OB1og

Wii 4 Mii 2

After reading an e-mail from Ed last week on his decision to trade in his 360 and purchase Nintendo’s forthcoming Wii — pronounced “We” — system, I wanted to liken it to trading in your manhood for another kick at boyhood.

Which is actually not a bad first impression. When you think about it, what’s wrong with that? Who doesn’t want to relive portions of their childhood in some way or fashion these days as we push ever closer to 40 (it’s the new 30 don’t you know)?

I then gave it further thought (about 10 seconds) and decided I definitely had no issue with the decision. He made a careful, well thought out case in the e-mail and has posted something similar over on The Ed Zone. Of course, I may be willing to cut him more slack for this than I would, say… Mookie. I mean, if Mook concocted this same plan first, I would instead be questioning his manhood.

Don’t you worry though, that day is surely coming now that he has likely realized by now that his shiny new 360 has one single game — Kameo: Elements of Power — that targets his gaming tastes and that there are likely few games like it coming down the pike. Of course, he scored his 360 for free by working tooth-and-nail for some sales weasel, who likely made a cool six figure bonus, that threw him a bone for all his effort.

So, we can only hope Viva Piñata shows soon to save his 360 from being traded in at the local GameStop — along with so many barely out of the shrink-wrap games — for a Wii.

Actually, that’s probably what he should do. After all, he’s not going to be playing Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter with me on the 360. Mook hates shooters (can’t find ammo), he’d get pwned on Xbox Live (XBL) and is too cheap to pay an extra five bucks a month to upgrade his parents from dial-up to DSL and thus, be able to use XBL. Why bother owning a 360 if you aren’t going to go Live?

All Mook bashing aside… I am going to join them. Therefore, that means it is manly to own a Wii.

The last Zelda game for the GameCube (GC) was one of the best games I have ever played. It was fun, it was nostalgic (thinking back to things like “You’ve gots to stay on the beaten path, see?”) and it was worth the purchase of the GameCube. I want to play the next one, even if I’ll look like an idiot swinging around a controller in my living room trying to slice up the minions of Hyrule with my sword.

Nintendo will make us look like fools, but Ed is right, they are innovating. We all questioned the thought process behind their new controller, but now that everyone has given it some actual real thought, the applications are limitless. Just check out the pictures on the Wii site that I linked to in Ed’s post comments or this one for Zelda. My assumption is we’ll be swinging a sword, but check out the bow-and-arrow action! That’s pretty cool and that’s something new and innovative.

I also read someplace — I wish I could give credit — that LucasArts will be doing a Star Wars game specifically for Wii, so you have to imagine we’ll be slicing droids in half with our Mace Windu lightsaber, right?! “It’s the one that says Bad Mother Fucker.” I’ll be checking that out along with the Mario game. So, that’s three to play right there as opposed to my one for the GC last time out, but that’s not all.

What Ed did not mention in his post, and I’m sure it was an oversight with all the defending of his manhood decision and such ;), was that you’ll be able to connect to some on-line service slash library and download every game ever made for a Nintendo system EVER!

Okay, I don’t know about every game, but certainly every classic you’ve ever played. How about kicking back with the original Super Mario Bros. or Donkey Kong? I for one can’t wait. Those are two of my favorite games EVER!

Sure, there’s likely to be a million that are long in the tooth or make your eyes bleed, but the pure nostalgia you’ll feel just loading some of those up anyway will be worth it. Mook just might have to get with the 21st century and get broadband for that!

Another reason for Ed to purchase a Wii — suddenly I am justifying his decision more than he? — is his Wii Man Colin will soon be playing games with Pop. Like he said, he started at age 5, so since we all know how C is on the fast track, he’ll be playing at age 4! Nintendo will be making games for him, not Sony and Microsoft, and if there isn’t a whole lot to start, I’m sure something can be found on the previously mentioned on-line library. Colin is going to be pwning Dad soon enough and he’ll be a proud Papa for it.

As for me, I won’t trade in my 360 because I also use mine for the Media Center Extender capability. I also want to play the next-gen shooters and will upgrade to an HD set sooner than Ed so that I can enjoy them in all their extra shiney glory. My hope is games like Splinter Cell: Double Agent, Gears of War, Too Human, Huxley and Mass Effect will be worth the other half of the cost. Eventually, Halo 3 will come out and that alone would justify it (of course I am assuming it will be well done). I’ll have the best of both worlds, all for a price cheaper than, or the same as, a single Playstation 3 (PS3).

Of course, I’ll probably still blow that cash on a PS3 too because I don’t have a house or have had to buy and change 2,187+ diapers because I also don’t have kids… and that’s no knock on Ed either. I’d trade all the toys to have what he has and he can certainly come over any time he wants to use those systems and play those games.

BTW – Sorry for the cuss word; the quote doesn’t work with asterisk censorship…

…and if I can also score a beautiful baby that also plays, Wii can look foolish together!

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