Nintendo's Wii = Not for Me. How about you?

[SpendTooMuchOnAtari]

Flojomojo: Am I reading this right? You have never played the Wii but are sure it's not for you?

 

It's a really neat system, give it a try if you get an opportunity. Wii Sports is an excellent pack-in game.

 

bleh, I'm getting to be an old man and the Wii is a great system to play with my little brother (13), my daughter (11) and my son (6). I just got WarioWare today and I love it as do the kids. Also, I don't have my old school systems anymore so downloading games is fun. Zelda LTTP was just released yesterday and the original Donkey Kong Country is coming out soon.

 

I can't wait to see what they are going to do with the Animal Crossing series for the Wii.

[IronMongeR]

I got a Wii the other week and frankly I'm very disappointed with it. The controller feels like a chore half the time, Zelda seems exactly the same as every other Zelda, and the launch game line up was weak. I will give it more time and let the quality titles come, but let's just say I'm glad I've got a 360.

[Flojomojo]

Flojomojo: Am I reading this right? You have never played the Wii but are sure it's not for you?

 

It's a really neat system, give it a try if you get an opportunity. Wii Sports is an excellent pack-in game.

I'm not 100% sure, but I'm leaning that way, even though I haven't had a chance to try it. I'm weighing what it brings to my already massive collection of unplayed stuff, and I'm not sure it's got enough to convince me to bring in another mouth to feed full of software.

 

I'm worried I'll feel just like this:

I got a Wii the other week and frankly I'm very disappointed with it. The controller feels like a chore half the time, Zelda seems exactly the same as every other Zelda, and the launch game line up was weak. I will give it more time and let the quality titles come, but let's just say I'm glad I've got a 360.

but the scarcity and the general excitement over the system is almost enough to sway me away from my anti-Wii position.

 

Not that it matters much since it's impossible to find. I seem to be living without it ...

[+LS650]

The Wii appeals to me more than the 360 or the PS3. I won't get one for a while (no $$$) but maybe eventually.

[Lord Helmet]

I really don't see the argument that the remote is a "chore"

 

It's different...but not a chore. Different is good.

[Tempest]

Well I suppose I can't knock it until I've tried it, but just from watching the commercials I can already tell that the motion thing will get really old really fast (at least for me). I'll pick up a Wii, but only for games made specifically for the motion controller, not for regular games adapted for it. For example, when given the choice, I chose Zelda for the GC rather than the Wii because I didn't want to be swinging my arm around for hours. There are just some types of games (RPGs mostly) where I just want to sit there and move my fingers, not my whole arm. I fear that the Wii will end up like my GC though, used for a few specific games but mostly underused in favor for the PS2 (PS3 in the Wii's case). Of course Sony still has to come out with a game worth buying the PS3 for before that happens.

 

The Wii will undoubtedly be the king of party systems though. Nothing goes better with swining your arms around like an idiot than friends and beer.

 

Tempest

[+Random Terrain]

. . . I didn't want to be swinging my arm around for hours.

Yeah, it would be great for people who have the room to swing their arms around and don't mind doing it for hours. It will give many kids the exercise they have been lacking for years. I'd like to have a game system hooked up to an exercise machine such as a recumbent exercise bike.

 

Many times when I play a game, it's for fun, but it's also to get my feet up. It's hard to flail your arms while lying on the couch.

[NE146]

psst.. guys. I played and finished Wii Zelda entirely while laying in a couch. You don't swing your arms really.. I kinda just twitched my wrist / fingers

 

Although admittedly yeah when you aim, you point at the screen.

[Shawn]

psst.. guys. I played and finished Wii Zelda entirely while laying in a couch. You don't swing your arms really.. I kinda just twitched my wrist / fingers

 

Although admittedly yeah when you aim, you point at the screen.

 

 

Exactly, I don't everyone that hasn't played the Wii yet know that it's not a flaling and thrashing of the arms type idea and more so just short movments. This is the best system out right now hands down, and yes I've played on all 3 quite a bit.

[Tempest]

psst.. guys. I played and finished Wii Zelda entirely while laying in a couch. You don't swing your arms really.. I kinda just twitched my wrist / fingers

 

Although admittedly yeah when you aim, you point at the screen.

 

 

Exactly, I don't everyone that hasn't played the Wii yet know that it's not a flaling and thrashing of the arms type idea and more so just short movments. This is the best system out right now hands down, and yes I've played on all 3 quite a bit.

 

Still, I'd think even just twiching your wrist for an hour or so would get tiring. Fingers tire slower than your wrist.

 

Tempest

[+Random Terrain]

I broke both of my wrists when I was a kid, so no twitching for me. My computer mouse is almost too much for my wrist and arm to take. If it wasn't for the vitamin B complex I take twice a day, I'd probably have carpal tunnel syndrome by now.

 

(If you go by the commercials where actors are pretending to play, it makes it look like you have to do much more than twitch your wrists or swing your arms. You also have to jump around like an idiot and leap across the room as if your nuts are on fire and you need to dunk them in a big bowl of eggnog. )

[Lord Helmet]

psst.. guys. I played and finished Wii Zelda entirely while laying in a couch. You don't swing your arms really.. I kinda just twitched my wrist / fingers

 

Although admittedly yeah when you aim, you point at the screen.

 

Either way you play, the control makes for a better experience imho. It seems more immersive to actually "swing" Link's sword than to tap a button and watch him do it. I liked aiming better with the remote than with the right stick on the GCN controler. It took a little getting used to, but I ended up loving it. You really just have to forget most of what you know about playing video games. If you aren't scared to do that, you will probably enjoy the Wii.

[+Random Terrain]

You really just have to forget most of what you know about playing video games. If you aren't scared to do that, you will probably enjoy the Wii.

Sometimes I'd like to play a video game in a more physical way, but I'd want to play wearing a virtually reality force feedback suit which will be the next best thing to having your own personal holodeck. You are going to feel the sword in your hands. The scenery, objects, and characters will look and feel so real that you'll almost believe that you are there. Much better than standing there with your Wii in your hand. It's not fear that is keeping me away from the Wii, it's that it's not good enough. People have been working on virtual reality for years and this is what we get? A Wii? This is the 21st century Nintendo, we should have better toys by now. I wee on your Wii.

[NE146]

Well yknow.. I'm not a Wii zealot. Play whatever works for you

 

I just convey my own experiences since I have extensive in-the-trenches playtime with it which is all I can really do. And to me it wasn't hard at all, and worked fine for all 60+ hours of gameplay(!). But there's all sorts of people in the world and to others, I can definitely see it being a hassle.. sure

 

The nice thing about it is if you dont like it, there's GC Zelda which is the same exact friggin game

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Honestly..with the exception of Wii sports, none of the current Wii games really requires any bit of flailing about to play the games. I play trauma center laying down in my bed propped up like I would to watch a movie. I played Zelda in the same manner. And honestly Zelda doesn't take much movement of the wrist at all to swing the sword. Also, I could have sworn there were options to change the control mechanic so that the sword swing could be mapped to a different button?! I never looked into this, but I read where others did this when moving their wrists was just too much.

 

What I like the most about the Wii remote and nunchuck system is that I can literally have my hands anywhere to play. When I play trauma center, I can have my left hand lay beside my leg and just use my thumb for thumb stick to choose my tools. The right hand simply holds the remote pointing it at the screen just like I do when using my laser pointer in my classroom all day long. The main difference to me is that a game like Trauma Center simply wouldn't be easily done or done as well with a standard control scheme. I also don't like how cramped my hands feel these days when playing with PS2 or Cube controllers. My DS doesn't get played much because I find it cramps my hands pretty horribly as well. But the Wii isn't a problem. Wireless freedom of movement.

[moycon]

chose Zelda for the GC rather than the Wii because I didn't want to be swinging my arm around for hours.

 

Well that's no quite the way it works, you defininatly won't wear yourself out playing Zelda, altho to be honest, I was wishing for more traditional control when fighting creatures in the new Zelda. Getting around is a breeze, this game really does control very well considering, battling foes with the Wiimote pretty much blows tho. I don't think your missing anything playing the GC version.

[MegaManFan]

Well you could always pick up a PS3. There seems to be plenty available. In fact I saw 15 PS3's at the Best Buy near my work just today.

 

Not a wii to be seen anywhere.

 

On an interesting tangent to that, last week when I went to Best Buy on Tuesday they had dozens and dozens of remotes and nunchuks, so I picked up two more of each so I'd have a full set of four. This week when I went there ALL GONE and not restocked - every last one had been sold. On the other hand there were three unsold 60 GB PS3's just sitting there absorbing shelf space, looking totally untouched.

[jpfalcon2003]

love my new wii I got for xmas, but haven't had much time yet to play it. been busy with work. still have 2 unopened games

Edited January 24, 2007 by jpfalcon2003

[Shannon]

I noticed my local best buy no longer have any PS3's but I'm wondering if maybe the shipped em to the other best buy cause it is located in an area with a larger population.

[Lord Helmet]

chose Zelda for the GC rather than the Wii because I didn't want to be swinging my arm around for hours.

 

Well that's no quite the way it works, you defininatly won't wear yourself out playing Zelda, altho to be honest, I was wishing for more traditional control when fighting creatures in the new Zelda. Getting around is a breeze, this game really does control very well considering, battling foes with the Wiimote pretty much blows tho. I don't think your missing anything playing the GC version.

 

I dunno about that. The spinning attack is easier with the Wii (shaking the nunchuck as apposed to holding down a button and charging the attack). I always found that attack a pain in the butt on all other zelda games except Wii Twilight Princess.

[AtariJr]

meh.. people said the same thing about the DS and look what happened to that. all in all i coudl care less if the world hates the little box, ive had over a month of straight gaming.. the first console system ive ever got at launch, and the first new system i got 6 games (not including VC games) in a month's worth of time. so , its pretty damn fun for me. ad some of the new releases this spring, ill be broke and damn happy. go play your 360 and ps3.. and i honestly hope you have fun, as ill have fun blasting through now 3/4ths of excitetruck and 1/4th of zelda... having a damn blast "waving my stick" just as i did with "the palm pilot" DS.

[George Gray]

meh.. people said the same thing about the DS and look what happened to that. all in all i coudl care less if the world hates the little box, ive had over a month of straight gaming.. the first console system ive ever got at launch, and the first new system i got 6 games (not including VC games) in a month's worth of time. so , its pretty damn fun for me. ad some of the new releases this spring, ill be broke and damn happy. go play your 360 and ps3.. and i honestly hope you have fun, as ill have fun blasting through now 3/4ths of excitetruck and 1/4th of zelda... having a damn blast "waving my stick" just as i did with "the palm pilot" DS.

The DS Lite and the Wii have turned me into a .... gasp .... Nintendo fanboy. It is a sad, sad thing. I swore I would never let that happen, but, alas, it has. The DS Lite is just damned cool. Sleek, sexy, very...ugh...Apple-ish. The Wii, much the same. Sleek, sexy, quiet. It just sits there, glaring at me. It knows I want it. That controller. Oh man, the feel of it. And the strap, oh the strap. MMMMM...

 

Seriously, the Wii is very cool. The controller took all of 10 seconds to get used to. Raving Rabbids for Wii has to be best party game ever. It makes all of the Mario Party games just seem silly and tortuous to play. Excite Truck...Too much fun. Get the steering wheel attachment for that (a twenty dollar rip off from UBI SOFT, but it truly adds to the game.) 4x4 Monster Truck whatever from UBI is not quite as fun as Excite Truck, but may be worth it for half price. The mix of vehicles is pretty cool, my son loves to race the school bus. Red Steel is ok and utilizes the controls pretty decently, but could be played just as well with a 'normal' controller. Wii Sports, on the other hand, remains a killer game. You do NOT need to flail around, but the whole point of it - and some of the other games - is to do just that. Every time I play, I find myself really getting into the game and isn't that what it is supposed to do? I find I acutally play better when I'm into the game, physically. I've tried baseball and bowling without the arm waving and body motions. Not much fun. But, when I get off my duff and get into them, they are great and I can play for hours. I am hoping someone brings out a real Baseball game that uses the same control mechanism. It might make me a better fan of the real game as well. After playing Wii bowling, I have this really bizarre feeling that I actuall WANT to visit a true real life bowling alley. It quickly goes away though.

And then there's Zelda. Admittedly, this is the first Zelda game I've played since playing the original game just a few years ago via an emulator. I like it. I think playing it with a normalish controller would not be as much fun.

Virtual Console is great. Yeah, I have emulators for all those systems and even have one or two images for them, but playing them on a real console (the Wii) instead of my PC makes those same games seem better, even if they are not. Columns, of which I am addicted, seemed more legit on the TV than on the computer. The classic controller is nice too. Comfortable, if a bit on the small side (but then I HATED the original NES controller, so this is a major improvement for me.) GCN controllers will work, but just don't feel right for the games. So far, we've purchased Columns, Super Mario World, Super Mario Bros 1 and Mario Kart 64. MK64 is a blast and just as freaking frustrating to play as the cart was. The controls are just as bad on the VC as they were on the N64. It's great!

The other 'features' of Wii...News Channel, Photo Channel and Weather are cool, but sort of pointless. I do find myself using the News Channel. It is oddly compelling to use as is Weather even though it is hours old weather news. The Photo Channel has a few nice features and the ability to play movies from the SD card is a cool thing, though I won't use it much. The Opera Browser is probably the single coolest thing outside of the games. Even as buggy as it is now, it is really cool. It is compatible will Flash 7 so quite a few sites will render just fine. There's a plethora of Wii-formatted sites to choose from now and the flash games are fun.

All in all, Wii is a great investment of $250 (plus another $40 for an extra controller, $20 for an extra nunchuck, $20 for the steering wheel, $20 for the component cable, $30 for the 2gb sd card, $40 for the Wii Points...holy crap, it adds up!)

Oh, one last thing...my wife actually plays the games now. She had not really played much since our NES days. She is more apt to pick up the Wii controller and play than she ever has been. I think that says alot.

[moycon]

Oh, one last thing...my wife actually plays the games now. She had not really played much since our NES days. She is more apt to pick up the Wii controller and play than she ever has been. I think that says alot.

 

Yeah I've noticed this too, friends of mine I've known for years that have never had one bit of interest in any of my many systems seem to enjoy playing with the Wii. It seems the perfect choice for people that really don't like video games too much. Unfortunately all they are interested in is Wii Sports so I'm not so sure it will convert them, but at least they are playing. One dude (If he could afford it) was talking about getting a Wii just to play Wii Sports!! I've seen folks complain that all Wii Sports is, is a demo and not a real game, but it easily gets the most play at my house.

[AtariJr]

yea same here. my mom actually begged me to leave the Wii home when i went back to college, cause shes addicted to Bowling. Besides a couple hours with DOnkey Konga, your talking about a woman who the last time she ever picked up a controller and enjoyed what she played was the zapper with duck hunt (she always kicked my ass at that game as a kid.. grr).

 

Its ok though, i got her Brain Age and a DS. Just talked with her yesterday, and she said shes played it every day and is addicted. I honestly didnt think the game was that fun, but hey.. the point is nintendo must know something i dont.. got my mom who hasnt touched a game and liked it really since 1990ish to being a crazed nut about 2 systems.

[George Gray]

Oh, one last thing...my wife actually plays the games now. She had not really played much since our NES days. She is more apt to pick up the Wii controller and play than she ever has been. I think that says alot.

 

Yeah I've noticed this too, friends of mine I've known for years that have never had one bit of interest in any of my many systems seem to enjoy playing with the Wii. It seems the perfect choice for people that really don't like video games too much. Unfortunately all they are interested in is Wii Sports so I'm not so sure it will convert them, but at least they are playing. One dude (If he could afford it) was talking about getting a Wii just to play Wii Sports!! I've seen folks complain that all Wii Sports is, is a demo and not a real game, but it easily gets the most play at my house.

 

My wife likes the Wii Sports, but she really likes the Raving Rabbids game. We bought Wario Ware, but she has yet to play that one. Raving Rabbids is great. I was not excited about it at first, but when we started playing, I was won over. The outhouse mini game and the cow toss are without compare. They just have to be experienced.

 

Nintendo has done something truly unique, but I'm with most here, I hope they can maintain the excitement the Wii has generated. I think they will, but it will take more than a slate of Mario and Mario like games to do that. EA has recently stated it's increased support for the Wii and the DS. Capcom has a nice line up coming and so does Sega. I hope it continues.

BTW, in Richmond, VA, the Wii is nearly impossible to find whereas PS3 is quite easy to find. In fact, I can go into just about any big box store and find them. Maybe I need to talk to Tretton...

 

As for DS Lite, we 'traded up' my GBA SP for a shiny black DS Lite (Well, SP + $60, that is) for my son. I took his DS and thought it was ok. I then made the mistake of playing with the Lite...ohhhh. Several weeks later, that ugly blue DS became that sexy DS (iPod White.) Now, the N needs to mate the Wii and DS. How cool will that be?

One last diatribe...what is so great about online play? The extent of my online play experience is this: Mario Kart DS and a couple WWII shooter games on my PC. I found the WWII more frustrating than fun. It is not fun to 'spawn' and be picked off right away without being able to fire a shot. As for MKDS online, it was ok. I like to do that once in awhile, but I'd much rather play multiplayer with my kid. He's much more fun. I guess I'm wondering if it is really all that compelling that someone would skip a console just because it did not play online. I understand that Nintendo has JUST NOW shipped the dev kits for online play. Is it really that big of a deal?