Liveblogging Wii arrival
Posted by: kmikeym | From: November 19, 2006
It's 12:53 a.m. Mike and J.John are detangling the nest of cables to hook up the Wii. It came in a box with a lot of information booklets, which were summarily set aside (except for the one which talks about the sensor that goes near the TV. Pictures are in progress and more updates coming soon.
1:07 a.m.: Power on. Looks like controller calibration time. Front has port for SD card.
1:09 a.m.: Setting date and language prefs... The Lord's name has been used in vain twice in response to seeing control in action.
Time to enter console nickname... J.John chooses: Wii Denn.
Parental controls? No.
Time to set up John's Mii (personal profile).
1:20 a.m.: Now setting up weather channel. Connecting to internet via Wi-Fi (or Wii-Fi).
| www.flickr.com |
1:30 a.m.: Uh oh... Wii crashed. Rebooting.
1:35 a.m.: Perusing settings... SD card is 2 GB (compared to 8 MB for a standard PS2 memory card!)
1:38 a.m.: No weather or news channels. Apparently Nintendo doesn't have the service available yet :(
1:39 a.m.: Trying the Wii Shop. It links to your MyNintendo profile. Wii Shop Channel is OPEN! Buying points is required to get games and stuff. $10 for 1000 points. $5 for NES games, SNES games are $8, N64 games are $10, Sega Genesis games are $8 (altered beast is available, but John says it's shitty) -- no games worth buying as of now, says John.
1:45 a.m.: The Wii is watching. It's keeping track of play time stats and allows you to send messages to other people's Wiis.
1:47 a.m.: time for Wii Sports! ... or not... Game disc cannot be read. "this is XBox 360 all over again."
1:50 a.m.: Wii Sports is ON! Tennis, bowling, The whole set up feels like a Sports Channel. There is a FITNESS GAME!
1:54 a.m. John is playing Tennis. We have to make room. They warn you to make room. HE IS PLAYING. It's doubles tennis... John is losing 15-40. MATCH POINT... He's hitting it harder... HE MISSED, and lost.
1:57 a.m.: Curt has the other controller. Some serious sports action is about to take place... Hsving trouble with new controller. Also, the Wii isn't glowing blue yet... that seems bad to me. There are some issues here, but nothing to bad. CURT IS CONNECTED!
2:02 - Curt has an avatar now. Used one of the pre-set faces to set it up quick. Launching Wii Sports with TWO PEOPLE. Damn... Disc is crapping out again. This is bad news. Another reload, another disc problem. WTF?
2:07 - Curt found out that when you twist the controller ithe cursor hand also twists! AMAZING! There are a total of 48 channel spaces. Only six are used so far.
2:09 - Giving up on Sports disc... moving on to trauma center.
2:11 - using the wand is pretty cool. It's a lot easier than I feared it might be. As long as the Wiimote has a clear view of the sensor, the pointing is smooth.
2:13 - Opening the Trauma center... theme music is intense... The game recommends attaching the wrist strap and uses the nunchuck attachment. Opening is very similar to DS opening
2:21 - figuring out the controls was a little tough, but mike reports that once learned, they're really good for controlling the scalpel and forceps and other tools.
2:23 - Mike was ranked C for the first operation. John's entering the operating room to see if he can do better. Starting the operation... A patient has entered the OR with glass shards embedded in his body. Sutures complete... had a little trouble pulling out the glass shards. Now operating on the arm -- really crooked scalpel manuever. Glass is out, time to sew him up. Ranking: C.
Final Thoughts: It's 4:11 a.m. and I sort of want to keep playing. This thing is amazing. Everyone should go buy Nintendo stock right now (it's at 27.95 right now) because everyone who plays this thing is going to want one. Or more than one. John owns one, and I *STILL* want one. It's crazy amounts of fun multiplied by how many people are playing. I really need to go to sleep, but the Wii is going to be huge.
Oh, man! This is so exciting, I'm on the edge of my chair! It's Wii day!
Posted by: greg at November 19, 2006 1:31 AM