McNutt Against the Music

(yeah…I’m still not warming up to the name quite yet…)

On Sunday morning, if only to prove that I wasn’t all talk, I purchased myself a Nintendo Wii. Last night, however, was the first time I’d had a chance to actually PLAY it, due to prior commitments during the day on Sunday.

So how did this happen? How did I end up a few hundred dollars poorer and one brand-new videogame system richer?

A bit of backstory: I’m cheap. Really, really, really cheap. I’m not sure where it comes from, but spending four years at Canada’s most expensive university didn’t help matters much. Sure, I was in reasonably good shape for money – I did get in and out without debt, after all – but it was summer job + scholarships + RA money + savings my parents had invested over the years all just coming together to allow me to break even. And spending on myself really didn’t happen.

Over my five years of schooling, my only two large purchases (over $300) that I can recall were my iPod – the money for which came from umpiring and a failed trip to Toronto – and my laptop, which was essentially my graduation gift. That’s it – no expensive trips, no fancy electronics…nothing. Outside of my regular CD purchases – and I don’t purchase nearly as many as I wish I could – I really don’t spend all that much.

So now, with a decent-paying job and no more homework (most of the time), I find myself in an odd position, with both free time and disposable income and no idea what to do with any of it. In the long term, I need to start acting like a responsible adult and learn to invest.

First, however, I need to learn how to spend.

Which explains why, prior to going out with some old debating friends on Saturday night, I set my alarm for 6:30 a.m. the next morning. And as I grumpily awoke to its blaring tones, I began my quest on the first Metro Transit bus of the morning to seek out my Nintendo Wii.

I got to the Mumford Wal-Mart at about 7:15 to find a healthy crowd gathered in front of the door. I was informed by the kind folks in line that a) some had been there all night; b) a staffer from Wal-Mart had told them that they had 35 systems and, doing the math, I was definitely in good shape; c) it was Wal-Mart staff appreciation day, meaning that employees got to go shopping (with discounts) before we did.

At 8:15, the woman who seemed to be in charge of Wii distribution came out and let us know the process: at 8:30 her and a HUGE bodyguard/bouncer type man would hand out tickets to the first 35 people in line, entitling them to one of the store’s systems. The other folks in line would have to wait for the next shipment later on this week (there were probably 7 or 8 people who got turned away when the tickets went out). I was ticket #24. We were told to get out of the cold, damp weather, grab a coffee or some breakfast, and make our way back to the Wal-Mart when it opened at 10. This was great.

This was also the last good customer service that the store managed to pull off for the rest of the day. After that, the mistakes were one after another:

1. Not putting a sign on the door saying that all of the Wiis were already allocated. This led to people lining up with us ticketholders at 10 expecting that they’d be able to get a system; we had to break the bad news to them.

2. Having the systems available for purchase at the Customer Service desk, while all the games and accessories were back at the Electronics section. This meant that you had to wait in line and pay for stuff twice. (For contrast, the Wal-Mart in New Minas where my brother got his system had the systems behind the Electronics counter, so you got your games and then your system all at once.)

3. Letting Wal-Mart staffers pick over the accessories; I rushed right to the accessory section pretty early, only to find all the extra controllers already gone. This is just stupid: EVERYONE I spoke to in line wanted an extra controller, so you’d think they would have saved one to match each of Joe Public’s consoles. Nope. I was able to snag Zelda, but something tells me there might have been some people who didn’t even get the ONE GAME they likely came to get.

4. Having a jaw-droppingly awful setup in the electronics section. They had two employees getting stuff out of the glass cabinet for customers, and yet only ONE person running ONE cash on the other end (and that one person was only supposed to work until 10, which she was complaining about). Come on guys, it’s one of your biggest days of the year and you’re screwing it up this bad?

Oh well, I can’t complain too much – I got my Wii, along with The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, and my parents found an extra Wii-mote at Superstore that I’m getting from them today. Total expenditure: $438.87 – still over $300 cheaper than a PS3 without a single game.

Soooo….how is it?

The Wii

The Wii’s interface is based around Wii channels. Right now only a few of them are up and running: the Game channel (play the game in the system), the Mii channel (create, track and upload customized avatars for use in games like Wii Sports), the Photo channel (view photos from an SD card) and the Wii store (purchase and download old Nintendo games to play). Future channels to be added include a Weather channel and News channel, along with the web browser.

The controller works like a dream. Believe me when I say that while I had some doubts, they’ve mostly been laid to rest. It’s responsiveness and accuracy is worthy of praise. While it’s intuitive in games like Wii Sports, the biggest difference for me is playing a game like Zelda and holding the two parts of the controller in different hands. It’s way more comfortable than I ever thought it would be.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

I’m only about an hour into Zelda, but the Wii controls work absolutely wonderfully. Like most Zelda games, the first area of the game is designed as a tutorial, and it’s put to good use learning how to use the new controls. While some reviewers have felt that the Wii-mote controls felt tacked on, I hardly agree. The two main ways in which the motion control is used – in swordfighting and aiming – are both intuitive and helpful, allowing for some really cool new techniques (such as running and using the sword at the same time).

Thus far, I learned how to use a slingshot by aiming the Wii-mote on the screen, become an expert at goat herding, and caught my first fish. I just made it to the point last night where I turned into a wolf, so I’m guessing that this is where the game’s real plot will begin to take off.

A lot has been written complaining about the game’s graphics, and if you’re expecting something of the PS3/360 level, you’re simply not going to get it. This game started its life as a Gamecube game, though, so it’s not really the best indication of what the Wii is capable of graphically. That said, it’s a stunningly beautiful game artistically, and easily the best thing that a Nintendo system has seen in a while.

But, most important of all, it feels, looks and plays like a Zelda game. Welcome back.

Wii Sports

Perhaps Nintendo’s smartest move with the Wii is to package this game with the system for free. Would it be worth paying for? Maybe at a discount/used price, but not if it were to cost full price: the graphics are mediocre and the gameplay is rather simple. BUT…each of the five sports in the game – tennis, bowling, baseball, golf and boxing – is simply a hell of a lot of fun to play, and it’s a fantastic way to try out the system for the very first time.

Of the sports, probably tennis and bowling are the most well developed, the former because the controls are spot on (even if you don’t control the players’ movement on the court) and the latter because it’s maybe the best bowling sim I’ve ever played. All of the other ones are fun, no doubt, but also shallow and limited in what can be done. Even still, they’re going to be a riot once I get my second controller and start inviting people over to try (consider that your welcome mat, my Halifax-area comrades).

Wii Sports is really the perfect icebreaker for the Wii. Normally, when you invite someone to pick up the controller and give a game a try, you’ve to got to spend several minutes explaining the controls (or, don’t and just watch them lose). But with Wii Sports, all you have to do is hand them the Wii-mote and let them do their worst. It’s not going to have much of a shelf life, but for now, it’s a perfect introduction to the system. If you’re one of the lucky few who know where I live, you really should drop by and try it for yourself.

Watch: My roommate Dave laughing at me as I nerdily try my hand at Wii Sports baseball. The video was taken with my camera phone and as such, is of absolutely miserable quality so you can’t even see the game screen. But, should give you a sense of how it plays from the player’s end of things.