Wii boxing fun

It truly seems that Nintendo is achieving its goals for the Wii. People of all types seem to enjoy it. We took the Wii to some Christmas parties this last weekend. Wii Sports was enjoyed by all. The video below is of our mother and one of her friends enjoying a friendly boxing match. They wouldn't normally play video games, but they seemed to have a lot of fun. (I think the rest of us enjoyed watching them play more though.) The other big hit was the Photo Channel. This turned out to be a great way for everyone to enjoy the Christmas photos together.

Zelda: Twilight Princess gameplay

This is a short video showing the sword and bow controls in Twilight Princess. I think you'll see that only small motions are necessary, and it works quite well.

A Couple of Wii Videos

Here are a couple of videos. The first shows how the pointer tracks as you move the Wiimote. This is an attempt to show how close the pointer is to where you are actually pointing and how quickly it responds to fast movements.

Wiimote pointer

The second video is of the SNES game F-Zero being played on the Virtual Console. This game is one of my all time favorites.

F-Zero

The Wii.....finally!

Finally, two weeks after launch, I managed to track down a Wii. I found out that ToysRUs would have 51 for sale Sunday morning. I arrived at a little after 6 AM, 3 hours before opening, and was 24th in line. The line swelled to probably more than 70 before the manager handed out tickets around 7:20. The ticket allowed us to pick up the Wii anytime before 1 PM. Excellent! We even got to form the line in the lobby instead of outside in the bitter cold. Thank you ToysRUS!!

Wii nunchuck

My collection of Wii accessories continues to grow as I located a nunchuck today. Still can't track down an actual Wii though, and it's getting frustrating.

Wiiiiiiiiiiiiii

After months of anticipation, the Wii is finally here.....sorta. Brian managed to secure one after about 8 days, and I'm still trying to track one down. Here are some pics of the Wiimote, and Brian playing Wii Sports: Boxing.

We knew the Wiimote was small, but it's even smaller than you would think. It feels great in the hand although it can get slippery if you get into the game. The use of the speaker and rumble in the Wiimote add a nice extra bit of immersion. In the console menus, the remote rumbles slightly when the pointer moves over a button. It gives a sort of tactile feel to the on-screen buttons.

PS3 lines at Target and Best Buy

There are the lines for the PS3 at the Target (left) and Best Buy (right) in Germantown, MD approximately 27 hours before launch. It's gonna get cold out there tonight.

Wii display at Best Buy

These are a couple shots of the Wii display at the Best Buy in Germantown, MD. You see they have a large sign with countdown in the space where the games will be. Also, they have a Wii under glass above which there is a screen showing a video about the Wii.

Campout for PS3

Well I'm not excited about the release of the PS3 ( I prefer the Wii), but apparently some people are. This pic was taken at the Gaithersburg, MD Circuit City just before lunch on November 15, 2006. The PS3 is being released on November 17 at midnight or approximately 36 hours later. Kinda sad isn't it? :) Of course, I'll be trying to get a Wii at launch, but I'm not camping out.