The Wiikend is here
 

Okay, time to make me jealous! Who got a Wii today?

I was totally gonna IM you and tell you to change every instance of "we" to "wii" on the whole site. Never saw you on though. Perhaps it's for the best.

Anyway, I camped for 15 hours and picked up a wii, a controller, and a nunchuck. We were 2nd and 3rd in line. And because of confusion, we were some of the last to pick up extra controllers. It was fairly hectic. And I have doubts we would've made it if we had shown up early this morning. So many sad kids/parents being turned down because vouchers had already been handed out.

Wii sold out as bad as PS3. Only Nintendo made like three times as many systems.

Eat that, Sony.

(under obligation to open mine next week... too bad)

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God I'm just....,...,..,.,., I can not stand the wait. It's out on the 11th of next month over here. I've never been so excited about a console. It looks truely amazing. It's got so many new exciting bits and bobs on it.
I did think about importing it, but I think part of the fun is the going down and getting it from the shop. Waiting in line. Talking to other people about it. Plus the shops are opening at midnight, and it's gonna be all christmasy too. And then I'll hand the money over, and then pick the games and then open the box...And, and, AND !

Breath...Breath...Breath. And relax.

Seriously, I've almost at the point of having to sit down and breath into a bag everytime I see adverts on TV.
I really think this is gonna be huge. I hope it is. Because Nintendo deserve to be on top again, for once. I'm not anti-PS3 or Xbox or anything. But what ever you think about Nintendo, you can't say they don't try new things. And come up with some fantastic ideas. Analog Sticks? (Yeah I know they weren't quite the first) Rumble packs? Four controller ports on a console? Touch screen control? Microphone enhanced games? Free Online Gaming? Old Game download system? Flipping amazing wireless controllering thingy that will change how we play games?
And the line up is just......
Zelda! In a launch line up!
Mario soon....
Smash brothers...
Metroid.... (Can not wait)

Plus...Plus! That free Wii Sports!!!!! Fantastic.

Yeah, so I might get one.

Sorry if that was a bit garbled...I've had a lot of Ribena tonight...

BTW, on gameFAQ.com Samus won this years character battle, but Link took the Battle Royal. Both Nintendo guys! (Or Girls as it maybe)

What's a wii, then?

Sarcasm is DEAD to me.

GAK!

*thud*

Whoa, whoa. Just to me.

Nobody else could read that, right?

Oui.

Oh my god! You killed Sa'ar Chasm!


In all fairness though...Not knowing what Wii is?
He got everything he deserved.

May Nintendo have mercy on his soul.

I wonder how many people were camped out in front of stores for the Revolution launch (I'm doing penance for actually saying Wii in casual conversation, okay?). The day before the PS3 launch I was amazed to see how big the line outside of Target was. People actually camping to get a console! A sign talking about tickets to reserve your console! A warning that it's gonna be one per customer! It's sad how people would actually buy in bulk, mark them up, and sell them to people too lazy to stand in line. Reminds me of the time my sister drove for an HOUR to use a friends' ticket to get a copy of Harry Potter 6 at 12:01. That's just crazy.

Can anyone who actually knows these things tell me if the Xbox 360 is actually technoligically superior, even though it was released a year ago?

X-Box 360 is graphically pretty much the same as the Playstation 3.

And we were there for 14 hours. Store opened at 10 in the morning, we got there around 7:30-8:00 the night before. There was a girl in front of us who had been camping all day. The line started picking up momentum around midnight. If you weren't at the store at least 4 hours early, you were screwed.

Can anyone explain the allure of buying a system on release day? I've read here and there that a lot of people have figured out that delaying the purchase can be smarter:

1. Give them a few months to lower the price.
2. There are always bugs in the first version of consoles.
3. You can hear game reviews from actual players, not the PR guys who never give negative or realistic reviews.
4. You want more games available. I know I'd want to buy Revolution with Smash Brothers Brawl and Twilight Princess simultaneously, go for the REALLY big splurge and get it over with. (PS. why isn't Brawl ready yet? And Mario Galaxy for that matter)

Sure you can. Now repeat after me: Nintendo doesn't try new...

Sorry about that. Let's try again: Nintendo doesn't try n...

Okay, once more: Nintendo doesn't try...

Alright, how about this: Nintendo doesn't not try new things. There. I said it. Just don't read that sentence too carefully and we should be fine.

Anyway, while I don't have plans on purchasing a console anytime soon, the Wii is certainly the one I'm most excited about. It certainly seems to be the most innovative new system, and it doesn't hurt to have a library of classic games to download. And the price is a big draw too. I hope it's as good as it seems like it's going to be.

My birthday is good for something after all!

No, I didn't get one. I only got a Gamecube about four months or so ago. I'm betting it'll be a while. Not only do I have to save up, but I have to get over the fact that the controller is a remote.

Which I still haven't since I saw it.

I'd already decided six months ago that getting a Gamecube would be a waste of money, since a Revolution will do everything that the 'Cube can, except use a Gameboy Player, which I'm very interested in. I wonder if they could sell Gameboy games through Virtual Console. Not Gameboy Advance games, of course, those are still on the market, but there are some nice original Gameboy games that'd be nice to have, and they'd be cheaper than Nintendo games, too.

Oh, and I have right here the free prerelease brochure from Best Buy. Here are some funny and/or intriguing quotes from it:

"The Wii revolution begins! Maybe it's name is funny, but Nintendo could be laughing all the way to the bank with its next-generation console."
See what they did there? "Wii revolution?" I'll have to send Best Buy the bill to fix the stiches in my side from all that laughing. :)

"Nintendo believes game controllers have become too complicated for the average non-gaming citizen. By reducing the number of buttons and enabling intuition to control the game, it hopes to create a less-intimidating pick up and play approchability for Wii games."
Uh, I know they want to attract people outside the teen boy and teen-at-heart young guy markets, and I also realize that the original Nintendo was abosolutely groundbreaking with only five buttons on the controller, but you don't see Playstation and Xbox losing money, do you?

Now, an aside about the Virtual Console. Using the figures in the brochure, the price of an NES game is $5, SNES $8, and N64 $10. I can see the rationale for this, but it just seems to me that just like all games aren't created equal, maybe the prices shouldn't either. Think about it: tweak the graphics on Super Mario 3 and they could probably charge a LOT more than $5. On the same hand, there are a lot of N64 games that people don't think are worth a buck apiece. At the local pawn shop guess what the N64 games were? At least nine out of ten of them were sporting games. I suppose they just won't offer a plethora of sporting games on Virtual Console, but what about stuff like Turok and Sarge's Army Men? There might be people willing to shell out three bucks, but not ten. Nintendo might be gouging themselves here. For that matter, I know there should be a lot of people willing to pay more for legacy games if they're turned into enhanced remakes. For example, it'd be nice to finally get a legal All Bonds option for GoldenEye. I suppose that even though all four actors are alive it's really up to Broccoli Productions, the Fleming estate, and a lot, I mean a LOT of lawyers.

"You literally draw back the remote like you would a bowstring and then release your arrow by pressing the trigger. The sound of the arrow flying from bow to target comes across as an audio effect from a tiny mic housed in the Wii remote."
Um, I think that would be "tiny speaker." Hey, I'm a nitpicker! :)

Oh, and one picture shows the four tiny lights on the Wiimote showing who's Player One, Player Two, etc. Gotta wonder if you can choose which Wiimote's which, or if you gotta play Hot Wiimote to get the right one.

Am I the only one who thinks this console looks absolutely rediculous?

Although, I'm probably just bitter because I will suck at the majority of the games they'll bring out on it...

I don't think that the console looks ridiculous. It's a white box the size of three DVD cases, what's so weird?

I think all of us stink at the majority of games out there. I mean, some of us kick butt at shooters, some at sporting games, some at RPGs, etc. It all evens out.

It's the sporting games that get to me. Why play basketball on a screen? I prefer games that you couldn't possibly do in real life. At least I don't go running around swinging swords at skeletons and pushing ten ton stone blocks in real life, do any of you?

I can honestly say my heart skips a beat every time I see a picture of the Wii. I love it to bits. The cube is all but a memory to me.
All hail the Wii!

Aw man, now you got the Reduced Shakespeare Company yammering in my head. Reference way too obscure, you don't want to know.

I'm looking forward to their Star Wars... Should be a blast...

Hooray! I get to open my system up tomorrow!

Picked up Zelda and Monkey Ball today, and a classic controller (amazed I was able to find one).

Why I bought Wii at launch:

1) I don't wait for Zelda.
2) Metroid Prime 3, Super Mario Galaxy, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl are all coming out in the next six months or so. I am going to need a system to play all those gems on. Might as well get it now.
3) The system cost was halved because I'm going 50/50 on it with my fiancee.
4) I can get retro games on virtual console. I love the retro games.
5) 250 is pretty good value for a system and a pack-in anyway.
6) I really, really don't wait for Zelda.

Launch systems may be faulty sometimes, but if it's widespread or severe then Nintendo would give me a new one. And the only problems I'm reading are minor firmware problems are being ironed out with every passing firmware update.

And...you know. Zelda.
Plus. Zelda?

Anyways? Why with the waiting months!? It's like waiting till a movie is out on DVD to see it. Might be cheaper. Might be easier than waiting outside the cinema. But it's just not Cricket, is it?

I swear I'm gonna import one before the week is out.

Well waiting outside the cinema is slightly different. For one, you generally don't need a tent and 14 hours for that.

I was thinking big opening day type cinema type. You know. Harry potter openings and star wars ones. There where some camping down here I tell you.

Six months. How optimistic. I'd lay you odds that they're gonna wait longer than that, let Twilight Princess empty everyone's pockets and then wait 'til we have disposable income again before they spring the next killer app on us.

I wonder what's keeping Mario Galaxy. Weren't they working on it when Mario 64 was released, or was all of that transformed into Pikmin and Mario Sunshine?

For me, Brawl is gonna be the killer app for Revolution. After all, we can get Twilight Princess for Gamecube, right? I know, I know, hardly the same, but still...

Blasphemy!
I love the cube. (Hey I'm a trek fan; course I do.) But I really can't see any competition. I'll pip for the zelda mark 2.

And I think Mario galaxy is different to what you are thinking of. There was talk about Mario 128 (Or 256 I forget what) They did say it was a new super game. But still a long way off. Then they said it was Galaxy. Then it wasn't. Then it was.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_128

Never thought about the Gamecube in terms of the Borg. I thought that Microsoft was the Borg. "We are Bill Gates. You will be upgraded. Resistance is futile." Etc.

Yeah, I knew about the Wikipedia article. That's my point; even granted that the "Mario 128 demo" was just a tech demo and that most of that tech went into Pikmin, they've been working on Galaxy for four years now.

May I point out that Miyamoto himself used the name Revolution, and this year for that matter? Just wanted to exploit the gap Burt left me.

They've been working on Twilight Princess for four years as well.

Smash Bros. Brawl just started development a year or two ago.

Metroid Prime 3 has been in production since Prime 2 came out (two years).

Nintendo quality takes time. Be patient.

And Super Mario Galaxy borrowed about as much from Mario 128 as Super Mario Sunshine did. Both are entirely separate games.

Also: Twilight Princess for Cube is an inferior products. Sorry, but I don't really want to play an inferior version of Zelda. If you do, please -- have at it.

I'm not sure if the phrase "Nintendo quality" is irony, joke fodder or what, so I think I'll just stay away from the lightning sand. Further Wiibashing are the ROUSs, in case you were wondering.

I was just saying that my definition of "killer app" is that you MUST have one to get another to work. Mario 3 is the killer app for NES, Tetris is the killer app for Gameboy, OOT is the killer app for N64, etc. Twilight Princess is up there, but I was just saying that Brawl requires Revolution, so it's ever-so-slightly higher.

I don't know what you're on about. Nintendo consistantly makes highly rated first party games. Nintendo is known for making quality first-party titles. People (rightly) complain about lack of third-party support. But I have yet to see a decline in review scores on Nintendo's part. And I'm sure you can appreciate that as well, Mr. Ocarina-fivist.

Zelda may be available on two consoles. But the versions are hardly equal. And, as I said, I am not one to buy an inferior version of my favorite game series ever.

And judging by review scores, Twilight Princess easily falls into the killer app classification.

I am a Nintendo fan, have been since the days of Mario 3 and Star Tropic. In fact, I decided a long time ago that I'll only have Nintendo consoles, no matter how flashy Playstation and Xbox may be.

I also love Zelda. I fived OOT because I love it.

I was insinuating that "Nintendo quality" might be a joke because ... I knew I had a reason ...

Well, for one thing, I recently read about the batteries on older Gameboy games going dead after awhile and having to pry the cart open to replace it, something that was clearly never intended to happen. You'd think that even then there was such a thing as solid state data storage akin to jump drives.

Oh, and I was wandering around some N64 games lately and I guess I was getting ticked at all of the shortcuts I was seeing. You know, sheets of 2D grass sticking up like fans someone stuck in the ground. In Mario Party fists that are clearly cubes. Reading about all that extra stuff in Goldeneye that was never finished, so they set up cheap blocks and removed the direct trigggers for them, but left the data itself so that hackers could mess around with it. Heaven forbid they clean up the code.

And here, I own a PSP. You, my friend, are the fanboy here.

Nintendo can hardly be faulted for sticking watch batteries in their cartridges to save data. Cartridges are expensive enough as it is (which is why Sony and Sega switched to CD-ROMs in the fifth gen, and everyone moved to DVDs in the sixth gen). Solid state data storage was around then, but it has only become relatively cheap in the past few years -- and as such, the DS has the first cartridges which save data that way. Those batteries allowed you to get your games at reasonable prices. Not something worth complaining about. And I picked up a bit to open the cartridges for about 5 bucks. Makes things pretty easy, though you do lose your old data.

As for shortcuts, I dare you to find other publishers who don't do the same thing. Nintendo is way better than most (and GoldenEye isn't Nintendo anyway).

But let's talk about Nintendo quality another way. You can drop a gamecube off your roof and it'll probably still work. You can leave a game boy advance in your yard for a few days, run it over a lawn mower, and it will still work. Meanwhile, X-Box 360s overheat and Sony's power cables explode.

Yeah... I'm really not seeing any problems with the term "Nintendo quality".

Well Goldeneye was Rare. And in all fairness, I think Nintendo's record are better than most other companies. Even Sega. Yes, they aren't perfect, but who is these days, eh?
And when you play Mario 64, The Wind Walker, Advance Wars, Mario Kart, you realize that this is as close to perfection you're ever lightly to get in the computer game world.
Short of the borg assimilating Mario.

(What is it with me and the borg today?)

Almost makes me wonder if the old days of save states was better. I distinctly remember games like Startropic, where your info was not so much directly saved, but you were given a code to recreate your stats.

Never heard of Advance Wars.

How long have rechargable batteries been around? Was it a possibility to have those in game carts? I suppose they never thought that Gameboy would still be in existence twenty years down the line.

Well, before I got an adaptor I used to use rechargeables in my GBC, so I guess that's a yes. :p

Nintendo quality is good. What's wrong with it? It's 'Nintendo hard' that I quibble about, since it has a range of 'so incredibly easy your grandma could do it' and 'OH GOD PLEASE LET ME KILL MYSELF' and nothing in between.

Oh yeah. I gotta wonder how far I'd have gotten on Majora's Mask if I already hadn't had the strategy guide. I tell ya, being locked inside a plant's body, locked inside a town, with the moon about to crush everything, is pretty depressing if you can't get out.

I suppose that's one thing that creates a paradox. Like I've said, I'm a big Startropic fan, and I enjoy God of Thunder, a VERY old DOS game. Kudos for those who've heard of it. Both of those games are big into the "talk to EVERYONE, every single time you get stuck, and they'll probably say something different" thing. Majora's Mask is kinda like that, only it's extended. It's "talk to everyone, every six hour period, carrying every known mask and powerup, and they'll probably say something different."

God of Thunder! No way! Nate, you just won ten points.

I'm really annoyed about this Wii situation. I have the money for one now, but not only are the stores sold out (which I expected), they don't even know when they'll have more. Now, when I chose not to do anything desperate to get a Wii, I knew the consequence would be having to wait... but I thought I would at least know how long that wait would be.

It's a sad time indeed. Right now millions of people all over the world are starving for a Wii.... And monsters like this: http://www.smashmywii.com/ waste them...
Do they not care for their fellow man?

Oh, that's eeevil... http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g2.../bgbiggrin.gif