Wii Fit and living with four women

My Fiance has been excited about Wii Fit since she first saw a commercial about it. I figured it would be a good way to continue my plot to make her into a gamer so I played along. I still have a few contacts with Electronics Boutique so we were able to get the device when it was released the other day. We had a softball game that night so we didn't pick it up until later in the evening. We were pretty tired so we decided to just set up our Miis with the system. In case you didn't know Wii Fit uses the Mii you created for the Wii and then asks you your age and height. It weighs you and then calculates your Body Mass Index or BMI. I am the only guy in our household. Our family unit consists of myself, my fiance, my soon-to-be step daughter and two exchange students. One is from Vietnam and the other is from Korea. Anyway, we all got together to calibrate our Miis for the game and I went last. The four women all had a "normal" BMI and then it came to be my turn. I made them all look away because I knew if I was going to be even close to normal it wouldn't be by much. Well, as it turns out I am not even close to what Nintendo considers normal. Great. So to add insult to injury, all of our Miis are calibrated, but mine is now a pudgy little guy running around the screen. Thanks Nintendo, I really needed that.

That got me thinking that they might have a good marketing ploy on their hands here. What if now that my Mii is calibrated and appears pudgy, it was that way for all Wii games that use Miis? That would be a pretty good motivator for geeks like me to get their Miis skinny. Imagine if in Wii Sports your Mii was now pudgy and couldn't run around as fast in Tennis or Baseball. I have heard that Mario Kart takes into account the weight of your Mii when determining how fast your kart can go. The problem is no one ever creates pudgy Miis. Assuming someone gets their head out of their ass and makes a good follow up to Wii Sports or incorporates Miis in a game in a compelling way, this would be an ideal way of getting people in shape.

As for Wii Fit itself, I have to say I am pretty impressed with it. The device is sturdy and easy to hook up. The balance games are fun if simple (kind of the hallmark of the Wii). My Fiance did a work out and even though she is supposedly "normal" (I'm still bitter) she said she was exhausted and could really feel it the next day. I purchased Wii Ski which uses the Balance Board, but I haven't had a chance to try it yet since I can't get the girls off the damn thing. I went into this thinking that it was going to be another gimmick, but I have come away impressed. I don't think it will replace a good gym or trainer, but it's a good way to get people up and moving around while having fun at home. Oh and Nindendo? It's on now suckers! We'll see who is normal...

Wii need more games.

I am one of those "Wii-60" people who own an Xbox 360 and a Wii. However, I have gotten a great deal more enjoyment out of my 360 than my Wii. The reason for that is the overwhelming amount of games the 360 has over the Wii. Seriously, WTF is Nintendo doing? The only time I play the Wii any more is when relatives come over and I am forced to show them how to play Wii Sports. I played Zelda, and Metroid Prime 3, but those were mere snacks compared to the smörgåsbord of 360 titles. This holiday season looks a bit better but most of the games coming for the Wii that have any promise are Nintendo titles. It may work as a business model, but as a gamer I think it really sucks. I keep hearing people say it is just a matter of time, but this is starting to get ridiculous.

Now THIS is what I'm talkin about!

This is the kind of game I envisioned when I bought my Wii. Luckily, I only have to wait until October, 23rd! I give you, Rockstar Table Tennis for the Wii!!

Big deal

So I was playing Wii Sports Golf with my girlfriend this weekend and I had a hole in one. Yeah big deal you say, and so does Nintendo it seems. I got a nice little graphic circled by a kind of wreath thing that said hole in one. That's it. It would have been nice to get a little bit more from the game for this rare feat. Does Nintendo not know what they have with this game? They need to come out with a full featured version of all of the games on the Wii Sports disk. Instead of coming out with another gimmick like the Wii Fit crap like they showed at E3, they need to flesh out titles like Wii Sports.

What have they done to my hobby?

At the risk of sounding like an old coot, I am gonna post about how my gaming hobby is being ruined by becoming too mainstream. I started gaming back in the day on the Commodore Vic 20 and the game Zork. Needless to say the gaming industry has come a LONG way since then. Some of it has been for the better, some of it not.

There was a time when a game would come with a nice thick manual and involve a significant learning curve. I remember buying games and not even playing them until the next day while I read the manual and learned how to play. I can't remember the last time I bought a game with a manual thicker than fifteen or twenty pages. Ingame tutorials have been helpful, but when it comes down to it the publishers just want you to buy their hint book for another twenty bucks.

Manuals are one thing, I'm okay if I can pick up a game and it is easy to play but hard to master. However, I am increasingly able to do less and less in games than I used to. In order to illustrate my point I am going to use two new racing games recently released for the Xbox 360 -- Forza 2 and DiRT. Both games are well done and fun to play, but my options are significantly limited when compared to old classics like Grand Prix Legends. For one thing, each game starts you out in events without any kind of qualifying run. Forza 2 puts you in position based on how powerful your car is for some reason putting the most powerful cars in front and DiRT starts you out last. What happened to qualifying for position? What is worse is when you do end up racing, the races are only a couple of laps. Has our collective attention span diminished that much? I remember when you could set the number of laps you wanted to race. How does it hurt anything if I want to race twenty laps? I am guessing this has something to do with online records and achievements. Even in DiRT's "exhibition" mode you can only go as high as five laps. The manuals have almost no help on setting up your car for better performance. Again, they want that hint book money.

This is just one minor example of how the gaming hobby is becoming watered down. It seems as time progresses we are given less options all the while paying more money. The future doesn't look too bright either with the success of the Wii and its reliance on the mini game. I would love to see Wii baseball with all the features of a full fledged title, but sadly it is looking more and more like the standard and not the exception.

Super Ghouls and Ghosts for the Wii Virtual Console

Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom

The third game in the legendary Ghosts 'n Goblins series of video games, Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts follows Arthur in another quest to rescue the princess, his fair maiden and damsel in distress at large. Players take control of Arthur and defeat the creatures of the night to save the day once more. Discover what glory awaits those brave enough to take on the armies of Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts.

Age Rating: E

This is one of my all time favorite platformers. It is incredibly difficult, but still very addictive. Part of the strategy is knowing what weapon to have in certain situations. The twitch factor is high and you really need to be paying attention or you will die fast. Nintendo did a good job with this one. The graphics look great and the controls are smooth and responsive on the Wii Classic Controller. If you are a fan of platformers, this is a must buy.

Zelda: Ocarina of Time footage

Lucky North American owners of the Wii can now download Zelda:Ocarina of Time from the Virtual Console for 1000 points. I have been playing video games for over 25 years and I somehow missed out on all of the Zelda fun. I am making up for it in spades now however, as I have about five different iterations of Zelda going at the same time. I'm holding off until the weekend to keep playing Zelda: Twilight Princess so I can see it on our new HDTV!