Neo-Egyptian

To explain why I adore the Wii and really couldn't care less about criticism aimed at it, I kinda need to explain part of my 'gaming history'. This is kinda long, so I apologise in advance! Having played, owned and loved both the NES and the SNES, I was suitably excited in 1997 when the N64 launched in the UK. Mario 64 was amazing - it was Mario in 3D! Then there was Goldeneye, which at the time was easily the best game I'd ever played. Surely my love for console gaming could never die! And then the N64 flopped, I played Half Life for the first time, and I moved on to PC games and completely lost interest in console games. The PS2 failed to grab my attention, I had no interest in the X-Box, and I ended up getting a second-hand Gamecube several years after it launched for a measily £50, if only to play the two Metroid games and eventually Resi 4. Don't get me wrong, I loved my GC, but it just felt like an N64 with prettier graphics. The reason I love PC games - specifically FPSs - is the control you get with a mouse and a keyboard, which I find far more immersive than anything I'd previously played on a console. Now I know you can all see where I'm obviously going with this, so I'll skip to the chase - when I saw the Wii controller at E3, I was instantly intruiged, perhaps even excited. Me, excited about a new games console? Surely not! But there were doubts. Would there be games that could utilise the controller well? Could Nintendo genuinally create a system that allowed for so much fun that I would overlook the worryingly 'similar to current-gen' graphics? Most importantly of all, would the controller actually work? The answer to the above three, for me anyway, is a resounding yes. I love the Wii - I find the controller to be astoundingly accurate whether I'm bowling, playing tennis, or simply navigating a menu screen. Everyone I've had round to play on it - whether they be people who thought the Wii looked stupid, girls who've never enjoyed playing video games, and even my parents - has had a great time with the console, so much so that several of them want to buy one now, my dad keeps asking me to play a round or two of tennis, and I've been requested to bring it over to a mate's house tonight. I frankly couldn't give two shits about the simplistic nature of the graphics, because when I play the Wii, I think 'this is ridiculously good fun' rather than 'why can't I play this at 1080p, and why doesn't everything look photo-realistic?'. Futhermore, I don't question why the Wii doesn't have a 60GB harddrive or blu-ray technology, because to seriously ask things like this both means a) you're actually preventing yourself having a really good time and you are an absolute tool. People should embrace innovation, not sneer at products that try and do things a little differently. The real lack of power for me is to chuck a harddrive I don't need, a lot of technology I don't want and some fancy graphics card into a console and call it new. So, yeah, those are my thoughts on the Wii, and criticism aimed at it. I am fully prepared to be seen a raving Nintendo fanboy after this post, and that's fine for one simple reason - I've been completely dissinterested and dissatisfied with the console game industry for a good 10 years. Thanks for Nintendo, I now love it again.

I saw that the other day, the one with the Mario 64-esque star on it is absolutely hilarious. In other news, I used the Wii browser for the second time today and, when trying to watch some youtube videos I'd successfully watched earlier on the Wii, was informed I didn't have the right version of Flash. This seems completely stupid given that I haven't changed any settings on the Wii or updated it or anything since I last used it - anyone else having this problem?

The browser is pretty cool, it was kinda satisfying to look at youtube videos and such on a TV screen. I don't actually have a wireless connection in my house and my computer is downstairs, so prior to the Wii I had to use my PSP (and steal next door's unprotected wireless) to check the net in my room. The Wii browser may not exactly be perfect, but compared to the PSP's one - which constantly informs me it's out of memory, can't show Flash video files, and is slower than a 56k modem connection - it's absolutely brilliant. Then again, once I'm back at uni with my normal wireless setup, I can't really see me using the Wii Opera browser that much. With that said, just like the Forecast Channel it's a harmless addition that's actually pretty fun to use, and best of all it's free (for now anyway). On a slightly related note, I went out for a big birthday meal with my mates last night and a few of us came back for a little drunken Wii action. The seven of us present all had a great time with it, no-one managed to break anything despite several exaggerated arm motions, and the 4 girls present really got into it. This is particularly impressive when you keep in mind these girls have never owned a console before, and have always completely switched off when me and the guys start talking about anything video game-related. That all of them expressed an interest in buying a Wii after no more than 30 minutes of play is frankly astounding. Great success!

Sorry to interject, but the Forecast channel is indeed awesome, it's nice to see a lot of effort has been put into it. I doubt it's going to tear me away from Zelda any time soon, but the 'big spinny globe' feature is pretty cool, particularly as you can spin the glob and then release the A button and watch it continue to spin like some kind of ridiculously ornate marble

Here you go. I'll also throw this one in to show you just how geeky my room at home looks right now: I leave all this stuff at home when I go to uni, honestly!

Today is my birthday. Thusfar it has been rather good

"Oh and how did you like the little bit of exposition showing some parts of OoT with improved graphics?" This sounds brilliant, and is yet another reason the European Wii launch seems so far away. I'm not actually getting mine til the 18th (my birthday), and I think I might actually die from anticipation before then.

Watch out, it's another obligatory "I'm new" post from a newbie... Hi there! I've been visiting the forums for at least a year now and have never really had much to say, but I figured it was about time to register anyway. Hopefully my stay will last longer than 5 posts and I won't have too many people calling me a noob, but beggars can't be choosers. So, yeah - that's about it. Hello!