Mario Kart 8 players will be rolling around in luxury as the Mercedes-Benz GLA DLC comes to the Wii U this summer.
Available on August 27, the DLC will feature three new cars from Mercedes-Benz lineup: the compact SUV GLA, the formula racing car, the 1934 W 25 Silver Arrow and the sports car, the 1957 300 SL Roadster. As part of the Nintendo-Mercedes-Benz crossover campaign, the DLC was initially just confirmed for Japan but it will also be available to Wii U in North America and Europe on the same day.
"Video and computer games are widespread throughout the world, and have a large fan community. With our presence in blockbuster games such as Mario Kart 8 we approach to modern focus groups and are achieving excellent results in making our brand more youthful. We are particularly proud of the fact that we are the first automobile brand to be represented with real vehicles in Mario Kart 8," said Dr. Jens Thiemer, Head of Marketing Comms for Mercedes-Benz Cars.
Aside from bringing three new cars to the mix, the DLC also comes with an update for Mario Kart 8. The update will include a new feature that puts the course map on a TV screen as well as changing the default choice in the menu after the Grand Prix race from "View Highlight" to "Next Race." The DLC will also make it possible for all vehicle parts to be remembered for later use while communication will also be made more stable during online races. Mario Kart TV will now also offer the ability to copy and edit highlight videos from other players.
Mario Kart 8 was released in May 2014. Within just four days of going on sale, the video game went on to sell 1.2 million copies, making it the fastest selling game not only in the Mario Kart franchise but in all of Wii U. In its first month, Mario Kart 8 sold 2.82 million copies according to Nintendo.
When the DLC is made available, it will kick off an online competition that would last for four weeks called the Mercedes Cup. Races will be held every day from August 27 to September 23 and will pit players from all over the world against each other. To join the Mercedes Cup, players simply need to go to the Wii U internet menu, select "Competition" and choose the "Mercedes Cup" from the available list of races. Both "Single player internet play" and "Two player internet play" may be used.
