I am definitely a Nintendo fan boy. I've had every Nintendo console released on the market plus so many Game & Watches it's not funny. Call me sentimental but Nintendo has been a part of and is one of the definers of my life.
So obviously when the Wii came out there was no question I was going to get one. The new controllers are awesome and just show you what a massive difference can be made in computer-human interaction by adding a couple of extra components and removing some wires.
But for some reason this time I didn't get one on launch or near to launch date. The reason? Because I didn't see any games I'd play. In the end it wasn't until June that I finally went and got one. The reason? My wife said she wanted to play Wii Sports! This obviously made it easier to add another console under the TV in the lounge room so in it went.
Now if you haven't played it, Wii Sports ships with the console so in that regard it is free. In it there are a series of very well built games ostensibly to demonstrate the different ways the controller can be used. Tennis, Golf, Baseball, Ten Pin and Boxing all make an appearance.
My other half and child love it. For my wife it is a change of all the things she hates about computer games (pushing buttons that bear no relation to the action on screen) and my child (who is nearly three) just likes swinging the controller and playing with mum and dad.
But something inside of me just isn't loving my Wii. I walk into GAME and check out all the releases and there's nothing I want badly enough to part with £40 for. I got Zelda more because I thought I should rather than because I thought it was amazing and it is a fantastic piece of software engineering but it has the feel of a MMORPG grind about it so whilst I've nearly finished it now it has left me tepid in a way that Ocarina of Time never did.
At present the Wii is the most sold "next gen" console and regular "sold out" signs at GAME down the road suggest they are still selling like hot cakes.
Back to my original question though which was; is £180 good value for Wii Sports?
Personally I'm more likely to play a bit of Wii Tennis when I get home than watch TV. In real terms my wife and I have played a good dozen hours of Wii Sports each (mostly together) otherwise we'd have gone to the cinema or something which would be £15 a ticket for 2 hours. That alone is about £180 by itself and when you pass the controller over to a neice or nephew or child of a friend who hasn't got one you do get that warm techie buzz about someone "getting it" for the first time and I think that is probably worth £180 any day of the week.