Gaming News Round-Up: February 18th, 2005

Today's round-up includes Nintendo's move into the arcade karting market with the help of Namco, as well as gorgeous pizza-based refreshment in your favorite MMO. - The latest IP sharing maneuver from Nintendo has been announced: the Triforce arcade board co-developed by Nintendo, Namco, and Sega will host an arcade version of Nintendo's Super Mario Kart series, to be developed by Namco. The sitdown arcade cabinets of Mario Kart Arcade GP will allow up to 4-player linked mode, with each machine sporting a magnetic card slot for tracking your progress (similar to F-Zero AX, Sega's take on Nintendo's futuristic racing series) and a NamCam that takes your picture and puts your face above your kart within the game. Namco's Pac-Man series will also be part of the game, with Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, and a Pac-Man ghost as playable racers. Mario Kart Arcade GP will be released in Japanese arcades in fall 2005, with no U.S. release announced. - A new command in Sony Online Entertainment's EverQuest II allows players to order pizza while playing the game. Typing /pizza in the command line will open Pizza Hut's online ordering page within a web browser. While the /pizza functionality is a little sparse at the moment and merely replicates the effects of bookmarking a website, it's not hard to imagine further refinements such as command argument strings for particular toppings, and a billing system tied to the preexisting monthly EverQuest II fees, should Sony Online ever wish to extend this 'interesting' idea.