The Wiikend is here

[Burt]

I'm here to sing a song on the wonders of the wii. (Also because I'm bored at work too)
Mario Party 8 is totally fantastic! Really good use of the wiimote.... could be better/faster, but a great game. Resident Evil 4 Wii is amazing too. And I keep going back to Wii Sports...
Everyone I've shown the Wii too want's to get one... From 10 year olds, to middle aged women.
I love that console.
In the words of Dukat: Everyday bring new reports of victorys for (The Wii)...it's only a matter of time before the (PS3/360) collapse and join (Nintendo).

Or something like that.

[Tate]

This week is the first time I've been able to really try the Wii. I was at a family reunion this week and one of my cousins brought his system. I really enjoyed playing it, even though it didn't quite live up to my expectations from reading about it (few things do). The remote is a fun way to control games, but using it as a pointer takes some getting used to.

Of course, the only game I played on it was Wii Sports, so I didn't exactly get to see everything the system could do. On top of that, my (younger) siblings seemed to spend all their free time playing it; beating each other up in Wii Sports boxing or making Miis (Miii?) of Naruto or Megaman characters. And that's when they weren't playing our DS or my brother's Gameboy Color or the Gameboy Advance I just bought. So...I guess the moral is: my family likes Nintendo.

[Nate the Great]

Gameboy Color...ah, those were the days...

Of course, I'm hardly one to speak to the point. I still play ORIGINAL Tetris, for goodness sake.

[Chancellor Valium]

And what's wrong with still playing the original Tetris, pray?

[Nate the Great]

Nothing's wrong, it's just that with no system more advanced than N64 in my possession, my opinions about modern gaming systems is more based on superficial examination than concrete experience.

[Burt]

I was reading a forum - somewhere - the other day. And, funny enough, the major opinions there seemed to be against the Wii. Was quite heated too. I can't just understand it, though. Many of the 360's owners seemed to be happy with their system, while still complementary of the Wii, but many of the PS3 people were almost fanatical about how crap the Wii is and how great the PS3 is going to be 'Next year'. Declaring that the Wii sales to be a 'fad', and that by christmas it will all be over. Also that the Wiimote was silly, and the Wii has no good games on it.
And it just makes me think, do these people deal in real logic?
I never believed the Gamecube would win the 7th war, it didn't have the power, appeal or games to do so. Not saying it was a flop - far from it. It had some amazing games, but against the Xbox and PS2.... well.... it came up short.
But the Wii... It just is amazing.
One guy on the forum (A 360 owner, no less), said about it, that maybe, it didn't have the killer hardcore games yet (I.e Gears of war, Halo?). But, he said he was at a family do, to which someone brough a Wii. And he was amazed at the intrest in it. He said that no other console had ever had so many people crowding around it before - 40 year old women, 10 year old boys, Fathers, Grandparents.... all rushing to have a go.
Yes the Wii can play like a normal console... with normal controls and games, and while it may not be as powerful as the others, I think the PS2 showed that you don't need to be the most powerful, to win.
But the 'ace' that the Wii has, is it's innovation.
I really can't see how it could fail, to be honest. if it kept going like it was now, I'm sure it would be a success, but we all know consoles do get better. The big titles are gonna start coming out. The usual ones and the new hits. But the thing I'm most excited to see, is what Nintendo are going to come up with next. What new idea. What new innovation they are gonna add to the Wii next...
Taking the DS as an example.. when it first was spoken about it sounded silly. Two screens? I must say I thought the idea was a bit stupid. But now I can't think off playing any different way. And it's hugely Sucessful. One of the most sucessful handhelds ever.
And also, there is the prospect to linking the DS to the Wii... meaning you would have not only the Wiimote to control games with movement, but touch screen input and microphone...
Summing up: I really am an all round console guy, have a PS2/Xbox - might even get a 360 soon. But really, how can people fail to be impressed by what Nintendo have achieved so far?

[Nate the Great]

I can't help but smirk at the "just wait until next year! PS3 is going to eat the Revolution for breakfast then!" mentality. I'm quite frankly curious about how many PS3 sales are driven by the desire for Blu-Ray players that can do other stuff, too. After all, I do believe that I've read that backwards compatiblity for the PS3 is actually DECREASING as newer models are chucking expensive hardware necessary for proper compatibility in leiu of software upgrades. "Just wait a few months and we'll get your compatibility back!" seems to be a common statement by Sony.

Of course, just today I was reading about how some common sentiments about the Wiimote either result in games being to easy or too hard.

The Gamecube lost the war because A. no DVD playback B. smaller disks mean less content C. people are fickle. The other day I was reading an article written by a gamer who's getting a little ticked off that so much of the nextgen games are being designed from a "let's focus on high-tech graphics instead of plot and replayability" point of view. That's one reason why the Revolution is winning. After all, it's hardly the highdef king. It's the playability, the fun factor as it were, that wins gaming wars in the end. Consider that I play Tetris and Mario 3, STILL. Why? The fun factor. You can get immersed in it. From what I've heard, the Revolution has a fun factor that PS3 can't hope to have.