Knowing Jack

Back in the day when people my age were in college doing practically nothing, we did take time to play at least one game: You Don’t Know Jack.

We had fun, we laughed, we ripped into each other verbally for no good reason.  Good times.

Someone had the bright idea to put the game on the web with a daily dose of sarcasm.  Go check it out for some not-safe-for-work fun answering questions that are probably more relevant than this post.

800 in line, 790 disappointed*

The PlayStation 3 will be released upon us poor Americans in about 30 minutes. A couple of folks got in line in San Francisco to get their system. $500 or $600 (no game included) later for the first few and the rest will go home without the prize.

Is it worth it? The system I’m getting is $250, with a game, and they made enough of the things that I don’t have to wait in line for more than an hour (and that hour will be mostly meet and greet/nerd observation time and buying an extra controller). Is that worth it?

I’m Getting a Wii!!!

First off, stop laughing. I know that post title sounds plain wrong.

Second, on the same day that Gamestop announced that it wouldn’t be getting enough PlayStation 3 systems to fulfill all pre-orders this coming Friday, my phone rang to let me know that my Zune will be available tomorrow (11/14) at GameStop. This was, of course, a mistake. When I pre-ordered my Nintendo Wii, it hadn’t been updated in the computer system yet. So we all reserved Zunes that were later transferred to be Wii’s. The result was that GameStop corporate though I reserved both of them (hence the errant phone call today).

Upon calling my local GameStop to learn all of this, I also learned that they will be receiving enough Nintendo Wii systems to cover every pre-order they made. This isn’t entirely surprising, but nice to have confirmation of. It also sounded like they’d only have enough to cover pre-orders, but time will tell.

This is also a blow to Sony. Having a stellar product means nothing if you can’t even begin to meet demand. Also given that both Sony and Microsoft are selling their systems at a loss (a common practice with video game systems where the system costs more to build than you pay at retail), they are behind Nintendo a fair bit. Nintendo will make a profit on each Wii they sell thanks to not going for the bleeding edge of technology today while still delivering a good gaming experience.

That said, I’m freaking excited about this coming Saturday. I’m set to have a good day, a good night, and a good Sunday going to church, rehearsing for the Feast of Lights, and getting my grubby hands into Zelda.

For those interested, here is a video that really takes the ticket for “Geek Porn” that I described earlier. Complete with 70’s music dubbed in. And for the folks wondering what the deal with Zelda is, 1up is doing a week-long feature with a new article every day.

Wii Reserved

I went to the local gamestop today to reserve the Wii. I’ll go back on 11/19 to pick it up. Here are photos from the line.

The line was longer than I expected and I’m sure some folks were turned away or told they had even less of a guarantee of a system (I have no idea how that works). I definitely felt out of place, particularly when folks started playing Magic: The Gathering while they waited. But then the shop talk of video games started and I felt much more at ease.

Anyone else reading this stand in line and have stories to tell?

Wii in Action, Sort Of

Nintendo’s Wii site has some new videos up of people playing Wii Sports (which comes with the system).  These are the best videos I’ve seen so far that show just why I’m excited about this system.  Looks like pre-orders start on Friday, too…

I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that these folks aren’t just off the street, but they are still good videos.

Return to the Beginning

Today, I reserved the first Nintendo game I’ve reserved/purchased since I was in high school. The game is The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and I did this in anticipation of the Wii release on 11/19 (the same day I’ll pick up the game). Also, there’s a chance I’ll get a quicker heads up on pre-ordering the system itself by having reserved a game. Since I was going to get it anyway, seemed like a simple choice.

This is a full circle for me in terms of video games. My first real video game system was the original Nintendo (back when we could just call a game system by the name of the company that made it). I did have an Atari 2600, but I wouldn’t call that a real system because it spoils the sentiment of this post.

The Nintendo is probably responsible for my semi-geek status in my late twenties. Through it, I learned about Space Pirates and aliens that would suck away your energy. I encountered a role-playing game that blew me away in terms of a cohesive story and continued to enthrall me over several unrelated sequels. There were princesses to save, mushrooms and turtles to stomp on, ducks to hunt, and countless other adventures just waiting for the push of a button. Good times. And lazy times.

I missed a lot of chores because of video games (something my mother will likely agree with). But I didn’t miss a lot of life. I could’ve gotten outside more, sure, but I still had friends and activity.

So now I’m in my late twenties getting ready to get my hands on another Nintendo system and have some fun in my adult years just the same as my younger. It’s kind of a trip.

Google on your TV!

The last of six videos is up at the Wii web site.  This one is about the Internet Channel, which lets you surf the web.

It uses the Opera browser and from what I’ve heard, it’ll be free in the US (no confirmation from Nintendo yet and they originally said you’d have to buy the browser first).  Oh, and you’ll need to be connected to the internet (no brainer).

This could be big or could be “eh” when we see it for real.  Depending on the system’s boot time and the fact that I don’t know anyone who doesn’t primarily use their computer to get to a web site, this could easily become a staple in a connected person’s digital life.  I’m most interested to see how text input is handled.  If you can shop on line like the video says, there must be an easy way to input text.  Maybe a Bluetooth keyboard is in the works?  The remote is nice, but I can’t see how text entry can be quick with that unless they have some kind of predictive text key-cloud (where you choose one letter and the next likely letters appear closer to where you just clicked than the rest; constantly morphing cloud of keys, but very handy).

This is also something the other consoles don’t have and may be a major selling point.  Surf the web without having to buy a full computer (even though you can get a full computer for about the same start up cost).

Still, it’s about the games.  The web is nice and I imagine I’ll make use of it (blogging on my TV…).  But what I really want to do is play Zelda.  And Metroid.  And Mario.  And Brain Age.  And whatever else strikes my fancy.

Square Enix not on PS3?

According to 1up, Square Enix may not be exclusively a PS3 developer any more.  This isn’t big news since they’ve been making games for Nintendo and their DS for a while now.  But it may be big news if their flagship games start appearing on consoles not made by Sony.

Really, the only reason I had to buy a PS3 was Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts.  But neither of those are worth the price tag of a PS3.  So I fall into the camp of hoping for more of my favorites on the systems that cost less and deliver what they should: a good gaming experience.

Here’s a Stupid Thing

Rumor has it that in order to reserve a Nintendo Wii at an EB Games or Gamestop, the $50 deposit must be made by trading in games.  In other words, no cash, credit, or even store credit is to be accepted.  But if you bring in old games that you probably spent more than the $250 Wii price tag to buy originally, you can pay for part of that $250 price tag and reserve a system to pick up on November 19.

Or just go somewhere else and keep your old games (assuming you have any).

Let’s count the days until the person who thought this up gets fired, assuming it prooves true.  Likely they leaked a test balloon to see how folks would react, then go from there.

Link

PS3 vs. Wii

With the advent of the Mac vs. PC commercials, a couple of spoofs have come out. Most are okay, but one has done a great job. Not stopping only to poke fun at the commercial itself, but to take a jab at one of the upcoming battles for the gamer’s pocketbook. I don’t know how the PS3 girl kept a straight face saying some of those things.

Quick warning: it isn’t a good view of women in general really at all, but does mirror the nerd vs. cool young guy of the TV commercials to an extreme not many would take it. You’ve been warned.