First, I''d like to ask Nintendo to give me my weekend back! Mario Kart Wii stole most of it right out from underneath me. I spent WAY too much time holding down that A button on my Wiimote this weekend. Ok, on to the review.

So much has changed in the video game world since 1992. Graphics are a ga-zillion times better, controllers are now motion sensing and many systems output games in high definition! When it comes down to it though, many of us still look for the same things in a game that we looked for in 1992. Me, I want a game that is fun to play by myself and with friends, a game that doesn''t get boring after a few hours of playing it and a game that makes me forget that 3 hours of my life just passed right by. Mario Kart Wii IS that game.

The people behind Mario Kart Wii didn''t re-invent the wheel. In fact, it''s not THAT much different than previous versions of the game (SNES,N64,GC,etc.) Sure, the graphics are a little better and the controls are different and you can now play with friends and strangers over the internet but fundamentally Mario Kart Wii is Mario Kart.

Let''s start with controls. Mario Kart Wii gives you a ton of options. A new Wii Wheel is included in the box. This is basically a plastic wheel that you can place your Wiimote into. You play Mario Kart Wii by turning the wheel and using the "2" button to accelerate and the back button (B) to throw stuff. The wheel works as expected but I found it hard to get good control with this new wheel. You can also control the game using the Wiimote sideways without the wheel, with the nun chuck analog stick, with a classic controller plugged into your Wiimote or with a Gamecube controller. Obviously Nintendo took the time to give us options. I like that! I also liked that players who were using the new wheel had a special icon next to their name while playing the game. It''s good to know who''s using the wheel and who is going old school. I went old school.

The game itself is pretty straight-up. You''ll find some very cool new tracks as well as a ton of classic tracks for previous Mario Kart releases. There are a few new weapons and a few new options along with a bunch of karts to select from and motorcycles to drive. Instead of drifting by holding down the button around corners, you can now set it to automatic mode. Some would say that it takes some skill out of the game but I think it makes the game much more competitive and accessible for those who don''t play it non-stop (not that 5 hours a day of Mario Kart is a bad thing.) Racing around the tracks and shooting shells at other players is pretty much what it''s always been... FUN AS HECK!

One of the biggest new additions to the game is online game play. Mario Kart first added this to the DS version. It''s all pretty easy, you can play against people in the entire world, in your region or your friends. I tried all 3 and they worked great. I selected "world" and within a few minutes I was racing against 11 other players from Japan to Australia. It was a pretty cool experience. The game play didn''t change when I was playing online. I didn''t notice any lag time or stutter as I''ve seen in other online games. At one point I was mid-race when a screen came up and notified me that I had been disconnected. I''m not sure what caused this but I only saw it once in the hours of online game play I tested. Hey, it''s the wild wild West known as the Internet so I guess I can''t be surprised that things will go wrong once in a while. Minus this snafu online game play was a blast!

So, who should get this game? Mario Kart Wii is a game that kids, teens and adults will have a blast playing! I had a few friends over on Friday night and we spent about an hour racing on Mario Kart Wii. They had so much fun that on Sunday they bought a Wii and a copy of Mario Kart Wii! I''m not even kidding! It''s one of those games that brings us old people back to video games.

With that said, Mario Kart Wii is NOT a groundbreaking game. It doesn''t re-invent Mario Kart and it doesn''t blow me away in terms of graphics. In fact, the graphics are pretty similar to what we experienced on the Nintendo 64 and Gamecube versions of Mario Kart. Super gamer-geeks may frown on the latest Mario Kart but chances are they don''t own a Wii in the first place.

Mario Kart is a fun game that keeps you glued to your tube for hours even without all the fancy graphics. I think Nintendo played to their audience... again. It''s for people who love to play games, not people who love to compare processor power.

Mario Kart Wii is available right now. It sells for $49.99 and includes the Wii Wheel along with the game disc.