Triforce Found!

In honor of the Wii release tonight at midnight at locations across the US, here’s a nice picture from MIT.

Ten hours to go from this post. Church will be interesting tomorrow, depending on how much sleep I end up getting tonight (And yes, I’m going to church tomorrow. I’m not that hardcore.)

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.

Maggot Eating Dog

This is the first commercial I’ve seen for a game on Nintendo’s Wii, let alone a commercial for the Wii itself. What’s more is that I saw it on the web first. How times have changed.

It’s a decent commercial, though probably geared towards a slightly different audience than the game advertised (which I may rent, but doubt I’ll buy unless it really blows me away).

For some perspective, here’s an article about the lines in Japan to pre-order the Wii.  Mind you, this is the line to  put money down to get a slip of paper that says you can come back when it’s released (12/2 in Japan, I think) and pick up the real deal after paying the rest of the price.  The only other time I know people to line up like this is for a movie, and you usually get to see that when you exit the line instead of getting  a pass to come back and see it another day.  I waited in line for a slip of paper a few weeks ago myself, but this line is off the hook, as the kids say these days.

Custom Wiis

I’ve got Nintendo on my brain today. Here is a video of PhotoShopped, customized Wiis that may never see the light of day, but are pretty funny. And given the number of companies selling stickers that you can “skin” you console systems with, some of these may come true. Though I doubt the drum stick controller will ever work. Mmm…fried plastic…

A Wii Little Bonus (or how many uses of Wii can we come up with?)

I’m getting a Nintendo Wii on November 19 (hopefully at midnight, but that remains to be seen).  I have many reasons for doing so and that list only grows.

Here’s the most original I’ve seen so far.  And the most promising, at that.

Via Joystiq.

Homemade Wii Commercial

via Joystiq

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.