Breaking: Nintendo have dated Mario Kart Wii in Europe. Find out that all important date and more inside...

Nintendo have this morning revealed that Mario Kart Wii is zooming towards its launch across Europe on April 11th 2008. That's just one day after its release in Japan. Thankyou Nintendo Europe!

Mario Kart Wii comes bundled with a new and intuitive accessory - the Wii Wheel, which makes it one of the most accessible games in the series to date and allows complete novices to compete with ease and comfort, ensuring no one is left in the dust. The title also supports the Wii Remote turned on its side, the Wii Remote and Nunchuk combination, the Classic Controller and even the Nintendo GameCube controller.

Combining all the much-loved features from the series, Mario Kart Wii also sees a whole host of stunning new tracks, characters, weapons and vehicles and the ability to take on up to 11 players simultaneously worldwide using the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service. Up to four people can play locally.

As previously reported, players will have the option of racing with karts or a brand new mode of transport � Bikes. Using bikes as your chosen method will offer up some interesting and different gameplay possibilities such as carrying out a "wheelie", which in turn will give you a small boost that could be crucial and make that all important difference at the finishing line.

Players will also be able to hit the road as their own personalized Mii caricatures in addition to many classic and even some never-before seen characters in Mario Kart games. Also with 10 battle arenas, players are sure to be kept busy between trips around the circuit.

In addition to all this a new Wii Channel, the Mario Kart Channel, will also be launched with the game. Players will be able to monitor their ranking against others with data compiled from races completed online as well as also access and share Ghost Data to download. Why not see if your friends are playing by checking their status or even better still set up a room in which you can chat to them before a race starts?

Players even have the possibility to join in on their friends races in progress as a spectator and jump into the race when the next course launches. Through this channel, users will be exposed to a host of new online features allowing them to join a community of racing fans from all over the world as well as participate in special worldwide events organised by Nintendo.

Nintendo are promising more announcements on "new game features" in the near future, so stick with us for more as we get it. Once again Mario Kart Wii launches across Europe on 11th April 2008!