I say "Wiiiiiii!!!!!!" 'cause it's fun...

I recently made an excellent purchasing decision by getting a Wii. My main objective was to bring it to work, and re-establish office game breaks (like we once had for foosball, Streetfighter, etc.), which had evaporated as our company got smaller in size. Not only are game breaks back and better than ever, but I'm having a blast on games like Guitar Hero on my Wii. I recommend anyone thinking about getting a Wii to get one.

Aside from it's game power, the Wii has a lot of researchers using it to play around with cool things like Virtual Reality head tracking. This allows flat interfaces to move as you do in relation to your perspective and appear 3D. If you haven't already seen it, check out the video below. (I forwarded it to a friend who then told me that just the day before someone at his job had sent it to his whole company, so it's making the rounds.)



This guy is one of a bunch of people doing similar things, and with a quick search of YouTube you can uncover several other videos just like it. The concepts behind it are pretty basic but the results are very cool. I can't wait for Wii to develop some 3D games using these concepts (with technology they already have available).

So about finding this Wii... good times. No really. I enjoyed the process. I made the genius decision of wanting a Wii in December, the worse possible time to get one. EVERYTHING was sold out. Even online. Getting one became a case of luck/timing or getting to a place like Circuit City at 2am on a Sunday morning to wait in line. Thankfully, I'm a lucky person with good timing. :-) I walked into Target at 2pm the day after Christmas and they had just gotten a shipment. There was a stack right at the counter. I was so shocked I even asked, 'Are you selling those?' Even though it was just after Christmas, those suckers were gone in an hour. So I got my Wii. A manager at my job later asked if I saw one again that I pick one up for him. I haven't seen it at any store since.

So once I had my Wii, I needed games and an extra controller. I went back to all the stores in the area and controllers were sold out because now all the kids that got a Wii for Christmas were out buying up the accessories. The next day I did get an extra controller, the last one at Kmart. But now I wanted a Guitar Hero. This was harder than getting a Wii. Stores get them, if they get any at all, 12 at a time and in random shipments. So you essentially have to luck out and check on the right day and the right time. Fortunately, I'm a lucky person with good timing. :-) I walked into Circuit City after work and saw someone walking around with a Guitar Hero. I didn't get my hopes up because at all the stores there were plenty of Guitar Hero games for every gaming system BUT the Wii. But as I got closer I saw it was the unique Wii guitar with a slot for the controller. So I then literally made a modified sprint to the game section and saw the last 2 sitting there. I grabbed one and the other went shortly after. As I purchased it, the checkout person said his girlfriend also has a Wii and had been waiting for the game to come in, so she had him on lookout for whenever he was working. She had apparently just been at the store buying one since he called her up to get it.

Now if I had just gotten a Wii in maybe April, this would not have been an issue. But I have to say it was fun and rewarding looking and finding it during a high demand time. I know people still looking for a Wii and/or Guitar Hero for Wii. Someone I worked with actually paid a store to hold a Wii for him, and I still got mine before him and without any additional cost. And I didn't even have to try that hard. :-)