Wii!!
Last Friday (Black Firday), my kid and I got up way too early, and set out for the EB Games store in Swampscott, MA. Arriving at 3:50 AM, we found 7 other people already waiting. Numbers 9 and 10 didn’t show up till maybe 4:30, with most of the other 25 to 30 people showing up around 6-6:30AM.
By about 6:30, people were getting really antsy to get in the store, and some of us up front were getting rather paranoid about who was hovering near the door. Rumor had it that there were anywhere from 9 to 36 Wii’s in the store. Unlike most store that handed out tickets a half hour before the store opening, this one didn’t open till about 7:10, and they just let people in. Fortunately, everyone was civil and just filed the line in until it hit the counter.
That was when they announced that there were only 8 Wii’s… Wait! 8? WooHoo! 
I got me some Nintendo Wii! We left there giddy like little kids. Wiiii!
So how is it?
The product as a whole is a little unfinished on the software side. It did, however, just launch this month, so that might be expected. The Weather and News channels aren’t yet available, and the shopping channel only has a smalish number of Virtual Console titles. The pointer occasionally jumps around a tiny bit for me, every now and then, but nothing too bad.
Thats about it for the bad, which is really quite minor as it is. On to the good! I havn’t bought any Wii Games yet, but the few Gamecube games I’ve tested out seem to work just fine, which is great! I still havn’t finished Zelda: Wind Waker, so I’ll do that on the Wii… With the old GC card and my GC wireless Controllers! Yeay! My Pelican wireless controllers work just fine and happy with the Wii.
The Virtual Console games are a bit pricey in my opinion, at $5 for NES games, $6 fir TG16, $8 for SNES and Sega Genesis, and $10 for N64 games. That said, The Legend of Zelda for NES and Bomberman’ 93 for TG16 are must have games. Golden Axe and Super Star Soldier are pretty good, too.
But what about the Wii games? I’ve got Wii Sports which comes with the system. What can I say about Wii Sports? Its freaking fun to play with your family! Go get some extra controllers if you can find them, and load up Wii Sports. Its the type of game and control system that will get non-gamers up and playing. Its addictive, competitive, and fun as all heck.
Wii Tennis and Wii Bowling get the 5/5 star score.
Wii Golf get a 4/5 from me.
Wii Baseball and Wii Boxing get a 3/5.
I’ve noticed a few quircks about the controls. Mainly, its not a direct motion control. Your Mii will for the most part appropriately swing in Wii Tennis, no matter how you swing the Wiimote. You can sit there and make small cracks (like a whip) at the screen, and it’ll swing the racket correctly. I have found that the game is easier if you make nice natural swings, as it makes timing hits a bit more natural.
And speaking of Mii’s, they’re pretty cute. Its fun to play a game using small representations of yourself. There isn’t an unlimited list of options for the Mii creation, so sometimes they can look passible as your representation. For some people though, you can create a rather creepy likeness of them. Its almost creepy how much my Mii looks like me.
So the final verdict? The Nintendo Wii is bound to be great fun for parties and get togethers. I am very happy I picked it up, and look forward to the tons of old games set to be released on the Virtual Console, as well as the tons of new games coming out as well. Sure the graphics aren’t at the PS3 or XBOX 360 level, but its all about the fun, and thats what the Wii is: Fun!