Playing with my Wii ^_^

[Whiteboy]

Earlier today I had the chance to play Nintendo's Wii console. And I did. Twice. It is the only unit in New Zealand - shipped in from Australia, and it was featured at this year's "Big Boys Toys" expo. A big achievement considering the extremely low exposure the Gamecube have (Nintendo has since changed its NZ distributor to Softprint Interactive, and they seem to really know what they are doing.

To save some typing, I'll just quote what I posted earlier today on a NZ gaming forum:

Hey there, to save a LOT of writing I just wanted to say I played the Wii at BBT today like many others, and I agree fully with the others who have enjoyed it.

It's incredibly natural, the controller has a *perfect* feel and weight to it, the learning curve was about 2 swings of the tennis racket. After that I was performing "power serves" or whatever it's called - the ball was sent spinning and flaming at my opponent - my sister

I really love it, and went for another go later in the day. I cheekily pressed the "Home" button while the Softprint guys weren't looking and it took me to a menu (not the Wii Channel menu, alas). Ther I could use a mouse-like pointer interaction where the onscreen pointer would move whereever I move it to by pointing the remote. The control for that was also FLAWLESS. Incredibly accurate. That Elebits game seems kinda appealing now, considering you simply point at things.. with an anti-grav gun.

I also played the PS3 for a bit but got bored fast. It looks good on those TVs but ultimately that's IT. Just the same old games otherwise. Plus, the lack of vibration actually felt a bit strange to me. Wii Sports Tennis has a really satisfying jolt and sound effect when you hit the ball.

Uh, yeah, I did write a bit more than intended. Meh, it just shows my ever-increasing lust for the Wii



EDIT: Sorry, I just have to say more. The recent comment "I had mroe fun playing the Wii in 5 mins than playing the PS3 in 15 mins" is so true. The 5 mins were but fleeting moments, while the 15 mins or so on PS3 felt like.. 15 mins. My time was MUCH better spent on Tennis. And I even ALMOST got my mum to play and she has a phobia of consoles... I say ALMOST because she was too embarrased to get up on "stage" with the younger people there (but she's all for it when I pick one up at midnight 7th December).

I also talked to a few Softprint guys. I couldn;t get that much info out of them, but they definately seem to know what they're doing, and they are pumped for the release. They have also recently become the distributor for Capcom, btw.

I asked 2 SP guys about playable Wii kiosks. One guy said "from launch day", and they both said they are doing their best for playable kiosks, and hopefully they can get some in larger stores (going by physical size) e.g. Harvey Norman, The Warehouse, Dick Smith Powerhouse and Noel Leeming. The overall impression I got from them was positive. They have also confirmed there will be TV ads.

Whew. Too much excitement for me today. I should lie down.