What, where, why, Wii!

m0nk3yboy wrote:

Wii Zapper with Link's Crossbow Training - $15 worth the money, or just a dust collector

Zapper is a silly waste of space. The game itself was enjoyable enough to gold platinum all the events.

Thanks for the info everyone. Looks like I'll be heading out for that classic controller with a 'free game' included some time today. Checked SRP on just the controller, and that is $49.95 alone, so yeah, looks like I'd be a fool to pass that up.

In other bargain related news I am 4 hours away from picking up House of the Dead: Overkill for the princely sum of $1.36 (current bid). Can't wait to get that one in front of the kids after Gravey's enthusiastically ironic non-endorsement of this quaint looking kids' title.

Zack and Wiki is only two days away from being mine too. Current bid $5 and I'm the only person bidding so far!?!?

I also remembered a loyalty voucher i had for EB. Buy two secondhand games, get one free. WiiSports and Boom Blox for the kids and No More Heroes for myself. $14 each, so a little over $8 per title if I spread that discount across them all.

I'll update the OP and running totals when I'm not on the iPad and I can get to a decent screen for formatting.

Also, big thanks to Clocky for the Bonzai Barber code for the kids. Looking forward to playing that

1st. Put Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 on the Big Kids list. :p Co-entry obviously, but you will want to play it. The most "fun" I had on the Wii, period. 120+ stars on each game. Did not want it to end.

2nd. Add Muramasa: The Demon Blade to the Big Kids list. Side-scrolling brawler, with amazing art, and incredible combat depth when you don't play on the lame Easy mode which is just a mindless button-masher.

3rd. Kirby's Epic Yarn is $10 right now (this week?) at WalMart. Thinking of grabbing it myself.

4th. I agree with cragmyre about Boom Blox. Particularly the 2nd one, BB: Bash Party. Best "party game" we have played aside from Wii Sports.

5th. I agree with mrtomaytohead about RE4 and Okami. Both best on the Wii, and a blast. Big Kids list for RE4 obviously.

6th. Red Steel 2 is supposed to be one of the best uses of M+ control. I have it sitting on my shelf unplayed, so can't confirm. But everyone said it was much improved from the first game and very good, otherwise I wouldn't have bought it. Big Kids list.

7th. The Last Story. Just praising it some more. And having played both it and Xenoblade, I'd pick TLS to play first for sure. Only $29.99 at Amazon right now.

m0nk3yboy wrote:

In other bargain related news I am 4 hours away from picking up House of the Dead: Overkill for the princely sum of $1.36 (current bid). Can't wait to get that one in front of the kids after Gravey's enthusiastically ironic non-endorsement of this quaint looking kids' title.

It's really a great co-op game that will teach them teamwork, expand their vocabularies, and impart a heart-warming lesson about family.

OK, looks like they (I) can't wait any longer for the pink and blue controllers to arrive from overseas.

The reveal may happen tomorrow, based on this question.

How convoluted is it to set up? Setting up an ID is fairly straight forward on the XBox. I have a primary gold account, and the kids have their own avatars and stuff, but locked down under silver.

Is it as straight forward on the Wii, or will I need to setup parental controls, identities, etc well before the kids log in? Their attention spans for setting up things like this is fairly limited, and I do want their experience with this to be as encouraging as possible.

There aren't "IDs" really for the Wii, just Miis. You turn it on, go to the Mii plaza, create all your avatars, and that's it. I can't speak to the parental controls but I think they're pretty basic.

Stele wrote:

6th. Red Steel 2 is supposed to be one of the best uses of M+ control. I have it sitting on my shelf unplayed, so can't confirm. But everyone said it was much improved from the first game and very good, otherwise I wouldn't have bought it. Big Kids list.

I played it to the end. At first it was ok, but it constantly adds new abilities and gets better and better all the way to the end. The shooting is secondary to the great sword combat. I kind of regret getting rid of it.

Blind_Evil wrote:

There aren't "IDs" really for the Wii, just Miis. You turn it on, go to the Mii plaza, create all your avatars, and that's it. I can't speak to the parental controls but I think they're pretty basic.

Non better than those you admister whilst playing alongside said children

How do the Nintendo Bucks work? One pot everyone can dip into, or do you have an account ID, like iTunes or similar? Sorry for the noobness of my questions, I should just stop being lazy and google it.

mrtomaytohead wrote:
Stele wrote:

6th. Red Steel 2 is supposed to be one of the best uses of M+ control. I have it sitting on my shelf unplayed, so can't confirm. But everyone said it was much improved from the first game and very good, otherwise I wouldn't have bought it. Big Kids list.

I played it to the end. At first it was ok, but it constantly adds new abilities and gets better and better all the way to the end. The shooting is secondary to the great sword combat. I kind of regret getting rid of it.

Damn filthy enabling bastards!

IMAGE(http://members.iinet.net.au/~monkey.boy/GWJ/EnabledAgain.jpg)

Oh, I hurried, I hurried like a mother hugger!

m0nk3yboy wrote:
Blind_Evil wrote:

There aren't "IDs" really for the Wii, just Miis. You turn it on, go to the Mii plaza, create all your avatars, and that's it. I can't speak to the parental controls but I think they're pretty basic.

Non better than those you admister whilst playing alongside said children

How do the Nintendo Bucks work? One pot everyone can dip into, or do you have an account ID, like iTunes or similar? Sorry for the noobness of my questions, I should just stop being lazy and google it.

It's all on a per system basis, so one pot. Congrats on getting RS2 for a good AUS price.

WooHoo!

Just scored Kirby's Epic Yarn off eBay for only $20.51! (plus $5 postage).

I had that in as a throw away bid that I thought I would never win as every other copy has started at $40, and usually finished for $60-80.

SOOOOOOOOOOOO THRILLED RIGHT NOW!?!?!?!?

I've also decided to wait on revealing the console until the other controllers arrive. Presenting a multi-player game with only one controller seems a bit rough, and a lost opportunity. I'll also miss out on keeping my black controller 'grott-free'.

m0nk3yboy wrote:
Blind_Evil wrote:

There aren't "IDs" really for the Wii, just Miis. You turn it on, go to the Mii plaza, create all your avatars, and that's it. I can't speak to the parental controls but I think they're pretty basic.

Non better than those you admister whilst playing alongside said children

The parental controls aren't bad, they let you place certain things in the system menu behind a 4 digit PIN. It's enough to keep the little ones from changing settings or doing their own shopping in the Wii Shop Channel. But yes, they are basic, and simple to set up.

As for the peripheral add ons that make the Wii mote like a tennis racquet or whatnot, my only experience with that is the giant Red maracas that came with Samba de Amigo. They were too big, and my kids weren't physically able use them. Their hands weren't large enough to grasp the added size and weight. So depends on how old your kids are, but I would just stick with the vanilla controllers. At one point I did consider buying them smaller kids sized Wii motes, but that time has passed now that they're older.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Rhythm Heaven Fever is a fantastic, quirky rhythm game. Rather than playing a plastic guitar to established pop hits like you do in Guitar Hero or Rock Band, you use the Wiimote (no waggle) to swing golf clubs, assemble robots, and high-five tiny monkeys (yes) in time with insanely catchy little tunes.

Just got this game via goozex (new in the shrink wrap, actually) so I'll get to see how it plays out.

Big reveal tomorrow for the kids. Everything has finally arrived, a few additional things too.

Will take photos of their phat loot then post.

I'll also give the games a rating from my kids so anyone else looking to do the same gets the skinny, straight from the horses' mouths. I've been prepping them for the last week, as we've added little Mario, Peach and Yoshi characters to their Lego play sets, and they have been acting out scenarios with them.

I think it will blow their little minds when the characters they have been racing around in Lego cars can suddenly be controlled onscreen with little plastic wheels.

I could be wrong, and they may hate it. Either way, I've got a Wii in the house, so it's win win for me either way

Blind_Evil wrote:

There aren't "IDs" really for the Wii, just Miis. You turn it on, go to the Mii plaza, create all your avatars, and that's it. I can't speak to the parental controls but I think they're pretty basic.

And don't do it yourself -- the girls will have to take turns, but creating the Miis is a game in itself.

For Mario Kart, don't bother setting up individual licenses (save slots) for each person. Set up one for you, and use that for everyone. You can do the score-chasing and achievements to unlock new levels, and then everyone can use them. I found that the basic race (Luigi Circuit) was entertaining for the kids without being frustrating -- some of the courses let you fall to oblivion if you go off the edge, which is a fun challenge... but not to start out. Funky Stadium was the favorite Battle course for the same reason.

You should get one of the Lego games too, if you don't have them on another platform.

m0nk3yboy wrote:

Will take photos of their phat loot then post.

As promised!

IMAGE(http://members.iinet.net.au/~monkey.boy/Wii/WiiLoot.jpg)

From LtoR:
Animal Crossing: Let's go to the City with WiiSpeak microphone
Two generic Wii Wheels from KMart
Generic Sports Pack
Boom Blox Second hand EB
Wii Sports Second hand EB
Mario Kart Wii Bundle
Pink Generic Wiimote, motion plus, and Nun-chuk - eBay
Blue Generic Wiimote, motion plus, and Nun-chuk - eBay
Sonic Colours
Kirby's Epic Yarn
My First Songs (Nursery Rhyme Karaoke for kids)
Dora's Big Birthday Adventure
Additional Wii straps
Wii Dance Juniors

BIG hit so far. We have only worked on three of the above titles. Mario Kart, Dora, and Let's Sing. My youngest, 3.5 watched on as our 5 year old did all of the controlling in Dora. She really got the hang of the controller INCREDIBLY fast. They played together on that for 40 minutes, then Daddy had to take over the controls.

Mario Kart was fun, but again, our youngest didn't get the screen split, and the eldest was just wiggling the wheel like a crazy person. The next day she asked if we could play it together, so she sat on my lap, controlling the accelerator and brake, we both held the wheel, and I fired the Shells, Bombs, etc from underneath. It was the best 45 minutes ever!

They also learnt that Daddy cannot carry a tune very well. I got passed over more than once when we were sharing the mic in Let's Sing.

Hoping to get in a bit more over the weekend, we have a holiday on Monday, so more chance to play, but right now, 45-60 minutes a few times a week seems to be a good block for this, both in terms of their attention, and the amount we are comfortable/happy for them to be playing.

I've ordered a component cable too, composite is TERRIBLE, even on an old CRT SD TV.