I Get Excited When I Wii

Last Friday I picked up Wii Fit and dragged it home to try it out. I understand that Nintendo are encouraging an increase in exercising and all that through this game, but just getting it home was tiring enough! The thing weighs quite a bit!

Once home, I unpacked it carefully, synced it up with my machine, and started my all-new fitness regime. After some minor hiccups (I'm slightly over my ideal BMI), I was throwing myself around, avoiding panda bears and zooming off ski slopes! I even went jogging in my living room with Noel!

While the minigames are a lot of fun, it is the yoga exercises that I've enjoyed most. The balance board tracks your center of gravity, so it can tell you when you are going wrong, and help you achieve a good pose. As I know I have a bad posture, I've been focusing my efforts on the exercises that help that area, but I try to get a well-rounded workout. My shoulders are killing me from the push-ups, and my legs were shaking after a few stretching exercises a few minutes ago. My thighs burn, and my blood is pumping.

And I can do all this in my own home, with no beefcakes surrounding me, or no-one to see when I can't do that last push-up. But I still push myself. I'm doing more than I usually do, and I'm going to try to stay at it.

I've set myself a target to lose 1.5kg in two weeks. I thought I'd be ok, but this morning the game told me I've put on weight!! I didn't even have dinner yesterday!

Innovation Upon Innovation

It is said that the greatest inventors in human history were merely working on the backs of those that came before them. It's true. Very little is genuinely new. Nothing is born into the world that doesn't have an ancestry that reaches back to decades, especially technology.

As much as I love Nintendos motion sensitive controls on the Wii, it's not entirely new. People have been trying it out for ages now. Heck, the PS2 had controllerless controllers with the EyeToy, which worked surprisingly well.

Keeping in that tradition, check out these amazing videos that use the Wii Remote in clever and innovative ways. They are all from Carnegie Mellon University Ph.D. Graduate Student, Johnny Chung Lee. His website, JohnnyLee.net is a treasure trove of genius proportions!! And better yet, he posts a bunch of the programmes that he uses to create the videos that follow! Seriously, check it out. It's amazing. I really, really want to see a game using some of these ideas.

First up, using the Wii remote for head tracking on desktop VR displays. Stunning.


Next, using a Wii remote to create low-cost multi-touch whiteboard. This is something I'm really tempted to try out. It would be fun even just to show off and play around with.


And finally, for embedded video anyway, using Minority Report style finger tracking with the Wii remote.


Also worth checking out is Johnny's "Moveable Projected Displays using Projector Based Tracking" from 2003 and, after you've seen that one, find out where that builds to after four years with his video titled "Foldable Displays". It's worth noting, before I get any complaints, that I'm well aware that it is far from a foldable display, and more just a development of his projector technology. It's still freaking awesome! This guy is going to go really, really far if he keeps up this level of inventiveness! I wish I was half as computer savvy and inventive as him.

New Year, New Stuff

Anyone who knows me, or even just reads this blog, knows I'm a die hard Nintendo fan, and nothing will ever steal my heart away. However, I'm not a console-monogamous fascist who thinks the competition are better used as paperweights by comparison (after all, if the PS3 was used as a paper weight, what would hold the door open?), and have had a second gaming console since the N64. My beloved DreamCast kept my Nintendo console company during both of their dying months. Together, they reminisced about better times. The N64 offered a comforting shoulder when Sega announced the dream was cast aside for their console department, instead shifting focus solely onto making games for their former competition. The DreamCast returned the support as Nintendo began to sink further and further behind the thundering power of Sony's newest offering, the seemingly invincible PS2. In fact, my DreamCast is still on my consoles table, ready to be plugged in and turned on at a moments notice. Unfortunately, it's been a while since I've enjoyed its cat and mouse delights now.

During the GameCube/PS2/Xbox era, my secondary console of choice was the Sony brand. By the time I picked one up it had a huge range of games available to it, as well as the added bonus of a DVD player. Lots of people had one, so swapping games was easy. At the same time, the Xbox was new to the game. It was huge, ugly (in my opinion), and had unwieldy controllers. Plus, it didn't enjoy nearly as large a market share as the PS2.

Back when the new generation of machines were still just rumours and here-say, my opinions on both companies offerings were unchanged. I had planned on the superior back catalogue of PlayStation games to be a deciding factor in my choice of console, and the Xbox 360 didn't sound all that great. I would continue my almost single-handed support of Nintendo and their wacky new ideas for a motion sensitive controller, even if I had few games to actually play on it, as I was sure no-one was seriously going to spend millions creating games that only worked for one console, exclusivity contracts or not.

But things change. The PS3 is beyond a joke, starting out with an ugly case design, and then removing one of it's biggest advantages by dropping backwards compatibility altogether! It is huge and expensive, and forces the added costs of Blu-Ray on the buyer, which, considering I'm not moving to any form of HD for the foreseeable future, only serves to annoy me more. Visually, the Xbox 360 is a beautifully designed machine, more so when you see the black Elite edition. It plays nice with my PC, allowing me to stream music directly, as well as playing movies from Claire's external hard-drive or the many, many burned DVDs I own. But the biggest shock of all (as much to the company itself as to the general public) is that the little console that could did! Nintendo's wonderful Wii is still selling faster than Nintendo can produce them some thirteen months after launch! What other console can claim the same fact? And the games that are available, while not able to display in high definition like it's competitors, are fun, entertaining and compulsive playing. Mario Galaxy is by far the best game I played in 2007, and Rayman Raving Rabbits 2 caused my house to miss New Years by two minutes because we just had to finish that last minigame!

So I'm happy with my Wii. It's awesome, fun, small, sexy, quiet and glows blue when turned on (just like I like my women!!...). The motion controls are clever, effective and, in the better games, they can be used to stunning effect. The possibilities are almost limitless, and not even Nintendo could have guessed some of the functions people are putting their unique console technology to (more on that in the next post). So if I only had the Wii, would I be happy? Yes. Definitely. Realistically, anything else I get to sit along-side it is just to play when I'm by myself. The Wii is the perfect party game, with some great single-player titles as well, but it's really at it's strongest with a group.

I was planning on getting an Xbox 360 in the sometime in 2008. Rainbow 6: Vegas is amazing fun (again, in multiplayer!), and Mass Effect was a draw from the first time I laid eyes on it. It's beautiful and an achievement in gaming. Despite saying that I had no interest in Assassins Creed some months ago, the closer it got to release, the better it looked. Three reasons to pick up a 360, one of which is exclusive. Add to that the downloadable content through Xbox Live, including demos, the play-nice factor with my PC and that at least four people I know really well got one as well, and the 360 became the console of choice for the newest generation of "Nintendo Support Machines".

So shortly before Christmas, I got one. It now sits on top of my sweet-but-cheap-but-really-great-and-thus-even-sweeter sound system. Well done Microsoft. Ya done good.

Now... anyone want to trade Xbox Live usernames? I currently have no friends... online!! I have loads in real life. We play Wii all the time.

Galactic Conquest

I love playing computer games, but find anything that makes me too frustrated is not worth my time. Often, if I get stuck on a particular level, or a certain area, I'll just give up and never go back. If a game annoys me to the point of cursing or even anger, it's not worth it (I should note that this is different from getting excited to the point of cursing. Chu-Chu Rocket had me screaming like a sailor for hours, and I loved every second of it!). I can turn it off and try again tomorrow. If I still get angry at it, then I know I'm not going to finish it. This is entirely independent of how good the game is.

A quick glance at my games on my game rack brings lots of examples to mind.

Mercenaries: Made it to the second Ace. Couldn't capture him alive. Replayed it too much. Never even got to play on the second map.

Gun: Stupid frackin' last boss. In fact, I didn't even play the last part of the game. Jp played it.

GTA: San Andreas: Got bored.
GTA: Liberty City Stories: Couldn't get into it.

Metroid Prime 2: Fish boss killed me too often, and every time I died it was a ten minute trawl back to his location. Nope. Not again.

Punisher: Started something else... damn. I liked that game. Must go back and play it again...

Add to that a list of PC games a mile long, and you see the problem I face any time I consider buying a new game. If I play it, will I enjoy it? Will I finish it? Even if I don't complete it, will I put in enough time to make it worth the price?

Mario Galaxy took up more time in my life for the two weeks after I got it than eating, and arguably breathing, did! Certainly I got far more of a sensorial response playing Galaxy on the Wii than I did with any of my meals during that time!
From start to finish, this is a masterpiece exploding with humour, creativity, intelligence and a level of complexity to make the game challenging without being frustrating. The hardest Stars to get (once more, the goal of the game) are often on the most fun levels to play, so dieing ten times in quick succession doesn't seem so bad! Collecting purple coins on a pixelated Luigi is awesome, but I've lost over 20 lives to it already and still don't have a Star to show for it.

Galaxy is the first game I've really played in a long time. It's certainly the first in a very long time that I have totally enjoyed. Every new level is a thrill, every new Star, a burst of adrenalin. While the big Stars might power the space station, it's collecting the little ones that power me forward. Races, time-trials, quests, and other challenges divert from the platforming for a while and add to the fun. And while I'm talking about platforming, returning to the classic 2D styles in a 3D game without a break in the action is beautiful to watch! Mixing those up with altering gravity fields and mind warping puzzles is just fresh strawberries on an already perfectly iced cake.

There is nothing bad I can say about the game. Sure, the two-player mode leaves the second player with little to do, but Claire loved it while I was Mario, and I loved it while other people controlled the main action. It's not much, but it's damn fun to do! The bosses are colourful and varied, the levels are amazing to play on, and the innovative gravity elements are mind bending to play with. Running around to the underside of a platform to avoid enemies can be confusing at first but you eventually get used t... no. No, you never get used to it! It's amazing every time!

If you have a Wii, you need this game. Mario 64 on the N64 redefined platforming, bringing it into the third dimension. Mario Sunshine was weak, created to fill an unusually long gap between Mario games. But Mario Galaxy is a shining achievement that Nintendo is rightly proud of!

Straying From The Norm

Happy New Year!

Yes, ok, it's a day late, and also the first post since... lets see... November 13th!!

Anyhow, that's all just because I've been super busy. No, no! Really. Stop laughing. I've had a very busy time. Granted, recently "busy" has been defined as "playing Wii", but it still counts! Busy also includes all that awesome work experience I was doing. While it's over now, I 'm looking forward to going back one or two days to cover if one of the other two staff are out sick. I got some really nice Christmas cards from the kids too when I was leaving. Cards and deoderant! Lots of deoderant. Hmmmm...

Back to the Wii. My last post was about waiting for it, and I have since got one, having cued for a little outside Game in Cork on the release morning to be one of the first in the door. I grabbed Zelda (duh!) and Wii Play on the day, and with Wii Sport included and getting Marvel Ultimate Alliance just before Christmas, I already have four games. I really, really want Raving Rabbits. It just looks to be so much fun to play. But I'm not paying €60 for it. Their advertising campaign is by far the best I've seen for any game. I'm not the only person to go from "meh" to "It must be mine!!" based on ads like this alone!

In other news, I quit my job in the lesiure centre. I'm not going to go into why. That's not what this blog is for. For that, you should check out my other blog, One F*£%ed Up Sucky-A$$ed Day. Lets just say I'm happy I've done it, and feel a whole lot better now that I'm free. And jobless. And broke. But at least I can concentrate on my studies! Eh, eh?!? See? See what I did there? I looked for the silver lining. All I found was a slightly whiter area of the "No money" cloud. Well, crap.

Finally, my New Years resolution is to post more often. I really, really want to use this blog. I love writing, and even just writing this stuff is good practice. Feel free to pester me to update if I stop again.

I have more to say, but I have to go to lunch with some friends now. So...

Later!

So Excited I Might Just Wii Myself

Urg... that was terrible! But then again, when I get excited just watching people packing boxes, you know it's obsession.

From Pizza Boy to President

Nintendo of America has a new President, in the rather stricking figure of Reggie Fils-Aime. According to the article on Joystiq Reggies past jobs have included time with Pizza Hut and Procter & Gamble! Um... I guess there's some connection there...

Anyway, though I seriously doubt Reggie reads my humble blog, let me just wish him the best of luck in his new position, and congratulations on the well deserved promotion.

I've seen this guy in action, doing his marketing magic on stage at the Nintendo E3 keynote speech this year. He is awesome to watch and listen to, and seems to genuinely enjoy his job and the company he is working for. WARNING: That link is to a Google Video of the entire hour long keynote speech. Worth watching if you have the time.

Under his leadership, Nintendo is guaranteed to go from strength to strength.

Oh My God!!

I squealed at such a high pitch when I saw this that I think I made Claires ears bleed!


As an aside: Should I avoid embedding video like this in my blog? I'm still learning what the popular thing to do is. Is it annoying or handy? To quote Bear in a Big Blue House: What do you think?

E3 stuff

Ok, ok. So I know I just posted about how I had very little to say this week, but then I started reading about E3 from Joystiq. Here's the interesting stuff for me.

New Super Smash Bros!! The most played game on my GameCube! This is the first I've heard of this! Why?!? Er... I guess that's what E3 is for! Sweet.

New Resident Evil exclusive to Nintendo. We might still be losing RE5, but at least Wii is getting an RE game to itself! The controller could make this a helluva fun gaming experience! The thought of getting frightened by a monster, jumping in real life and watching as your character onscreen swings wildly around, reacting to the Wiimote tilt-sensor is just all too funny to me!

A hands-on impression of the Wiimote (yes, that's what it's been nicknamed!). I'm personally all-in for this controller. I love the innovation, design, and the game-styles that are getting released to use it. This is going to be a blast to use. I remember people talking about the "gimmick" of the DS touch-screen, yet now we have so many games using it in a variety of ways. It's so clever and perfect for interacting with a virtual world in the right games. I'm just glad they know when not to use it, á la Mario Kart DS!

So it's pretty obvious that I'm a huge Nintendo fan. In fact, most of my family is. We have a few GameBoys, two GameBoy Advances and a GB SP, two DS's, a NES, a SuperNES, two N64's, two GameCubes and a tonne of games for them all between my home in Tipperary and here in Cork (that explains all of the doubling up on the consoles. We're not so bad as to have two of a console in one household!). Some of the game highlights include two copies each of the two Donkey Konga games, as well as two full sets of Bongos (that's eight in total for those of you with mathemetics difficulties!), the light-gun for the NES and the Super Scope for the SuperNES, three WaveBird controllers and the hard-to-get game disc that contained GameCube playable versions of Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time Master Quest and Majoras Mask. Once the Nintendo Wii is released later this year, we'll have two of them also! Nintendo love us!