April 15^th, 2005 (9:24pm) - At its private dealer show, Namco revealed that they have delayed the release of the highly anticipated Mario Kart Arcade GP racer. The game had originally been scheduled for a release in the fall, but has been pushed back slightly to December.

Mario Kart Arcade GP is being developed by Namco on the Triforce arcade board, which is based on the architecture of the GameCube, created in a joint venture between Namco, Sega, and Nintendo. The game will stay true to the item battle concept introduced with the original Mario Kart on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) and will be developed under Nintendo’s supervision. However, Nintendo has given Namco the creative freedom to develop the game as they see fit.

Mario Kart Arcade GP made its public debut at Namco’s booth at the AOU 2005 Amusement Expo and contained Namco’s Pac-Man as a playable character.

The game has introduced some new technologies and gameplay features unseen in previous installments of the series. One of these new technologies in the NamCam 2. The NamCam 2 takes pictures of player’s faces and puts it above their carts during a race for all their competitors to see on their respective screens. In addition, Namco is also implementing a "rubber band system" that keeps the mobility of the karts consistent, as seen in games such as Sega’s OutRun 2, and will include a rewriteable magnetic card feature that allows players to save their progression, items, etc. to continue at another time.

Unfortunately, there is still no word on whether or not Mario Kart Arcade GP will come overseas and if it will coincide with a home console release for the GameCube or the Nintendo DS’ upcoming Mario Kart.