My Wii-View

Get it? Wii-view! Oh the hilarity of bad puns that have probably been made elsewhere months ago. Anyways on with the show:

The Nintendo Wii has been out for 7 months or so now and I have finally managed to get my hands on one. I was celebrating another orbit around the sun yesterday and my significant other was going to get me one. Easier said then done. Everyone in town was sold out. This isn't a phenomenon it's like that all over the country. Wiis are selling like gangbusters.

Thankfully some stores got them shipped today and my lovely lady was able to snag one in time. Seemed like a lot of work for a system that should be readily available but due to high demands it's still not. So is this system still exciting after all these months? Was it worth the wait and still worth the $250? That's a resounding 10-4 good buddy.

Like all good things, it has a box. The box opens and has two neat blue trays. I took a picture of this, because I found it to be the EASIEST package I've ever seen from a game company. No more tons of cardboard trays and shelves and do-dads that make you want to scream. Just pull these two trays out like drawers and everything is inside.



I did find all the parts a bit confusing. it wasn't until I saw the A/V cables did I finally see something familiar. There is a handy quick set-up guide that tells you what to do. Unfortunately it doesn't tell you some simple basic things, like how to load the Wii into the stand or how to put the visor bar into a stand. The full manual (it's pretty big) does though.



There's a sensor bar that I was worried about. I kept seeing it on review shows and it looked huge. It's not. It's tiny. If you look at the picture you can see how small it is compared to one of the smaller DirecTV units. Everything is small. The controllers are small, but a great fit. The nunchuck is small. The system is small. It's so compact and really pretty spiffy.



Once you've got it assembled you turn it on. That's really rather painless. It's not nearly as loud as my Xbox or Gamecube which was nice. My Xbox is really freaking loud. Sometimes it makes noises when it's not on, or even plugged in. And I am not kidding.

First order of business is to make a Mii. It was simple, but I don't really like myself. I could be better, but I've seen Miis that look great so I figure it's a learning curve. The whole time you are moving the cursor around you can FEEL it. Which is a nice touch. When you go over a button you feel it in the Wii-mote and that's a very freaky and satisfying feeling.

Finally I decided to boot up Wii-Sports. There's an eject button, so I naturally assumed that a tray came out. I was wrong. You stick the disc into the machine with no tray. That's pretty sweet. I stuck my disc in backwards the first time. It didn't play. Label to the right. Hey I didn't star on Life Goes On for four years for nothing!

The game booted up and I played it. While this is supposed to be a review of the Wii, the game is great. All this rubbish about graphics... I'm going to let you in on a secret. The Wii's graphics are AMAZING! I've heard that Wii-Sports looks terrible. I dunno who said that, but they are retarded. The graphics are really stellar. The greens on the fields of golf look incredible. I guess some people count polygons and that sort of thing, but I'll be honest with you at this level of graphics I can't imagine anything really looking "better" to the point where the game is more fun. These graphics are as detailed as anything you see on TV and to me at least, that's just about as good as you can get next to the real world.

Gameplay is fun and only boxing seemed to have a few snags. This was mostly me throwing punches too quick for the system to register. Needless to say boxing is one of my favorite games thus far. I was kicking ass and taking names. It was a blast. I'm FROTHING at the mouth for a truly great boxing game to come along because the potential here is just ENDLESS.

Baseball was fun but the pitching part was boring. Tennis and Bowling are a blast and I'm already planning on doing some Golf tournaments with friends. It's just so much fun and I'm an avid Golfer so this makes teeing off even easier.



All in all, this is a great package. It's heavy as hell, but it's just such a nice little system. I'll be getting some more games this weekend if I can pull myself away. I'm only writing this now because I'm tired. Wii-ing can be a wear on your body.

As an added bonus Nintendo asked me to register it. Since I have some other Nintendo products laying around I registered them too. For registering my Wii I got a free 90 day extension on the warranty. SUCK IT EB GAMES, who tried to sell me one for $35. That's 15 months that Nintendo will replace this bad boy. Nice. I also got a free 3 issue subscription to Nintendo Power for registering 3 items. It's a little thing, but I thought it was cool.

Overall, this system still holds up. If you are debating getting one but haven't had the courage, now is as good of time as any. Assuming you can find one. They're still tougher then a $2 steak to get, but if you look hard enough you might luck into one. It's worth it because a lot of games are coming out soon and you'll make friends with a Wii. Some of you probably need friends. And exercise. It's a win-win, your friendless fatty losers.