Easily Distracted

That’s the name of the new channel available on Wii. I gotta say, it’s much better than the other channels we’ve been getting. After you download the channel (from the Shop channel), go in and look at all the “Popular” Mii’s. It’s pretty amazing what some people can do with the limited Mii palette. Moles are mouths. Sunglasses are cheeks. Eyes are eyebrows. Eyebrows are horns. Characters that you wouldn’t think were possible have been done. There’s also a contest aspect to this channel. The first contest is to create Mario without his cap. After seeing what others could do, I spent quite a bit of time getting my Mario submission just right. Oh god, I spent a long time (over an hour, I think) making a Mario Mii…. help me. The channel might not be revolutionary, but it’s kinda fun.

And, of course, the contest seems to be a way Nintendo is promoting their latest game: Super Mario Galaxy ships today. It is being dubbed the spiritual successor of Super Mario 64 (which you should have either on N64 or Virtual Console) and is pretty much unanimously the best Wii game. Get it. Now.

Steven runs out the door.

So I got Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, for my Wii. The release date was listed as Aug 27th, so I went out to grab it late that day. However, Nintendo only ships on Tuesdays (for whatever reason) so I had to wait another day – what’s one more day, anyway? I haven’t played too much of the game yet, but I would have to agree with what most of the reviews are saying: it is awesome in nearly every way.

The controls are a big part of the awesome: well implemented Wii controls (thanks, Retro) make for the best console FPS experience I’ve ever had, only rivalled by the mouse and keyboard on pc. (Mouse and keyboard don’t lend themselves well to the couch, however.) Quickly changing Prime’s controls to the more sensitive “Advanced” mode, I find it hard to imagine anything coming as close to the mouse and keyboard in the living room. After taking a little while getting used to it, I found I was double-jumping around enemies and firing down at them while airborne with ease. I simply can’t imagine doing that on a dual analog control scheme. And a lot of the combat in Corruption takes advantage of this new found accuracy of the wiimote. I like the added immersion of the controllers representing each of Samus’ hands, even though at times it seems glitchy. Moving the wiimote backward (pull) and forward (push) when operating some controls, for instance, sometimes requires multiple attempts. Luckily, these situations are never in the heat of battle.. and when they work, they’re very satisfying.

Having read a couple reviewers’ comments on the game’s difficulty level being a little easier than the previous Metroid Prime games, I started on Veteran mode. A few puzzles have had me wondering around rooms for a while, but until this latest boss fight I’m on (the third boss, I believe), I haven’t really been out-performed by enemies too much. But wow this latest boss is really kicking my ass… after a few failed attempts, each getting a little closer, I decided to call it quits for the night. The boss fights are AWESOME, of course.

The game, in general, simply oozes polish – which makes sense, considering it was delayed nearly a year. The graphics are great and the frame rate is buttery smooth. There is quality voice acting and many nice in-game cinematics. Samus doesn’t talk, which is generally a good thing. This surge of other characters into the generally solitary you-alone-on-an-alien-planet Metroid universe is a bit of a mixed bag… Some of the added characters seem a little shallow and forced. There is some background provided through scanning objects and reading (optional) but a little more backstory on the other bounty hunters would be nice, for example – before first meeting them in the introduction.

Anyway, the game is fantastic, even though the original Prime blew people away more. Definitely not a casual game, which is a huge relief. But I’m trying to limit my time with it. A few hours a day, kinda thing. I haven’t actually played it for a couple days… Gotta get back there and beat that boss…. later tonight, I think. Oh yeah, I have to mention: Super Metroid, or Metroid 3, has been out on Virtual Console for a while, and that game is a classic.

I finished Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii), the other day. After beating the game and watching the ending cinematics, I thought about the overall experience. It’s an extremely long game, but not terribly difficult. Yes, some of the puzzles stumped me for a while, and when I figured them out, they were thus a little more rewarding. Well, that’s not entirely true. Sometimes, it was more of an “Oh my god, I just wasted my time on that!?” kinda feeling. This usually occurred when I missed something obvious, or the game failed to make something obvious.

But I had almost no troubles at all surviving. I can think of a few moments that were intense, but I had trouble recalling if I actually died. Ever. I had to load up my game and let the nearest baddy kill me to see if I recognized the death sequence. I did, so I must have died at least a few times. The boss in the Sky Temple (3rd last dungeon), I beat without even getting hit. The final boss I got hit quite a bit, and I think I even used a fairy (maybe two), but I did not die. There’s a place called the “the Cave of Ordeals” in the desert, which contains a long series of levels (50, actually) filled with increasingly difficult enemies, and rewards at every 10th floor. I went in a little cocky and very nearly died on the last couple levels, making it very intense. I had to use 2 fairies and a fairy tear. I was down to just a couple hearts at the end. This was possibly the hardest part in the game, it’s completely optional, and was very satisfying. The desert temple boss is awesome. I didn’t die, but it’s very fast paced and exciting. There’s also a moblin camp outside the temple that is quite difficult (and fun) if you charge through it. It’s very difficult to balance difficulty of the game with frustration of the player… and the difficulty must come from the game, not from the crappy controls. Zelda has awesome controls & game play, by the way. It looks like the New Super Mario Bros (which I thought looked awesome) may suffer in a similar way.

I enjoyed the story of Twilight Princess, and I could even feel a little emotion swirling around in my hollow interior during the ending sequence. But I feel a lot of the characters and relationships could have been fleshed out a little more. A lot more. Without giving away spoilers, I’d say the Ooccaa are a prime example. I got the feeling that the game was rushed in parts. Being originally created as a Gamecube game and ported to Wii in time for its launch, it very likely was. Here and there it seemed to lack the Nintendo polish that I’ve come to expect. But overall, it was still an awesome game.

I broke down and downloaded Gunstar Heroes for the Wii Virtual Console. 800 of my precious points… gone. About $10 CDN. I’d say that’s way too much for a Genesis game, but the game seems pretty good and is most definitely not too easy. So who wants to spend a night playing GSH w/me? gameplay clicky!

this post done from the comfort of my couch using the new Wii internet channel. looks like the kubrick wp theme works perfectly.

On Friday, December 8th, at 9am, I was among many that were ushered into the Best Buy on Cambie St in Vancouver. As we walked down the stairs, there were a bunch of staff that clapped. I gave my ticket to one of the guys at the bottom and he directed me to my basket containing a Nintendo Wii and Zelda: Twilight Princess. My friend Jesse bought the exact same thing. We paid for our stuff and walked back to his place, exhausted. We hadn’t really slept. You see, to get a Nintendo Wii in Vancouver, apparently, you must wait in front of the store that is getting their shipment, all night.

I knew from talking to the Best Buy representative that they were getting 25-30 units of Wii. They were also getting a similar number of PS3′s but I wasn’t concerned about that. Initially, the plan was to go hang out with Jesse, play some games, get some sleep, and walk over to line up early in the morning, around 5:30am. But when I talked to the Best Buy guy, he said there were already a couple people lined up, earlier in the afternoon. So, on my way to Jesse’s, I scoped out the line: about 10 people at 8pm, Thursday. This changed the plans.

We played some Soul Calibur 2 on the cube and Jesse eventually admitted total and utter defeat (par for the course).

yup.

At midnight, we went out for a walk. I would grab something to eat and we could check out the line. Jesse wasn’t really planning on getting a Wii, but was nice enough to keep me company for a while. First, we checked out the line, it had more than doubled! I checked the posters at the front of the door: 27 Wii, 8 60GB PS3, and 17 20GB PS3. Then I did a quick poll of everyone in line: the 60GB PS3s were taken by some people near the front, the rest were Wii. If Jesse and I lined up right then, we would be #19 and #20 for the Wii… so we did. Since the time of my arrival, Jesse had somehow decided he was going to get a Wii, as well. It didn’t even take much convincing on my part!

It was 12:30am by the time we entered the queue. The store opened at 9am, so we only had 8.5 hours to wait on the cold concrete. We had nothing to do and I still hadn’t had dinner! I asked the people around me if they wanted something from Wendy’s, up the street. Chili for a couple people ahead of me, a coffee for Jesse, and I wasn’t sure what I wanted yet. I walked up to Wendy’s, maybe around 1:30am. Only the drive-through was open, so I went and tapped on the window. They ignored me for as long as they could, and then one girl came over and said, “I’m sorry, we don’t serve walk-through.” What the fuck?! That had to be one of the stupidest things I’d ever heard! “Why not?! Would you like me to pretend I’m in a car?” “We can’t serve you.” *sigh* Fine. It’s clearly difficult to argue with that logic. Sorry guys, no chili or coffee. I had to eat something, so I walked to a Pho place on Broadway, and got a large beef steak pho (Vietnamese noodle soup) to go. It was kind of expensive ($7) but it was exactly what I needed. And after I opened that bad boy in the lineup, a few others made the trek up to that store and got something.

The line at 2am.

I think the cutoff point for Wii was around 3:00am. Some people decided to “try their luck” anyways, and others may have ended up getting a PS3. It’s funny, initially, because of the PS3 shortage, a lot of PS3 buyers ended up getting a Wii… but now, because of the demand for Wii, some Wii buyers end up getting a PS3. There were still a couple PS3s left when they finished handing out tickets around 8am.

after a failed attempt at self-documentation…



…the person in front of us offered to take a picture. Beard keeps me warm.

Best Buy did not get any extra controllers with their shipment of systems, neither wiimotes nor nunchuks, so we could only get the ones that come with the system. Rayman and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance were sold out for Wii. No Wii buyers I met were selling, and one PS3 buyer I spoke to was. There were a couple parents lining up to get a Wii for their kids, but they ended up leaving after realizing they weren’t going to get one. There were quite a few people who would walk up to the end of the line, set up their chair and blanket, check out the numbers, and end up leaving with a disappointed look on their face. Kinda sad. At one point, closer to opening, the line was humongous! There were only systems for 52 people, but there must have been an additional 30 people that just… appeared. Crazy.

line at 5am



line at 7am

After getting back to Jesse’s, having not slept, we tried out Wii Sports. Since we each had a system (and thus, a controller), we could play two-player. It’s pretty fun. I’d say tennis and bowling are the best. Boxing would be awesome if the control was more intuitive, but I haven’t quite got it yet (if it’s even possible to “get”). Golf is also pretty hard to control the power of the swing. Finally, baseball is a little too over-simplified. Wii Sports is a fun demo of things to come. Good for multiplayer, but I’ve not yet played it by myself. Could be because I’ve been playing Zelda, I guess. Not much to say that hasn’t been covered in the millions of reviews already. If you like Zelda games, or adventure games in general, you’ll like this game. I’m hooked.

merry xmas to me!



yay!

video: Jesse tries wii

Now, I’d better study for my exams.

But my laptop is not. Well, the battery is not, anyway. I can basically only put it into suspend and resume it somewhere, without any use in between. Example: I was on the bus, and I “resumed” a suspended session from my laptop. I already had a pdf open, and I wanted to search for something. I was actually trying to study, believe it or not! Anyways, it started searching the large PDF and died. Completely ran outta juice. It must have looked funny to the other passengers… I had just taken my laptop out, typed some stuff, had a brief look of shock, and put my laptop back into my bag. Aw well, I guess it’s over 3 years old, and I have used it a *lot*, so it’s not really unexpected.

So anyway, on Friday morning, I bought a Nintendo Wii. Oh wait, that’s next post. To be continued….