Rob-Rivera.com

Wii Night 2: WII HARDER

Greetings, ladies and gentlemen. I have come to talk to you about the absolute bliss that was my weekend; Saturday marked the second chapter of the epic Wii Night Chronicles, another crazy ass effort from the fine folks that power the Panamanian blogosphere. The Church of Yau sadly could not attend the proceedings but our resident stranger with candy stepped up to the plate and deployed his Wii so that the rest of us could enjoy; the wii-ners were at full swing as were other assorted variations of meat we would gobble down at this sir’s home as we played the downright classic Wii Sports… and I say it’s a classic because that game has accomplished what I believed to be impossible, which is to bring non-gamers to play these silly games they’d otherwise not give it a second thought. You don’t understand the warmth that overwhelmed my butterscotch heart when I saw a few non-gamers (as in “people who were there for the food and not the Wii”) take the Wii Remote and play some lanes in Wii Bowling. I thought I was gonna cry. Another thing that made me feel like a giddy little kid as well (not that difficult really, but bear with me)? This:

Dad (on his computer, typing away what could either be the cure for AIDS to the A.I matrix of the world’s first Gundam): You’re leaving?

Rob (picking up my keys, shaking the dog off my leg): Yeah!

Dad: Alright, kid. What’s the plan for tonight?

Rob: I’m gonna go meet up with some friends and play Nintendo.

Dad (with a smirk on his face): Do you know how long it’s been since I heard you say that?

Rob: Say what?

Dad: That phrase. “I’m going out to meet up with some friends and play Nintendo.” That one.

Rob: Oh…

Dad: Since you were 10, Robert.

Rob: Oh……………

Dad (holding the dog): Have fun!

Rob: I… will?

It didn’t hit me until I was playing Wii Tennis with my very own Mii (Lucho had the courtesy to create one for me and save it in his Wii Remote) and I was having so much fun not only playing but watching the other 3 playing with me and the other people in attendance watching the game like we were watching something on ESPN, except that instead of real people they were screaming at a screen full of criminally adorable cartoon characters. My Mii looks like a Latino “Dude,” as in “Big Lebowski” Dude. It’s so funny you have no idea. The turnout this time around was much, much bigger, more beers were passed around and more food was eaten and even though I still haven’t mastered the legendary technique of eating, drinking a beer and playing with my Wii-mote yet, I managed to compromise by not eating. Had a burger at one point in the evening but I wasn’t out for long. We got the projector once more so everything was crazy good all across the board… another friend brought Excite Truck and quite frankly it wasn’t nearly as fun as Wii Sports. It looked like the game was trying too hard to be an arcade game for me to see it as exciting. What really got my crotch to tighten up was something Lucho told me about the Wii’s Dragonball game (God, this is so gay):

Lucho: I was talking to my friend that dropped by just now.

Rob: Where is he?

Lucho: Left.

Rob: Oh.

Lucho: He has Dragonball for the Wii, man.

Rob: What? There’s a Dragonball game for the Wii?

Lucho: Yeah! Fucker got it on pre-order. Just arrived.

Rob: You’re not going to say what I think you’re going to say, right?

Lucho (doing the Hadouken motion with his hands): This is how you do a Kame-Hame-Ha.

Rob: NO WAY

Lucho: Yeah! you can do all of the moves with the Wii Remote. (lifting his arms up in the air and then doing the motion of throwing something overhead) This is how you do the Genki Dama. And the cool thing about it is that for the Genki Dama (and I assume that for the other powers too) you have to charge them, just like in the Anime.

*Rob has creamed his pants, feels lightheaded*

The possibilities are fucking endless. Back in my younger days I’d look forward to the day where we as individuals could finally do stuff like that enough as to make it public. To fly, at least. How cool would it be for me to grab a hold of the Wii Remote and start wailing my arms around as I make a melee of blasts rain down on my opponent, so crazy I level a mountain in the process? I can’t wait ‘ti l I finally play that game. Can’t wait. This stuff, it’s too good to be true. The Wii is making me want to play games I would otherwise not give an ass about. Also a game the Porto Diao group would be very happy conceptualizing? Wait for it.

Wii Fucking.

I think the top moment of the night would definitely have to be, and I touched on this a little earlier, is how the non-gamer crowd in attendance got really into the Wii. This came to my attention when I came back from the grill, having retrieved a chicken leg and mowing it down with ferocious might, I return to the Wii-ing area and one of the girls that was there just hanging out was playing Wii Bowling. This was enough to bring a big smile on my face (much like my Mii), but of course… it had to get better (I apologize for the contant use of dialogue as a storytelling device, by the way):

Rob (sitting down, looking at the girl have a blast with the game): This is like the prophecy fulfilled.

Butter: I know right? This is what it’s all about.

Rob: It’s so cool.

Butter: Y’wanna know what the best part is?

Rob: What happened?

Butter: What the girl said about the remote.

Rob: What’d she say about the remote?

Butter: “This iPod is awesome!!!”

Indeed it is. I don’t know what the word on the street is about the Wii being a bona fide success or not, but it definite is within my circle of friends. You can tell me all of the graphical marvels and powerhouse specs about the other consoles all you want; I know for a fact though that no other console out there could create a scenario where this could happen. Between this and the iPod girl, along with concrete physical evidence that the miracle console can in fact bring non-gamers to the fold I have no doubt in my mind that the Wii will be the little engine that could. It’s just a matter of someone untapping the infinite amounts of potential the console has… imagine a Fight Night: Wii Edition. Fuck, I can’t wait to get my hands on Madden for the Wii, just like that frickin’ awesome-concept Dragonball deal and all of the insanely cool games coming down the pipe. The potential is so great, and I’m glad I’m around to see it all develop.

This particular Wii Night ended around the same time the last one did (2AM, clocking in at around 4 hours of gameplay. Modest, but they were great 4 hours) and everyone left in good spirits. I got outta there exhausted, sweaty and wanting to play Dragonball for the Wii. I see Wii Sports being non-sufficient for my Wii craving if the Wii Nights become a normal occurence (looks like it though, and I couldn’t be happier)… but we need more games. I should get on with that myself, actually. Anyway, I’ll see if I can go for the hat trick and do a third one bigger, badder and uncut. There’s a gallery up, courtesy of you-know-who, so enjoy!

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