More wii fun and games...

Hey all. So one of the great things that Erica did get me for Christmas, even though she didn't have to considering she already got me a Wii, was a Wii Points card. Basically this is a standard gift card like you'd get with iTunes or whatnot. You redeem it online, in this case at the online Wii Store for "Wii points", and then you can use these points to purchase games from the virtual console. Well I finally had some time to play the Wii last night and I used this gift card to download some pretty sweet classic games.

It's funny, 'cause I went onto the virtual store and checked out what they had. And while I kind of wanted to buy them all, when it came down to thinking about which ones I would actually get the best play value out of I settled on three. Although I still really want to pick up Street Fighter II, I knew that without an opponent the single player games were probably better. So I settled on Super Mario Bros, Bonk's Adventure, and Toejam and Earl. And then I spent a solid hour and a half reliving the past with probably my favorite Genesis game ever as the funky alien Toejam trying to find and rebuild my spaceship. I know when I was talking last time about the virtual console I said that it was really the biggest reason I wanted to get the machine, and that definitely still holds true. The games look great, there's a save game system now for all those old Carts that were so tricky and never had them before. And from what I've heard the graphics are actually improved just because of the component cable technology is better now than it was back in the 80s, needless to say it would obviously be bumped up if I was gaming in HD. Anyhow, it's really fun to play these old games again, and I think it definitely plays better on the Wii than a ROM on the computer. I'm also really glad I have the 'classic controller' although they would of course all work with the standard Wiimote, it just feels more appropriate.

Erica, being a great girlfriend, also gave me two new games for the Wii, which I haven't even cracked open yet. Rayman: Raving Rabbids, and Elebits. Both of which are supposed to be awesome. I'm still working my way through Marvel Ultimate Alliance though, and since I like to, you know, actually spend time with my girlfriend and do real world things too. It might take me a while to get through everything.

Over the past few weeks there has been a few big updates for the Wii. The Weather Channel launched. And while I think its cool and all, there is still the problem that weathermen have a pretty tough time forcasting in general. We're only as good as the people behind the technology. Or at least we are, until the machine revolution begins, where they rise up against their puny organic overlords... I've probably said too much though. Also more interestingly a 'Trial' (really a Beta) version of the Internet Channel launched. So now I can actually surf the web using the Wii. The browser was built specifically for the system by Opera and seems pretty decent. I missed tabbed browsing, and of course my Sage RSS reader, but generally speaking its very robust and easy to use.

For the most current Wii updates I've been keeping my eyes on www.nintendowiifanboy.com, and www.thewiire.com, which incidentially also has a great weekly Wii-centric podcast.

If anyone out there has, or was lucky enough to get a Wii for Xmas, let me know and we can be friends. Talk to you all later. bye bye.