Wiik

The Nintendo Revolution has a new name, and it's arguably the shittiest console name since the FM Towns Marty: "Wii."

Wii. Wii.

One of Nintendo's biggest problems has been the perception that they are a game company for children-- this is, largely, an unfair and pointless generalization made by Grand Theft Auto/Halo fanboys who don't think all-ages entertainment has a place in a MAN's living room (forget about game design and all that).

Nintendo's answer? Wii.

At this point, I think Nintendo has told us loud and clear what their new strategy entails: not only do they want to attract non-gamers (i.e. girls and old people) with simple games, friendly-looking controls and Brain Training, they, for some reason, want all the people who already like videogames to stay away. I guess they have to alienate all the sweaty manchildren before grandma will feel comfortable going into the 'Games' aisle at Wal-Mart.

The few positive responses to the name take the form "It's different from the way consoles usually get named, so it's good." My response: Ted Nugent's Butt Disease is different too, but that doesn't mean I'm going to use it for the name of my new consumer electronics device.

I'll still buy one when I can afford it, because I still love Nintendo's first party stuff (or, at least, the pre-Nintendogs first party stuff like Mario and Zelda, which I hope is here to stay). Also I really want to play with the new, uh, Wiimote, and I am totally looking forward to downloading as many old games as I can afford, especially since Nintendo announced that Genesis and TurboGrafx-16 games will be available for download. In fact, I heard from a Hudson rep via NeoGAF that Hudson is hoping to put the entire US library of TG16 games online, which makes all of the other features of the Rev Wii unimportant in terms of my decision to buy.

Here's what I've been up to game-wise:

-Not enough. For some reason, even though I have more spare time, I've been wasting it on the computer when I could be playing games. Internet addiction for the lose.

-Not Nightmare of Druaga. I picked this up last week because a) based on the arcade roots of the Druaga series, I expected a slower-paced Gauntlet type of dungeon action-RPG, b) the boxart looks awesome, and c) it was $1.96. Then when I got home and started reading about the game, I discovered that it is a strategy-heavy turn-based "Roguelike" RPG that mimics old ASCII-based computer games. It may be fun, or it may be incredibly tedious. I haven't gotten up the courage to try it yet.

-Metal Gear Online briefly. Afraid of letting a team down by being a total n00b (or worse, not even knowing where to go in a sneaking/capture mission) I tried some deathmatch. Playing a deathmatch in Metal Gear is so weird because, since guys are running around shooting you in the face constantly, and since they have the same camera system you do, stealth is impossible. I'm going to keep playing to figure out the maps and such before I try a sneaking mission (one player as Snake vs. seven others).