Wii'd: the followup

It's always something. I'd started to track my orders from about 15 minutes after I pulled the trigger yesterday morning, and by 3 in the afternoon I'd noticed that something was screwy; my bundle was being shipped in 2 boxes, and only one box had actually been picked up from the warehouse. By 7, my Wii was en route to the shipping facility, whereas my games were in no man's land; by 12:30 this afternoon, I'd already finished unpacking my Wii and getting it hooked up to the internet, and by 1:00 I'd finished my absurdly frustrating and confusing call with Circuit City's customer service, who informed me that they would absolutely consider refunding my shipping charges once I finally received the package.

But obviously, I can't leave well enough alone; of the 4 games I was waiting for (and obliged to purchase, for purposes of the bundle), only Mario Galaxy was worth caring about. So I ventured out to the local Gamestop and procured:

Zelda: Twilight Princess
Super Paper Mario
Resident Evil 4
Okami

First impressions: the Wii itself is a neat little device. Setup was surprisingly quick and painless. The controllers have a nice, appropriate weight to them - especially the remote, whose vibration is very well done. Coming from someone who's gotten very used to XBL over the last few years, the Wii's dashboard functionality is limited, but useful and well organized.

As for the games: before I went to Gamestop, I (of course) tried out Wii Sports, because that's what you're supposed to do when you have a Wii. I'd already played a little bit of it last Thanksgiving, but that doesn't really count - I was playing with my 10-year-old stepbrother, who is a Wii genius, and I was kinda drunk, and only really got about 15-20 minutes with it anyway. Today, on the other hand, left to my own devices (since Kath is laid up recovering from foot surgery), I actually broke a little bit of a sweat. Bowling was actually a lot more fun than I expected, especially since I hit around 115-120, which is what I generally bowl in real life.

I only spent between 15-30 minutes with the other 4 "real" games today; I just wanted to check them out, not wanting to commit to any in particular (especially with Galaxy supposedly on the way, and ESPECIALLY since the Wii is going to be collecting dust after Tuesday). Immediately I noticed that I've been spoiled rotten by my 360 and my HDTV; I've gotten very used to 1080p, and the Wii doesn't even come with component cables, so everything looks like crap. I'm gonna have to get some component cables tomorrow, because JESUS CHRIST everything looks like it has a shitty watercolor filter over it - and it's especially bad in the case of Okami, which features painting as an integral gameplay mechanic.

I also think I need to maybe reposition my sensor bar; right now it's on top of my TV, and when I sit on my couch I feel like I'm not getting accurate readings. When I stand up, it's fine. I don't want to have to play Zelda standing up.

Just checked my tracking details: no new updates since 7:48pm, when it "left origin". I'm going to assume that means that it'll arrive tomorrow. So, then: tomorrow afternoon, I go back to Gamestop, trade in Super Smash Bros and maybe Mario Party 8, get component cables and maybe fully pay off my GTA4 pre-order.

I gotta say: it's nice to be in this gen fully committed. It's financially irresponsible, perhaps, but it's also just nice to be able to fully understand what's happening in the scene right now. I suppose I'm not totally fully committed until I get a PS3, and I'm really only getting a PS3 for the Blu-Ray, but that's neither here nor there - I will be owning one at some point, and I can finally come out from the Xbox fanboy mentality. (Which suited me quite well, I should say - the 360 remains the best option out there right now, and I've yet to see anything to convince me otherwise.)

More tomorrow. (Well, today, technically speaking, as it's now 12:18am.)