Wiiiiiiiiiii

Finally got my Wii this weekend. While I never tried too hard to get one - no standing in early morning lines at stores or getting one of those IOUs from Gamestop, for instance - I did keep a watch on sites like WiiTracker that tracked the availability of the much-in-demand console (not that I had much luck with that particular site). Last week, Toys 'R' Us said that it was getting a whole lot of Wiis on Sunday and was taking pre-orders(I learned later that a number of other stores had announced the same. Looks like Nintendo's finally ramping up supply). I booked one last Wednesday and picked it up today.

I've seen the Wii when we went to a party at my wife's friend's house just once before and wasn't too involved as the kids there played Tennis and Bowling on it. But once I inserted the Sports disc(it comes with the console) and tried my hand at those 2 games, I could see what all the hype was about. I've had some videogame experience before since I've played on the Playstation but the Wii's wireless remote that allows us to reproduce the same moves as in the games(you get to handle it like a bowling ball, tennis racquet and golf club) makes all the difference and makes for a surprisingly realistic experience. Kavya took to the bowling right away too and once we started playing, it took some dire warnings from the wife to get me to switch it off.

I've never been what one would call a hardcore video gamer. Or even a softcore gamer for that matter. But my problem is that once I get a game I like, I become addicted to it. In college it was Prince of Persia. While other guys 'cut' college to do something interesting like go to the movies, I used to go to a friend's place to play that game. It was my first exposure to a computer game and I was hooked. Held the record for finishing the game in the fastest time among my friends too :) Don't remember any other computer games after that and my next addiction didn't come until after marriage. I bought the Playstation from Costco and the Crash Bandicoot game came bundled with it. I spent every spare minute playing that one and didn't stop until I had crossed every level, collected every available bonus and killed every villain. I also played Tomb Raider and Gran Turismo but not to the extent I played Crash Bandicoot.

Its been awhile since those games but with the Wii in hand, those memories came flooding back. And it's looking a lot like the beginning of another addiction :)