Our friends over at Nintendo of Canada managed to snag some time with Mario himself to record a few New Super Mario Bros. and holiday themed voicemail greetings. While you can pick one of the three greetings to use on your phone’s voicemail system, it looks like one of the messages might be used by some video game retailer to remind gamers about New Super Mario Bros. Wii’s imminent launch.

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Kotaku unearthed something interesting today: Vail Christian High School in Colorado has been using Mario Kart to teach students the dangers of driving while distracted.  Students are challenged to play Mario Kart Wii while sending and receiving text messages. “I ran into a lot of things and it was very stressful,” said 13 year old Alli O’Brian, “”I don’t think I’ll text.”  The Colorado school also has a “drunk driving go-kart,” that has been tweaked to simulate driving under the influence.  It’s all part of the Distracted and Drowsy Driving Project, Vail Christian High School’s entry to a contest in honor of National Youth Traffic Safety Month – the School who develops the best safety program will be awarded $10,000.

Combine the all software sales in Japan, the U.S. and the U.K., and Mario Kart Wii comes out on top with 8.94 million sold, beating Wii Fit in second and the much ballyhooed Grand Theft Auto IV in third with a completely respectable 7.29 million.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl takes fourth with 6.32 million, and the number of core gamers on the Wii rises ever higher.

Any reason why Mario Kart Wii shouldn’t be given 2008 game of the year honors?

Edge, using a series of super secret formulas, back channels and NPD Group moles, has assembled a list of the best-selling video games from the past 12 months.

Dominating the top ten are several EA franchise titles, a Russian guy down on his luck in Liberty City, as well as a number of Nintendo first party titles that include Mario Kart Wii, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and everybody’s favorite floor-level drink coaster, Wii Fit.

Guitar Hero sneaks into the top 10 too, but it’s somewhat of a stretch: Edge has grouped everything that had the GH brand into one entry. I’d be more interested to see how each system panned out individually.

Mym6 of the Infendo Forums is currently experiencing a little problem with his Nintendo Wii and the way Channels Zoom in.

I’m curious if anyone else has noticed this.  Some channels will zoom in very slowly.  My Mario Kart and Nintendo Channels both zoom in very slowly compared to others.  If I move those channels to a blank screen they zoom quickly again.

I haven’t noticed this on my system but I’m wondering if anyone else on Infendo knows of a way to fix it.

When scanning through VGchartz’s top five worldwide selling games I wasn’t surprised to see Mario Kart Wii entrenched at the number four position. What really struck me were the whopping sales totals linked to the title. 6.7 million copies of Mario Kart Wii have been sold worldwide since April 2008. Nothing record breaking but just more proof that Nintendo titles have some serious legs.

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The unofficial totals for last weeks US software sales shave arrived via VGchartz. Mario Kart Wii has clocked in at an amazing 1.2 million copies sold which puts world wide sales at 3.4 million. Quite an accomplishment for a “bridge” title with an average review score of 8.0. Unsurprisingly, Grand Theft Auto IV for the 360, and PS3 sold a staggering 3.6 million copies in its first week. Now that Mario Kart is out of the way, future game releases are unknown.

Join the staff and readers tonight at 9PM EDT for some online Brawl action and take a spin with our newest entry to Wifi nights, Mario Kart Wii! Be sure to login to the Infendo IRC, and forum to exchange your brand spankin’ new MK Friend codes. So turn up Episode 101, and kick back for some fun.

Just take it easy on Rainbow Road!

More than two decades of verification have solidified it as truth, but given the absurd quality of recent software, it seems worth reiteration; the best titles on Nintendo’s console have been first-party Nintendo games.

Whether pushing innovation with Wii Sports and Wii Fit or polishing the established with Twilight Princess, Super Mario Galaxy and Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the Kyoto-based gaming juggernaut has shown an unflinching, relentless attention to detail on its own Wii titles.

Given Nintendo’s impressive Wii track record and the post-DS resurrection of interest in the franchise, the recently released Mario Kart Wii has been one of the most hotly anticipated Wii titles of the year. 2005’s Mario Kart DS reestablished Nintendo’s long-running racer as one of gaming’s premier franchises, so lofty expectations seem a natural application for any new Mario Kart title. Fans will be pleased to know Nintendo has, in most respects, gone above-and-beyond their ivory-coated suppositions for Mario Kart Wii.

But players should be forewarned; Mario Kart Wii often frustrates and disappoints almost as wholeheartedly as it thrills. Veteran kart aficionados, in particular, may be dispirited by Nintendo’s insistence on rewarding the tenderfoots and punishing the skilled.

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First announced at E3 2007, Mario Kart Wii has finally been released in the US to serve as one of Nintendo’s “bridge” titles. Software availability is expected to be depleted throughout Sunday, but finding a copy before the end of the day shouldn’t be too much of a hassle. So far, Europe, and Japan have had silky smooth online play, but it is uncertain if this massive wave of US racers will cause a worldwide lagfest. Either way we now finally have a reason to eject that Brawl disk.

So be sure and grab a copy and join us this Thursday for our newly combined Brawl/Kart night, and get ready for big daddy Jake to win’em all! See you online!

Got your copy yet?

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Update: Staff Friend codes

David Cole: 1891-1559-9201

Jake Brandon: 4811-7342-4473