We got a Wii

For Sang's birthday, I agreed that we could splurge on Nintendo's latest, the Wii. It went on sale yesterday, and we are now proud owners.

We first headed to the Zellers in my parents' area, because it is a small store, and I figured that no one would think to line up there. Nope - people did! And a rather unfriendly group too, of forty-something, "all my friends are on-line" men. They pretty much told us to buzz off, as there were only 7 consoles being sold in the store, and they were already spoken for.

Next, we went to the Superstore. Much friendlier crowd, mid-twenties, mostly guys. Shortly after we arrived, Superstore opened up the outside doors, so we could all wait in the (heated) atrium. The people in line told us the store had 15 systems available, and we would be getting number 14. Number 15 was spoken for about twenty minutes later, when a group of guys showed up.

One illustration of their friendliness, someone went out and picked up Tim Hortons coffee and TimBits for everyone. The waiting in line was actually a fun experience, as everyone was excited and chatty.

About half an hour before the store opened, we got handed out tickets to redeem for our Wii (proof of being there early, to avoid a mad dash through the store). And then, after two hours of waiting, we got in!

Wii came with one controller and nunchuck, and Wii sports. We also got Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz and an extra controller (they sold out of the extra nunchucks by the time we got to the front of the line). We love it! We've played Wii sports bowling and tennis, and Sang has boxed. And, we've played the Monkey Balls.

I wouldn't call it high intensity exercise, but it definitely is more movement that the traditional video games. For many of the games, you need to stand up. And, I got warm enough to necessitate taking off my sweater.

Like all video games, the more you practice, the better you get, but I don't think excelling at traditional styled systems guarantees that you'll be good with the Wii.

So, my verdict = lots of fun!