1 Happy St

Well I finally stopped making my 6 year old save up and just got him the Wii after all. We got it last night after a friend of my brother in law's former roommate pulled some strings for us. The Wii is in such hot demand that the cashier told me to be careful going back to the car so I didn't get robbed. I'm not kidding.

I can't give you a full Wii-view seeing as how I currently have only played for about 3 hours and I've only played Wii Sports, which came packaged with the system, and WarioWare Smooth Moves. But my first impression is that the Wii is going to ruin my life. It's incredibly addictive and unlike any video game experience I've ever had. I highly recommend it.

Wii Sports is a package of five games, tennis, golf, baseball, boxing and bowling. Each of those games requires you to move your controller as if you were actually playing the game. You swing your controller to hit the ball or your opponent and its remarkably life-like. I was especially impressed by bowling. You control the spin of the ball depending on the angle of the controller as you follow through. It was the first game I played with my son and we were both instantly hooked.

I can already tell that WarioWare Smooth Moves is going to be even more addictive. It is a series of mini-tasks that you must accomplish in a short amount of time. You have to have quick Wii-flexes to play this one.

Included in this Nintendo is a wireless connection so you can link up with your home wireless network. This was something Nintendo's previous system, the GameCube, sorely lacked. Not only will this allow you to play games against opponents online, but also will give you the opportunity to download games from other systems. Super Mario Bros. and Sonic the Hedgehog are among the titles currently available to download for a small fee.

Some of the other features included are a live up to date weather forecaster and an online news channel. The Opera internet browser is also available for free download allowing you to surf the web on your TV. I found surfing to be rather clunky on the Wii since its not too easy to type with the Wiimote but I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a Wii Keyboard available somewhere down the road.

I know some of you may be thinking that I'm too old for video games but I have to say that this system is going to bridge the age gap. My first thought when seeing how simple it is to maneuver a controller that reacts to your movements was that older generations are going to love this. My mom always moved the controller when she made Mario jump with the original Nintendo anyway and we always thought she was retarded. It turns out she was just ahead of her time.