When Mario Kart Wii launches in Australia next week, it appears that the region's going to receive more than just one of Nintendo's most celebrated racing franchises. Jason Hill of The Age reports that his early copy of the game included an invite to join Club Nintendo.

At the moment, this exclusive gamer's community is limited to the territories of Japan, parts of Europe, and South Africa. What this means then is that the company could be thinking of extending the club's membership to residents of New Zealand and Australia (according to the invite).

As lucrative as the prospect of exclusive gamer swag sounds, we advise the readers to keep a stiff upper lip until Mario Kart Wii's launch on Thursday next week. Here's to hoping that Nintendo makes good on this offer - the Club Nintendo site has yet to add Australia and NZ to its options. Keep on a lookout in case we run into any more related updates.