Saturday, December 30, 2006
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
The Christmas Pictorial Wrap Up...
Here's a summary of the Christmas (and the lead up)
Christmas Eve Eve at Cha Cha Char
Christmas Day at Mandy and Toms
Boxing Day at the DSes
Christmas Eve Eve at Cha Cha Char
Christmas Day at Mandy and Toms
Boxing Day at the DSes
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Blogging from the Wii!!
With the release of the browser I can now blog from my Wii. It's slow going though...
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Tennis Pwo!
Last night (after quite a few hours of Wii Sports over the last couple weeks) I finally got one of my Miis to Pro in Tennis! Would have been nice if it changed my Mii some how (or gave me a sparkling bowling ball like in Bowling) but having the [PRO] next to the Mii name does help.
I also managed to get the last few presents for Ness for Christmas which means we are officially finished all the Xmas shopping!!! Probably won't stop me from doing some Christmas shopping for me :)
The other big news (well Wii wise) of the week was the release of the new Forecast Channel. It's basically an interactive Weather Channel giving you Current Conditions, Tomorrows Conditions and a 5 Day outlook all thrown in with a Google Earthesk view of conditions around the globe. It's great, means I have another reason for switching on the Wii every morning, much better than having to sit through Sunrise to find out what the day has in store. One of the nice touches I noticed this morning is when the forecast is showers (as it is for tomorrow) there is the soothing sound of rain played over the trance like background.
As Ben rightly pointed out, Nintendo came through with my rant of a few days ago and when they release the new Channel update it was accompanied by a nice message and a blue flashing light on the console. Clearly it was my post that got the ball rolling :)
Later this week we are due to get the Opera Browser (and the rumor of the News Channel). Hopefully tomorrow will see me return to a house bathed in the soft Blue glow of new content. With a browser on the wii (that's flash compatible) I'll be able to do all my early morning Google Reader catch up from the lounge without having to boot up my Laptop :)
Anyway it's almost the last day of work before the xmas break which should see some dedicated time with the titles I haven't touched on the wii and some of the GCN titles I'm yet to finish. Bring on the Holidays!
I also managed to get the last few presents for Ness for Christmas which means we are officially finished all the Xmas shopping!!! Probably won't stop me from doing some Christmas shopping for me :)
The other big news (well Wii wise) of the week was the release of the new Forecast Channel. It's basically an interactive Weather Channel giving you Current Conditions, Tomorrows Conditions and a 5 Day outlook all thrown in with a Google Earthesk view of conditions around the globe. It's great, means I have another reason for switching on the Wii every morning, much better than having to sit through Sunrise to find out what the day has in store. One of the nice touches I noticed this morning is when the forecast is showers (as it is for tomorrow) there is the soothing sound of rain played over the trance like background.
As Ben rightly pointed out, Nintendo came through with my rant of a few days ago and when they release the new Channel update it was accompanied by a nice message and a blue flashing light on the console. Clearly it was my post that got the ball rolling :)
Later this week we are due to get the Opera Browser (and the rumor of the News Channel). Hopefully tomorrow will see me return to a house bathed in the soft Blue glow of new content. With a browser on the wii (that's flash compatible) I'll be able to do all my early morning Google Reader catch up from the lounge without having to boot up my Laptop :)
Anyway it's almost the last day of work before the xmas break which should see some dedicated time with the titles I haven't touched on the wii and some of the GCN titles I'm yet to finish. Bring on the Holidays!
Monday, December 18, 2006
The joys of your Wii Glowing Blue
One of the things I have come to love about about the wii is wondering into lounge room to find the little console glowing blue. When Nintendo announced that they would be using the WiiConnect24 service to allow updates to appear on your console 24/7. At the moment Nintendo (in my opinion) have been under utilizing this feature but getting messages from other consoles is still a little like waking up on Christmas Day.
Nintendo could have implemented this feature with a lot more touchy feely sort of stuff for this new demographic, "the non and casual gamer", they are trying to capture. They now have a targeted email address for each console owner who has connected to the WiiConnect24 system. Running a marketing campain along the lines of a "Thanks for purchasing a Wii blah blah blah. Don't forget to check out the Shopping channel for some of the great titles on our Virtual Console shopping list" wouldn't have exactly been hard to implement and would potentially increase the use of the channel. Given Nintendo's current marketing campaign (at least in Australia) very few people exposed only to the ads would be aware this service even exists. Further to this they released a new line up of titles on Friday, again this was a great opportunity to send a little WiiMail to the WiiConnect24 users (especially those who've already bought titles) letting them know there was more on the way. I think it was probably the original vision for the service but it seems to be almost forgotten. One of Miamotos original speeches highlighted the fact that a Wii owner could wake up in the morning and see the blue light glowing on their Wii and know that the developer had sent them something new. Well Nintendo... you sent me something new on Friday... where was my blue light?
I tired the console out on my Mum and Dad last night... After a lot of coaxing I got my Mum to play one match of tennis.. I was surprised that she really didn't get into it. I still think it takes about 3 matches for you to get used to the timing but Mum wasn't interested much past the first match. Dad on the other hand really got into it. Unfortunately (unlike Vanessa had assumed) we only have two wiimotes not 4 so we could only play 2 player. He played a couple of matches against me and then one against Ness. Then we moved on to Bowling which really brought out Dad's competitive streak. Getting a strike with his first bowl didn't hurt much either. By the end of the game dad was adjusting his bowling position, correcting the bowling line and putting different spins on the ball. We even managed to get some holes in golf in before they had to go... It was fairly evident that it was a struggle between going home and playing one more round. Only the fact I assured they could come over and play again got Dad to go home in the end. I think it will take a bit more work to get my Mum converted, but they Nintendo got a Mum into the DS so maybe 2 consoles in one year was too much to ask for.
I (like Ben) also got my first Wiinjury on the weekend. In a backhand in Tennis I smacked my little finger against the couch, squashing it between the Wiimote and couch, not much fun.. it's still bit sore today but I never type much with it any way so it's not too much of a hinderance.
I picked up some extra memory for the Wii on the weekend. WoW sight and sound had 1Gb SD cards for $35 which was hard to pass up, especially when there are so many great titles coming out for the Virtual Console and they haven't even started on the N64 Games yet!
One of the things that I really didn't expect out of the Wii is for it to turn me into more of a "pick up and play" casual gamer. Since I've got the Wii all I've really played is Wii Sports. I am still playing Zelda Minish Cap on the bus, but when I'm at home all I really want to do is play some more Wii Sports. It's very strange. I don't really get the urge to go into the Games stores and look for more titles at the moment. I'm not sure if it's just because it's new or if it's starting to change the way I enjoy playing games? Only time will tell....
In everything else that happened. We finally got our wedding album! It was worth the wait though the final product looks fantastic. I'm sure it will be doing the rounds with us over the Christmas holidays! Speaking of holidays our trip away up the coast is all booked and confirmed so well be spending finishing off our break with some time on Hasting St in Noosa. Hopefully I'll get some time back in the surf (or as we're in Noosa the mill pond) without making it to the news!
The rest of the weekend was pretty laid back and relaxed, we did a bit of shopping here and there, caught up on some DVDs that we've bought and haven't watched yet (2 down about 50 to go). It was a nice change to the hectic pase we've been having. I still haven't paid back all my sleep debt yet but I guess there's always time for that.
Nintendo could have implemented this feature with a lot more touchy feely sort of stuff for this new demographic, "the non and casual gamer", they are trying to capture. They now have a targeted email address for each console owner who has connected to the WiiConnect24 system. Running a marketing campain along the lines of a "Thanks for purchasing a Wii blah blah blah. Don't forget to check out the Shopping channel for some of the great titles on our Virtual Console shopping list" wouldn't have exactly been hard to implement and would potentially increase the use of the channel. Given Nintendo's current marketing campaign (at least in Australia) very few people exposed only to the ads would be aware this service even exists. Further to this they released a new line up of titles on Friday, again this was a great opportunity to send a little WiiMail to the WiiConnect24 users (especially those who've already bought titles) letting them know there was more on the way. I think it was probably the original vision for the service but it seems to be almost forgotten. One of Miamotos original speeches highlighted the fact that a Wii owner could wake up in the morning and see the blue light glowing on their Wii and know that the developer had sent them something new. Well Nintendo... you sent me something new on Friday... where was my blue light?
I tired the console out on my Mum and Dad last night... After a lot of coaxing I got my Mum to play one match of tennis.. I was surprised that she really didn't get into it. I still think it takes about 3 matches for you to get used to the timing but Mum wasn't interested much past the first match. Dad on the other hand really got into it. Unfortunately (unlike Vanessa had assumed) we only have two wiimotes not 4 so we could only play 2 player. He played a couple of matches against me and then one against Ness. Then we moved on to Bowling which really brought out Dad's competitive streak. Getting a strike with his first bowl didn't hurt much either. By the end of the game dad was adjusting his bowling position, correcting the bowling line and putting different spins on the ball. We even managed to get some holes in golf in before they had to go... It was fairly evident that it was a struggle between going home and playing one more round. Only the fact I assured they could come over and play again got Dad to go home in the end. I think it will take a bit more work to get my Mum converted, but they Nintendo got a Mum into the DS so maybe 2 consoles in one year was too much to ask for.
I (like Ben) also got my first Wiinjury on the weekend. In a backhand in Tennis I smacked my little finger against the couch, squashing it between the Wiimote and couch, not much fun.. it's still bit sore today but I never type much with it any way so it's not too much of a hinderance.
I picked up some extra memory for the Wii on the weekend. WoW sight and sound had 1Gb SD cards for $35 which was hard to pass up, especially when there are so many great titles coming out for the Virtual Console and they haven't even started on the N64 Games yet!
One of the things that I really didn't expect out of the Wii is for it to turn me into more of a "pick up and play" casual gamer. Since I've got the Wii all I've really played is Wii Sports. I am still playing Zelda Minish Cap on the bus, but when I'm at home all I really want to do is play some more Wii Sports. It's very strange. I don't really get the urge to go into the Games stores and look for more titles at the moment. I'm not sure if it's just because it's new or if it's starting to change the way I enjoy playing games? Only time will tell....
In everything else that happened. We finally got our wedding album! It was worth the wait though the final product looks fantastic. I'm sure it will be doing the rounds with us over the Christmas holidays! Speaking of holidays our trip away up the coast is all booked and confirmed so well be spending finishing off our break with some time on Hasting St in Noosa. Hopefully I'll get some time back in the surf (or as we're in Noosa the mill pond) without making it to the news!
The rest of the weekend was pretty laid back and relaxed, we did a bit of shopping here and there, caught up on some DVDs that we've bought and haven't watched yet (2 down about 50 to go). It was a nice change to the hectic pase we've been having. I still haven't paid back all my sleep debt yet but I guess there's always time for that.
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Where are our VC Mondays!
While the US is happily getting their new VC titles ever Monday (Like Gunstar today!) our Aussie consoles are still stuck with the 11 we got at launch... Hopefully us in the Island continent won't be left behind in WiiConnect24
From IGN
From IGN
The games added today range in price from 500 to 800 Wii Points. The only NES game to get added was Ice Hockey, which is going for 500 Wii Points. From the TurboGrafx 16 came Alien Crush, a sci-fi themed pinball game selling for 600 Wii Points. Finally, SEGA gave everyone more retro loving in the form of Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine and Gunstar Heroes, both of which cost 800 Wii Points.
Monday, December 11, 2006
Wii Update the blog!
Amy's already had got her wii update in so I thought I should have mine up...
Ness is going hard on the Wii tonight although she has failed to read the warnings and has managed to get a Wiinjury and knock the coffee table and all the tupperware/glassware at the TV... (was pretty funny to watch)
First of all a few photos from the Party Friday night and dinner Sunday Night
- Wii Sports is great... I haven't really played anything else.
- Coming home to see you drive glowing blue... Oooh I've got something new!
- The Virtual Console is great. Easy to find some great titles and the downloads are almost instant. (Being able to use the Wiimote as well for things like Golden Axe is great)
- The Miis are great fun!
- The Photo Channel integrates perfectly with Ness's Pentax camera so not only can I slot the SD card in and see the photos, I can also watch movies taken on the camera!
- I can email from the wii to other Wiis and to other email addresses (including sending the photos!)
- The "Just one more Game" scenario is worse than ever with this.
- All my Gamecube titles work (not that I've tried them) so if I ever get sick of playing wii games I'll be able to look for some cheap 'Cube titles
Ness is going hard on the Wii tonight although she has failed to read the warnings and has managed to get a Wiinjury and knock the coffee table and all the tupperware/glassware at the TV... (was pretty funny to watch)
First of all a few photos from the Party Friday night and dinner Sunday Night
Ben tries his golf swing in baseball
Ness and Tom go a few inning of Baseball
Boxing anyone?
Nice bowling form Tom!
Boxing anyone?
Nice bowling form Tom!
Exhausted...
A combination of the Wii, not being able to get to blogger and the
email gateway not working combined with an insane number of things on
the weekend meant not a lot of blogging.
Quick summary,
Wii - Great...
Wii with other people - Fantastic...
Wii Virtual Console!!!
Miis!!
Double parties on the weekend (Fri and Sat Nights)
Helped setup for another party on Sat
5 hours non stop Xmas shopping on Sunday
I'm at work now but it feels like it's about 4am in the morning and
I've been working through the night... At least I'm being productive
though :)
Friday, December 08, 2006
An unhappy end to Wii Day...
After all the build up and excitement the day hasn't ended so happily...
The Wiimote that came with my system is no longer working... The pointer, the sound and the vibrate is ok but no motion. It was working for about an hour and then halfway through a round of boxing and it just stopped and won't do motion in anything. I've tried resyncing it and leaving the batteries out for a few hours. I've even tried Formating the System memory and still no joy...
Fortunately I have another wiimote from wii play and I've synced it up to be the Main controller but I think I'll be heading back to myer tomorrow
The 2 player wii sports sessions were fun while they lasted....
The Wiimote that came with my system is no longer working... The pointer, the sound and the vibrate is ok but no motion. It was working for about an hour and then halfway through a round of boxing and it just stopped and won't do motion in anything. I've tried resyncing it and leaving the batteries out for a few hours. I've even tried Formating the System memory and still no joy...
Fortunately I have another wiimote from wii play and I've synced it up to be the Main controller but I think I'll be heading back to myer tomorrow
The 2 player wii sports sessions were fun while they lasted....
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Wii won Twiivia!!
We've been doing trivia for a few weeks and tonight was a stella night. We do Harry's Trivia over at Morningside. All of us managed to pull ourselves away from our new Wii purchases and forfeited a trip to watch the Roar but it was worth it. First of all Robert won the first Oi question of the night. (who am I style question and the first to yell out Oi with the correct answer wins a bottle of wine) We'd been trying to win one for ages.
This week we were happy just to beat Droopy McGovern who had been the stand out team over the last few weeks. We had some solid rounds throughout the night and nothing outstanding always managing to keep our noses in front. We did manage a perfect round with the Bonus and Puzzle questions which really helped our cause.
Our final score sheet came back with a score of 88/100, we've had better scores and our last round of 12/16 wasn't so great.
When the scores started it was looking promising, by the time we got to 5th place and they were still in the 70s we thought we were in with a shot of the top three. However Victory was ours by 1 point!!! Woohoo... our first trivia win, turns out it was worth leaving the Wii and missing the Roar.
This week we were happy just to beat Droopy McGovern who had been the stand out team over the last few weeks. We had some solid rounds throughout the night and nothing outstanding always managing to keep our noses in front. We did manage a perfect round with the Bonus and Puzzle questions which really helped our cause.
Our final score sheet came back with a score of 88/100, we've had better scores and our last round of 12/16 wasn't so great.
When the scores started it was looking promising, by the time we got to 5th place and they were still in the 70s we thought we were in with a shot of the top three. However Victory was ours by 1 point!!! Woohoo... our first trivia win, turns out it was worth leaving the Wii and missing the Roar.
I Have my Wii!!
So I lined up with Ben and Mandy (saw Amy and one of my customers as well...). Lined up from 8 with a quick run down to Target to get Wii Play and a Nunchuck cheaper. There were about 20 people in front of us (not a problem where wiis were concerned because there were about 64 behind the counter alone). The line moved very slowly though by 10:30 we were all out of there... I caved on buying games and I picked up Red Steel and Raving Rabbits.
The Queue in front!
The Queue behind me...
The only problem is that it's now sitting next to my desk and I can't play it!!! Some photos from this morning below... (And Sorry Amy for not saying hi before I took off but I was very late for work :) ) I hope you enjoy your Wii!! See you all tomorrow!
Why must it torment me so!!
The Queue in front!
The Queue behind me...
Why must it torment me so!!Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Only 2 More Swiips!
So now I'm over the missing iPod fiasco I'm back for some Wii news. Earlier in the wiik (well it is launch day this week) it was revealed that there have been 30,000 pre orders for the Wii in Australia. Considering our market size (and the amount of advertising although better than normal Nintendo levels) that's a pretty big number. This is on the back of news that there were 400,000 consoles sold in the first day in Japan.
In not so happy news the release of GT Pro Series has been delayed to the 20th. Not sure where that puts the Myer pre-order offer but I guess time will tell. Some have reported being offered other games as a replacement which wouldn't be a bad thing!
Also there are some of the catalogs out for their Wii Launches. Kmart has the games for $89 and Wii Play for $69.95.
Target are even cheaper with $79.95 and Wii Play for $64.95 so I think I'll have someone staking out Target while I'm queuing up at Myer!
I'm thinking about the Wii grips as well (for $14.95) but I think I'll see them in the flesh before I pick one up...
In not so happy news the release of GT Pro Series has been delayed to the 20th. Not sure where that puts the Myer pre-order offer but I guess time will tell. Some have reported being offered other games as a replacement which wouldn't be a bad thing!
Also there are some of the catalogs out for their Wii Launches. Kmart has the games for $89 and Wii Play for $69.95.
Target are even cheaper with $79.95 and Wii Play for $64.95 so I think I'll have someone staking out Target while I'm queuing up at Myer!
I'm thinking about the Wii grips as well (for $14.95) but I think I'll see them in the flesh before I pick one up...
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