Although the Wii comfortably outsold PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, Nintendo’s latest console, the Wii U, hasn’t been as successful. That’s left Nintendo open to ideas it might previously have dismissed. For example, next week sees the launch of free downloadable content for Mario Kart 8 that adds three Mercedes Benz models to the game’s list of wacky cartoon vehicles. Naturally, the sturdily engineered German automobiles have been given cute, bulbous makeovers and are just as susceptible to spinning out when they hit a banana skin as the game’s existing karts, but this still marks a significant departure for the usually highly conservative Japanese game-maker. There will be a special Mercedes Cup online tournament available to players with an internet connection from 27 Aug (the 22nd anniversary of the launch of the very first Mario Kart) to 23 Sep.