Topic: Well, I just bought a Wii.

[Quemaqua]

Congratulate me.  Or call me an idiot.  Both would be appropriate.

Basically, the Metroid bug bit me again... hard.  I started going through Fusion again because I never beat it due to some weird thing I could never get past when I played before, but this time I had no problem at all... go figure.  About to beat it.  Will likely go through Zero Mission again, too, because I thoroughly enjoyed that one last time I went through it.  Was a lot cooler than I expected it to be.  I also finally got around to ordering Hunters now that I have a DS, and while I don't expect to like it all that much since it seems to be somewhat hated... what the hell.  I have to try it.  As a small bonus to myself, I found a cheap copy of Metroid Prime Pinball for DS too, so I'll be giving that a spin I'm sure since I totally love both Metroid and pinball.  Hooray!

Anyway, the plan with the Wii is to finally go back and finish up Prime 2 which I got only about halfway through on last occasion because I burned myself out going into it right after playing the first Prime.  So I dunno' if I'll go through that then immediately dig into Corruption, but... either way, it'll be fun.  I really liked what I played of Prime 2 and am excited to finally get back to it.  I wanted to see it in progressive scan on the big TV, but would have had to buy overly-expensive component cables for the GC... so what the hell?  Instead I just bought a Wii on ebay, used.  Not a bad deal... the guy said he used it about 6 times then threw it back in the box, and it comes with the console, original cables and packaging, 2 remotes, charge dock, and 2 extra batteries, all for a little under $350.  That seems like a good deal to me.  Hopefully I can trust him on the used thing, but he seemed to sell other collectables and to be aware of what accurately constitutes good condition.  I don't think I'm going to get a *ton* of use out of this thing anyway, and mostly want it for Prime 3, Super Mario Galaxy, and Endless Ocean, all three of which I'm really, really looking forward to.

So we'll see what happens, but I'm anticipating good times ahead.  This will likely end up exactly like the Gamecube for me... a very few games, but really good ones that I like and that aren't like anything else, and some casual, easy stuff that hopefully Julia and I can both relax with.  She's told me for ages that she can't really use the controller because it hurts her (her condition makes her susceptible to that kind of movement), but I'm hopeful that it won't be as terrible as she thinks, and she'll at least be able to fiddle with a few things like Endless Ocean without a lot of pain.  At any rate, she didn't kill me when I bought it, so that's a good sign.

[Ghandi]

Well hopefully you have some fun with it. I was looking to buy one around town and there were none in stock, but I was perfectly happy to get a PS3 instead.

How much movement do most of the games require? I assume that fast, jerky movements are what you are looking to avoid. I've played a handful of games on the system and some don't require too much movement, while others are almost the opposite. I guess you'll just have to pick and choose your games.

[TheOtherBelmont]

Well hopefully you have some fun with it. I was looking to buy one around town and there were none in stock, but I was perfectly happy to get a PS3 instead.

How much movement do most of the games require? I assume that fast, jerky movements are what you are looking to avoid. I've played a handful of games on the system and some don't require too much movement, while others are almost the opposite. I guess you'll just have to pick and choose your games.

The only games I have noticed that use fast, jerky movements are the games based on nothing but minigames, like Mario Party, Rayman: Raving Rabbids, and WarioWare.  Most of the other games out use fairly subtle movements.  Also, Que, I hope you enjoy your Wii even though I'm shaking my fist at you because you have a bunch of other games to finish for your PS2 and PS3.

[Quemaqua]

Yes, I'm a total fuckwit when it comes to this stuff.  I'm as bad as idol.  I just love seeing new things, poking at stuff, seeing how things work, seeing how things get made... and half the time my interest has moved on before I get a chance to finish whatever I'm playing.  I'm trying to do better, and at least now I do tend to restart games less often and just pick them up where I left off.  That's helped a ton.  So I'm more likely to finish something over an extended time period now.

I've also noticed I find it hard to finish games I really, really like.  Okami and Final Fantasy XII, for instance.  I think subconsciously I just don't want them to end, so I dillydally and keep making excuses and stuff.  It's weird.  It only seems to happen to longer games, though.  Shorter ones I can finish because I know I can play them again if I want, but the long ones I know I won't play again, so I just never quite seem to get myself to get it all digested...

[Cobra951]

And I'll bet you still didn't get an AC.   

The Wii games I've played that need controller shaking seem to accept mild gestures.  Even stuff like bowling and tennis don't need a whole lot of violence.

For Metroid Prime 3, make sure to set the aim/look function (whatever it's called) to advanced.  The standard setting is horrible, and it will turn you off to the game if you're not aware of the choice.

Hope you enjoy the system.  If it's like my experience, you'll be into it heavily for a month or 2, then use will taper off dramatically as a Wii.  It does make a terrific Gamecube replacement, with great colors and progressive scan (in games that support it).  But you have to get those component cables.  You'll be sorry if you don't, given your new TV.

Edit:  One more recommendation:  Turn off Wii Connect24 before turning off the system.  Use it as needed only.  If you don't, your system is on 24/7.  Standby my ass.  It will be quite warm to the touch.  Also, the bottom of the unit will get hot in the horizontal position.  I highly recommend vertical, or propping it up on something at the 4 corners if it must be horizontal.

[Quemaqua]

Thanks for the thoughts.  I suspect the thing will get more extended use as a Gamecube replacement since Julia still plays GC stuff from time to time, and I dip in on rare occasions.  It'll almost certainly be standing vertically just because it looks like it was built for that.  I'll be picking up component cables within the next couple days.

As for the AC, heh... well, there's a chance we may be moving soon, and it wouldn't make sense to drop the cash on one if we won't need it at another place.  So we'll see what happens with that.

[MysterD]

I think if I was to buy a console, it's be the Wii since Nintendo seems to have a lot more exclusives that I have an interest in than the other two (X360 and PS3). I mean, hell -- most of the games I want on X360 and PS3, they're on the PC. Same can't be said for the Wii-exclusives.

All I can say to you Que -- enjoy your Wii, man.

[Quemaqua]

As a random update, I still don't have my Wii.  It should have gotten here a few days ago and we don't know where it is.  The guy has delivery confirmation on it, and it hasn't been confirmed, and we checked to make sure he got the address right... so don't know why it's taking so long.  He sent it Friday and it's supposed to be 2-3 day shipping.  Fucking post office.  I really want it to get here today since it'll be the start of a 3-day weekend once I get off work, and I'm like... ultra rabid for Prime 2 right now.  The video reviews I've watched for Corruption aren't helping either.  That's a really, really nice looking game.

Fortunately, I don't hate Hunters.  I know a lot of people weren't that keen on it, and I can definitely say it's one of the weakest if not the weakest game in the series (Prime or otherwise[/i], but it really isn't as bad as some made it out to be.  The bosses are generally challenging and fun, at least so far, and the environments have turned out to be more expansive and such than I expected.  People made it seem like it was a pure shooter with no traditional Metroid elements, but that seems bogus to me.  There's good, old-fashioned fun in there, it's just lurking a little further beneath the surface and takes a little more work to find.  But once you get into the game for a few hours it picks up and gets better, I think.  The story isn't all that interesting, but there's some great art design happening and I really have come to enjoy the control scheme now.  It's pretty awesome.  So not the best game ever, but certainly better than I was expecting.

Cross your fingers for me that the Wii gets here tonight.  I need something to do this weekend.

EDIT - Well, I guess not.  It didn't show today, and since tomorrow is the 4th, I guess it isn't going to.  Great.  I guess this will be just another lousy fucking weekend then.  Hooray.

[Quemaqua]

Mine's not showing up and I'm fucking sick of waiting.  It should have been here days ago and I had my entire weekend planned out to spend some quality time with the fucking thing.  So I'm thinking I may go try to find one, and if I can, I'll buy it.  If my ordered console never shows up, which looks more likely by the day, I'm out $330 which I'm quite sure the seller isn't going to refund, and the fucker didn't put insurance on it (I should have checked).  But in the event that it does eventually show up, I don't need two of the things.

So... in that event, would anyone be interested in it?  It's the console, charge dock, 2 remotes, 2 nunchucks, the Wii Play package (hence the extra remote), and all the Wii Sports attachments.  I'll ask slightly less than what I paid for it.

[scottws]

Did you pay via PayPal?  If so I think you fall under the buyer protection plan.  Not sure what that is though.

[Quemaqua]

I have no idea.  I suppose I'll have to check.

And I don't know what I was thinking... no stores have the things anyway, so it isn't like I can go out and buy one.  I checked all of them to be sure, and nope, they still have no stock.

EDIT - I found some.  Now I'm debating if I'm *really* so fucking obsessive that I need to go get one.

[TheOtherBelmont]

Isn't there other games you could play instead of obsessing over the Wii?  Yeah, it sucks you don't get it on your 3 day holiday, but it'll probably be there soon and if it isn't you can go from there.  If you sell it to someone here then you have to go out on another errand to get the thing mailed off, doesn't seem worth the trouble to me.

[Quemaqua]

It probably isn't.  What you have to understand is this is the last weekend I've got before my commute triples as I go to my new job site, so I was really, really looking forward to this, and to have it not happen is beyond disappointing to me.  If things don't change, I won't really have as much time to play games, so I'm really depressed right now.  I mean, I've been depressed, just about my job and all that shit, so it isn't like not having the Wii is doing it... it was just the one thing I was looking forward to.  Now that that's shot, I feel like complete shit.

EDIT - I think I've decided to do it.  Dude at the store said he had a bunch in stock, and I called only a few hours before the store closed last night.  They should still have some this morning.

The catalyst was my neighbors staying up until well past 4:30 AM making all kinds of fucking noise.  I barely slept at all, and I was fuming the entire time.  They've been at it again in general so I'm going to have to start yelling at the landlord again today, who will undoubtedly do nothing.  If I don't somehow distract myself, this weekend will quite possibly kill me from stress and aggravation.  If I can't get someone to buy the other Wii if it happens to show up, I'll probably just give it to my niece and nephew for Christmas or something.

[Cobra951]

Their jaws will drop, then sing praises to their cool uncle.  You'll run out of the room embarrassed. 

Man, that's a bitch.  I had no issues at all getting mine, though I did pay like a $50 premium plus the shipping.  I guess the best deal for you now would be to get it at a store, then cancel the eBay order if that's in any way an option.  You'll have the benefit of buying it locally, should anything be wrong with the unit.

[scottws]

I think eBay basically makes you try to work it out for 30 days after auction end.

[Quemaqua]

I'm fully willing to work with the guy.  He doesn't seem like a jerk, and he's communicated with me on it the whole time.  I sincerely hope it's just late.  I'm fully willing to just wait it out, and try to work it out.  But if it doesn't show up and he refuses to refund my money, that's his problem for not shipping with insurance and tracking.  Granted I should have read that and balked, but the ball is still in his court.  It's his fault it didn't get to me, and if PayPal has some kind of buyer protection, I'm going to take full advantage.

Still, hopefully it's just late and I can just sell one of the units when it gets here.  I did end up going to the store to buy one today, so I have it in my house.  We'll see what happens.  Like I said, if worse comes to worse I'll most likely be able to give it to my sister's family.  They have no game systems of any kind, and probably wouldn't want much overall given the way they run things there, but I think a Wii would be good fun for them.  They could play it together and they totally would... her husband is a total kid at heart.  So if I can't get my money back on it, at least maybe something good can come out of it.  Assuming that it still shows up, of course, and it's fully possible that it may not.  I was doing some reading and it seems a lot of ebay sellers simply refuse to use USPS because they have huge portions of their shipments lost on a regular basis.  It doesn't bode well for the future of my package.

[scottws]

Seems dumb not to use USPS.  It's fast and cheap, and you can buy insurance and that's cheap too.

I guess even with insurance you'd have the customer service issue to contend with on a lost shipment though.

[Quemaqua]

It doesn't seem dumb to stop using USPS when you regularly lose shipments from them.  It would be dumb to continue using them, no?

I've never once had a package lost from FedEx or UPS, but this isn't actually the first time I've had a lost shipment using the post office.  This is simply the first one that mattered.

[scottws]

I've never lost anything or had anything lost through the Post Office, or heard in any way that they are poor.  I'm not denying it, but it's the first I've heard of it.

[Quemaqua]

It used to be generally acknowledged that the post office sucked, but then they really seemed to get quite a lot better.  But I guess it hasn't stuck, since they seem to be reverting back to their old ways again.

[scottws]

Weird.  Must be a CA thing.  I've never heard of the USPS sucking.  It's generally considered one of the better mail systems in the world from what I've heard.

[Quemaqua]

That's only because the other ones suck worse.  And no, it isn't a CA thing.

[Ghandi]

I've never had any problems with the USPS as far as lost shipments, but from time to time I have had things arrive broken. Sometimes they handle things a little too rough.

[scottws]

I'm sure it isn't limited to the USPS.  When I worked for DHL, we just literally threw everything on trucks, from the bumper to as far forward in the delivery truck as you could.  Didn't matter if it said fragile or not (we didn't even bother to look).

I remember seeing a box containing a windshield coming down the belt.  The box was in bad shape.  It had a little device on it that turned red if it had been handled rough.  It was red.  If you shook the box you could tell it was broken badly.

[Quemaqua]

Well, it showed up today!  So that's good.  I'm glad it did.  It was well worth it to me to have picked up the other one yesterday... and even if I can't get anybody to help me make up the losses, my sister will probably give me a pittance for it and I'll just call the rest a gift for the kids.  It'd be nice for them to expand their horizons a little.  Amy's only seen one game system, and that was her friend's DS... and she loved every second of it.

Offer is still out there for anybody who wants it, though.  It seems the seller was on the level about using it 6 times.  The thing looks identical to the new one barring one slight smudge on the power button which is now gone.  I've decided to keep the extra stuff (charger unit, 2nd controller that came with Wii Play, etc.), so I'm just planning to sell the console itself with all the original goodies (it's complete, boxes and all).  It's also got the Wii sports remote attachments if anyone cares, though I'd doubt that.

[Quemaqua]

Merged my offer to sell the other unit with the original thread detailing the purchase, etc.  Looks like Pyro will be taking this off my hands later this month, so all is well.

Picked up Super Mario Galaxy, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Metroid Prime 3, and Endless Ocean for it, along with Paper Mario (N64) for the virtual console.  Good stuff!  I'm loving all of them.

[gpw11]

NO NO NO.  WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT PAPER MARIO?!

[Quemaqua]

I don't actually remember you telling me anything about it.

[gpw11]

The Paper Mario Project

[Quemaqua]

Oh yeah, that.  Well, I could still do that anyway, and I never owned the game, so no loss on either count.

EDIT - OH MY GOD I LOVE BRAWL.