We have the skinny on the Mario Kart Wii's online options, and details of the Mario Kart Channel...

With around a month to go now until the launch of Mario Kart Wii, we can bring you details of the title's online options. As on the DS, you can choose between playing random players Worldwide, Continental or by racing against Friends in your friend list. You can join groups mid-race, in which case you can spectate any race going on until you join the start of the next. Up to twelve players will be battling it out online against each other!

The globe from the Forecast Channel is used in-game to highlight the location of all players present. This is where you can text chat with your friends by making a selection from dozens of predefined messages, letting you suggest exactly which kind of race you want to play: from Battle to Grand Prix, and from Team play to your circuit of choice. The Host then decides the race settings, but the track selection is based on the votes of all players combined.

The game also allows you to install the Mario Kart Channel on your Wii console, which then becomes viewable without the game's disc inserted. You can check out rankings, which shows your your stats for each track and a comparison of your results to those of your Friends and other players worldwide, represented by their Miis. You'll be able to send/download Ghost times for people to, and for you to race against - of those close to you in ability, or the very cream of the crop. The Channel will also bring you Competitions, where Nintendo will be regularly inviting players to complete challenges similar to the Missions of Mario Kart DS. The Channel also allows you to check your ranking in running Competitions as well as Time Trials. You can also go here to register Friends and see if any of them are currently online. Neat!