Wii - post your first impressions here

[Geezer]

I'm having a good time with it so far, I love the hardware and the remote (so tiny ^_^).

The graphics are poor as I'm used to 360 visuals, but I find it incredibly easy to forgive the graphics and let's face it, none of us bought one for the graphics

Getting to grips with the remote has been incredibly hard for me, but 15 years or so of playing with pads is the cause of that, as I'm sure is the case for many of us here.

I've only tried Wii Sports, Monkey Ball and Red Steel thus far. I'm saving for Zelda for Monday when I'll be done with uni coursework (recurring theme here )

Wii Sports is a nice little bundle albeit with no depth and little to keep the single player going. It'll always be a nice one to wheel out when your mates are around. The "real" golf/tennis etc. games that come later will be awesome. I'm pretty surprised at how much I'm enjoying golf, I usually dislike golf games intensely, but using the remote makes it that little more interactive and so much more fun. When the full golf games hit the Wii I for one won't be able to ignore them, whereas for the 360/PS3 they wouldn't even show up on my radar.

Red Steel had such a dodgy start for me that it showed up in the trading forum shortly after I first played it . I gave it another try today and it's grown on me a bit, I'm still reserving judgement on this one until I nail the controls.

Monkey Ball-Not much to say other than I'm just not enjoying it. There's no fun factor there for me. I really wish I'd listened to the US owners and just picked up Rayman instead, still that's something to request for the 25th

Overall, it's been positive, should be a lot more positive come Zelda time

EDIT:Oh yeah, I haven't even gone online with it yet. So that's something to look forward to, it'll be interesting to see how the online side functions.

[bungle]

I need a wii.

Japanese ones seem to be easier (and cheaper) to get. Drawbacks? Language? Connectivity to internet? I shouldn't do this, right?

[thebuddahman]

I need a wii.

Japanese ones seem to be easier (and cheaper) to get. Drawbacks? Language? Connectivity to internet? I shouldn't do this, right?

Dooooo....ittttt!

[ascender]

Now you see, I gave a less than glowing impression of the Wii earlier. I was all ready to put it up for sale in the forum. But the missus just wanted a shot of it to show her sister and we've been playing it for the last hour. Its definitely got a certain charm to it. Just that special something. I just hope that developers make the most of it.

Hopefully my games and remote will show up on Monday.

[Ork1927]

I love it.

Picked it up yesterday morning but my 'opening of the box' was messed up as my brother was having a fit on the phone as his didn't work. This went on for 15 minutes until he realised he hadn't plugged the sensor bar in properly.

Remotes both worked fine from the off although I raised my sensor bar up by putting it on the Wii stand after a while.

Set up a Mii of me - great fun.

Wii Sports - had a quick bash with the training modes. At first I was a bit disapointed until I played the dodge the ball boxing game and was jumping around the room grinning like an idiot.

Then went through Wii Play - enjoyed quite a few of the mini games including Pose for some reason. More stupid grinning from all the Mii running in fear of the flying saucer. Table Tennis, Laser Hockey both work really well. Billiards was a bit hit and miss as sometimes I was playing like Paul Newman and other times like a prat.

Next up Red Steel - graphics a bit dodgy, occasional control problems but I'll admit I really enjoyed the first chapter. Loved the reloading noises and just control the aim with the remote. Plus lots of things can be shot at and blown up.

Monkey Ball - Main game controls really well, played a few levels up to the first boss (I'm not going to like the boss battles). Mini games I plyed were all bad to unplayable but there must be a few gems in there and perhas overs will be better with a bit of time.

Bit the bullet and did the updates without a problem - phew.

Zelda - Played the first 10 minutes. Bar the fairy pointer annoying me a bit I sense this will be magic.

Back to Wii Sports and started playing the main games - no longer disapointed and however decided to bundle this with the console is a genius. Tennis is fantastic, Bowling and Golf work really well, I need a bit more time on baseball but the action of batting is brilliant and I suspect two player boxing will be superb.

Girlfriend came home tired and didn't fancy playing. Mii creation quickly hooked her and we had a few games of Wii Play which she liked. Will see if Wii Sports can convert her tomorrow.

Before going out I tried to have a snoop around the VC but it wouldn't connect and I had to power off at the plug as nothing was happening. Very scary moment but all is fine now.

Today, I decided to pick up Marvel: Ultimate Alliance which isn't out (except bloddy Woolworths have umpteen copies on their shelves!!!!) and ended up picking up Madden instead.

Not played Madden since Genesis games but so far it is brilliant. Remote mapping is really cleverly done and there are loads of tutorials and stuff. I can see myself becoming obsessed with this.

In conclusion - it is magic. Launch title wise I've got potentially one of the best games ever, two great multiplayer party games, a fun if slightly broken FPS, Monkeyball and a classic sports sim with brand new controls.

All this and I'm awaiting an Sd card to mess around with my photo collection and waiting for a VC game to take my eye before Christmas.

I can't wait for Wario/Mario/Super Smash Brothers and God knows what Capcom may cook up with the Resi Game.

Realise this is sounding very gushing fanboy but Nintendo are ******* geniuses.

[Flompy]

Well having now played on one I must say I was pleasantly suprised- it is a nice console and the remote works well most of the time. The actual machine itself is quite sexy to look at, not too sure about the classic controller and the Nunchuck however. Wii Bowling was great fun, Tennis not so much. Tried an awful racing game too which was truly dire but at least showed that racing games could potentially work well with the wiimote.

In an honesty the hardware is great, but the software is the problem. As somebody who has never really got into Zelda games before I can't see anything coming up of interest on the Wii (although apart from Edge & GamesTM when bored on lunchbreaks I never read up on it as I just don't care enough) and much like previous Nintendo consoles it is obvious there is going to be a massive games lull.

I can pretty much say that unless Nintendo pull something really special out of the bag I won't be getting a Wii. Maybe if somebody could invent a couple of extra hours in the day I would but as it stands there are so many 360 games I want to play through (not even finished the first level of Gears yet) that buying one would be a waste of time.

All in all I am impressed and think that it is a nice little machine, but I can't imagine anybody but the most casual (ie barely ever plays games) of players being satisfied with it as their only console- it really does need to be in addition to a 360 or PS3. Well done to Nintendo on a successful launch, hopefully they can keep the momentum up

[ALH]

My wii came yesterday at 1:30 or so, i was a little scared it wouldnt arrive after grabbing a train all the way from middlesborough to get back home to pick it up. Before yesterday i was kinda bummed that i didnt get the one i ordered for midnight launch (and when i heard that wiis were going for big prices on ebay i regretted it moreso XD) but now im really glad i came home.

Playing this thing on a large TV with plenty of space and a 6:1 surround sound system, for one, is awesome. When we were playing wiigolf it felt like i was actually there, with the nature sounds coming from behind me, crowd to the sides, it was absolutley fantastic,really immersive. Moreso than any other game i've played in that room .

First thing we did after updating was make our miis, my nana was having great fun making hers,she was a little scarfed of using the wiimote so was instructing us to choose her miis features- ' oh no not that mouth thats ugly ooh! those lips are pretty!' then we booted up wiisports and had a game of bowling. My nana has never bowled in her life,and she isnt about to start any time soon thanks to arthritis and the such, but she absolutley loved wii bowling- got a strike a couple of times too, which isnt bad for someones first ever game,of bowling or of the computer variety!

The minute my adamantly non-gaming dad got in from work he asked for a go while me and my sister were mucking around in wiiplay, he proceeded to hog it for ages. he spent most of today playing golf and pretty much wants a wii for himself now- we were out xmas shopping and he returned home early to get some practise shots in. Both of my parents have exclaimed amazement several times about how cheap the thing is- especially in comparison to past consoles, to them a console release means 300+ quid, and the fact that wii is inferior spec wise to the more expensive consoles means absolutley nothing to them.

Its a huge shame that theres such a massive shortage at the moment, because my parents probably would go out and buy themselves one to keep them entertained when i take mine back down to uni, especially once some more in-depth golf games start to appear.

My family have spent more time playing with the wii than me for the past day and a half, its insane. Their general consensus, as a group of three people who have never really gamed before (the odd try aside) and two who are casual at best since there arent actually any consoles in the house atm is that the wii absolutley pwnz.

My judgement? I think the 360 has spoilt me a little when it comes to this. The wii takes so long to boot up in comparison! The dashboard isnt as accessible as the 360s blades either, mii channel takes a while to load, as does shop, options etc. Its a petty complaint but its one that will end up dictating my choice of quick gaming fix. Instant acess to live arcade or slightly slower acess to ROMS of games i already own? It sucks that the channels arent up and running yet either- again, a petty complaint, but at the moment the dash seems a bit lacking. Im the kind of person who likes to fiddle about for ages with daft stuff before even starting a game up- like sorting out avatars, backgrounds etc.

Miis are cool. I like the parade option, i traded friend codes with the friend i sold my midnight launch console to and him and his buddies back at tees have been making miis- it was a surprise to see one of them wandering round my parade when i opened it up to show one of my sisters what it does- even more surprising when the thing actually looked like the person it represented .

I dont know how things will roll when i get back to my student accomodation. i have no room to stand, my TV is half the size of the one here and its HD without composite-in. This shouldnt really effect the games i have at the minute though, wiisports is..well..wiisports. Zelda is looking really jaggy for me on the TV here so the upscale should anti alias it a bit.

Shadow of the Colossus and Oblivion have absolutley spoilt any kind of visual glee i could have gained from zelda, the first thing i thought when i started to play was ' oh god my eyes'...and im not even that much of a graphics whore =/

The mid afternoon colour palette wasnt that harmonic- when it got to a morning section the game was looking much prettier. Still, the textural crudeness is really weird to be seeing after playing so much oblivion over the past few weeks. Its slightly cartoony style is kinda new to me, i havent played a game with this kind of style for absolutley ages.

Party fun wise, the wii is unlike any console ive ever owned, even guitar hero didnt earn this much fierce argument over who has the next turn.hearing your parents bicker because one wont let the other have a go on golf is hilarious.

Solo wise..i'll have to come back to you on that. It seems my 360 is well on its way to being the king of solo play, the wii is like its quirky, more social younger sibling. Im looking forward to playing wii online- i get the impression itll be a lot of fun

[Daniel]

Got mine from sainsburys on launch day...forgot tbh and just popped in and saw a lady putting them on the shelf. Got the console, wii play and classic controller.

Took about 20 minutes from opening the box to set up, have it recognising the wireless, updating and buying mario64 and donkey kong country. Very smooth bit of kit. Can see some thought has gone into the interface. Will be smart when opera and new/weather is fully available.

First impression is AT LAST nintendo have produced something that doesnt look like it came from mothercare. Controllers are intuitive, perfect feel and weight. Bit smaller than expected, but still just using them brings a grin to the face and within 2 mins you don't wanna go back to pads. An evolution in gaming that seems fully realized first time round.

Wii play is ok...more for people who have never played games (read - have no hand eye co-ordination whatsoever). Though a few of the games might be worth a replay - tanks, pool, and duckhunt spring to mind.

Now wii sports is just genius - every sport has that nintendo feeling that it looks simple at first but 1 day in and the subtle depths are starting to show themselves.

Every game seems to reward you if you really put yourself into the game rather than objectively play it - 'think' you're actually playing golf and feeling the power of the hit, rather than the old, distant way of gaging power on a power bar or timing a moving curser. Fkin brilliant.

Bowling is just a perfect simulation. Pulled a slow curling shot to pick up spares either side of the lane and was jumping for joy when it worked. Don't think a game has ever given such instant satisfaction within minutes of playing it, and it does this every 5 mins or so - this kind of constant gratification reminds me of quake deathmatch. Pick up and play at its best, and i think this is exactly what nintendo where aiming for at launch.

Might get COD or Zelda but for the time being i just want super mario world and am gonna enjoy some mario 64.

[sj33]

My wife's first impressions (she isn't a gamer, but as I play a fair bit, she's quite a lot of games on our tv and plays everynow and again) were:

Wii Sports: good, she liked tennis and picked it up instantly.

Mii's: she thought these were brillant. "So cute" were her first worlds, and she liked making a little version of her. She especially liked picking them up.

Zelda: She thought it looked awful and couldn't understand why a new console looked so bad. "It is like going back to an old console when things looked ****", was more of less her first words. Harsh I thought, but I see her point.

Funny thing Zelda, for most of here it's Zelda that makes the console, the best thing about it. For the 'casual' or mainstream, it just seems ****.
True, it looks dates because it's a 2 year old GameCube game, but it also uses a graphical style that just doesn't suit an LCD at low resolutions. Wind Waker actually looks better in a sense, just because of the style of graphics (though I personally prefer the style of TW).
I can see Nintendo moving closer to the art style seen in stuff like Wii Sports, Monkey Ball etc, that general arty, 'not overly detailed but still nice looking' style simply because it better suits the format. Something along the lines of Mario Galaxy, in fact.

[ascender]

Well the wife was playing Wii Sports for about 90 minutes tonight, she just loves it and is already looking forward to drunken Chrimbo and New Years fun with people round. I think this is where the console will really come in to its own but I agree with what a few people have said, that alongside a 360 its the perfect set-up, but I wouldn't want it to be my only console.

[ALH]

But most people will think 'Wii sports has tennis, why would I buy another tennis game'.

Because wiisports tennis doesnt have as many options as a full on tennis game would have. Ive noticed this already with golf- my dad loves it, but the amount of holes is restricted, and as he pointed out, it doesnt tell you anything about things which would make a difference in real golf, such as the declination of the terrain. A wholly rounded game with a course editor, more stats ( like speed, how hard you hit the ball, a track of your overall performance over time etc) and heck, even an online scoreboard because he is really competetive.

he would probably still want to see his mii rather than some daft tiger woods clone though .

A wholly casual gamer might not see the point in buying certain games because they are included but..a whooly casual gamer isnt going to see the point in buying ANY games to go with their console. my sister got a GBA for xmas a few years ago and only ever played one game on it.

[robrymond]

GHa dso much fun tonight on Wii Sprots and Wii Play with mates, espeicallyt when drinkng, it makes the ggames so much more fun.

Nintendo hav e come up trumps for a party console, and i oplauyed Wii Play tonight for the fist time and the games are fantastic especially duck hunt and laser hoickey.

EDIT - I was rather intoxicated when I wrote that post. But yeah, Wii Sports and Wii Play were excellent with mates when you've had a few beers (or in my case alot of beers).

[zipper]

Just had to say that I was quite amazed at the COD3 jeep driving stage.... Having to hold the controls up like they're on a wheel and steering... I can't believe it actually works!

[Zapp$ter]

Wii Sports is a nice little bundle albeit with no depth and little to keep the single player going. It'll always be a nice one to wheel out when your mates are around. The "real" golf/tennis etc. games that come later will be awesome.

Tbh, I think that's rather unfair. Sure the games might not have as much depth as most fully fledged titles but that doesn't mean they don't have any depth to them at all.

[Soi]

Funny thing Zelda, for most of here it's Zelda that makes the console, the best thing about it. For the 'casual' or mainstream, it just seems ****.
True, it looks dates because it's a 2 year old GameCube game, but it also uses a graphical style that just doesn't suit an LCD at low resolutions. Wind Waker actually looks better in a sense, just because of the style of graphics (though I personally prefer the style of TW).
I can see Nintendo moving closer to the art style seen in stuff like Wii Sports, Monkey Ball etc, that general arty, 'not overly detailed but still nice looking' style simply because it better suits the format. Something along the lines of Mario Galaxy, in fact.

Good points. Zelda is a game that has a hude dedicated following. And that following would play a new Zelda game with NES graphics. My wife sees the blury mess (and that's how it looks right now) and doesn't see why I'm playing that and not something "newer".

It was the same with a mate who came round yesterday (he is a gamer, but not a hugely dedicated one). On seeing Zelda, "why would I spend almost ?200 on something that looks almost 2 gaming generations old". Again, Wii Sports impressed him a lot more, but he isn't exactly racing out to buy one.

The many positive impressions in this thread are good though. Keep them coming!