Can’t complain too much. We got exactly five years out of that Wii. Scored one the day they were released in 2006 and had it under the tree for Christmas that year. That thing got played an obscene amount. Back then the kids were 5 and 9. It was pretty perfect. I liked that it was mostly breezy, non-commitment type stuff. Nintendo changed the fucking game with the system. Everyone pointed and laughed at first, but Sony and Microsoft sure did rush to do motion control of their own. I don’t think either of them would have if the Wii hadn’t come along. It was nice to see Nintendo on top again. I’m a fanboy – always had Nintendo systems. When they’re on, they’re the best.

Not much to say. It’s cool. It might get a little use around here. Mostly because we don’t have any other devices floating around to stream from Netflix (or anywhere else for that matter). Quality is equivalent to standard definition TV.

Once we get around to paying down much of the debt we ran up in the past year or so, I’d like to really set the house up with some new entertainment equipment. I’d love to get the whole house networked and streaming our entertainment options. We’re still using the receiver/speakers on the big TV that we bought in 1996.

Whatever. The Netflix streaming on Wii is neat. I’m sure there are much better options, but if you don’t have anything else around it’s nice to play with.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/13/technology/companies/13netflix.html

Nintendo is bringing Netflix’s online streaming video service to its Wii gaming console, the most popular in the industry, the companies plan to announce Wednesday.

I think it’s great. I’m a total lifelong Nintendo fanboy and the fact that they just came in and changed the game and pulled it off is cool as hell. No one expected it.

I don’t frequent gamer forums or sites too often, but I have read stuff here and there and as far as I can tell hardcore game dorks are a lot like hardcore coaster dorks – if the product doesn’t cater to them, then it sucks and is a failure…no matter how much real world evidence there is to the contrary. Game dorks hating on Wii is as common and tired as coaster dorks hating on Six Flags. Pick a thread about each from some popular forum on the respective subjects and you’ll see the similarities are a little creepy.

At any rate, I think it’s pretty neat that the underpowered little system that offers mostly silly minigame collections that require mindless waggling and little beyond the goal of simply enjoying the game has captured the attention and imagination of so many people.

Two years later, that risk has worked out far better than anyone could ever expect. Nintendo is once again back at the top of its game, selling several hundred thousand systems each and every month, exceeding the demand for the system pretty much every week of the year. It has thrust far ahead of both Microsoft’s and Sony’s current generation of consoles even with its inferior hardware capabilities, showing the industry that maybe the market isn’t as concerned with the sharpest HD visuals or the most robust online experience as the hardcore might lead you to believe.

It’s the last little bit that really struck a chord. Immediately I though of coaster enthusiasts. Same rule applies – the most hardcore don’t represent what the average person wants. In fact, they seem to be ridiculously out of touch in most cases. There’s definitely a lot of parallels to be drawn.

Then I started thinking and I’m pretty sure that it applies to almost everything in life. Those who are the most involved, interested, fanatic – the most hardcore – with something are usually out of touch with how people in general feel about said thing.

So if you’re WAY into something don’t bother telling me what you think because you’re probably a tool.

Just a random observation.

I never really thought about it much, but today my daughter came home from school and informed me that they played Wii in gym today. I guess the idea is to play the more physical games (DDR, Fit, Sports, etc).

I feel so old.

Does anyone play kickball anymore?

The plan was to get the PC, slide by Kings Island, hope to hit the bank before it closed, score haircuts, drop off the computer and get home.

We headed out at about 20-to-4 and had to get there before 5. Naturally, it started pouring rain about 10 minutes into the trip…then we hit the Cincy area rush hour traffic. Along the way we noticed a PNC branch relatively close to our destination. We figured we had a better chance of getting back to this one rather than going to Kings Island and then hitting the one we normally stop by on Tylersville Road.

At this point I had to piss like mad and just wanted to find a place to pee. Still getting to the bank in time was more important.

We made it to pick up the PC with 15 minutes to spare and began backtracking in the increasingly intense rain and equally thickening traffic. We pulled into the bank a hair after 5pm and I thought for sure they’d be closed. They were, but they helped us anyway. PNC is cool like that.

Still no pee, but at this point I figured I’d just wait until we get to the park.

From there we hit 71 north (a route I’ve taken maybe twice in my life and never to Kings Island) and I got stuck in a traffic pattern I couldn’t break free from and was forced off the interstate one exit too soon and it was the mother of all exits – backed up, people trying to shift lanes in all directions a big truck honking and trying to scoot over. I was jacked that I got caught up in the wrong lane and even more jacked that I hadn’t pissed yet. I spotted a Speedway and as the light off the exit turned green forced my way across three lanes and whipped into the gas station.

We get out of the HHR and are hit up by a FOX19 news lady and her cameraman wanting to talk about the fucked up exit/intersections. I sort of weaseled myself out of it and Jamie into it. They talked to her for like 45 seconds and we were off.

I finally got to pee (and scored a frozen Coke). We left to find them still outside interviewing people and laughed about having to watch the news on 19 this evening. We got back on 71 and were at Kings Island in a few minutes.

How quickly can one part with $600 – in a matter of seconds! That’s how fast.

Actually, the weekday evening pass purchase/processing thing they have going on is fabulous. It was no more than 10 minutes to part with our money and leave with passes in hand. Good stuff.

We made our way back to our neck of the woods and stopped by for a couple of haircuts and got in with no wait – nice. The chick doing my hair wouldn’t shut up though. I’m not a talker and I hate how no matter who I get, they always point out that this isn’t my real hair color. Yeah, I know it’s not, lady.

After that we dropped off the computer and I hooked it all up and booted it up and everyone rejoiced because the corn was saved. (part of that sentence is true and part is not – you decide)

By then it was going on 8 and there was no way in hell any of us were cooking so we stopped by Olive Garden. The place gets a bad rap sometimes I think, but I dig their Mixed Grill and tonight was no exception.

We got home and watched the stoner dude (who I hated until last night) get booted from American Idol.

After that I flipped to the FOX 19 news. What’s their lead story? The fucked up intersection. They used two clips of Jamie. I was dying – too funny. We’ve never been at that intersection in our lives and probably never will again and she’s on TV going, “This intersections sucks. We almost got taken out by a truck. They need to do something about it.”

Then we watched a little of an Eddie Izzard DVD (getting psyched for Friday’s show) and I played Mario Kart for a while…and now I’m typing this.

I should probably go to bed.

Overall Rating: B
Distance Traveled: 1938
Total Race Count: 260
Total Battle Count: 38

WFC VS Rating: 5926
Wins/Losses: 345/306
% Of Time In 1st: 30%

WFC Battle Rating: 5451
Wins/Losses: 79/55

I suck.

…

Anyway, I unlocked the ability to use my Mii as a racer the other day. Like any egomaniac, I immediately took advantage of that fact and soon enough I was zipping around the tracks with the Nintendo family of characters.

But it was short lived.

In Mario Kart the characters all have little voice things they do when they race. Just a handful of sayings to give the the characters…well, character.

The problem is the generic voice they used for the Mii racer (or mine, at least) – it sounds like Special Ed from Crank Yankers. Not that it isn’t funny to think that, but it’s all I can think of when I hear my little Mii racing around the track.

So now I use mostly Toad and Waluigi.

The kids managed to play for a few minutes while I cooked dinner. Looked fun. Looked like Mario Kart from what I could tell. I did notice Jamie showing interest in the wheel. She made the comment, “I might even be able to race with the steering wheel.”

Another case of Wii taking the intimidation of gaming and making it accessable to all. (hugs and happiness)

I didn’t get a chance to sit down with it until after we did the podcast and everyone was in bed. I like it that way.

I booted up the Wii a little after 11…say 11:15 or so. I started playing through the circuits with the 50cc karts to get a feel for the game and the tracks. Two hours later I had finished all 8 circuits winning them all but one.

So I decided to connect to the Wi-Fi and play a little online action.

This may be the most addictive thing since masturbation. I kept saying, “One more race” over and over until I finally forced myself away from the TV and to my desk to write this. It’s now past 3:30am. I’ve played for a little over four hours and haven’t even gotten to try out the bikes yet.

What can I say about the game – it’s Mario Kart. It’s a lot like every Mario Kart game you’ve ever played. I suspect people either like Mario Kart or they don’t.

There’s a few new features or new ways of doing things, but nothing that should be too foreign to those familiar with the game. I happen to LOVE the little plastic wheel as a controller. The driving motion feels so natural (and familiar from other Wii racing titles) and it takes just a few moments to get the ‘feel’ for it. Nothing sweeter than lounging back deep in the couch and racing away.

The online aspect is where this game is going to shine. This is worth the price alone. Racing people from around the world is a blast – complete with a scoring/rating points system. I didn’t check out the online battle mode, but it also has the scoring/rating system in place. It looks like they’ll be doing tournaments in the future and already you can see record-holding times from your country or worldwide and compare your times. You can even download ghosts of record holding runs to study or race against. It just feels like there’s so much potential there – more than any Wii game to date.

This looks to be a HUGE time waster for me. Don’t expect me to get much done online anytime soon – I’ll be racing.

I play as Gonchar – big surprise. If any of you guys score the game, drop me a line with your friend code if you’re feeling froggy.

I gotta get to bed, school in the morning (for the kids, not me) and more Mario Kart!

UPDATE – I’ve since had the chance to check out the online battle mode and it’s even more addictive than the online racing. My kids can’t turn the damn game off, I’m staying up until all hours of the night playing kids in Japan, it’s Mario Kart Mania around here.

Definitely worth the price, but avoid this one unless you have large chunks of life to give to the game.

“You essentially get your head-mounted sensor bar in a nice, sporty safety-goggle form factor.” – Fucking awesome hilarious!