Like every other self-respecting Nintendo lover out there, I tried to get a Wii on opening day, with of course no success. I was heading back home to visit family on opening day, and had researched roughly how many Wiis each store in town had in stock, but there were more people than Wiis at each store. I called up Circuit City later that day and asked when they expected another shipment in. They said they didn’t know, but after talking to the guy for a couple minutes I was told that if I came in, I could place a special order and would be notified when my Wii arrived.
I went to Circuit City and talked to the guy who handles the special orders. He seemed a bit upset that someone had told me that they were accepting special orders and was quick to tell me that they weren’t officially doing that and that my special order might be canceled at any given time. However, after a little bit of pushing, he took my credit card info and put me on the list. He said I would get a call if and when a Wii arrived that they could give me, but told me that I would likely be called and told that the special order was canceled, at which point they would refund my money.
That was Sunday the 19th. On Wednesday the 22nd, I was woken up with a call from Circuit City letting me know that they randomly received one Wii, and that it was being held for me. I was told I could pick it up at any time. Well, I wasted no time on this one. An hour later, I was setting up my brand new Wii.
The Wii is a very impressive system. The controls work far better than I had expected. I have Wii Sports and Excite Truck, with plans to pick up Elebits, Zelda, and Mario Galaxy when possible. Wii Sports is a great multiplayer game, but I must recommend stretching before play. Excite Truck is also loads of fun, though its multiplayer support could stand improvement. It’s limited to a two-player versus mode, so if you want any more players, you’re out of luck. Still, fun game, and I highly recommend it.
I invited my friends Jen, Amanda, and Dell, and my girlfriend Jamie over to play with my Wii (don’t bother with the jokes, we’ve already made them). I had them create Miis, which they loved, and we all played some Wii Sports. They had a blast and talked about how much fun the system was. Now, they’re all gamer girls to some degree, but I’m looking forward to inviting some of my non-gamer girl friends over to see what they think of the system. If Nintendo is right, they’ll hopefully be drawn to it. We shall see 🙂
Now, part of the reason I wanted a Wii so bad was to play classic games using the Wii’s Virtual Console. I added $40 in Wii points and picked up Legend of Zelda, Solomon’s Key, Bomberman 93, and Solomon’s Key. The emulation works very well. I spent most of today playing (and beating) Legend of Zelda. What’s cool is that most of the console games can be suspended and resumed later on, so if you suddenly get the urge to play something else, you simply press the Home button, play another game, and then come back to the emulated game whenever you want to.
What excites me the most isn’t the Wii itself, but what’s coming next. I can’t help but wonder what the next generation of consoles will be a few years from now, what they’ll be capable of, and how they will change gaming.
The one downside to the Wii is that when you’re sick, it’s hard to play some games (Wii Sports mainly). I’ve been dealing with a head cold for a few days, and it’s difficult to play some Wii games when you don’t feel like moving. Fortunately, there’s always the classic games.
If you know me and you have a Wii, contact me and we can exchange Wii console numbers.
You must really have liked Solomon’s Key a lot to have purchased two copies of it ;-P
The Wii really is fantastic. I was able to get one on launch day. For some reason the Futureshop in our small town had over 100 units. Of course they were all gone within the first 2 hours but I was lucky and was able to snag one, with an extra set of controllers, Zelda TP, COD 3, and Rayman. Unforuntaly I’m having problems with my wireless router, so I’ll try getting that fixed or buy one of those DS USB network adapters. I agree about Wii Sports, its underrated, very enjoyable set of games.
Dude,
8296-8273-8106-7762
Drop me a note and I’ll add you when I get home.
I am now possessed of an overwhelming urge to play Legend of Zelda. (Also, those captchas are damn hard to read.)
Don’t leave me hanging man! My lack of Wii-capable friends is severely cramping my style!
Did I mention this friend code system is super annoying?
Hey Mike.
Yeah, I need to start putting in people’s friend codes. I’ll try to get it tonight and give it to you.
I don’t see you on my buddy list anymore. Do you have a new account or something?
Mike: I’ve added you. My number is 5378-7401-6387-4461
Sweet. I’ll check it out when I get home.
AIM is still mikestyne and Jabber is mstyne at voxrox dot com. I think my old Jabber address may have gone bye byes.
Well, I added you to my address book, but there’s nothing doing just yet.
I guess I have to wait for WiiConnect24 to do it’s thing(?).
🙁
Is it just me or are the wii VC games not what you imagined them to be?
I had fond memories or Donkey Kong etc, now I wished I’d kept them as memories!
Indeed , one of Wii’s strength is it’s nostalgia factor , players who grew up with Legend of Zelda , Super Mario Bros. etc get to revisit they childhood on an entirely new platfrom
what impresses me with Wii is how wide their market base is , not only do they hit the teens but they also consider the kids and older adults.