The Nintendo Wii launched today. It’s kind of a surreal moment especially given the fact that so many of us have been discussing the launch for so long now. That’s a great thing. We finally get our hands on the console in the comfort of our own homes (the proper place). Hopefully it will be a fun ride.
My ride, however, won’t start until I can get my hands on a unit. Lines were crazy here in Utah. Crazy! Granted, my naive self didn’t preorder or even think about getting in a line until 9pm, but still, every midnight launch location in my area easily sold out. Worse still, all the morning retailers have long lines already. So my wait continues. Will try again tomorrow (hopefully I’m lucky).
Infendo got a little temporary facelift too. No, we haven’t become “Wii Central” as the new header suggests, just a little props to Nintendo’s new console while we put the finishing touches on the new site. Due to technical difficulties, we had to delay the proper relaunch of Infendo 2.0 just a bit to make sure we get all the kinks worked out. So in addition to the upcoming design, the site will be much more usable in terms of features. We’ll keep you posted.
Lastly, for those that scored a Wii this evening or plan on doing so tomorrow, have fun and let us know your initial impressions and thoughts on the motion-sensing console below. Scott and I will be posting our launch podcast tomorrow evening, so look out for that and as always, thanks for stopping by.
Wii Sports is an absolute blast… I really got wrapped up in it and the time FLEW by.Very satisfied with everything so far. Very easy to pick up on and learn, and I can't wait to show it off when the family comes in for Thanksgiving.
Wii Sports -is- incredibly fun. Tennis and Bowling are my absolute favorites. Golf and Baseball seem to be the most frustrating, since it's hard to gauge how much force to use when swinging in golf, and when to swing in baseball.I connected to the internet and got the two system updates, so the Wii Shop channel works now. Hopefully it will have the Opera Browser available for download soon. It's very much what I was expecting. Well, except for the lightness of the Nunchuck and the small size of the Wii-mote. I can't wait to get some more games and play with friends. 🙂
Honestly, I can't believe I got my mom to play a video game with me. She saw me make my Mii like at 1am, and was like "Can you make me one" and i made her one, and she's "like what can it do?" So i show her Wii sports and she loves it, Bowling is her favorite game. She even beat me after like 5 games of me whooping her. She didn't like Tennis, and she didn't like golf. she slightly enjoyed baseball. I'm just shocked, I got her to play my new Nintendo system with me.Nintendo got my mom to play video games, maybe they will succeed at what there doing.
Picked it up at midnight and hooked it up easily. One of the first things I did was create my Mii character. My girlfriend, a total non-gamer, really got into helping me make it and then wanted a Mii character for herself. We were pretty tired, but she totally wants to play Wii Sports today with her new gaming persona. Good thing I picked up an extra set of controls (remote and nunchuk)! I also picked up Zelda and Red Steel. Only thing I didn't get (but pre-ordered) was the Wii Virtual Console controller. Going to try out some Red Steel now! Very fun so far!
Picked it up at midnight tonight. A friend and I played some wii sports, we really liked bowling. Then went on to some Rayman, Excite Truck and a little bit of Zelda. I'm completely stoked about the system and can't wait to play more tomorrow. One question, my blue light doesn't like up except when I turn it on for a split second. Anyone else have this problem? How/when does it turn on?
I think the blue light only comes on when there's no game disc in the drive.. It's supposed to be a guide for putting a disc in while it's dark?I'm about to head out to pick up my Wii.. the place I preordered it doesn't open until 9amcan't wait to try out WiiSports and Zelda ^_^
Seems like you guys are totally enjoying your Wiis, and those non-gamers are too. Have fun with it, and give us european left-overs some love in the form of funny stories that will make us go wild =)
Excite truck to some good music rocks. But Rayman will blow you way with how fun it is. Boxing also kicks serious ass.Awesome games. Hope the appeal will last.Does anyone else's LED not work. I unplugged it like the manual says to but it just flickers once and then does not come back on.Frisby
I showed up at walmart here in Honolulu at about 3pm and found 40 other people waiting in line. Luckily they had 60 Wiis. I decided to plunk on down and wait the hours out. My brothers insisted that I come over to their house to show it off so I went and set it up there and we went through the different wii sports and then looked at zelda real quick. They wanted to see everything, and it was 3:00 AM before I got out of there. Bowling looks fun, but I am not sure how much control over the ball we had. Also, because they have a cramped livingroom, I think we are too close to the TV for it to pick up everything correctly. After all that camping, I barely got to play Zelda past the point when I named my horse "Lt. Dan." And no, I did not name Link "Forest."
I just finally went to bed at 5am. I spent one hour with my wife and father in law playing Wii-Sports. And considering how excited I was for Zelda, for me to do that and NOT complain is amazing. It really is a great way of showing off what the system can do control wise. I got my ass handed to me in bowling and boxing, kicked some ass in tennis and baseball, and my father in law whooped me in golf thanks to the dog-leg third whole… hate being a lefty.But the best part of my night was far and away… Zelda. Words don't describe it. Anyone with a Wii needs the game… it's that simple. I have 3 more games to try still, but I've a feeling I know which one I'll be spending the most time with.Luckily the father in law had his remote… because I can't find an extra anywhere. All the stores around me are plain out. Looks like Wii is a success even in my Sony town.
Got my Wii last night at midnight without a hitch. Third person out the door at my Gamestop with one. My roommate got one too, so we spent the night darting back and forth between rooms playing Wii Sports and Excite Truck and watching my fiancee play Twilight Princess. I still haven't even gotten to play TP yet, but Bowling and Tennis are an absolute blast. Boxing seems to have some control issues, but other than that, I can't wait to spend more time wasting brain cells on this machine. I also got Red Steel, unfortunately I haven't gotten to play it either (I'm kinda worried after a review I read really hammering the controls). I'm currently busy working on a Source mod at the Guildhall (I don't sleep much…if you can tell by the varying time indexes of my posts). Anyway, you guys probably wont here from me for a while. Lots to do and lots to play!
Blake, how about a heads-up on any Utah locations that may still have stock today after the lines fade away? I also was shocked yesterday to find that every midnight launch location already had lines equivalent to units on hand. Surely, I thought, Utah would be a good place to be able to score a unit at launch. Guess not.This thing is going to be huge.
what was all this talk about easily being able to walk in ANYWHERE and get one? My best buy in Toronto had 300 (THREE HUNDRED) all sold out minutes after opening. I told you all, MULTIPLE TIMES, every single one will be sold instantly, and will continue to do so with every shipment until after christmas. Til then, buy it off me on eBay; it's the only way you'll get one if yer gonna be lazy about it.
I just took a look at the accessories page on NOA's website and didn't see the USB to Ethernet adapter for the Wii. Is there any encryption available for the Wii wireless networking?
I got my wii after camping out in front of best buy for 15 hours in Michigan (it was below 32*F I am going through the whole update process since the servers are online so I hope you get one!!!
I feel your pain Blake. My local Target had 81, and I was about #90… A lot of people were turned away. Which, I guess is a good thing for Nintendo, bad for infendonians
This launch was such a mess. Why would you only give a 100 to a Best Buy in Washington, DC? It's ridiculous. Please NINTENDO, stop frutrating your fans by giving Wii's with by drops.I'm so pissed.
I got Dragonball Z at launch (I was the 24th of 38 Wiis) and I was a little worried it'd be too much. I put these worries aside, however, when I went through the training mode. Everything seemed to slip into place perfectly. The cursor out/in thing is an awesome way for them to do moves. I can't wait to start the story mode.I also enjoyed Wii Sports, but I can never bowl in a perfectly straight line ;(
I got mine at about midnight and stayed up *really* late playing it. I started by making a Mii and playing some Wii Sports (Tennis and Boxing are my favorites thus far), while my stepmom giggled beside me at the Mii-making process and how funny I looked swinging the nunchuck and wiimote around trying to hit my opponent in boxing. That game is much more fun than I expected.Then I played some Zelda, and I LOVE it! It's so addictive and awesome, and I'm gonna go back to playing it now, so good bye. ^_^
Hey gang .. I had the greatest camp out experience here in the Boston area. The Somerville Target was the place to be. 24 Wiis and an awesome group of 24 people got them. The lineup was filled by 2AM .. I got there at 10PM and was #9. I'll definitely write up a story on it. About six of us are going to exchange console codes and visit each other's Mii parades.So far, I've played Wii Sports and Rayman. Rayman is CRAZY! You guys need to check it out. I'm hella tired and need to get some sleep before I tackle Zelda this afternoon. I've been up for almost 30 hours now and finally feel tired.p.s. I bought Zelda, Trauma Center, and Rayman.
ya im fucking pissed too! cuz my gay ass mom didnt take me last night to get one. now she is saying find a store with one and ill take you. BUT THERE ALL SOLD OUT NOW! WTF?! im soo mad there all gone escipally to faggets that sell them for more money not people who keep them shit!j-man
Target was absolutely the place to be. MAD PROPS to Target in Waco, TX. I got there at 4:30AM and was #16 in line for 24 Wiis. They came out around 5:30 and told us how many Wiis they had and explained about the tickets. They came out around 7:00am and handed out tickets and then had coffee, drinks, and popcorn right after that. We were marched into the store at 8:00am in an orderly fashion. They had two registers in the electronics section set up and all the Wiis were already behind the counter and ready to go. You stepped up with your games and accessories in-hand and the put a Wii on the counter for you. It was SUPER ORGANIZED. GO TARGET!
J-man (boy?) talks awfully tough for a guy who has to have his mom drive him to the store…Cut mom some slack, loser-boy.
Wii Sports, Zelda, and Red Steel are all amazing.
i went to the eb in ancaster ontario, i had a pre-order my friend did not…showed up at 1am to find that they had 13 non presale available 3 people a head of us, i was first in line cause i had pre-order, lets just say it was a cold night, cops always around asking us questions, got some sleep in…and i havnt put it down since i came home…scored Zelda, Red Steel, Rayman, and Excite truck…the best system i have ever had in a long time
"J-man (boy?) talks awfully tough for a guy who has to have his mom drive him to the store…"LMFAO
Question: Does Wii Sports come in its own case or is it in a slip like those DS bundles?
cardboard slip case with manual.
A friend and I did a quick run by the major stores in the area last night; all of them had lines, and by 6am today, when we went out to try to find a short one, all the lines from the previous night had quadrupled in size. The local Target, which was getting 210 units in, looked like a friggin refugee camp. We were shocked. But, we lucked out, finding a Best Buy that had been mostly overlooked, getting in line around 7am and walking away with a Wii and one of the last copies of Twilight Princess some 3 hours later. After finally sinking my teeth into TwiP, I believe it was time well spent.Best of luck to all those who are still … wiithout.
7:09 AM SORRRYYYYYYYYYY AMAMAM