Wii Like

While passing the time to go to the movies, Nicole wanted to shop for a dress. That means I went to GameStop. And played the Wii.

After what seemed like an eternity for a mother to tear her jerky-Wii-Excite-Truck-driving son away from the console, they finally went over and turned in the Wiimote for her driver's license back. I handed mine over and went back to check it out.

I was so happy to see that using the Wiimote (is that even it's real name?) was not as hard as the kid who was playing it made it seem to be. It was like using a mouse and I had no problems hitting even the smallest buttons on the Wii's dashboard. I played around with some of the system controls for a minute or two and then went straight into the only game in the demo unit: Excite Truck.

At first I had a hard time figuring out which way to turn the controller to steer the truck. Like a steering wheel? No. Like a semi-truck? No. Like a toy airplane in my hands? Yep. Holding it in two hands flat to the ground, lifting up on either side is what turns the vehicles. Not at all like I was expecting. So if anyone makes a steering wheel peripheral like Ubisoft is going to do, everyone better pick a standard motion to use. Or let us customize the controls, though I can't imagine the interface for doing that.

Once I started getting the hang of it, I attracted a bunch of frat boys. Having already told the kid before me how to hold the controller, I really didn't want to have to explain to these bruts how it worked, so I told them to how to get the controller and I turned it back in.

One by one they traded it off exclaiming, "Oh, you do that to turn it? Sweet!".

Meanwhile, the PS3 demo unit across the door had it's own crowd. Some basketball game. I think you had to press a button to pass the ball. How lame.

Marty McFly: [showing the two boys how to play the shoot 'em up video game] Let me show you. I'm a crack shot at this.
[shoots a perfect score with the electronic gun]
Video Game Boy #1: You mean you have to use your hands?
Video Game Boy #2: That's like a baby's toy!
- Back to the Future II