Stex Toys

Last night saw me back on the Wii for the first time in a long time. However we set ourselves up a Mario Kart night and five of us, from a planned six, took part. The entrants where from our office and are named thusly Steve – that’s me (also sometimes refered to as Dr Jones), Jez – fellow employee of over 12 years and longtime Nintendo owner, Adam – ex employee at our work, Dunc – fellow employee for over 12 years and Rob – longtime fellow employee, but only recently joining us in IS (Information Services)

Due to the lovely friend codes we had to plan this night weeks in advance to ensure we would all be able to play, and there was no voice chat as we didn’t get around to setting up a Skype conference or anything, but maybe next time!

Rob kindly kept track of events and so I present them here as given to me:

Jez wins first race
Jez wins 2nd race
Rob wins 3rd race
Steve wins 4th race, Jez wins series
Jez wins again
and again…….
and again
and Jez comes last! (but wins series) Adam wins
guess who wins again – Jez – methinks too expert
Rob wins! (me? biased?)
but Jez goes back on top
Adam wins, but Jez takes series (again)
and for a change, Jez wins
hmm Jez again
Jez again – can he get the “perfect”?
damn it! he can! perfect 60pts – blasted rainbow road has a lot to answer for….. Time for a break, and balloon game.
And the Red team loses Congrats to Dunc & Jez (aka the blue team)
Racing again – Jez wins
and with Inspired use of POW – rob wins
Missing my red shell by millimeters, Jez again
Curses! Jez again – and Jez for the series – Is Dunc ever going to win a race?
This could be called boring – Jez again
Steve wins! but major hard fought battle – best yet?
Jez fights back.
Dr Jones wins the race & the series – Jez didn’t win! (although they were equal on points) – But Steve loses kudos for saying “I’m the best” on messages….. Though he then bows out. Night Steve.
Jez wins- but more a case of Dunc being unlucky
Jez again – despite about 10 red shells
Adam wins – by miles! No one else even close
Adam wins again – Jez – what’s happening? Still – you got the series again eh Jez?
Yaaay! Duncan wins a race!
Then Rob makes it look easy..
Jez gets it back
And goes on to win the series! That’s all 32 tracks played!

For the first minute or two I was so very aware of how blocky the graphics felt, part of this will be watching on a full HD screen of course, however given 60 seconds of actually competitive game play and all that was forgotten as the shells started flying and the pure fun that is Mario Kart burst forth, and even without the voice chat to help arrange track orders and just for general bitching, we still managed to have a totally enjoyable night. Might have to do more of these in 2010, closing such a rich avenue of gaming based purely on the increased difficulty of setting up a game is a poor excuse