November 20, 2006
GAMER GENERATION GAP:
Calm, satisfied customers welcome Wii system (Mike Snider, 11/20/06, USA TODAY)
Another video game system arrived to long lines at stores, but more customers went home satisfied Sunday clutching a new Nintendo Wii. [...]The Wii is less of a technological leap than the high definition PS3 and 360, but uses a new motion-sensitive wireless controller to involve players physically and socially.
"It's unique and it's cheaper," says Rick Baghdassarian, 18, of Fairfax, Va., among about 25 lined up at a Circuit City store in McLean, Va., and one of 18 of whom got a Wii. The orderliness there was in contrast to two days earlier, when police used pepper spray to quell a PS3 crowd of 200.
"It was just ridiculous," says Baghdassarian, who waited unsuccessfully for a PS3. "Most of the people I talked to planned on selling it. The PS3 was like a business thing, and the Wii is more for gamers."
The eldest and I were in an arcade on Saturday night that had all the original vending machine versions of video games and after playing Donkey Kong and watching me get giddy over the fact they had Qix he thinks his parents grew up in the Stone Age. Meanwhile, the virtual reality stuff he liked was making me chunder.
MORE:
Gamers pluck Wii shelves bare (PETER SVENSSON, 11/20/06, The Associated Press)
Nintendo's entry into the game-console wars, the Wii, went on sale Sunday and quickly sold out in many stores, despite stocks that far surpassed those of the rival PlayStation 3, which went on sale Friday. [...]The first buyer, Isaiah Triforce Johnson, had been waiting outside for more than a week. He wore a Nintendo Power Glove, a wearable controller that came out in 1989, while shaking hands with Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime.
Johnson said he had legally changed his name to include a reference to Nintendo's "Zelda" games.
The launch apparently went smoothly, a contrast to the launch PlayStation 3 release, which forced police to disperse rowdy crowds at some stores.
Aw, snap, Qix was awesome! Where the heck did you find one around here? Or are you still in The Sunshine State?
Anyway, I'll admit to being one of the ones who sneered at the Wii. But the more I hear about it the more interesting it seems. And for 250 beans, that's practically free compared to Sony's bloated monster.
It was at Disney Quest, but I did find an updated kind of version (though way easier) on-line:
www.retro64.com/cosmobots.asp
Posted by: oj at November 20, 2006 10:27 AMI loved the virtual reality games at Disney Quest, especially the Pirates game.
Posted by: Brandon at November 20, 2006 11:12 AM