So the Wii has officially been in the office for over a week (along with the sweet new Dell Projector to play it on!), and the Wii jokes haven’t even came close to getting old yet.  For instance, a year ago, if I told someone I spent 30 minutes today playing with my Boss’s Wii, you would probably be thinking that I’m about to get a hell of a promotion.  The Wii is a pun machine.

Anyways, I have to admit that even though I fall into the “hardcore gamer” group, I am drawn to this little white and blue glowy device.  The fun that can be had with the launch titles is amazing, and I can’t even imaging what future releases will be like as developers become more and more adventurous with the control system.  I’ve pretty much only played Wii Sports and Rayman.  I want to play Zelda, but I think there is an unspoken rule that Zelda isn’t allowed at work, as it would ultimately lead to extended playing sessions ‘on the clock.’  So at this point, I’m torn between the Golf and the Bowling.  Both require a level of finess that I’m not entirely sure I possess.  The swinging in golf (epecially drivers) is both Amazingly perfect and mind-numbingly aggrivating.  Through some strange phenomenon, though every practice swing is near perfect, every actual swing is 10% too much.  Still, good times are had.  Bowling, though, is as close to the real thing that any game has ever come close to getting.  So real, in fact, that everyone that I have seen play it actually takes 2 or 3 steps forward on the roll, even though its not necessary.  In both golf and bowling though, the one thing that amazes me is the consistency of everything.  I know this comes from both software and hardware performance, but its amazing that as you start to get a feel for it, you actually learn how to move.  You can do this because the game behaves exactly the same at all times.  In previous motion or other sensory activated games I’ve played, results tend to vary from game to game, often resulting in arrgivation and ultimatly, a low replay value.

Lastly, the system is just ‘complete’.  It seems that every facet of the whole ‘Wii experience’ has been thought of.  From the Miis (yes, I have one), to the menus, to the look of the system itself.  It seems to satisfy everyone.  It feels like an entire package.  As much as I love my 360, the games and the Dashboard feel like 2 different worlds.  Even inside the Dashboard, the 360 seems to be a lot of good ideas put together poorly.  The Wii though, everything just works together in a nice flow.

The only problem so far is a lack of Wii-motes and Nunchucks.  We have 2, which means that golf tournaments and bowling leads to trading back and forth between wiimotes to get 4 players.  But we will soon have 2 more pairs, then the circle will be complete.

Posted in General, GROW |