Gluemeat

Time for a good old-fashioned geek-out.

For you see, I have my Wii.

Mathias and I showed up at 6:30 am at the local Toys R Us store Sunday morning where we had pre-ordered our console back in June. We had been contacted by the electronics department on Thursday that the console was going to be made available at 8 am, that all 80-some pre-orders would be honoured, and that those who would get there early would have access to all the Wii stock available (games, accessories, etc.)

Even though my console was guaranteed, I wanted to get there early to obtain a copy of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.

When the doors opened at 8 am, we were sixth in line. Letting people in five pre-orders at a time, we took all the time we needed to look over the merchandise and make our picks. In the end, we left with a Wii console, an extra Wiimote, an extra Nunchuk, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Christmas did indeed come early this year.

As we were leaving, the store ran out of Nunchuks. I announced that tidbit to a few folks who asked me a couple of questions as I left. The chorus of groans was moving.

As I left, there were about 100 people in the pre-order line and approximated 50 waiting in the “no reservations” line-up. Sucks to be them, as there would be only 20 “on-the shelf” consoles available for them.

But, then, around 8:45 am, we started unpackaging it.My biggest first impression was at how small the console is. I had read that it was small, but it doesn’t really hit you until you see it. It’s smaller than a box of Froot Loops, and just about as thick.

The Wiimote is surprisingly light, even with the batteries packed in. The buttons are placed quite naturally on the device, especially the trigger on the underside. Although sometimes while playing Wii Sports and holding the remote in the fashion suggested by the game, I found myself pushing the Home button inadvertedly, but it’s a minor annoyance.

The Nunchuk attachment is extremely comfortable in the hand, with the two triggers positioned naturally beneath the finger’s resting place. Extremely tight design from the N-crew on this one.

There’s definitely an Apple-inspired “less is more” approach to the design of the Wii and its components.

Gameplay? Glad you asked.

The Wiimote is a dream. Seriously. Those who feared its motion-sensor gimmickyness can rest assured that it’s intuitive, highly responsive, and endearing. We started off playing Wii Sports and had so much fun doing so. Swinging the remote as if it was a bat, doing the bowling motion… but what amazed me most, and this is a detail I had missed, but it appears there is some sort of motion sensing going on in the Nunchuk as well. This became apparent when playing Wii Sports Boxing, which requires plugging the Nunchuk into the remote. After that, punching is simply a question of swinging one’s arms, without having to push any buttons or d-pads.

The more you swing the Wiimote around the more you love it. You just want to do it more and more. I seriously doubt how I will be able to manage Super Smash Bros. Brawl without the Wiimote. The original codename for the Wii system, “Revolution,” wasn’t far off from its mark. This will change the way we play games, big time.

Since we’re on the subject, Wii Sports is addictively simple. I can see why Nintendo marketed this as somewhat of a party game: the objectives are simple and known to all, the execution is straighforward yet difficult enough to be a challenge to one’s timing. I have to admit that ten to fifteen minutes of Wii Sports Boxing breaks me into a sweat. It’s also my favourite Wii Sports game.

It also gives you an idea just how much further sports game developers can take the Wiimote integration.

These games are all played using a Mii, which is a Wii avatar of yourself. You design it in the Wii menu and they are highly customizable. Very cool.

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz is a lot of fun and a new challenge with the Wiimote’s capabilities. Of course, I spent a good amount of time playing Twilight Princess. I don’t know where people get the idea that the graphics in the game stink, because they don’t. The gameplay itself is very cinematic and responsive. The storyline is engaging and it’s built like a good old classic Zelda game. Yes, you can swing Link’s sword around to slice up baddies, but you don’t control the sword’s trajetory, à la Red Steel. However, swinging the Wiimote horizontally will give a horizontal slice, vertical swing for a vertical slice and shaking the Nunchuk will have Link perform a slice attack. Obviously, there are combos with the Nunchuk’s d-pad.

So extreme satisfaction on my end. If I could only get my stupid router to work, I’ll be in business for real.

There are more unpackaging photos at my Flickr area.

This entry was posted by Mike on Tuesday, November 21st, 2006 at 8:56 am and is filed under Video Gaming. Stay fresh on your flaming needs by following responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave your own response, or trackback from your own site. YEAH