Wheee the Wii is HERE!

Well folks, our household has gone from NO current generations game consoles to two in a matter of weeks thanks to the arrival of our Wii yesterday (Monday for me, Sunday for most of you).

The Wii is an absolute BLAST! The toughest thing turned out to be actually finding one to buy! I mean you go online, and NO ONE will sell just the Wii console...they all force you to put this big package together, with games and extras and everything, so buying one from Walmart was going to cost me over $500, and other places like EB/Gamestop weren't much better ($470)...

So anyway, a few long-distance phone-calls, and more than a couple treks by the 'rents back in Delaware and we finally secured the objective - a plain ole Wii console.

My out-of-the-box impression: wow this sucker is small....but slick, and set-up is a breeze (the toughest thing to do is to decide if you want to place the remote sensor bar (to capture all the swingin' and flickin' you'll be doing with the Wii-mote) on top of the TV or below it. (I chose on top). The really cool feature, is geared for WiFi right out of the box (matter of fact I think it HAS to be wireless, cause I don't recall any place for a hard-wired connection (like my Xbox 360). Anyway, it found my network is a flash and within a minute I was browsing the Wii online store.

I will say this: other than a few nostalgic games I might download, Nintendo's online features are not, at present, really comparable to Microsoft's. I mean, the online XBox Live stuff is the REASON I got an Xbox (scroll down to read about that) - the reason I got the Wii, is frankly, the idea that Christina and I will be able to share some good times, play some mini-games and generally enjoy the revolutionary gaming experience that the Wii presents. I mean, criminy, its one thing for gamers to have sore thumbs from all the button-mashing, but a sore rotator cuff from playing Wii Sports Tennis? C'mon now.

Another cool aspect - your little in-game avatars, which you can create (heck I spent at least and hour creating a whole bunch yesterday). These are called (appropriately enough) Miis....I mean they're mini-version of you, and since Austin Powers ingrained the term "Mini-me" into the American lexicon, using Mii is simply marketing genius. And your Mii's can migrate! You can choose to share them, and if they're not in use (i.e. you are not using that particular Mii in a game or even if the Wii is powered down) they'll float out on the net and show up on other people's Wiis (if they choose to let other Miis appear that is). I did, just to see if any other Miis show up. You can do a Mii Parade and watch they mingle about....its neat, not necessarily funny or cool or a show-stopper, but cute.

Am waiting for Christina to return from Korea before I try out Mario Party 8 or Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (and since I'm re-reading book 6 right now, I'm jonesin' to see how the Wii handles the wand-based magic of the Potter-series games).

Why Does it Feel Like October?

Dang folks, its windy, overcast, gloomy and almost cold...in July...Look I know its not COLD cold, we went through the winter...but the wind (not breeze) has a chill to it. The sun really hasn't been out all day, but it hasn't rain either (it just looks like its going to)....It reminds me of a blustery, overcast gloomy day in October back in the Northeast...

Oh and another is frickin' July and I haven't taken the heavy mink blanket or the comforter off the bed yet...it struck me last night as I was changing the sheets...I know those of you sweltering through a hot July and probably thinking "fuck you and your cold weather asshole" but I'm just saying...

And another thing, why is it so GD hard to find a Wii???? Its been almost 8 months since its release and NO one has any in-stock (and I found one possibility, but I ain't sharing that info until I confirm it/order one)....

Friday Follies

Its actually Saturday for me, but I think this will officially post for Friday back in the States, so....a few random funnies I've stumbled across recently.

Odd and End thought for the day:
As I "enjoy" a Phillies game via my new Slingbox (ok, now that I've had a minute to think about that statement I really need to change the channel), I just watched the Phillies #5 hitter, Pat Burrell, strike out on 3 straight pitches...what the hell? Stand there twice taking strikes and whiff badly on a slider...wasn't he nicknamed Pat the Bat not that long ago? More like Pat went splat, now.

Notable stories:
DUDE, your getting ripped off by Dell. (at least NY thinks so and is suing Dell for Fraud)

In Ottawa, Illinois one McD's employee took the happy meal to a whole new level. The employee is a 17 year-old high school senior, he's been arrested and charged with possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia (ed., how about possession with intent to be retarded?) See the local Fox coverage here. Man, I bet late night Happy Meal sales soared at McDonald's located near college campuses....

Taking the PS in Playstation the wrong way:
This blurb from E.D. Hill at FoxNews about a dude who celebrated his new PS3 by pissing on his old PS2 console, which happened to still be plugged in the wall. He was electrocuted and fell to the floor unconscious. As Kotaku adds, "After coming to about ten seconds later, the student was rushed to the hospital where a doctor's prognosis confirmed he was in fact an idiot." In related news Nintendo trumped Sony again by announcing their Wii game console--which is currently thumping the uber-expensive PS3 in sales--will now be waterproofed. (ed., not really, but if you want to try and win a Darwin award, by all mean, repeat the feat).

Ok, so when do they apologize?
Police in the U.K. responded swiftly when they say a shadowy armed gunman lurking in the front room of a suburban home. Armed officers burst into the house, shouted at the owner to lie on the floor, and ordered him to surrender his weapon. But efficiency turned to embarrassment when the "gunman" turned out to be a life-sized model of the video game character Lara Croft, complete with trademark outsized pistols.

Computer shop owner David Williams, 42, had taken the dummy home in Dukinfield, near Manchester, to put it up for sale on auction site eBay. What the know the kicker? They still arrested him, and he awaits charges....you gotta be shittin' me.

In the News

I only get 1 news channel here in Japan, and right now its focused on Anna Nicole Smith. So instead of letting my bile rise, I am off to GoogleNews

Here are some interesting snippets:

The Clinton-Obama love-fest is over before it began. I guess all the Hollywood-types are creaming their pants that they an anti-war "minority" candidate to support. Hee hee...You know though, I like Obama, I think he's got charisma and charm (hmm, wonder who that reminds me of) but not a lot of experience. I really like the we-gotta-change-the-politics in this country message, but I will be dismayed if that just rhetoric, and if his camp gets into a year-long dogfight with Hillary, then I think that will alienate a lot of folks. Can we keep this clean?

Anybody else chilled by the idea of American muslims getting radicalized right here at home? This story from Chicago may become more common. They're not guilty yet, just accused. But the simply fact remains...the openness of our society can be turned against us, so we must always remain on guard...there is no going to back to pre-9/11 folks...there just isn't. And that sucks.

Something tells me the execs at Nintendo are ecstatic that the Wii is the top-selling console game system in the U.S. I love my PS2, but I loved my Playstation even more, and I honestly don't use gaming consoles much anymore...not when I have a computer...

Missile defense in Eastern Europe? Are we thinking this through? I don't think there's much upside to that. It will prove to be a catalyst to greater Sino-Russian cooperation and that is NOT something we need. Hell, the frickin' Chinese has already nullified missile defense by coming up with the asymmetric anti-satellite strategy. Yeah, lets get the Russians AND the Chinese teaming up to find ways around missile defense....that's fucking smart....