WP Prefers Nintendo Wii To PS3

One can analyze the ongoing next-generation battle between Nintendo Wii and PS3, the newest entries in the field, every which way.  But in the end, most gamers will agree with that when you boil it all down, we all want to have fun.

Mike Musgrove of the Washington Post recently did an informal study among his friends to see which console is more fun, Wii or PS3.  After they spend some quality time with each console, the results were quite clear.

From the article:

I have never seen a bunch of non-gamers get into this stuff like this, and I have never heard anybody laugh so much while playing any video game. A few of them now say they plan to buy the system for themselves.

My friend Andy has always seemed to dislike video games, but he was immediately taken by the Nintendo system in a way that I — and he — did not expect. “I’m surprised by how much I like it,” he said. “The controller is so intuitive.”

A few minutes later, he was cursing the PS3. Most of my friends who picked up the PS3’s controller ended up frustrated. The typical game for the system requires players to have memorized where all the buttons are, and it’s much harder to just pick up a controller and have a good time. Some of the verdicts they offered are unprintable.

The PS3 did receive praise for its Blu-ray movie playback.  Apparently, at least one his friends were quite taken with the quality of Talladga Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.  But Wii was the clear winner that day, summarized with the phrase: “It’s just darn fun.”

Wii Elbow: A Growing Phenomena?

Is Wii causing a wave of injuries due to its exclusive new controller?  This is one of the more ludicrous strories that’s quickly picking up momentum these days.

Here’s the alleged crisis, by way of WSJ:

…as players spend more time with the console, some are noticing that hours waving the game’s controller around can add up to fairly intense exertion — resulting in aches and pains common in more familiar forms of exercise. They’re reporting aching backs, sore shoulders — even something some have dubbed “Wii elbow.”

Nintendo spokeswoman Perrin Kaplan knows that the issue is, which seems plain as day.

“It was not meant to be a Jenny Craig supplement,” she recently explained. “If people are finding themselves sore, they may need to exercise more.”

I’m not the most physically fit guy in the world, but just like with Dance Dance Revolution, I welcome the Wiimote and the fact that it requires me to minimally exert myself physically.  After all, if playing games makes me slightly more physically fit, isn’t this a good thing?

And more importantly, can I use this as a valid excuse when I want to spend 10 more minutes playing Rayman Raving Rabbids before having to visit my mother-in-law?

Nintendo Wii Sells Out In Under 10 Mins

The Wii craze is in full effect, and Amazon UK bore the brunt of it yesterday. 

In less than a ten minute span, the website had to stop taking pre-orders because they had already sold out of their supply.   The site now bears this sad notice:

We are currently unable to offer this item. It may be out of stock at the manufacturer. If you would like to purchase this item, we recommend that you occasionally check this page to see if it has become available.

We’ve sold out of our initial allocation of Nintendo Wii consoles. Read our FAQ to find out more.

Naturally, the FAQ doesn’t office much solace: “If we receive more stock from Nintendo before launch day (December 08, 2006) we will start taking pre-orders again.” 

The good news for people who did manage to sneak in and grab one, it does appear that those lucky folks will get a Wii upon launch.   Amazon has stated that they were only taking orders for the same number of consoles that had been allocated for launch day. 

Quite decent of them, really.

Source: GameSpot

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