Though sales-tracking firm NPD Group will not release April's data for another hour, Nintendo has already chimed in with some results.

According to the company, the Wii ranked as the month's top-selling hardware with 714,000 units sold in the United States across April and Mario Kart Wii placed as the month's second best-selling game.

Following Microsoft's declaration that the Xbox 360 has sold 10 million in the United States, Nintendo noted that the Wii has now sold over 9.5 million units in the territory.

The company also noted that Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii) has surpassed 3 million units sold in the US.

Nintendo has released fifteen new screenshots of its upcoming racer Mario Kart Wii, offering a glimpse at some of the new tracks available in the game.

The game ships with 16 new courses, 16 old ones and the ability to race online alongside 11 other players. Also included is the Wii Wheel controller shell, which holds the Wii Remote.

Mario Kart Wii was released in Europe today, and races to North American retail shelves on April 27.

Nintendo today announced that Mario Kart Wii will launch in North America on Sunday, April 27, a few weeks after Europe's April 11 release.

The game ships with 16 new courses, 16 old ones and the ability to race online alongside 11 other players. Also included is the Wii Wheel controller shell, which holds the Wii Remote.

In case you are really bored, we have added a whopping 178 screenshots to our Mario Kart Wii gallery. The shots come from the Japanese version of the game.

Nintendo EAD's forthcoming Mario Kart Wii reveals that the racer will support four different control configurations, according to a 1UP hands-on preview.

Similar to the various control schemes available in Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii), Mario Kart Wii will allow gamers to race with the new motion-based Wii Remote controls, but will also support GameCube controllers, Nintendo's classic controller peripheral and the Wii Remote and Nunchuk.

The news will no doubt come as a relief to those looking forward to the latest in Nintendo's long-running kart racer series while dreading the notion of waggling in lieu of traditional controls.

Mario Kart Wii was recently revealed to support Mii functionality, 12-player online multiplayer and will include 32 courses. The racer is currently slated for a worldwide spring release.

The latest issue of Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu reveals several new details concerning Nintendo EAD's Mario Kart Wii including new network functionality, Mii support and more.

Famitsu's report claims that the racer will include 32 courses, split evenly between new additions and remakes of classic courses, according to an IGN translation. Some of these stages will be built around mid-air tricks, a new feature for both karts and bikes that net you a boost in speed when you successfully nail a stunt.

Similar to several Nintendo first-party releases, Mario Kart Wii will allow players to bring their Miis into the game and ride a bike or kart, but the exact implementation of this is yet uncertain.

Beyond the previously announced 12-player online multiplayer, Mario Kart Wii's network functionality will feature downloadable ghost data, allowing gamers to race against the world's top players. Nintendo is also planning on implementing a Mario Kart Channel in the Wii dashboard interface which will operate in a yet unspecified way.

Mario Kart Wii will come bundled with a wheel controller shell for the Wii Remote, and supports motion-based as well as traditional controls. The game is currently scheduled for a worldwide spring release, but Nintendo has not specified an exact date for any territory.

Though it won't be released until sometime this spring, the upcoming Mario Kart iteration on Nintendo's Wii will feature 12-player online multiplayer, trumping Mario Kart DS's four-player Nintendo Wi-Fi play. The news came this week during Nintendo's information extravaganza at its Conference 2007 Fall in Japan.

The game will also apparently have a more streamlined online interface as well, with enhanced matchmaking tools. Though some have speculated this might mean the elimination of friend codes, it seems unlikely Nintendo would abandon the frustrating but supposedly family-safe community system it has been championing since the system's launch.

As stated when the game was announced at E3, the title will also be bundled with a racing wheel peripheral. Seeing as the heavily anticipated Smash Bros. Brawl was delayed until February 10 of next year, it's probably safe to assume the spring 2008 general release window for Mario Kart Wii will lean toward the latter part of the spring months to avoid making consumers choose between two first party Nintendo titles.