Wii @ Bondi Junction
Jess, Chris and I are currently sitting in Bondi Junction opposite the Wii demo stands, waiting for them to finish setting up. One of the five Nintendo staffers said no photos, but Jess managed to snap a few for her own reference/memory before they told us not to. (heh) Besides, there doesn't seem to be anything there that we haven't seen before.
There are about 4 demo stands, with nice flat-screen displays, we don't know what games are showing at the moment. Big circular section, giant tennis balls for seats, a lot of shiny curvy white stuff & semi-transparent plexiglass frames showing promo photos of people playing.
More when we actually figure more of this stuff out. And if we can find an open access point.
Ediiiiit! Am home now after a long day out.
Got plenty of play time on the Wii, alone and with others. My verdict: the hype is justified. It really is that much fun to play.
Had a go at Wii Sports first - opted to play tennis as the logical choice. Played against a little kid who was here with his assumed grandfather. I got beat, but it was a really goo match. The controls really did feel natural, and the movement of the players was a nice touch in that you could serve for both the front and rear player, and either would hit the ball appropriately. Killer app.
Played through 3 games of Wii Play next, against one of the Nintendo reps. The first one was a gun-shooting game, similar to Duck Hunt. We gunned down ducks, floating targets, clay pigeons, and eventually UFOs that came out to abduct your Miis. He won. We played Laser Hockey next, and Jess' first impressions of the Wii from the other day were right: in Laser Hockey, the cursor really does feel like a mouse in that it's based off the screen perspective instead of personal perspective. He won again. We finished off with Billiards; you aimed with the remote or D-pad, targeted a spot on the ball for spin, pulled back and shot. Looked great and was a lot of fun; and I wiped the floor with him, to boot.
Got in a go at Excite Truck, too: there is going to be a lot of potential for sweary races with trucks flying all over the place. Controls felt a bit strange, but maybe my feel of it will improve with a few more play throughs. USE TEH BOOST
Played the fishing subgame from The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess. It felt well executed, in particular the way you would pull back on the remote to cock the fishing rod, fling forward to release it, swish it about to lure the fish in, then once you got one, pull it back and use the nunchuck to reel 'er in. It was a lot of fun, though I didn't catch any, and wound up getting a little tired from all the reeling. (Jess played it after me, and managed to get a couple of fish in.)
After a short break, with some lunch and DVD-hunting (OMFG INSPECTOR GADGET GET) we came back, and I had a shot at Wario Ware: Smooth Moves. Definitely one for the party, it involved holding the remote a certain way each time, the game will tell you how, and trying to use your intuition from there to win the 5-second game you are presented. Managed to win a fair few of them, even though I stuffed the fishing one up, and OMFG MONKEYS ON THE ROAD WTF.
Played Wii Sports tennis again, and managed to beat Chris this time. Booyeah.
So yes, I'm glad I've got my preorder in. I should make sure I've got some games added to my Christmas list...
PS. Once they'd finished setting up, the Nintendo people had no problems at all with photography; Jess got in a few more of the games and us playing them, so I'll link to them if she uploads them.
There are about 4 demo stands, with nice flat-screen displays, we don't know what games are showing at the moment. Big circular section, giant tennis balls for seats, a lot of shiny curvy white stuff & semi-transparent plexiglass frames showing promo photos of people playing.
More when we actually figure more of this stuff out. And if we can find an open access point.
Ediiiiit! Am home now after a long day out.
Got plenty of play time on the Wii, alone and with others. My verdict: the hype is justified. It really is that much fun to play.
Had a go at Wii Sports first - opted to play tennis as the logical choice. Played against a little kid who was here with his assumed grandfather. I got beat, but it was a really goo match. The controls really did feel natural, and the movement of the players was a nice touch in that you could serve for both the front and rear player, and either would hit the ball appropriately. Killer app.
Played through 3 games of Wii Play next, against one of the Nintendo reps. The first one was a gun-shooting game, similar to Duck Hunt. We gunned down ducks, floating targets, clay pigeons, and eventually UFOs that came out to abduct your Miis. He won. We played Laser Hockey next, and Jess' first impressions of the Wii from the other day were right: in Laser Hockey, the cursor really does feel like a mouse in that it's based off the screen perspective instead of personal perspective. He won again. We finished off with Billiards; you aimed with the remote or D-pad, targeted a spot on the ball for spin, pulled back and shot. Looked great and was a lot of fun; and I wiped the floor with him, to boot.
Got in a go at Excite Truck, too: there is going to be a lot of potential for sweary races with trucks flying all over the place. Controls felt a bit strange, but maybe my feel of it will improve with a few more play throughs. USE TEH BOOST
Played the fishing subgame from The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess. It felt well executed, in particular the way you would pull back on the remote to cock the fishing rod, fling forward to release it, swish it about to lure the fish in, then once you got one, pull it back and use the nunchuck to reel 'er in. It was a lot of fun, though I didn't catch any, and wound up getting a little tired from all the reeling. (Jess played it after me, and managed to get a couple of fish in.)
After a short break, with some lunch and DVD-hunting (OMFG INSPECTOR GADGET GET) we came back, and I had a shot at Wario Ware: Smooth Moves. Definitely one for the party, it involved holding the remote a certain way each time, the game will tell you how, and trying to use your intuition from there to win the 5-second game you are presented. Managed to win a fair few of them, even though I stuffed the fishing one up, and OMFG MONKEYS ON THE ROAD WTF.
Played Wii Sports tennis again, and managed to beat Chris this time. Booyeah.
So yes, I'm glad I've got my preorder in. I should make sure I've got some games added to my Christmas list...
PS. Once they'd finished setting up, the Nintendo people had no problems at all with photography; Jess got in a few more of the games and us playing them, so I'll link to them if she uploads them.