Wednesday, April 23, 2008

I am a consumer whore: Vol. 2, Ep. 1

I've been trying to convince my friend Max to get an Xbox360 for the last year or so; he assures me that he really does want one, but he's trying to cut down his debt, and he's hoping to score it during the holidays. However, he blindsided me on Monday by telling me that he managed to score a Wii, thanks to wiialerts.com.

And so, of course, I had to check out the site and see what it was all about. I've wanted a Wii since launch but they've been impossible to find, and I've gotten used to not having one - especially since there are really only about 5-6 games I'm interested in playing. But, as I said, I felt compelled to check out the site. 15 minutes later, I signed up and set up some alerts; 30 minutes after that, I got my first text message.

Cutting to the chase, then: this morning I got a text message - Circuit City finally had bundles available, and for a pretty reasonable price. And so...

...

...I got one.

The bundle itself isn't necessarily top-notch, at least as far as the selection of games goes. I got:
  • Super Smash Bros. Brawl
  • Super Mario Galaxy
  • Mario Party 8
  • Wii Play (for the extra remote)
I will most likely trade in Brawl and Party for Zelda and maybe RE4 or Okami. I'll check 'em out, of course, but I don't really see myself giving a shit about either of those games.

Anyway. I'm glad I'm finally getting one, although I was truly ready to forgo the Wii altogether in lieu of scoring a PS3 later this summer.

And it's not like I'll be playing it very much once GTA4 drops next week.

I am such a goddamned whore.

(Wii friend codes are always appreciated; I'll post mine once I find out what it is.)

2 comments:

Staci said...

I don't think I've played a game since Zelda was on Nintendo. God, my thumbs were sore....

This is probably a good thing, as I really don't need another extra-curricular interest ;)

Adam said...

When the Wii was announced, I had more interest in it, at least in concept, than any game console since the original Nintendo Entertainment System.

But after Nintendo let artificial product shortages continue for months (and now, more than a year), my interest waned, and eventually dropped to nothing. (I refuse to wait in line before a store opens or buy something in a bundle with things that I do not want.)

Or so I thought.

Last week, when I reserved a copy of Metal Gear Solid 4 at a local GameStop, I saw three Wiis (and an Xbox 360 Elite) behind the counter.

At the time I was merely surprised. I had never seen a Wii in a store before, and the Elite is pretty rare too.

But when I got home, and for the next few days, I wondered if I should have purchased one of those Wiis.

Again, I thought that I had lost all interest in the Wii. Even if I hadn't, there are more than enough promising-looking PlayStation 3 games coming over the next several months to allow me to continue ignoring the Wii for some time.

I wonder if my interest in the Wii has genuinely returned, or if I just want one because everyone wants one and no one can find it.

It's probably better that I didn't buy a Wii. You can't buy only a Wii. You need to buy a Wii game or three, extra Remotes and Nunchucks, Classic Controllers and possibly a Component Video cable and/or Ethernet adapter at the same time that you buy your Wii. (Not to mention a long list of Virtual Console games that you will download as soon as you get home.) With those,the Wii no longer costs "only" $250.