I picked up the new Mario Kart this weekend, and I have to say that I am mostly pleased with it. I don’t have the time to write a proper review yet, nor have I played enough of it that I feel I am qualified enough to say anything definitive about it. A few quick comments though.

Overall, it feels more like sequel to Mario Kart DS than Double Dash. Snaking is more or less out, which I think makes it more balanced for new-comers especially for online matches, but I’ll have to see what its like with some serious competition. Drafting is in from Mario Kart DS, which is great.

The Wii Wheel is surprisingly more responsive than I would have thought. I played all weekend with it and it was a lot of fun. I think as I try to share the precious seconds off my times, I’ll probably switch over to the classic controller or GC controller. But in terms of Nintendo wanting a straight-forward, easy-to-pick-up, rewarding controller option, the Wii Wheel is spot-on for casual gamers.

Playing online is a blast. I hate the need for Friend Codes, but pick up games are fun, lag free, and easy to jump in. I really like the idea of the leader-board for ghost runs. I think its a perfect fit that has been missing from the series for a long time.

My biggest complaint, aside from removing snaking, is the inability to play through the championship cups with two players like you could in Double Dash. I think they really dropped the ball there. But at least you can play two player multi-player.

I’ll try to write a more detailed review later, after I’ve gotten more of chance to play it, and some of my friends have ponied up for it and I can get a better feel for the multi-player.

While I’m trying to finish off a website for a friend of mine, John Hill, and that still is taking top priority in my spare time, those of you who know me, know I teach part time over at ITT. Far from the most glamorous teaching position in the world, but I enjoy it. Free time seems to be more and more of a luxury these days.

Either way, I got into a discussion with my class the other night, and they were talking about how it was suggested before they started school that the college either had on site, or had access to, a mocap facility. After a long discussion about how a mocap studio wont make you better animator, which I firmly believe, I remembered an idea I had several months earlier.

The idea was to try to construct a primitive yet functional motion capture system using mostly off the shelf products. The Wii Remote is little more than a simplified IR 1024×768 camera. The best part is that the Wii Remote does most of the heavy lifting and can keep track of 4 distinct IR light sources. Using multiple Wii Remotes, and a custom build IR suit rig, you should be able to toggle just 4 points on the suit each frame and still get a decent sampling rate across the entire suit.

Last night in class, I started working on a prototype. I’ll post some photos as work progresses.