Luckily Bonnie broke the ‘no gifts on birthday’ pact and she got me a Wii last week.  I think it shows that Bonnie believes I have not been spending enough time on the Xbox, so I will be re-doubling my gaming efforts to make her proud.

The Wii is easier to setup compared to the more technical Xbox.  If you have wifi network in your house, it’s ability to talk directly via wifi removes any network cabling hassle.  Although it only comes with a composite video cable (the lowest quality video connection) you can purchase a Wii component cable for $15, which will make the screen a little clearer and raise the resolution to 480p (from 480i).   The controllers are wireless (of course) and motion-based.  I think everyone has played with a Wii by now, so no need to get into the details of how the controllers work, suffice to say it is the main reason the Wii console has been selling in greater numbers than any other platform.

It’s a given that the Wii’s graphical abilities pale in comparison with the Xbox and Playstation…so it sure better make up for it in playability.  It does achieve that mark, and it’s main feature of using motion controls rather than a directional joystick gives a unique experience of being in the game rather than observing.

“Wait”, you cry “this will just make you a larger ball of goo than you already are”.  Hopefully not.  After we played Wii Tennis the first time we (Bonnie) were quite tired.  Of course we (Bonnie) were leaning and swinging a might more than was probably required.

Furthermore our friends, Julie & Robert,  were also concerned about my rapid aging and lack of physical activity and birthday’d me a Wii Fit!  This is the device after you learn to balance correctly on…..presto, you get six-pack abs in no time.  Alternatively, you can also play games on it like snowboarding.  I’ve only hooked it up so far…..I’ll try to video Bonnie on it (shhh don’t tell her).

Lots of fun to come.

PS. I’m already a Wii Tennis Pro, so I should be out on the pro circuit soon raking in the money.