From now on, you can call me Kristof Wiilen

When playing games, having fancy graphics ain't enough : I had the chance lately to play a game of Quake 4. I didn't like it : after 15 minutes of gameplay, you just know that there's a monster after every 5th corner, the weapons suck and are uninspired, and the pauses in which you get new assignments just break the gameplay and get on my nerves. Seems that ID tried to create a Doom 4 clone, and failed miserably. No, then I prefer Alien Arena on Linux : a crossing of Quake 3 and Unreal Tournament. Graphics and sound are shite, but still fun to play somehow.

Fun factor is where the Wii really shines : the interface with the Wiimote is indeed revolutionary, and this alone boosts the fun factor that the Wii is. Even my wife likes it alot, which is a remarkable achievement. The fact that the console includes Wii Sports gives me the extra excuse of working out while playing games :) I really like the tennis game, but still have to try the others.

I was surprised how easy the Wiimote interface really is. It took me a minute to get used to it, but using it as a pointing device in the excellent News channel ('just' a neat RSS reader) really feels natural. Unfortunately, getting a Wii is a difficult task : it's everywhere out of stock, and when some are released into the wild, most stores get a limited supply of 10 to 15 consoles. So I missed the lot that was on sale in the Makro, but luckily I noticed the promotion in the Fun toy store. The store already contained a warning message that the stock was really limited, but luckily I got one. Finding an extra Wiimote for dual playtime will be the next task.

Tiftof Fri, 02/29/2008 - 09:49

Hi,

I read your blog now and then but I don't post any comments. But now I had to. I'm loving the wii too! I bought mine two weeks ago. Those in the Makro were sold out too when I checked. But I read on the net somewhere that they had a good stock in France. So I went to an Auchan store just over the french border to get mine.

The wii sports game is really great. When you buy the console, you can already start having fun for hours. A lot of hours went by already by playing the sports game with friends and family. I don't think you can have that much fun when you're together with some friends with another console.

The gameplay is the only thing that wii can shine in. Graphics and sounds seem to be from ps2/xbox generation. But I bought two games that haven't let me down: Super Mario Galaxy and Medal Of Honor: Heroes 2.
Super Mario Galaxy has the best level design I've seen in a while and MoH is really fun. The AI is a bit dull, but the controls are nice and online and arcade play are really fun.

And just like you, my next thing to buy is a second wiimote. And when I have some time left, I will check out Alien Arena :)

kristof Sat, 03/01/2008 - 15:17

In reply to by Tiftof

Dou you like Medal of Honor2 ? I'm doubting between this and Call of Duty 3. Both seem nice introductions into Wii FPS. Though Metroid seems really great too.

Tiftof Sat, 03/01/2008 - 17:16

In reply to by kristof

check out gamespot.com I think that CoD 3 scored less than Medal Of Honor 2. I am enjoying it: campaign mode, arcade mode and multiplayer are all great. In campaign mode you do notice that the AI is not that good though. Team mates and enemies are just plain dumb sometimes. But I still enjoy it but it seems a bit short. But arcade and multiplayer will keep me busy for quite a while. And arcade mode is so much fun when friends come over.
There are also some nice things to do with the wiimote. Reloading, arming a bazooka, throwing a grenade, pumping a shotgun and more are done with a gesture with the wiimotes. Shooting by pointing to the screen is also fun and easy, but turning isn't that great. To turn, you have to point the wiimote to an edge of the screen and let your view rotate. So turning is a little slow. It doesn't affect singleplayer but it does affect multiplayer as that is faster paced gameplay.

I can't really compare to CoD 3 as I haven't tested it myself. But I didn't even bother with reading the whole review on gamespot because of its low score.

Anonymous Fri, 02/29/2008 - 10:07

I just found and confirmed a little easter egg. I'm not sure if it's already known, but while your Wii is powered down you can press any button on your Wiimote and lights will flash. The number of lights flashing is the amount of charge left in your battery (1 is least charge, 4 is most charge)