Gaming

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.