Some personal observations first. Not only did a cross section of everyday humanity appear to be lining up for the midnight launch of the Nintendo Wii in Tescos last night, but also witnessed a girl reading a videogame magazine in public. The world has gone mad.
Personally I’ll be waiting to take a Wii. The concept is good, but there are quite a few Wii problems, aside from dreadful puns. It’s wireless only, so with a crappy connection and router, it will struggle. The controllers use normal batteries, and there’s no way to recharge like an Xbox 360 controller yet. There are a few reports of dying or broken machines, but nothing on the 360 level yet.
But my favourite is the discovery the Wii controller wrist straps can break, and send your controller flying across the room. There have already been reports of TV screens cracked and trashed. It seems odd noone ever spotted this potential danger and did something about it before launch…a rubber protector perhaps, like a Wii incontinence suit? Or a more sturdy strap?
I’m always found buying a console on launch day to be a little silly, as you’re paying over the odds for something which will have every design defect still intact. You get excitement and boasting rights for a couple of weeks, but you can get the same effect by buying the big games at launch etc. But to end up with your new LCD/Plasma telly smashed to buggery seems to be taking it a bit far…