Well I just went out and got a Wii. I didn’t pre-order it, because I was in two minds about when I would get one. In the end, in a spur of the moment decision, I went to the shops for the midnight launch and hung around with all the Nintendo fanboys and geeks.
Amusingly enough EB Games, my original choice for my place of purchase, was pretty packed. But fortunately the Games Wizards I passed on the way in had a much more pleasantly sized crowd, so I went back there to await the arrival of Thursday. I was even smart enough to ask the guy behind the counter if they had any stock left for people who didn’t pre order. I think I got the 5th last console there. I expect Australia will sell out tomorrow or on Friday.
Anyway, as one does with this sort of thing, I immediately went home to set it up and give it a go.
So far, I am really impressed. The Wii remote works surprisingly well. The Wii Sports are really simple and fun to play. The channel menu paradigm is really good too.
My only slight frustration is with the amount of time spent going through updates and menus just to get into the online store, but it did take my WPA key for my WiFi so its not all bad.
I look forward to finally getting 2 more sets of Wii remotes and nunchucks and perhaps purchasing some classic games for the Virtual Console.
PS - Paul B, you can have the N64 back now me thinks.