Wii're excited

The Wii in Review:

We waited in line for much of saturday to make sure we could get our hands on a shiny new Nintendo Wii the second they were released. We realized that we could have probably gotten in line a couple hours later than we did. But we ended up being fourth in line, so we were happy to stay put.

And so it went... at about 12:05am on sunday morning my Special Lady-Friend (she waited with me, what a lady!) and I walked out of the store, our hands heavy with a newly purchased Wii.

Clearly Nintendo has ripped off Apple's style... Shiny, white, and candy-coated. While I am usually the first to balk at design mimicry... If you're going to do it, at least rip off the best. What this translates to is a very clean set-up and unpacking experience with the Wii. Opening the package and taking out the two individually numbered boxes was a thrill. Each sub-box is labeled with a smartly designed icon of all the Wii parts that box contains.

If you are not familiar with the new system, it uses an innovative "Wiimote" instead-of / in-place-of a controller. You point the Wiimote at the television like a laser pointer. A small hand on screen tells you where you're pointing. Within seconds we were making stuff happen. A few moments after that, we were swinging our virtual tennis rackets in WiiSports, the collection of 5 games that came included with the system.

Sunday Evening we were able to accumulate enough Wiimotes so that we could play 2 on 2 tennis! Four people standing in the space station living room swinging little shiny white remotes at the television was pretty hilarious, not to mention ultra-fun. To our utter joy most of the WiiSports games seemed to match our movements perfectly. However, I've found that you need to find each game's "sweet spot." Meaning that you need to play the game the way the game wants you to play it. Trying to get WiiGolf to recognize your spastic excuse for a golf swing won't get you very far. (Havens... I'm looking at you, and laughing. Have another drink why don't you)

Honestly I could go on and on about playing the Wii, but I'll spare you. The system is tight, the games are great... (I've been playing the new Legend of Zelda and it's just awesome, and I've only just gotten to the first dungeon!) If you are unsure about the system, I say go play it somewhere. I have a feeling that after you try tennis you'll be sold. Being the cheapest next-gen game system out right now doesn't hurt the Wii's greatness either.