Wii, this is fun
I went to Future Shop to purchase a copy of Ratatouille (2007) on DVD — Pixar’s latest 3D film which is absolutely brilliant. I asked one of the sales people if they had any Nintendo Wii game consoles in stock. I wasn’t looking to purchase a Wii or even expecting the store to have any copies. The Wii is sold out everywhere. They had two systems in stock.
I started to get excited. I looked at my wife like an 8-year-old, half-expecting her head to turn disapprovingly from side to side. She didn’t say anything. Then I told her how difficult it is to get a Wii in North America. It’s outselling the Playstation 3 by a rate of 2-to-1.
I turned around and quickly grabbed a Wii console out of the cardboard box. I’ve heard stories where people purchase multiple consoles and flip them for a profit. I didn’t want to take a chance. With the Wii console safely in my hands, my 8-year-old son was starting to freak out and so was I.
Before I knew it I was standing at the counter with my little Wii box and a couple of extra game controllers. My son kept making weird noises trying to contain himself but it was hopeless. My wife reminded him that this was an early Christmas present (like he’ll ever remember that on the morning of December 25th).
Once we had the Wii console set up and running I was having a blast. I used to spend days on my Apple II playing Lode Runner, days mapping out games on my brother’s TurboGrafx-16. I worried that I’m going to want to spend days playing on the Wii. I forgot that video games could be this much fun and I was only playing Tennis!
The Wii rocks! The graphics aren’t incredible and it doesn’t have a Blu-Ray disc but the game play is amazing. If you’re lucky enough to get your hands on one then you’ll see what I mean.
I’m afraid my productivity will be taking a dip in the next few weeks.
Stumble It!Posted in Movies and Technology at 10:39 PM
Comments
I love my Wii. But, I love my xbox 360 more. The Wii is super fun with more than one person, but otherwise, it just collects dust. Swinging the wiimote alone in the basement feels silly. The xbox 360, with its cargo ship full of games for adults (bioshock, gears of war, assassin’s creed) is perfect for solo gaming runs. I am trying to hurry Jack along so that we can play Wii together but he can’t hold his head up yet, so tennis matches are lopsided.
The Wii is great when friends come over. My wife and I have Wii parties where our friends bring their own wiimotes and we have four player action. Two couples we know own wiimotes but no console, that’s the power of the Wii. We play short party games like Mario Party 8, WarioWare and Carnival Games, and have a great time. The secret to a successful party title is the ability to switch players in rapidly so at a larger party lots of people can have a turn. Unfortunately, these games don’t lend themselves to extended solo play.
Also, my TurboGrafx-16 still works, I played some Bonk’s Adventure during the summer.
Great post.
Posted by: Ryan on November 10, 2007 8:45 PM
Jack should be ready to play on the Wii in a few years. I have a friend that has a 3-year-old who plays. He has to use duct tape to prevent his son from throwing the remote at the TV but he can actually play some of the games.
I can’t believe that people have Wiimotes and no console. That’s awesome! The people that I’ve talked to (that have Wii consoles) say that everyone in there family plays with the Wii.
I think the whole gaming system is brilliant and fills an important niche in the market — social, physical gaming.
Instead of playing alone in a dark room, lazing about on the sofa, you’re flailing your arms about and playing with up to four people at a time. Great fun.
Posted by: jay 
on November 10, 2007 9:21 PM
