Wii Mini-review and miscellany

So, I've decided rather than procrastinate my wii review, I'd break it up into a couple of pieces. That way people get to actually hear about it. Oh, and it'll keep me posting.

This morning we ate some buttermilk waffles and hit the basement for 30 minutes before our youngest took a nap. (She had been up for a couple hours last night, from 1-3ish...) Not exactly my plan, but at least I got the boxes up and a small portion of wire run for the smoke alarms, my last wire I need to run. Unless we decide to run speaker wires, but I'm leaning away from that at the moment. Anyway. So we all went outside to work in the yard before it rained. It looked like it could start any minute.

Well, it never rained today and our youngest slept for about 4 hours. I got the lawn mowed and edged and my wife and I got a ton of the weeds removed from the flowerbeds among other things. The place actually is starting to look cared for again. If it wasn't so dark outside I'd post a picture. Maybe tomorrow.

My lovely wife decided that we needed to eat out as it was mid afternoon, and went and purchased some food for us. We at some of the best grease around and then all sat down to play the wii.

My oldest is really starting to get the hang of some of the mini-games. Her favorite is the one where you turn the remote sideways and steer a cow back to the barn. (Get it? Steer? Cow?) You tip the controller to the left or right to turn and twist it forward or back to go faster or slower, similar to using a motorbike. You have to knock down scarecrows in the road for points.

Why am I trying to tell you this by typing? Geez, you'd think I were cooler than that. Bah.

Here, check it out.



I should metion that our 18 month old insists on "playing" the cow riding game. She knows she needs a controller and clutches it tightly in her fist while pushing buttons to play (even though the buttons do nothing on this one). She knows when it starts and ends and pretty much gets that she gets to move the cow around.

Well, I was impressed. Guess I'm a dad, what can I say. =)

This is one of 9 mini-games that comes with a wii remote, called "wii play". It has a short tutorial of how to use the controller the first time you use it as well, which would have been really nice to start out with.

It also comes with a duck-hunt-esque game with is kind of fun if a little basic. Air hockey, pool, table tennis, and some wierd bubble puzzle game are all pretty okay. My favorite is basically a remake of the atari 2600 combat with tanks. You use the wii remote kind of like you would a mouse, to aim your tank and then you can lay mines and shoot. Good stuff, I bet multi-player would be really fun with that.



The other smash hit is the fishing game. Fairly simple, but decently fun. These are all pretty mediocre to lame games by yourself, but make for fantastic social games as anyone can pick them up in a few seconds.



You can earn medals for scoring high points and you get to use the "mii" or avatar that you create for yourself.

The wii play has so far been the biggest hit with the kids, and especially after today, we are all happy we own it. Finally, a console that truly is for the whole family. It'll change your mind about gaming.

My wife, after just 1 hour of playing the wii said "This is hands down better than the pinball machine."

Ouch.

That's okay, I'll still get an addam's family. Someday. That'll show her!

Guess I have to finish the basement first though. Doh.

More later, happy weekend.