Why I love the Wii

I’ve always been a big Zelda fan, so when I saw screenshots of “Twilight Princess”, I knew it was time to get the Wii. It’s an amazing gaming machine, I’m glad I went with Wii over Xbox360. Wii gameplay is great and really comfortable in my hands, much less “trigger finger” stress like I used to get with the Playstation.

Graphics are definitely sub-par compared to PS3 and 360. I’m running it through component cables on my 42in plasma tv, and the jaggies are quite noticeable more often than not. It’s not a deal breaker for me though, I’m used to the jaggies. It’s a small price to pay for the motion-sensor gameplay actions of swinging my sword and targeting by pointing the “wand”.

Wii Sports is so fun. My favorite is tennis and golf. Haven’t really mastered bowling or boxing yet and still getting the hang of baseball. I’m a pro level tennis player and golfer… quite proud of that ;). You never really know how out of shape you are until you get sweaty and tired playing Wii Sports. A couple rounds of boxing and I’m ready for some Gatorade and a break.

All of the Wii users in my generation are asking the same question: when can I be a Jedi in a Wii game? The console is *designed* for Star Wars, the controller is shaped just like a light saber. I’ve played many other non-Wii Star Wars games and they’ve all been cool, but being a Jedi has always been lacking. Pressing a series of buttons to swing a light saber just doesn’t feel right. Lucas, Nintendo… you on this one?

The other great thing about Wii is I can finally play N64 games. I skipped that console (and the GameCube, actually), but have always really liked the N64 version of Mario Cart. With the Wii, I can get the game w/o the console which saves me some quid. I have a wide screen set and the 3D games like Mario 64 and Mario Cart don’t get fuzzy when in WS mode. The actual vertices seem to stretch which is something I can handle… fuzzy distortion wouldn’t be cool, but stretched, but still crisp and clear display was a pleasant suprise. The classic controller is nice and kinda wireless, which is nice since my console sits about 10 feet from my couch. “Kinda wireless” means the controller wire plugs into the wireless “wand” controller, so I’m wired up to that point, but can move the pair of controllers anywhere I want to play.

This is unique content by no means as everyone had a Wii before me, but the wait was well worth it.