One More Wiik

Only six more days until the Wii is released. I've been following all the stories online now that most of the gaming press have received their Wiis for previewing purposes. Most of the early reports are very positive. One early review by a blogger's jackass roommate is worth reading, if only for the hilarious comments thread tearing the guy apart. A negative preview of the new Zelda from the same site is completely lacking in perspective which detracts from any real point the writer may have been trying to make, as pointed out by Gabe in his most recent blog. Also, the comic accompanying said blog is a good rebuttal for people like the jackass roommate (above) who claim that Wii Sports can be played with subtle movements of the wrist, instead of more realistic motions. Yes, you can play it that way. But you are not meant to if you actually intend to enjoy the experience. Remember Track And Field for the NES with that awesome Power Pad? You could play the game by sitting on the floor and smacking it with your palms to make your character "run" faster, but what would be the fucking point?
Yes, some games for the Wii are meant to be played with subtle movements, such as The Legend of Zelda. No one expects you to jump around your living room slashing away like it's a real sword. But Wii Sports is that other kind of game the Wii will be home to. The kind that expects you to put a little more effort into it in order to get a lot more out. The power pad analogy occurred to me as I was writing this. I realized for the first time that the Wii is philosophically an elaborate extension of something Nintendo has been doing from the very beginning (Power Pad, Power Glove, Light Gun, SuperScope 16...), and that is to make games more immersing. Only this time the system has been built from the ground up to accommodate this kind of gaming.

I briefly mentioned in a previous post that I was somewhat interested in Excite Truck, the first-party launch title for Wii. The more I hear about this game the more excited I become. All of the early previews have been glowing, and the recently confirmed information about the ability to add custom soundtracks is very mouth watering. Of course, you'll need an SD memory card (Nintendo's external storage media of choice) to take advantage of this. So I went and bought an SD reader for my computer, although haven't bought an actual card yet. I'm planning to get a digital camera in the near future anyway, so I don't see this expense as overly gratuitous. You can transfer your photos and videos to the Wii as well, so I'm sure I'll get plenty of use out of it. And SD prices are going down, so it's not nearly as hard on the wallet as it once was. The custom soundtrack is a very cool feature and I hope Nintendo includes it on as many games as possible.