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| Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party / Nintendo Wii : 3 of 5 | |
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6.03.2008
6:55 AM | Link |
 Since I'm always excited when a new version of DDR comes out, I traded in some old PS2 games and bought this in 2007 for my Wii right away, even though I knew it would be a bummer to play with the included dance pad (since my cool PS2 dance pads won't work with the Wii). But when I started playing, I was totally disappointed - Hottest Party just didn't feel like DDR! It's hard to explain, but it seemed like the original Japanese fun had been stripped from the game, so I immediately wrote it off and didn't even review it. But recently while I was trying out older DDR mixes, I looked at the Wii dance pad and decided to give it a fair chance, and now I'm really enjoying the game! I still have plenty of gripes, so I'll get those out of the way first. I really hate the look of the characters (I don't mind giant heads, but at least make them cute!), most option settings don't get saved, so I have to reset them every time I play (since I just want to play classic DDR, without all those bombs and crap in my way, and even though this is a Wii game, I don't give a flip about using my hands), and the annoying two second pause at the end of each song is a bummer. And don't get me started on the missing Endless Mode! But there's a lot for me to like, too! This DDR mix is almost entirely new songs, so I have tons of fresh material to experience (but not a single Jpop tune, unfortunately). The Groove Circuit mode that you play to unlock new items only requires you to dance your best - thankfully it doesn't want to you do any unnatural things like avoiding a certain arrow or whatever! So, I'm definitely going to give this game (and my feet) a workout, and if I like the next Wii DDR being released later this year, I'll even buy a better third-party Wii dance pad. I'm still not thrilled with the "tone" of Hottest Party, but I'm glad I decided to play it again and keep it in my regular DDR rotation!
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| Guitar Hero III / Nintendo Wii : 5 of 5 | |
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2.20.2008
7:55 AM | Link |
 Even though I love my Nintendo Wii, I actually don't play very many games with it, since I'm either spending time with DDR or my Nintendo DS. But since I went so crazy for the original Guitar Hero on my PS2, my pals Chris and Barron knew I would enjoy this latest version of the game for the Wii, so they got it for my birthday! As expected, Guitar Hero III quickly took over all my free time, and I spent several days in a row playing until after midnight! I really love the wireless controller - it's cool how the Wiimote fits inside so I can rock out in my rocking chair with no cords to bug me. This version has lots of great songs (although I don't really know many of these rock anthems), plus a new battle feature that forces you to complete against some famous guitar players (such as Tom Morello and Slash, who actually wrote and recorded their battle music for the game) and even Lou the devil! Some of the songs are unexpectedly great - it may not be everyone's favorite, but it's really fun playing with Black Magic Woman, since the subtle licks really feel authentic on the guitar controller. It's funny how much brand sponsorship appears in the game (a testament to how popular this franchise has become) - even the store when you can buy new goodies for the game is a Guitar Center! So far I've completely beat the game (every song to the end) on Easy mode, and I only have the final battle left in Medium mode, and there's still plenty of unlocked lesser-known songs for me to play. Thanks to Guitar Hero III, my Wii has been getting a great workout again!
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| WarioWare Smooth Moves / Nintendo Wii : 5 of 5 | |
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2.17.2007
7:48 AM | Link |
 I've been playing WarioWare mini-games all the way back to my GameBoy Advance days, so WarioWare Smooth Moves was definitely the game I had to buy after waiting all night for my Nintendo Wii! In case you don't remember, WarioWare consists of tons and tons of tiny games, each only a few seconds long, that are thrown at you one after the other, and you generally have to figure out how the game works and complete it super quickly. WarioWare is perfect for the Wii, since using the Wiimote is so natural in most cases, and can definitely be used in creative ways. In fact, the game demonstrates several ways to hold the Wiimote (which are displayed and narrated just like Jack Handey's Deep Thoughts from the old Saturday Night Live), and each games flashes the position you'll need to use. Sometimes you hold it on your hip and actually jump to make a character jump rope on screen, or even put the Wiimote down and pick it up like you're answering a phone (and the built-in speaker actually says hello)! My favorite by far is the short driving game, since it feels so cool to use the Wiimote as a steering wheel. All of the classic WarioWare characters are back this time, but the quality of the cartoon segments is simply amazing - even better than the usual Cartoon Network standards (watching Jimmy T. dance with all the little kitties is just too cute for words)! The only drawback to Smooth Moves is that I enjoyed it so much that I pretty much played it all the way to the end in one long session, but now I can always go back and re-play my favorite segments. The Wii is amazing, and this game really shows off what it can do!
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| Miis in my Wii | |
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1.28.2007
9:06 AM | Link |
 If you haven't guessed from my Top Ten post, my replacement Nintendo Wii arrived this week, exactly on time just like Nintendo promised. I'm so glad that Nintendo customer service was efficient and took care of me, especially after I camped out for them! My new Wii is working great, and I'm really impressed with it! The whole concept of the Mii (little cartoon people you can create that represent yourself in the games) was strange to me when I read about it, but it quickly becomes one of the coolest features, especially since you can share your Miis with your friends. So, besides my WEBmikey Mii, I have my pals Chris and Barron, plus their families, wandering around in my Wii, which means when I play baseball, they are on my team, or when I play bowling, they are sitting in the background chatting and cheering for me. It's so amazing! (I also made Miis of Sayumi and Reina from Morning Musume, so they show up at the bowling alley sometimes, too.) The Wiimote continues to amaze me, especially after experiencing all the different ways it can be used while playing WarioWare Smooth Moves. I have a feeling the Wii is definitely going to force me to manage my time better!My Wii wasn't the only good news this week! After years of trips to Reno, Vegas, and their local casino, my parents finally scored a big win! Every time they go to Riverwind Casino, they enter a daily drawing that increases over time, since you have to be present to win. This week, they picked Dad's name, so he won a significant four-figure cash prize! Mom and Dad were so excited, and I'm excited for them! |
| Wii adventure | |
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1.21.2007
10:45 PM | Link |
 Since I'm a Nintendo fan and I love innovative games, I wanted a Nintendo Wii almost as soon as I heard about them, but I decided to let the Christmas rush go by. Since then I was just hoping to buy one on Amazon, but after my pal Chris and I read all of the rumors about this weekend's Wii "re-launch", we decided to camp-out and try to get one. Here's my good news, bad news, good news story about my Wii adventure!Chris and I decided to drive around and take a look at possible stores around 10:00 PM. The plan was to keep checking things out until a line formed, then get in the line. We expected this would happen sometime after midnight, but when we got to Circuit City, there were already two people planted in their chairs, with a cooler of drinks and a boom box! We sat in the car for a little bit, and a third camper showed up. So, we knew we had to stake our claim right away. After we setup our chairs, the five of us happened to notice that they had just posted a sign on the Circuit City door that said, "Number of Wiis at this store: 5". We couldn't believe it - only five Wiis were there, and there were already five of us waiting at 10:00 PM! So, we pretty much knew we were going to get one, and the wait began. Overall, the wait was pretty fun. Even though it had been raining earlier, we didn't see a drop during the whole night. However, we did have to make through a 35-degree temperature night! We played some Mario Kart on Nintendo DS - one of the other guys had a DS, so we had some a nice three-way races. Our fellow campers were really nice guys - definitely crazy college students (so crazy that they did some insane shopping cart acrobatics in the parking lot), but nice enough to offer us drinks and conversation. The music from their boom box was a tremendous help - it was an all night dance party! Shawn & Bernadette drove by to visit us, and a cop stopped and chatted with us, too. I only had to pee once "in the wild", and then Starbucks opened at 6:00 AM. The worst hour was 3:00-4:00 AM, which I spent wrapped in a blanket up to my eyeballs. When the sun came up, it was fantastic! However, that's when all the other Wii-hopefuls came by, and we had to tell nearly 100 people that the store only had five (and show them the sign), which got pretty old! But at 10:00 AM, after our 12-hour wait, we got our Wiis! We went back to Chris' house and hooked his up right away, then had a blast playing Wii Sports, especially baseball and boxing! Then I went home and zonked out. Later in the evening I got up to play with my Wii, and had fun for about an hour playing with the internet features. But when I tried to load the Wii Sports disc, it made terrible whining, grinding noises, and the disc became stuck in the Wii! I think the slot loading mechanism was just faulty, but it basically meant my hard-earned Wii was a dud. I tried to stay cool, though, and I called Nintendo right away. Almost immediately they offered to send me a new one via their replacement program, and I should have it in just a few days. So, the final happy ending to my story will be when the new Wii arrives, but regardless of my little setback, I enjoyed the camping experience, and I know I'm going to love my Wii! |
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