Wii are so nerdy. After getting a hot tip that more Wii's would be available on Sunday, we waited in line last week to buy the brand new video game system. Amazingly were at the exact spot to get the very last ticket for the day (we felt like the kid in Willy Wonka).
After paying up, we ran home and set up the Wii and it is ridiculously fun.
Forget the days of sitting quietly on the sofa to play a game - we ended up moving things out of the way and playing Tennis (one of the games in Wii Sports, which ships with the console) in the living room all afternoon.
The wireless controller acts as a sort of magic wand - when it is your tennis raquet you completely forget how silly you look in the middle of the room, swinging wilding, trying for the match point with your fancy backhand.
It's super tiny, and the design is really nice and very intuitive. Setup was easy (it connected right to our wireless so we can download games from the internet directly) and it is backwards compatible to all Game Cube games.
Oh, and so far, the new Zelda is really good....
Nintendo Wii, available where you can find it for now (plenty are on the way, though, 2 million will ship worldwide by the end of the year), is $249.
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
Why is this better than playing real tennis? sorry--I'm old-fashioned. I don't even own a DVD player.
luddite: does it have to be "better" than the real thing to be just plain fun? I love "real" tennis, and would prefer playing it to the Wii version, but that's not to say playing the indoor video game version isn't a good time to be had.
Janel: you've evoked gaming console envy. My little DS isn't cutting it alone now. And compared to the other two systems, the Wii is the most decor-friendly machine, with its size and vertical shape. Now if I can only find one!
great review. nice to meet a fellow gamer on AT. Afterall, that's part of creating a warm living space - spending time at home doing things you love.
i am a game geek too - i love ddr (dance dance revolution) - i know that's quite a public confession to make. it's fun when people come over. we all look like idiots with these dorky, very serious faces, legs flopping around all over the place... The whole house shakes, but we get some exercise and it keeps the spirits up.
if you've had a beer or two first, it can only get better. great for the winter blues.
i have to look at the wii - i watched the reviews on g4 (i am an olivia fan), but your review was more convincing. :)
holly
holly
luddite: No claims that it is better than real tennis, just that it is pretty amazing technology and lots of fun (and it has the added bonus that you can play in the middle of the winter in Chicago).
There is one drawback (someone just sent me this link)...folks are getting so into the tennis game that a website has already been started to chronicle the mishaps of flying controllers....
http://www.wiihaveaproblem.com/
gregory and holly: Happy that you two are fellow geeky bloggers - all I can say is go go go find a Wii - it's so good!
hehehe. a couple of us did the same thing, except we waited in line all night friday and all day saturday so that we could have a big Wii party saturday night!
Pics of our little shindig are here:
http://www.makeshitbreakshit.com/2006/11/19/our-wii-launch-party/
we had multiple "stations" set up and folkds came by after bars called last call. fun fun fun.
count me on the wii bandwagon. my sweetie picked one up on launch day and we've been playing tennis, bowling and zelda. but really, i've found that making the mii to be really fun too. we've made loads of family members and friends with a frightening degree of reality!
No one with a computer should claim the name "luddite".
The wii looks like fun, but as I use a projector I'm more in the 360.
I want one of these! Right now my "gaming" is limited to on online chess; I've been reading up on Wii and Playstation 3 and am rather torn as to which way to go. The tennis game on Wii looks very entertaining (I can't believe Roger Federer doesn't have his own video game!), but I'd love to have the "24" game, and that is a Playstation platform.
Either way I'm definitely waiting until the Christmas madness is history and the store shelves are plentifully stocked before I pull out the plastic.