queing for the new Wii

I did it. I didn't think that I was gonna do it. I had convinced myself that I had exactly Zero chance of getting my hands on one. I saw the lines outside Circuit City and Best Buy on Thursday as rabid enthusiasts stood in pouring rain for the privilege of dropping $650 on a Playstation 3. I, on the other hand, was interested in the less-than-half-the-price Nintendo Wii, which was set to go on sale on Sunday. I knew, however, that I had neither the time nor inclination to stand hours outside a storefront in the hope of buying a game console. Was the Wii launch going to be a similar zoo? Did I have any chance of getting one? I hoped to find something online, but Amazon's promise of pre-orders never materialized. Sunday came and went and I was resigned that I was out of luck. Still, Morgan suggested that I should stop by Nintendo's store before work on Monday and see if there were any left.

That's right, folks... my WIFE wanted me to get a gaming console. She is not a gaming enthusiast. In fact, I'd go so far as to say she is gaming enthusiast Kryptonite. Still, there was something about the Wii that caught her eye. Maybe it was the promise of an intuitive interface. Maybe it was a desperate attempt to find a game that we could play together. Maybe she recognized that shortened days and cooler temperatures meant a VERY long winter for two New Yorkers who would not be able to afford to go out on the town and escape the bell jar that is the New York City apartment dwelling.

Maybe it's best that I not ask too many questions.

So, I schlepped my ass out of bed, and 50 minutes later, found myself on line and indoors with a cup of coffee and donut in my hands. A dozen people stood in front of me in line including a pair of execs who barely knew what they were standing in line for except that their kids wanted one. Behind me was a late 20-something who told me he worked at Best Buy and wanted to get a Wii for his girlfriend, but they'd already sold out. Over his shoulder, I could see a couple of guys, shadowboxing in front of a plasma t.v. with Wiimotes in their hands. A couple cameramen videotaped their antics and interviewed marketing execs.

Ten minutes later, I was standing outside the NBC Studios (one door down from the Wii store) as screaming fans shook cardboard messages for the Today Show cameras. In my hand, I held a shopping bag with a Wii, a copy of the newest Zelda game, and a couple of extra joysticks. I had just enjoyed, perhaps, the most-positive shopping experience I've ever had. Seriously.

A good day in the City... how odd.

My wife and I busted out the system while our 2 cats sniffed and spread out on the packaging. I undertook the dubious task of hooking the Wii. The space behind my "Entertainment Center" is a gnarly mass of cables that took me a good 10 minutes to navigate. Plugging in a piece of electronics is always a challenge in a pre-War-built apartment. It looks like the father's electrical outlets in A Christmas Story and is about as stable. Still, we were up and running relatively quickly. The Wii had no problem finding my Internet router and after a couple download updates, it was ready to roll.

The first half hour was spent just getting used to the new controllers. The Wiimotes are comfortable in the hand and fun to use. Morgan and I took turns making "Mii" characters- little avatar characters you can save in your Wiimote, share with others and appear in games like the included game, Wii Sports. Morgan isn't terribly comfortable with joystick gaming and it took her a little while to get comfortable with the interface, but soon she was creaming me at the bowling and golf challenges. The game tracks your stats and there are fitness test games that allow you to track your improvements over time. A couple of the games were inexplicably awkward to play. Boxing quickly degenerated into a flailing mess as few of our movements seemed to be accurately reflected in the game. Golf was also difficult to control. I couldn't get an accurate gauge of swing strength. Bowling, tennis and baseball were all a blast, particularly the baseball game. I can't wait to have a real baseball game simulation on this sucker.

We were exhausted from all the swinging and throwing so we didn't try Zelda out except for the first few minutes of the introduction. Frankly, what had excited me about the Wii was the multi-player potential and although I did want to play Zelda, I wanted to save it for the winter months when it becomes too cold to go outside and I can't afford to get out of the house.