Bagel Belly Blog

Wii

I got a Wii :-)

I'm not a big gamer. I'm often happier reading or watching a film than fulfilling the geek stereotype. But I'd read about the health benefits of the Wii, and conscious of my expanding waistline and lack of exercise, I decided it was time to buy one. I thought that was a plausible excuse, anyway.

This is the first "just released" console I've bought ... I waited ages before getting a Playstation One, never did get round to getting a PS2, avoided the XBox and XBox 360, and never really considered previous Nintendo machines. The PSP was the 'newest' game machine I'd bought, and even that had been out for a long time when I got it. All of which means I'm quite excited to have something 'cutting edge' in the house.

First impressions, then. The unboxing experience was fun, but let's not kid ourselves here: it's not Apple hardware. Aside from the glossy white box and the glossy white components, the packaging shows nowhere near the attention to experience that Apple does. But then, who cares ... the box is going in the bin tomorrow, since I'm only giving up this gadget when you prise it from my cold, dead hands.

So, it's good then? Yes. It's a totally revolutionary experience. I actually gasped during the setup when I pointed the controller at the screen and could feel the pointer moving over the buttons. It's strange, but soon seems totally normal. Suddenly I'm wondering why I don't have a force-feedback mouse.

And the games. Wii Sports had me laughing out loud and jumping round the lounge like a complete idiot. Totally immersive, totally fun. And that's what it's all supposed to be - not taking things too seriously, just sheer enjoyment. Excite Truck had me cursing at first as I tried to play seriously. Then I realised you get points for crashing and trashing and generally being silly - and the laughter started again. Zelda I found to be frustrating, until I got to run around swinging a sword. Suddenly other games of that ilk that require a mouse to play seem extremely unintuitive. Of course you should swing your controller to lash out with the weapon!

Getting hold of the Wii was something of a challenge since they aren't readily available in the stores - except in gratuitously expensive bundles with several games that I'm not remotely interested in. But all hail the internet - there's a site set up especially to track Wii stock levels. As soon as I got an alert, I pounced.

It will be interesting to see if I'm still playing regularly in a month's time - which was about how long it took me to give up on other consoles. Early hysterical laughter suggests I will be. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to play tennis.