Nintendo Wii- the greatest scam EVER!

So- 1 or 2 of you may know that I'm a bit OCD about gaming. I own, or have owned nearly every major system in the last 20 years. My current collection involves 3 atari 2600's, a NES, a SNES, an N64, 2 DS lites, a Gameboy color, Gameboy Advance, Gameboy Advance SP, a Wii, a ps2, a ps3, an Xbox 360, 2 Sega Dreamcasts, several controllers, and probably 200 games or more between them. This is about my friend the Wii.

The Wii is a sweet little rig, accessible to all, TONS of fun with friends and family (add beer and you have about 3 solid months of fun... non stop. It's also cheap too, being the cheapest system on the market of the current gen systems. You can get an Xbox 360 for 200$ new as well, but that is the el strippo one, and you need to spend almost another 100$ for it to function. Also plays the back catalog of Gamecube games, and currently has over 500 titles available at the virtual store, spanning every system from the NES forward, and including titles from rare gems like the Neo Geo and Turbografix16. It's all there. Were I to recommend a system for any family, it would be the Wii. But I noticed something when earmarking everything looking for a way to possibly end up with a Miata. (Miata really IS the answer to everything, including the only possible reason I would part with my prodigious collection.) You see, Nintendo has been brilliant enough to make the Wii peripherals horribly inaccessible to 3rd party manufacturers. Need another wiimote? You're buying a Nintendo brand one. Need a nunchaku? You're buying a Nintendo one, etc etc etc. And herein lies the brilliance. With the Wii being marketed as the first truly and almost totally 4 player system, you need 4 of EVERYTHING. And every game it seems has its own peripheral. My current tab stands at-

3 Wiimotes (there may be a 4th, can't seem to recall, or find it) 2 Nunchaku attachments. 2 Wii Wheels (they're really just little plastic steering wheel doojobs that go around the wiimote to make it more like steering a real car) 2 Motion Plus sensors (A must if you intend on playing Wii Sports Resort, an excellent collection of mini-games) 2 Classic Controllers, for old school Mario, Excitebike, and so on. Great for the Neo Geo fighting games available on the Virtual Shop Channel. A BALANCE BOARD- the single most expensive peripheral, only available with Wii Fit- as a 90$ bundle for berkeleys sake.

I also made the mistake of buying my Guitar Hero World Tour bundle for the Wii, so I also have a guitar, a drum set, and a microphone for it. This is all crap to play the dozen or so games I have for this particular system. At an average price of 30$ each or so for a peripheral, that's 330$ in frickin controllers, and figure another 75$ for the balance board, another 100$ or so for the GH E36 M3, and you're looking at a great set of tires for my Cooper S, sunk into a little white box. The GENIUS here is that you really DO kinda need this crap to get the most out of the damn thing, and 4 of everything (Except for the balance board and the GH crap) if everyone in the room wants to get down to some virtual bowling. So, while the Wii markets itself as the cheapest and most accessible system to everyone, by the time you add up all the $$$ I got sunk into the system, a dozen games, and all the jargon to make the berkeleying thing GO- I'm looking at wheels and tires for the Mini AND the Speed3. Nintendo really got me on this one. Good on you Nintendo, for figuring out how to make me part with almost 2 entire paychecks.

There's still Bourbon. It's cheaper and easier to use.

Me and the Mrs bought a Wii and the Wii Fit Plus for family. It's been a hoot so far!

SkinnyG wrote: There's still Bourbon. It's cheaper and easier to use. Me and the Mrs bought a Wii and the Wii Fit Plus for family. It's been a hoot so far!

Good times man, good times. May not lose the weight, but you'll look like a 'tard, and have more fun than Lindsey Lohan in a coke factory doing it.

Also, quit drinking some time back, something about hangovers fails to appeal to me. I wish I could still drink, I miss beer.

Every gaming system that has games for more than 1 player requires multiple system supports though.

The Wii at least makes me smile regardless of system accessory costs. The new Super Mario Brothers with multiple players, basically compensates for all.

Went to Fry's today. Saw that they have a "Maraca" attachment for the Wii. Basically a big ball that gets stuck on the end of a Wiimote to make it more fun to... do... something...

We love our Wii. Wait, that doesn't sound right.....Anyway, I think it was P.T. Barnum that said there was one born every minute.

In reply to mndsm:

Wow, seriously add up the cost of your little gaming habit over the last 10 years. Then look at the cost of buying and running a used exotic over the same time. I'll bet you'll be slapping your forehead with a Wii controler saying Doh, Miata wasn't the answer I could have been driving a Ferrari!!.

That's a lot of games systems there. I guess I just don't get the whole gaming thing. At 40 I'm in the upper end of the games system age range but I just don't get it. One summer when I was 12/13 I spend the whole summer holidays (Vacation this side of the pond) playing games on my ZX Spectrum home computer, i don't think they were sold here, but they were massively popular in the UK. We got to the end of summer and went 'AArrgghhhh we just wasted six weeks of our lives' No computer game has kept my interest for more than 30 mins since then. Occasionaly I'll play Mario kart or similar at a friends house, but's that's more to be companionable with friends and kids.

Can someone explain the attraction to me or am I just an old fart?

Do you ever go outside?

I'm a little older than Adrian. The only games I have are iRacing and a PS3 I never use anymore except to play DVDs. Heck, iRacing takes too much of my time, but I tell myself it's teaching me racecraft so it's useful.

You bring up a good point. I really, really want a PS3, but the price to sit in my butt and play games equals out to a set of tires, a new carburetor, a few hundred feet of roll bar tubing, or just many race tickets. I'd rather be racing in the real world than doing it on my tv.

Good lord man! You need a 12-step program.
I have a family of five, one Wii consol, 3 games, two controllers, two nunchuck things and we are all set.

I agree, I do enjoy my Wii, but theres a serious lack of good driving games for it. I have Need for speed pro street, and it has some fun challenges like drifting and the 1/4 mile is pretty sweet. But the road courses are pretty much vanilla at best. Theres a course in Japan (cant remember the name) thats pretty sweet, but thats about it. the rest are just silly, and the slight delay between the steering motion you input to the controller and the consoles recognition and the result on screen make it a bit hairy at speed. Its fun to build and tune the car, but its not Grand tourismo, and now that Im saddled with this (I say saddled because Im not getting out from under the Wii since A. it was an expensive gift to the wife and I, and B. the wife really enjoys playing the simpler games like the wii sports stuff, some of the mario games etc) Ive been dreadfully unsuccessful in convincing the wife we need a blue ray player that also plays prologue/GT5 for $300+.

Does anyone recommend any other racing sims for the Wii that are bearably similar to real life?

What pisses me off is that we can't have universal accessories for all the systems. Or even between games on the same system. When I found out the Rock Band guitar wouldn't work with Guitar Hero, and not because of some basic incompatibility, I swore of the guitar hero franchise forever.

I really, really wanted to buy a logitech G27 for forza but it doesn't work with the xbox. Some sort of compatibility issue with the hardware? No, microsoft just says this will not work with the xbox because we make our own wheel.

$150 for a 120 gig hard drive? Please.

I know once again I'm showing my old farthood, but I see no point in playing computer games all the time. Like others say, I'd rather put the $ and time into the real thing. That's not to say Icompletely ignore them.

I don't bother with driving games any more. GTR2 is cool for a rainy day when I'm stuck inside but the tactile feedback that's so necessary just ain't there. So most times I wind up pounding on something in the shop.

The kid and I play her Wii all the time on weeknights after homework etc, we mostly do Mario Kart (which sux as a driving simulator but is a LOT of fun!) and I got her Super Mario Bros. for Christmas. We have played that quite a bit as well.

I guess I'm a young fogey at 38, too old to really have grown up with computer games, but too young to be Jensenman . I bought the wife a Wii and the Wii Fit stuff about a year ago. We've got several of the fitness games and use them once a week or so in the winter. It's good fun and something we can do together. Ive got a few of the other Wii games (shoot 'em ups etc) but never play them.

I wouldn't quite say I'm a video game addict... there is only one thing I am truly addicted to (can you guess what that is?!)

However, for me, games are stories. I play video games for the story. I am a HUGE sucker for RPGs and RTSs, and since FPSers started having actual stories (basically, starting with Marathon, then Half-Life, Halo, etc) thats what I do. Rather than read a book, I play a game. For instance, I wanted to do a hardcore gaming session over the holidays, and I've never played Mass Effect because I thought it was retarded. What do you know, it ended up being BETTER than KOTOR (both produced by BIOWARE) and now I have my preorder in for Mass Effect 2 which comes out at the end of january. Oh yea, and that session spanned over 3 days, with very little sleep. It was a blast!

Video games were also social interaction; just hold on a sec! When I was younger, I wasn't into sports, so cross that off. I was into cars, but there are very few actual gearheads in high schools (only fast and the furious ricer people) so that sucked, plus until I was 16 it was hard to have money for a car, and was pointless without a drivers licence. But I have many good memories trucking TV's and computers around to hang out with friends and frag their asses. GOOD TIMES I essentially hadn't touched a video game for 4 months last term, which was really unfortunate as there is some great stuff that is very immersive coming out. I was also retardedly busy racing (while in school), so my spare time was more than used up.

And of course, what REALLY got me into video games was racing games. I've loved cars since I was 8, and the only real way to get your fix when your young is through video games. Sure, I did a lot of snowmobiling and dirtbiking/quading, but you always want more right?

HiTempguy wrote: However, for me, games are stories. I play video games for the story. I am a HUGE sucker for RPGs...

hence why your Avi is a FF Black Mage. I've been looking for a reason to throw that out there

I got an X-Box 360, and Microsoft has eaten me alive on it.

X-Box (refurbed Elite with one wireless controller)- 180 2 year extended warranty - 25 Wired Controller - 40 20 gig hard drive (used) - 40 wireless internet jumper thingy - 80 years subscription to XBL -55 Various games - 250ish

Thats a ton of money. I could have already had my Zuma by now.

Adrian_Thompson wrote: Wow, seriously add up the cost of your little gaming habit over the last 10 years. Then look at the cost of buying and running a used exotic over the same time. I'll bet you'll be slapping your forehead with a Wii controler saying Doh, Miata wasn't the answer I could have been driving a Ferrari!!.

I'm hoping your right about that. I don't have a gaming console, cable, or a home phone[1]. I rarely go to movies[2]. The money I save from this goes into my datsun build....When the car is done, it will be "free" (i.e. having caused no financial burden to build) because it was paid for with money I would have spent on other forms of entertainment.

Can someone explain the attraction to me or am I just an old fart?

They could serve a purpose if used properly. There's a Chump Car Challenge race this year at Sebring. If I was planning to participate in it, I would definitely want to practice and learn the track[3] with a sim that contains Sebring.

[1] - I use my cell. It's a basic model without any bells and whistles. I don't text, and I don't use the interwebs from my phone.

[2] - The last thing I saw in the theater was Ratatouille.

[3] - I've only been on the track three or four times, and only for parade laps, so I cannot honestly say that I know it. A racing sim might change that.

I'm 42. I used to play a lot of quest type games ona PC and then a lot of driving sims. I still have a machine I use for iRacing and rFactor and i do have an off-season addiction to racing sims in general. As a guy with a lot of laps in the real world I have no illusion that any sim is much more than a game but... its still cheaper than indoor karting and lot of fun when the real track is buried under snow and ice.

I have a Wii - my two kids love it and it is fun for parties but i don't really sit down and play with it otherwise. We farmed the purchase of assessories to "Santa".

I play video games as alternative to watching TV. That's how I veg-out at the end of a long tiring day. I find video games less stoopid than TV. The production quality, story, and character development of most video games has surpassed the par for tv shows and movies.

Add in the fact that I get to participate in the story process and typically get challenged with solving puzzles and such.

Currently I'm into Dragon Age Origins (another great RPG from Origin Studios) and loving that. The aside dialogues between party members are so clever that I find myself stopping just to listen to what the characters say to each other.

I've always enjoyed video games, but never seem to get as much time or competition as I like. I was so happy when the lap challenge started here! Had a 2600 (garage sale games for a buck each!), the NES (only a few games, but lots of renting) PS1 got me onto driving games now that they made good ones, and PS2 continued that. A few RPG's and shooters in the mix too. Lately I've been playing PC games, the Half life series is great, and Left 4 Dead keeps me up past bedtime on a regular basis.

Left for dead is the main reason i bought the x-box.

I got the XBox360 for Forza3, but I have been playing a variety of other games for it, I really like the Gears of War series, its a great way to unwind at the end of a stressfull day.

One of the cooler side benifits of the consol is the ability to hook in to my netflix account, its freaking awesome to be able to stream movies from the internet right to the TV, It really added a lot of value to my netflix subsription, and to the Xbox

I don't think any of the consols are immune from what the OP was talking about, I was shopping around for a "real" wheel and pedal set, and I quickly found that they cost serious $$$

Gaming for me, has been my spare hobby since before I was old enough to drive. Much of what I have I've found on clearance, bought the older systems from friends, etc. Most of what I own is in fact driving games, spanning the entire Need for Speed franchise, most of the Burnout franchise, everything up through GT4, and so on. I do it when I have no money to work on my car, no place to do it, or have an hour to kill. I take a lot of my portables to work too, since really, I hate my job.

HiTempguy wrote: For instance, I wanted to do a hardcore gaming session over the holidays, and I've never played Mass Effect because I thought it was retarded. What do you know, it ended up being BETTER than KOTOR (both produced by BIOWARE) and now I have my preorder in for Mass Effect 2 which comes out at the end of january. Oh yea, and that session spanned over 3 days, with very little sleep. It was a blast!

You actually got Mass Effect to work? Most people bought it, installed it, and never got to play it or finish playing it because it would crash. TO THIS DAY it does the same thing. I loved KOTOR, and will buy The Old Republic when it comes out.