Live-Action Mario Kart Movie in the Works

Not really, but we would pay to see this expanded to 2 hours.

What’s going on in France? First we saw a Pac-Man live-action video, and now we see Mario dropping real banana peels into the street. Seeing how bad Speed Racer did we don’t expect to see a Wacky Races or a Mario Kart movie coming anytime soon, so until everyone in Hollywood forgets we’ll have this:

Audi Shows Off its Latest Q5 at its Friday Night Premier Party in Hong Kong

Pure luxury and performance, that’s what the newest Audi Q5 is all about.

If you didn’t know already, Audi introduced its newest Audi Q5 vehicles at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center last Friday night. There, keynote speaker Andy Hui told us all about what this new series is all about.

Two models were introduced, including the flagship 3.2 V6 FSI Quattro, and the cheaper 2.0 4-Cylinder TFSI Quattro. Let’s see what the flagship model really can do.

The 3.2 Q5 crossover SUV will offer a 271hp, 3.2 V6 engine with a displacement of 3,197cc. It offers a 40:60 split all-wheel drive along with a 7-speed S tronic dual clutch transmission. The driveline can offer up to 65% power to the front axle and 85% power to the rear axle. It will also be the first Audi product to offer Generation 3 MMI and navigation with real-time traffic information! If you want this powerful Q5, it will set you back about HK$569,000 for the standard specifications along with tax and warranty.

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Need For Speed World Online Drives into Hong Kong

Technical testing for racing franchise to begin in Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Electronic Arts announced last week that EA Asia will publish Need for Speed World Online in Taiwan and Hong Kong – a free to play, multiplayer PC-only online game. The first phase of technical testing is scheduled to start in March 2009.

The game developed in EA’s Singapore studio offers a game modes where players are able to form teams to take on the competition and the police!  You can collect and customize racing characters alongside authentic real-world licensed cars and will be able to track progress via online leaderboards. And while it may seem like Hong Kong and Taiwan are being used as beta-testers for the rest of the world, it must signify that the games have done better here than in other regions with a bigger user base to test on. Suck it, Singapore!

“Need for Speed is one of the world’s best-selling franchises, and is especially popular among gamers in Taiwan and Hong Kong. We’re thrilled to bring this EA-owned property to Asia and to begin our self publishing model in Taiwan and Hong Kong. We look forward to the results of this testing phase for continued improvement in providing the best service to online gamers across Asia,” said Jon Niermann, President of EA Asia.

We expect to compete against Hong Kong’s many taxi and mini-bus drivers online next month – now there’s a real challenge. Enjoy this Need for Speed game retrospective video that covers the game from 1995-2008:

Need for Speed Goes Undercover for Mong Kok Launch

We feel the Need for Speed with these Zhou Na photos, too.

The “Need for Speed” series launched its latest chapter in Hong Kong last week with “Need for Speed: Undercover! It follows up on the popular racing game series – so what else do you really need to know:

• Electronic Arts released this new version in Hong Kong with Zhou Na for both Playstation 3 and Xbox 360
• Maggie Q is the main character this time with a crime syndicate plotline
• The game includes some of the hottest licensed cars such as the Audi R8, BMW M6 and Lexus IS-F.

Metacritic is calling this one at 66% hot. So not as good as some of the other new games but what other racing games are out there now if you are a speed demon?

From 1UP:

As a mashup of Need for Speed: Carbon” and “Need for Speed: Most Wanted”, Undercover is ultimately fairly successful. For many, though, in a post-”Burnout: Paradise” world, the question has to be raised: “What does this give me that Paradise doesn’t?” The answer to that is “cops and robbers,” a mechanic that has worked well in single-player since the days of Hot Pursuit, and works even better online when played in teams of 4-on-4 in Undercover.

More photos from the Hong Kong launch in Mong Kok last week below:
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Hong Kong Taxi Rates Go Up

It’s official, taxi prices rise in Hong Kong.

Following up a story Butterboom.com posted in August, today its been officially announced that taxi fares in Hong Kong will rise:

The new flagfall, effective on November 30, will be HK$18 while the incremental charge will increase from HK$1.40 to HK$1.50 up to a distance of 9 kilometers, when the total fare reaches HK$70.50.

After 9km, the incremental charge will be only HK$1.

In real terms, a trip of 4km will cost HK$33 against the current HK$30.

Full story here.