No voice or text chat in Mario Kart Wii
And no communication during races.
Nintendo has revealed there will be no option for communicating via voice chat in Mario Kart Wii.
So what are the options? According to IGN Nintendo of Europe initially stated, "You can create rooms for friends to join and even text chat while you're waiting for other racers."
However Nintendo of America has since clarified the situation and it seems "text chat" might be a bit strong. In fact, you will only be able to communicate by choosing from a selection of predetermined phrases. Probably things like "I won" and "Good luck" and "I'm touching myself ". Probably not the last one.
And there will be no communication while the action's happening - you can only send and receive messages in between races. That's a shame. At least we've got a release date now - Mario Kart Wii is out in Europe on April 11th. Screenshots, videos, news stories - you want 'em, we got 'em.