgrams]

That's a surprising track - looks like a lot of fun!

[Flabyo]

All the chat about the DLC has been about the handful of new characters and Karts.

But the first drop has 8 tracks!

Yes, 4 will be remakes of existing MK tracks, but that would be awesome anyway on it's own... we also get 4 new ones!

I, for one, welcome our new Nintendo DLC overlords...

[Scrustle]

I'm pretty weary of all this new Nintendo DLC. I feel like people are giving them a free pass for stuff that we wouldn't like other companies to do, just because they're Nintendo. So far they haven't done anything egregious, but I'm afraid it's setting a precedent for Nintendo that they can keep pushing this idea further.

Generally, I'm against the idea of season passes on principle. They seem like a really bad idea. I've only ever bought two of them. Once for Bioshock Infinite, only after all the DLC was released, and once for Mario Kart. I regret getting the Mario Kart one. Nintendo may be a company who we can trust to create quality content, but that doesn't mean it's a good idea to give them money half a year before you actually get anything from it.

Also, talking about DLC in general, one thing that I don't like about it is how it's changed the way we think of games. Now when you buy a game, that's often not the complete experience. You expect more will be added by DLC later. Even if the base game is comprehensive, it still feels like you're only getting the "minimum" product. You'll have to shell out more later for this extra stuff that kind of awkwardly bolts on and doesn't feel completely cohesive. So it ruins that complete feeling of a game that you get when you know there's no DLC for it. Not that I'm saying that just because DLC is offered that you're obligated to buy it, but rather simply its existence creates that feeling of incompleteness, even if the base game is comprehensive and cohesive without it. So even if the game is small and perhaps could use a bit more to it, if there's no DLC, there's a certain reassurance to knowing that the game is what it is. That's the complete experience, and that's all there will ever be. You don't have to worry about anything else you may need to tack on.

Nintendo games were always like that (minus the "small" bit), and it's one of the reasons why I actually kind of like that they're somewhat stuck in the past. They haven't fallen in to a lot of the bad habits other big companies have done since the advent of the internet taking over games. I don't want them to slip in to that like everyone else. You can always rely on Nintendo crafting a game that is the best and most complete thing they can make. Or at least you could. Now I'm not so sure.

And talking about Mario Kart specifically again, I honestly have always felt like the game has lacked content to a certain degree. It's not so bad that the game feels bare bones, and compared to older MK games it's par for the course, but I still always felt like there should have been more. Modern racing games generally have way more content than MK8 does, and what is there doesn't really feel like it can sustain interest for massively long. It's not enough to really sink my teeth in to. Especially with that character roster.

So on one hand I'm glad the game is getting more content, but at the same time I'm not really happy with the idea that I had to pay extra to get it, or that Nintendo of all people were offering it as a season pass. This could be the start of a slippery slope. And honestly, on reflection, I feel like they may have already gone too far.

[ratsoalbion]

Well, it took me one afternoon to do everything single player in Mario Kart 64, which cost me £54.99 (which meant a lot more in 1997). Whereas it took at least a fortnight to complete all the GPs in MK8, which cost me under £40 in 2014 money, and thanks to Nintendo's promo I got a top quality full price game for free with that.

I think the MK8 DLC looks great and is priced considerably lower than I was expecting - so I went all in as soon as it was available - and I'm entirely happy with the situation. If I wasn't I wouldn't have paid for it.

[dezm0nd]

The DLC pack #1 has a release date of November 13th!

*drum roll*

[Combine Hunter]

Sign me up!

[dezm0nd]

Download the DLC today! Link in a go kart is ridiculous and charming at the same time.