Nintendo Wii

[RoIIo Tomassi]

Wow. I'm so out of it I didn't even realize Mario Kart Wii had come out. Fuckin' 18 hour workdays.

[UKWildcat]

My brother got Mario Cart a few days ago and tonight was the first time I played it. And while I've never been a real big Mario Cart fan, the wheel makes it pretty damn fun. Pretty sweet game from what I can tell.

[anarky]

My wife's family came up this weekend, and I was able to overlook the entire "trapped in a lousy 80s sitcom" aspect of their visits when we played Mario Kart for something like six hours straight.

[vynsane]

My wife's family came up this weekend, and I was able to overlook the entire "trapped in a lousy 80s sitcom" aspect of their visits when we played Mario Kart for something like six hours straight.

hahahahhaa, nice...

once we heat it up in our house and get used to the controls and get a little practice time under our belts we should totally play online against you guys...

EDIT: though that could be difficult to coordinate with a three-hour time difference and two nearly 2yo's...

[Ran]

Circuit City is having a sale this week. Buy one get one half off. It is limited to Mario Cart, Galaxy, Smash Bros., Tiger Woods Golf, Lego Star Wars, and Mario & Sonic Olympics.

Since they were the only 2 they had in stock, we bought Mario Cart and Smash Bros. Instead of buying a second wheel, I bought a $20 off-road racing game that came with a wheel. We'll see if it is any good.

[anarky]

I've come to the conclusion that the Wheel is unnecessary. Playing with nunchucks is better.

[anarky]

Just checked the Circuit City ad. I thought when I read your post it was one of those sales TRU does pretty frequently: buy any Wii game, and the second is half off. I already have all the games in that ad except for the Tiger Woods game, which doesn't seem appealing.

My brother-in-law (the quasi-wannabe rapper) got a Wii this weekend. We couldn't figure out how to get the damned thing online. He has a router his ISP provided, which seems to have some issues with Wii, but nothing I could find that explained how to fix the problems fixed his. Oddly, I think it's some weird software issue. The PC is connected directly to the router, and my niece's laptop is wireless and has no problem. My other brother-in-law's laptop absolutely could not connect. Making things weirder, in fiddling with everything, we changed the router password twice. After finally admitting defeat on the Wii, I booted up my niece's laptop to change her password--it connected fine, despite not having the new password at all! That leads me to believe that there is a program I couldn't find on the PC that prevents any computer other than those two to connect, and yet doesn't require a password from either. Weird.

He picked up three games, and two were ones I wanted to try anyway: Blazing Angels and Winter Sports: The Ultimate Challenge. The controls on both are a little tough and not especially intuitive, but the games are good once you get the hang of things. Blazing Angels is remarkably like a Medal of Honor game with airplanes, down to some of the smallest details. (I was a bit surprised it's not by the same company, but I imagine it probably shares some designers.) Winter Games (which is $15.99 at Costco right now) is one I'll probably get as a counterpart to Mario and Sonic at the Olympics (which is only summer games). For the price, I'd say both of these are bargains--assuming you don't go to a store that still has them for $30.

BTW, reviews be damned, Mario and Sonic at the Olympics is one fun fucking game. It's the most fun you can have with your pants on if you don't have Mario Kart Wii or Mario Party 8. Fuck the haters.

The third game he got is Summer Games Paradise, which looked pretty rank and ended up being ranker. It was limited, cumbersome, and had no resemblance to real physics.

Oh, and suck my balls, Grimmy.

[vynsane]

I've come to the conclusion that the Wheel is unnecessary. Playing with nunchucks is better.

really? eh. i think the wheel looks fun. still haven't even gotten the opportunity to play.

[anarky]

It is fun. A lot of fun, in fact. But I find it's easier to control with the nunchucks.

I stayed up last night and unlocked the last two circuits (which are bitching), Diddy Kong, and two more karts. Then I started fooling with the time trials. I have no fucking clue how these "ghost" racers can do some of the shit they do.

[Ran]

We need to hook up online and race.

My kids wanted to play last night so the little one sat on my lap and "drove" and my wife helped our older one. As both cars were running into the walls, I had a horrible realization that I will have to teach these kids how to drive for real some day. I was depressed and scared at the same time. Thanks Nintendo.

[Ran]

Double post, Grimlock, whatcha gonna do?

Speaking of racing games, has anyone heard anything about the Speed Racer game?

[anarky]

I've not. I'll look and see if I can find some reviews.

Looks like they're mostly positive, but with some qualifications. Multiplayer is two-player only, and no online play. The game seems to be pretty short, from what people are saying.

I'm thinking, since movie license games typically drop in price hella fast, get it in six months. Sure, the movie ticket won't be good anymore, but a $20 drop in price is preferable to a $7 movie ticket, methinks.

[RoIIo Tomassi]

My wife's family came up this weekend, and I was able to overlook the entire "trapped in a lousy 80s sitcom" aspect of their visits when we played Mario Kart for something like six hours straight.

hahahahhaa, nice...

once we heat it up in our house and get used to the controls and get a little practice time under our belts we should totally play online against you guys...

EDIT: though that could be difficult to coordinate with a three-hour time difference and two nearly 2yo's...

You can play Mario Kart online?!?!

[anarky]

Aye. In fact, I know a lot of people who, like me, said, "I never wanted to play video games online, but Mario Kart Wii will probably be the one to get me started."

[RoIIo Tomassi]

Oh man! I just got a Fed-Ex package at my office!