Mario takes the party on to the Wii! Learn all the game-play details inside!

Nintendo has announced it is planning to launch the eighth in its mega-selling Mario Party series in Europe during the second quarter of 2007, continuing the line of games which boast to be the world's most popular party video game series ever.

Whether you're shaking up cola cans or lassoing barrels, rowing your way through a river race, punching a statue to pieces, steering race cars, mopeds and go-karts and handling a balancing pole while walking a tightrope, the Wii-mote provides some great new ways to interact with the game. The pointer also comes into play when you're shooting at Boos in a haunted house, decorating cakes, or selecting the correct answers in game show challenges. Additionally the Remote's buttons will be used for such varied things as making their characters jump and pummel their way through a football brawl, or to hop and run across a field of spinning platforms.

Dozens of new mini-games are included, along with six new party boards and many new game modes. Additionally, in a series first, players can transform their characters into many forms. When Peach eats Bowlo Candy, she'll turn into a Peach-faced ball and bowl over characters to get their coins. When Wario eats Vampire Candy, he'll sprout wings and fly off to suck the coins from all other players. Mario Party 8 also includes "extra-large" mini-games like Star Carnival Bowling and Table Menace. One to four players can play Mario Party 8, each with a Wii Remote. Yep, it looks like Nintendo have finally abandoned the microphone idea!

The storyline is fairly standard and unimportant to the gameplay - but in this installment, a whimsical ringmaster has invited Mario, Peach and the rest of the crew to his carnival - the perfect setting for the dynamic spectacle of the Wii game play. Gameplay hasn't changed in the main mode, which still involves travelling across game boards in search of Stars, landing on spaces that are helpful (example: giving coins) or a hindrance (example: sending Bowser in to mess with the player). Several variations for these boards tweak the main goals to enhance game play for solo sessions, two-player games and three to four-player games.

In addition, Mario Party 8 includes four more minigame-infused kinds of board games, such as Tic-Tac Drop, where players earn the right to put the next mark on the board by winning a minigame. 14 characters are included, in the widest selection yet for the series, including newcomers Hammer Bro and Blooper. You'll also bump into many old friends and foes along the way that span over twenty years of Mario games.

We'll give you a firm release date when Nintendo announce one. Stay tuned!