We Got A WII!

I know I haven't posted here in a while, but this is a pretty momentous occasion. The title, coupled with the date, says it all.

We weren't able to get a preorder due to the limited numbers and a couple of preorder related fiascoes. We had decided to arrive at what we though was a very early hour (roughly 5:30 AM) at our local Target, which we had heard had at least 100 Wiis coming in, probably 120. But when we got there, contrary to our expectations of low turnout, at least 120 people were forming a line that went around the side of the store. Tents and opened cars told us quite a few people had been there a very long time. Disheartened, we left, and decided to try a few more places before resorting to ordering online. We decided to go with a less likely store. I hesitate to even name it as we may need to rely on the trick of going there when the next generation of consoles comes out. Friends can e-mail me if they're curious. Anyway, this store initially had no line. We went to check another nearby store quickly, found it did have a line, and returned to the previous store to find two people waiting. We quickly secured our places waiting for two (we had a friend with us) of the 6 available Wiis.

I'm very happy to say that the people we ended up waiting with were a great group. Everyone was really friendly and as far as I could tell, not one of them was looking to resell the system. We chatted, checked out a new DS game, held a spot for the mom of a twelve year old while she went to retrieve her son from the nearby Circuit City line. (She later repaid us with a cofee and donut run.) We had arrived around 5:30 and the store wasn't supposed to open until 10, so we were prepared for a length wait. But one of the managers decided to let us in around 7! The only downside was that our friend had gone home to grab some warmer clothing. Fortunately, since Andrew and I still count as two people, we were able to pick one up for him. The signage outside had indicated that the store was only selling bundles. None of us knew what this meant and we were pretty nervous, having heard tales of $600 bundles of crappy games. But we were in luck. The bundle here was the system, and extra controller of your choice (remote, nunchuk, or virtual console controller), and either "Excite Truck" or "Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess". We, of course, picked the latter.

So how is it? FUN. Thw controls work extremely well and the whole interface is a joy to use. The game included with the console, "Wii Sports" shows off the controller functions very wel through a number of fun little sports games. There's not much depth, but you can customize your characters and all the games are pretty fun. "Twilight Princess" would be a great game without the Wii functionality. I've been waiting over a year to play it. But I do dearly lover aiming my slingshot with my remote and hearing it emit sword slashing sounds as I swing it to slash away at my foes.

All in all, this was a surprisingly good experience, and the real fun is just begining. I'll try not to neglect my social contacts, but if you hear me talking about triple bogeys and triforces as I talk to you with one hand holding the phone, you'll know what I'm up to.