Playing With My Wii All Weekend Long

By Joe Haygood | May 26, 2008

So after months of searching and neverending comments of frustration on several of our podcasts, I finally have purchased a Wii.  Funny thing is how I came about it, and how the Gamestop crew for once screwed up by not badgering me to no end about buying something used.

Basically, I was wandering around my local Gamestop, which I am prone to do, because I actually like the employees there, and they normally have a decent selection of PC games, a rarity at Gamestop nowadays.  I was there with my wife, who was looking for a new DS game, which she found in the way of Professer Layton (if I have to hear that kid say “professor” one more time, I will kill him).  At the register, after paying, I asked if the store had any Wii’s in stock, to which they replied, none in awhile.  I started to walk out, when I was possessed to ask if they had any used Wii’s.  The response startled me, “Yeah, we have a couple”.
Picture via IGN.

So I had to get this straight.  They did not offer me a used product that they knew they had.  The Gamestop Mantra, “None shall leave, without being endlessly hassled for used product, trades and Edge membership”.  Now this may have been due to them knowing me and my gaming habits, but I would think that if I ask for a console that has selling power, they would offer me the used version, especially since it is huge profit to them.

The other question is who in their right mind trades in a console to Gamestop, when they can get far more for it on the open market.  A friend of mine suggested that some people may not want to hassle with ebay or the classifieds, but I for one would be getting top dollar when I knew my console was in high demand.  The hell with convenience when big money is involved.

Well, my wife came back the next day, trading in one of our two PS2s along with some old titles, and came home with one Nintendo Wii, two Wiimotes, two Nunchucks, Mario Kart Racing, Wii Play and Wii Sports.  She also got two Gamespot generic wheels for Mario Kart.  The next day, I picked up Resident Evil 4, Super Mario Galaxy, and a SpongeBob game for my son.  Finally, today, I went down to March AFB, and picked up Zach and Wiki for $19.95, sans tax, making my Wii purchases complete.

I have to say, that the experience reminds me of owning a Mac.  Very white and very sterile.  I do like the whole Mii thing, and Stephen is quite correct, people can create all kinds of interesting Mii’s which my son has been downloading left and right.  Kip Dynamite and Iron Man are two of my favorites.  Wii Sports has been my new crack, as I am tearing up bowling and the home run derby.  Super Mario Galaxy is as beautiful as it looked at E for All last year.  Resident Evil 4 also plays quite well, far better than the mouseless support I got in the PC version.  I hope to get into Wii Play shortly, but those other three titles are just eating up my time.

The channels are nice, but I only really use the News and weather channels on a regular basis.  My son loves the Check Out Mii channel, and I think my wife is eying some of the titles on Virtual Console, Toejam and Earl for certain.

I would say that the biggest flaws I have found so far are the lack of Dolby Digital support, and the fact that my TV has to be set manually to recognize the 16×9 support of the TV.  I bought the component cable pack and hooked it up, set the Wii to 16×9, but my TV insists that it is 4:3.  A couple of clicks sets it to Widescreen on the TV, but it is the only device I have to do that to, so I can get 16:9 support.  If anyone has another fix, let me know, as this is rather annoying to have to do every time.

Also, I have two friend codes, which I am already hating.  My Wii Friend Code is 2024 8168 4551 4592, while my Mario Kart Wii Friend Code is 2621 3594 5264, so feel free to add me to your list.  If anyone has any other recommendations for games, let me know in the comments, and I will add them to my Gamefly queue.  I have already been told that Okami is a must have by a friend and Stephen has spoken highly of it.  All in all, I give my experience a 4.5 out of 5 on our scale, but this is not an official review.  I will follow up in a month or so, letting everyone know how it goes, but as for now, I got to get back to my Wii, it needs my attention!