my mind's eye

So, the other night I decided to just play a quick game of Tanks! (part of Wii Play) on the Wii. Not expecting to do exceptionally well, but just to have fun. A little while later I had destroyed all 84 tanks in the first 20 levels and earned a Gold medal! I really AM the Tanks master!

I am now on a mission to go for the Gold in all nine of the Wii Play games.

Leeder is kicking my ass to blog, so here is a list of Wii titles that I want very badly (in no particular order):

• Super Paper Mario - This was going to be a GCN game, but it's been moved onto the Wii. Puzzles requiring 2D/3D perspective shifts sound like loads of fun!


• Wii Play - As much fun as Wii Sports is, I'm sure I'm not the only one looking forward to billiards and target shooting on February 12th.


• Super Smash Bros: Brawl - I expect the Wii installment of the Smash Bros. series will bring gameplay to a whole new, exciting, and perilous level.


• Mario Party 8 - If you've played any of the games in the Mario Party series, you'll understand why I'm looking forward to this game's release on March 5th.

With all of these games releasing, this is going to be an awesome year.

In the lingering spirit of the holiday season and riding the high of having a new game console to play with, I called up my brother the other day because he works at WalMart. The conversation went something like this:

Me: "Hey, does WalMart have any Wii stuff? I have cash burning holes in my pockets."
Zeph: "Well we have a few *blahblahblah*, one Wii-mote, *blahblahblah*..."
Me: "You have a Wii-mote?!?!?!"
Zeph: "Yeah, just one."
Me: "Buy it for me? I'll pay you back tomorrow."
Zeph: "OK."

So now Das Bruce, H and I take turns playing 2-player Wii Sports! It's a blast. Except I suck at Tennis...

So thanks, bro. You rock!

In other news, I also picked up The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for the Wii. Almost two hours into the game now, and it's very cool. More on that subject another day.

I have the best wife and friends in the whole world, for they have given me the one thing I wanted but didn't expect to get for Christmas. Somehow, by the power of prayer or voodoo magic, Das Bruce and H managed to get their hands on a Wii. Granted, the pre-release name "Revolution" was way cooler, but it still friggin' rules!

It is time to dispel some of the myths which even I believed up until yesterday:
- 1 - The sensor bar is not a big, ugly eyesore.
- 2 - The Wii is the size but not the weight of a few DVD cases.
- 3 - Wii Sports, the included game, is not boring!

It's this last result that most surprised me. Let's face it, sports games are, by and large, boring. Either they are too easy to play and therefore not fun, or they are too challenging and therefore not fun.

Wii Sports, however, is FUN! Maybe it's the lifelike movements required to play? Perhaps it's the tried and true (yet exceedingly hard to achieve) "Easy to learn, hard to master" aspect of the game that makes it so very playable. Whatever the reason, it's fun to play - especially in groups.

I do have a list of Wii-related wants, now. It's a fairly short list, but it's there. Fortunately I have some Christmas money from grandparents that I can spend on a few necessities that I didn't need a week ago.

I will post updates when I find time. That may be never.