I finally got a Wii…!

So I’ve never really been a big video game console player. I got a Super Nintendo about 4 years after they were popular. I got a Sony Playstation 1 kinda early on. This was post-college and I had discovered credit cards and “sick days”.

I sat back and watched the XBox 360 frenzy. I actually know people who camped out the night before to get one of these. A 34-year old man with no kids. A fellow IT guy. A normal person for all intents and purposes.

After witnessing the XBox 360 launch, I watched the Playstation 3 fiasco unfold. What fun that was!

The I heard about the Wii. I had no different opinion of it versus any of the others because I just don’t play video games like that. I can get through a couple of games of football, hockey, or baseball. Occasionally I can enjoy a Call to Arms or military type of shoot ’em up. But for me, those menial pleasures aren’t worth the $700ish that you need to invest prior to reaping the benefits of having such a gaming system.

So the Wii comes out and you could get one – MUCH easier than pre-ordering or standing in line all night. The concept was so new, that I’d imagine only true gamers bought in. Or people who wanted something new for half the price. At $250, the Wii is an attractive appliance based on price alone.

Then I started seeing these things showing up at parties I went to. Invariably, if there was a Wii in the house, the evening always ended with an intense game of tennis or a marathon of bowling matches. “C’mon, ONE more game” always meant another hour. I played a little, but was more of a spectator. It looked fun, but I sucked at it, so I just hung in the wings.

Some time goes by, I see it more, play it more, and hear people that I never thought would play such games raving about it. I went online to check out what all I would need to invest in. And then the hook – you can’t get them. That is when I became determined! All of these sold out scenarios, super inflated e-bay and online vendor “bundles”, and local stores getting a few at a time at undisclosed times, really put it in my mind that i needed one of these.

After about two weeks of calling the local stores and stopping just short of paying an extra $200 for the $250 system, I caught a break when I called a BestBuy that I’d never knew existed. It was about 15 miles away and I sped my arse off at 2pm on a Thursday to try and get there before the four units that arrived that morning were sold out. Needless to say, I got number 3 and went happily on my way. Setup was a snap and I had fun testing out all of the Wii Sports games that came with it. It was fun.

This morning, I introduced Laurie to it and we had some good tennis matches. I think the bowling tournament we played hooked her! What needs to be said is that the Wii is exponentially better with more people! Not that it isn’t fun alone, but sweating and competing with someone else just makes it more fun. Hence the reason it always comes out at parties.

I would definitely recommend this to anyone. I can’t wait for my parents to come to town. I can see my mother flipping out for bowling. Laurie is already anxious to get Wii Fit and check it out. All in all, a FANTASTIC investment at $250! Granted, you need at least one more controller and one more nunchuck. You need three more of each to max out the 4-player capabilities – well worth it in party environments!

Oh but the fun doesn’t stop there…I knew that the XBox and PS3 were big online consoles and could download stuff and connect to the internet. As I was reading the instructions, I discovered that the Wii has a built in wireless card. After about 3 minutes of configuring and connecting to my home wireless network, I was looking at my weather forecast and the latest news and many categories! There is a store where you can buy more games and who knows what else. You can download a browser and surf the internet! The one negative I can say about the Wii is that you pay the equivalent of $5 for the browsing capabilities. It was free until the end of June, but I’m calling bullshit on having to spend $5 for that. But hey, all in all, I can handle that.

Additionally, you can use a regular SD memory card from a camera to increase your storage space. I grabbed a 1GB card I had in my camera and popped it in. Viola! All of my pictures and videos showed up in the photo gallery section of the Wii (all of these sections – like internet, weather, news, photos, etc. are called “Channels”) and played like a champ.

What I would like to say is you probably want to try and get one of these. Online vendors are charging an average of about $370 for the core $250 system, and upwards of $600 for “bundled” packages that at best include a few games and enough controllers for two people to play. I just can’t justify paying THAT much more for the system, hence the reason I’ve been calling stores and searching for units locally. My overall plight took about two weeks of calling every few days, which to me was worth it.

I hope this has been helpful. ENJOY!!