Almost 12 hours after I arrived at Citywalk, I finally got my Wii. Oooh, pretty bag. So was this little machine worth all the waiting? Yes, yes, and yes. So who cares if it’s not as powerful a machine as the PS3? It has a Wiimote and WiiSports!

I arrived at Citywalk around 7:30pm and the place was packed. The line was already to the parking lot even though the event doesn’t officially start until 8:00pm. People in line were given numbered wristbands and those who had the wristbands were guaranteed a Wii that day. I thought the chances of me getting a Wii were going to be pretty good despite the line, since people kept assuring us that there were plenty of Wiis to be distributed. Unfortuantely, Nintendo underestimated how many people were going to be there and people at the end of the line (I would say the last 1/5 of the line) had to be turned away. Since I was there with a press pass, I figured I should take some pictures of the event.

The coolest thing (other than the VIP area) about the launch were the SegWiis: Plasma TVs mounted on Segways that allowed people in line to play the Wii while they were waiting. I’m sure plenty of line-goers were thankful for this distraction. It’s a shame the Segwiis disappeared after midnight though. It would have been nice to have them around when it was 3am and we were still in line waiting to get a Wii.

Just look at those happy line-goers. They would have been ripping each other into shreds if not for the entertainment of the SegWiis.

These guys were playing Wii tennis on another SegWii. At least that’s what was on the screen. I think the guy on the right thought he was playing Wii baseball or something. The swing looks a little too high for a tennis swing.

The Hardrock Cafe across from EBGames. AKA as my watering hole. Thank god for big tall glasses of water. The VIP patio was a nice place to watch what was going on without having to get crushed in the crowd.

Poor guy. He was first in line because he got there early. Maybe too early. People say that his ghost haunts every 1000th person to buy a Wii.

Someone in line set up a mini Mario shrine with the glowsticks we were given.

Oh the irony! The game of Life for people who have no Lives. I kid, I kid!

Poor Sonic. He must be so embarassed.

The launch was a bit disorganized. Nintendo’s PR didn’t really explain what exactly the media pass was for. Or maybe they didn’t want too many people taking advantage of the VIP lounge. Either way, things could and should have been more organized. All night, the MC was talking about a special surprise guest, but we never figured out who it was, unless it was DJ Rap. Some people in the crowds speculated that it would be Miyamoto, but it wasn’t.

I was so exhausted by the time I got home that I only played the new console for about fifteen minutes. If Apple made a console it would be the Wii. The packaging looks similar, and the UI is very clean and sleek in that simple Apple way. The Wiimote seems to be working fine and doesn’t have any of the calibration issues I was afraid it would have. I ended up getting Trauma Center as a launch game even though I was debating between that or Zelda. While Zelda looks beautiful and I’m sure I’ll enjoy it, I have a feeling if I don’t get Trauma Center now, it won’t be around later. With Zelda, at least I can be sure of a price drop later.

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 19th, 2006 at 4:08 pm and is filed under Geek-out, Video Games. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.