heythisonetimeisawthiskidridingabikeandhefelldownandwent WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!
hello review section! its been a long long time since we last talked. how are you?
In my temping downtime boredom I figured I should get some nethyr posting done, because when Im home all I do is play wii. Which brings me to the....
NINTENDO WII REVIEW: CONSOLE & WII SPORTS
WII SYSTEM:
OK here we go everyone. This is the "revolution" that nintendo has supposedly had in development since the release of the gamecube back in 01. The Wii is quite revolutionary in that it does change the way one plays console games. The system itself is the size of about 3 dvd case stacked on top of eachother, and comes with a nice stand, a wii-remote (which i will refer to as wiimote) a nunchuck attachment, an IR sensor bar for the wireless wiimote, and packed for a limited time is Wii Sports.
When you power on the system it prompts you for the generic stuff.. language, parental controls, and such, all of which you can change in the settings menu. You taken to the Wii Channel Screen which has 12 TV fuzzed screens on 4 pages. The top left channel on the first page is always the game channel. Basically whatever you pop in the slot on the front comes up on that channel, whether it be a wii game or gamecube game (a flap on the side of the wii opens up to plug 4 gamecube controllers and 2 gamecube memory cards into).
The next channel is the Mii channel where you can make lil cute versions of yourself, customizable to the max. We had a blast on thanksgiving making lil Mii's. I have over 50 Mii's on my console and the Mii Plaza is maybe a 3rd full. Your Mii's can also travel to other consoles of people who you are friends with which is funny. I made a Mii on my friend AJs wii before i got mine. After i got mine, i made a new one. Because the wii is always connected to the internet (its wireless ready out of the box) the mii's are always traveling. I was playing a game of tennis that night and to my suprise, my old Mii was in the audience watching the game. cute nintendo.. reallllll cute.
Then there is the photo channel. You can take photos from an SD card, or the wii message board and do stupid fun things to them. You can also register your Wii with email addresses and phones so they can send pics to it. You can also send pics to your wii friends.
The shop channel is pretty cool. You can go online and buy old school NES, SEGA, SNES, Nintendo 64, or TurboGraffix 16 games. NES games are 5 bucks, SNES and SEGA are 8, TG16 are 6 and N64 games are 10. I havent yet but i think im going to buy Mario 64 so i can race that goddamn penguin. You know what im talking about poob and nethyr! You can also download content such as the Weather channel, News channel, and Internet channel which will use an Opera browser. Those 3 services will be free, but are not available yet. I think nintendo said sometime in December.
The Wiimote itself is really incredible. Its basically a mouse. You hold it like a remote control and it senses everything from depth to rotation. It is not a gimmick. Its no power glove. Its no U Force. It communicates with the Wii via bluetooth. There is also a speaker in the middle of the wiimote that definitley adds to the game play, but its kinda crappy quality. Its cool to hear your tennis serve and your bat hit a ball, but in Zelda (which i will review when i finish it) its annoying at some parts. The good thing is that you can lower the volume on it with the push of a button and even choose to turn it off all together. Though its really cool when you are bowling or golfing and not paying attention to the screen, your wiimote will go DING!
The only shitty thing is the battery life. The wiimote on a pair of AAs lasts about 40 - 50 hours. There are already 3rd party developers making charge stations and such. I ordered rechargeable batteries and a recharger already. But cmon nintendo. Whats up with that?
WII SPORTS:
Fun fun fun fun FUN!
Wii Sports comes with the system and right off the bat, this game is intended to get you used to the wiimote. The graphics arent revolutionary, they are just simple avatar like Mii's that you created. It comes with 5 games: Tennis, Bowling, Golf, Baseball, and Boxing. Tennis and bowling are by far my favorites, followed by golf, baseball, and boxing.
BOXING is definitely the least responsive to the players movements, but its fun for a few rounds. You use the nunchuck attachment which is also motion sensored. Its fun to beat the
out of eachother.
BASEBALL is just hit and pitch. You can change up the pitches and depending on how you swing, is where the ball goes i.e. you have to hit the ball up and hard to get a homerun. The bases are automatically ran to.
GOLF is pretty cool. You hold the wiimote like a club and you have to match up how hard you swing the club on your power meter to the distance the ball will go on the mini map of the course, accounting for wind and such. If you hit it too hard, you slice. Putting is tough, but luckily you can bring the camera down to the green to get a better idea of slopes. There is also a gradient tool for the green which helps you see where the ball will go.
BOWLING is so fun. To bowl you hold the wiimote up vertically as you would a ball. You pull the trigger on the wiimote, and do your bowl, releasing the trigger where you would the ball. If you twist your wrist to the left or right at the release, you will put a spin on the ball in either of those directions. So yes pete, you can bowl the way you do, and once you get the hang of it, like my roommate has, it works like it should. Its also great to be able to play with one hand, and hold a drink in the other. Kudos for that nintendo.
TENNIS is the highlight of wii sports. All you do is swing, fronthand, backhand, etc. No buttons are needed, and your characters move towards the ball automatically. There have been a few times where the automatic running has screwed me over, but that is also do to a sick hit on my opponents side. You can only play doubles and if its 1 on 1 then when every you swing, both of your Mii's swing. Everything matters. How hard you hit, where you aim the shot, if you hit too late, too early, not enough of an arc on the ball to go over the net, etc. It really works that well. You will find yourself getting excited, and maybe even flustered from a tense volley, but never frustrated. The game is fun. Bottom Line. Ive played with 4 people once and it was very hectic. You need space. But it was still a blast. On thanksgiving we did some 2 on 1 games and it was a grand time. My uncle actually hit me accidently at one point, causing me to lose the set. Good times.
Wii is definitely designed for more casual gamers, as every friggin news report will tell you. But a game like Zelda will keep the hardcore fans very very happy. The game is incredible. More on that after i finish it.
For now tho, I highly reccomend this console. Its fun, great for gatherings, and ANYONE can play. My dad can friggin play and hes not a video game person. My uncle ralph was playing. It's easy, intuitive, and not a let down at all. And these are launch titles im talking about. I cant even fathom where nintendo is going with this. There will surely be peripherals up the wazoo and the downloadable content, updates, and virtual console games should keep the masses entertained for a long time.
At least i hope so. With over 600,00 sold since the Nov. 19th launch and a projected 4 Million to be sold before the end of the year, i think the wii will be a household item. And its so damn cheap. For the console and zelda i payed 325 after tax. Wii-motes range from 35-40 and the nunchuck is another 20. The Classic Controller, which looks like an SNES controller with 2 analoug sticks, is 20 also. Tho you can used the wiimote to play NES and SEGA games and even Gamecube controllers to play N64 games.
If you are still reading this big
post, i suggest you find a way to go get a Wii. And be my friend so we can trade Mii's. And we can soon frag eachother with future releases.
GO NOW!!!
legend of zelda: twilight princess review coming soon...