Weee! I got a Wii!

My nephew, Braden, was going to be coming in town this past weekend and I really wanted to get a Nintendo Wii so we could have something fun to play.  At least that’s what I’ve been telling everyone else.  I think the other half of it is Laura said it is a gaming system she would actually be interested in playing. I spent a couple hours on Friday calling places and trying to find one.  I searched high and low, but couldn’t find anywhere that had them.  It seems like every time a store got them in stock they would sell out within a matter of hours.

I finally decided to try some online retailers to see if I had any luck there.  Best Buy, Circuit City and all the other predominantly brick-and-mortar stores weren’t even selling the Wii’s online.  And if they were selling them online they were trying to force you into buying a high-priced package.  I bought my 360 Elite through Costco.com after waiting for them to get them back in stock. There is a trick to buying stuff like the Wii or 360 from Costco thought.  When Costco.com is out of stock of a product like that, all links to the product are disabled directly from their website. However, if you can find a forum post that links to the product you should save the URL.  Although the page will show something like “We’re sorry, the product is unavailable” you will have the direct link to the page to check it quickly.  So to review, all you have to do is find out what the item number or URL to the product is then create a favorite link to it in your internet browser.  Then every once in a while click that favorite link to check to see if the product is showing. When it shows up, buy it!

I really wanted instant buyer gratification with the Wii and I haven’t purchased anything fun on eBay in a while, so I decided to give it a try. I knew I would end up buying the extra hardware so I looked for packages with 2 Wii-motes, 2 Nunchucks, and the console.  As I already hinted at, the destiny of the Wii is to be modded so I really didn’t need any extra software (games) with it. I ended up finding a package that was ending soon, so I waited to the last minute and “sniped” the package.

Soon after paying for my new console from eBay I went to FoundMy.com which is a North American distributor of console modification products.  I bought my Xbox 360 mod chip from them (NME 1.2) and they did a pretty good job so I decided to give them my business again.  I ended up buying a WiiKey (mod chip), component video cables, and a Black replacement case. Some people may think it’s a bit ridiculous to pay $40 for a case, but the rest of my A/V equipment is black and I really wanted it to match.

The console arrived at my house last Thursday and Laura and I busted it out as soon as I got home. I was really surprised by how small the console is.  Without the little stand it comes with the thing is pretty tiny. Also, the console is pretty quiet, but that may just be because I am used to my extremely loud 360 drive.  Laura and I started with a game of bowling, but she was having some trouble keeping the ball straight.  We decided to play a little golf and it really hit the spot for both of us. I hear a lot of people say they don’t like golf, but it’s pretty fun.  Sure, it’s not exactly the same as playing a real game of golf, but it’s a complete blast.

The Wii console is like having a bunch of really expensive, interactive arcade style games all wrapped in one tiny little package.  You really get into the game and enjoy the physicality of the game-play.

Travis stopped by on Friday before I took the interns from work to the Rangers game. Laura and Travis played a few short rounds before I left and they were loving it.  They even asked if they could take it to Travis’s for a mini Wii-thon. It’s a gaming system that everybody can enjoy.

And if you have a Wii, here’s my Wii Console Number: 5284 1604 5420 0042

Register my console and send me your Wii Console Number via e-mail: josh-at-boshdirect.com