It is amazing to me that the Wii console is still out of stock most places.
Since I’ve had mine since January, this is not a major concern for me. For the rest of you out there that are still hunting for yours, I offer the following advice:
- Try to find a Wii at your local stores using this super cool free service and/or ordering it online. Don’t support jerks gouging people on ebay and craigslist. It’s like paying scalpers selling tickets in rewarding bad behavior.
- If that doesn’t work out, try visiting and befriending the local nerds working at electronics venues like Gamestop, EB Games (really those two are the same company now, but hey. It’s worth a shot.), Major department stores (all of the people who work there already hooked up their friends months ago), and wholesalers.
- Small bribes, winks, flirting (if you are hot), and/or a few palmed bucks at some of these venues may help.
If you have to buy a bundle, as seems to be the only game in town currently on the Wii Buyers Guide I mentioned earlier, I would recommend some of the following as there are a lot of really lame Wii games out there.
For the [Wo]Manchilds:
“Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess” (Nintendo)
Careful. you will lose about 40 hours playing it, even if you’re good at these games. I enjoyed playing this one the most of all of the Wii games so far, but I did master some of the moves a bit too fast. When you no longer get hurt by the enemies, some of the excitement of the game falls away. There are secrets and unlockables that will keep some playability going even after you have beat down Gannondorf yet again. Why is it always Gannon in Zelda games? Can’t they get anyone else?
“Mario Strikers Charged” (Nintendo)
This one is particularly well done and has online multiplayer abilities. If you want to play me, let me know what your ID is. I am ID: 034471 565002
“Metroid Prime 3: Corruption” (Nintendo)
Another mandatory Wii game. I’m only getting started on this one now. I’ve been waiting to be done with a couple of pressing projects before tackling it.
If you have friends and want to play with them all in the same room in a battle royalle of beatdowning, I’d try these:
“Spiderman: Friend or Foe” (Activision)
All of the smacktalking Spidey goodness in a fun upgradable system of beatdown carnage.
“Marvel Ultimate Alliance” (Activision)
Kind of the same as the other Spiderman game, only somewhat less fun for some reason.
One game that some people love to hate, but can have a decent amount of fun playing when at a party is the Mario Party series. The latest installment, Mario Party 8, is more of the same. It isn’t a great game if you don’t have people over, but if everyone is already in a fun mood, it can be a good time.
For the actual children, I have the following picks:
A surprisingly fun kiddie game. A bit like LocoRoco only you are a bit more forceful in attacking the minions of the Dark Water. LocoRoco is a great game as well. I played a considerable amount of it on my PSP when I was on the road.
“LocoRoco” (Sony Computer Entertainment)
“Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree” (Nintendo)
Train your brain with mental pizzles and get graded. The cool part about these games is how you actually do train your brain to work faster with practice and it graphs your score over time.
“Super Paper Mario” (Nintendo)
This is a pretty great side-scroller game that also has 3d moments that are integrated in an interesting way. It was fun, but I think more fun for kids than the seasoned (read as “old”) gamer that has already played a dozen of these type games.
“Avatar: The Burning Earth” (THQ)
I don’t really get the appeal of these Avatar things. Some people are really into the animation as well. I am not one of these people. This is more of the same and the second of the series. I played the first one for about 5 minutes and didn’t like the simplicity of it. If your kid likes this show, it’s a safe bet that they’ll like the games. The first game was out some time ago for Wii as well:
“Avatar: The Last Airbender” (THQ)
“Cooking Mama: Cook Off” (Majesco)
One of those bizarre games where you do a bunch of cool things with the wiimote to accomplish various cooking tasks. A game only the Japanese would make, but fun in a strange way.
If you do have to buy a bundle to get your Wii, don’t feel too bad. Bundles aren’t bad if you’re going to buy the stuff anyway.
Some upcoming games which I haven’t really played but should be huge include these two:
“Super Mario Galaxy” (Nintendo)
This is a game that literally everyone is talking about. I’m sure that Nintendo is anticipating that this, and the next game that I’m going to mention, are going to sell an amazing amount this holiday season.
“Super Smash Bros. Brawl” (Nintendo)
People are so crazy over the last installment of Super Smash Brothers, that they are still breaking out their old game consoles just to destroy their friends at it. The new incarnation for the Wii should be no exception.
Sadly, it seems they will miss the holiday blitz with this one as Amazon lists its release date as Feb 10, 2008.
When you get it, make sure to get your free rubbery wiimote protectors here if they dont come with your console.
