The Nintendo Wii is a BLAST!

I know this post has nothing really to do with mobile devices (actually the way I bought mine does relate to mobile devices) or working on the go, but I just had to tell you all about my personal experiences with the Nintendo Wii. I couldn't find a Wii anywhere after it was released and was getting frustrated calling 10-12 stores every day looking for stock without ever getting a straight answer. I then signed up for the Nintendo Wii Finder service for US$6.50. The service searches the servers of popular online retailers and then sends you an email when stock changes occur. I had the email notices going to my Gmail and hosted Exchange account and then I was hit on the second day at 5 am with a notice from Circuit City. I caught the email notice on my mobile phone and then jumped on a PC and placed my order for a console and an extra controller. Three days later the Wii package arrived and then I bought a couple extra controllers on ebay. You have to click the link sent to you within a couple minutes since the stores sell out very quickly. When I checked a couple times to see how fast they were selling if you went there 5 minutes after the notice they were sold out in almost all cases. Many of the notices are for bundled games and controllers too, but Circuit City always lets you buy just the console if you want.

So we opened the Wii on Christmas Eve and hooked it up to our 37 inch HD LCD TV down in the rec room. I made it the rule that the wrist strap must be worn at all times or that person couldn't play the Wii for a week because I read of too many cases where controllers were flying into TVs, windows, and people and a US$1,000 TV is too expensive to risk. We have mostly played the Wii Sports game that is included with the Wii and I am quite amazed with the motion technology that Nintendo came up with. My wife is really blown away as is everyone else who has come over to play it with us. I took it to my Mom's house for Christmas and it was a hit there. At least 3 family members are now hunting for one themselves after playing it.

Bowling is one of my favorites and the system even picks up when you move across your body or twist the controller a bit and curves the ball. You can give the virtual ball a hard throw by moving your arm faster through the air and it really is like you are there at the bowling alley. Even my mother-in-law who uses a cane was up and bowling and already talking about buying one for her house. She actually almost bowled a 200 too. Bowling, tennis, golf, boxing, and baseball are included in Wii Sports. There are also some very fun training excercises for each sport that help you perfect your movements. The graphics are not anything special, but the games are really designed to demonstrate the wireless controller functionality and so far no one who has played the games has even mentioned the weak graphics. We also have MonkeyBall Blitz and the graphics are much better in that game. The Wii is great fun for the whole family and gets people up and off the couch too. It is our favorite gift this year and if you can find one I highly recommend it.