Wii: To buy, or not to buy...

[Kelemvor]

Well, my wife is thinking she wants to buy a Wii. Her main reason is she wants to use Wii Fit to work out. We also have a 4 year old who can play simpler games as well and a 1 year old who will get there eventually.

For gaming, we currently have an original XBox (modded) that never gets used as well as a Mame machine.

I've talked to a lot of people who bought the Wii, used it for a couple weeks or a couple months, and then got over the fad and now it just sits around. I obviously don't want to waste money doing that.

However now that it's announced the Wii will drop to $199 in another week, she's thinking about it again possibly as a family Christmas present.

So, for all the current or past Wii owners....

Do you have a Wii or did you and you got rid of it?
If you got rid of it, why and after how long?
Do you have young kids and do/did they use it and like it?
How about older kids and/or adults?
Did/do you have a variety of games or just a couple or just the one it came with?
Overall, are you happy you bought it?

 

[Dumac]

I have a launch Wii, haven't gotten rid of it.

I don't have kids, but I would imagine they would like it.

I am an adult, and the Wii is okay. Honestly, I haven't played it in almost a year, but there are some titles on the horizon that have caught my eye. There just aren't very many quality Wii titles, which isn't as much of a concern for kids.

I have a few games for it. Super Mario Galaxy, Twilight Princess, No More Heroes, Super Paper Mario, Metroid Prime Three, Animal Crossing, Mario Kart Wii, Super Smash Brothers Brawl, and maybe a couple others I can't remember.

I am not particular happy that I bought it, but I wouldn't have it any other way, as I feel to need to play every great game out there, and there are a couple on the Wii.

 

[Spoooon]

I've had a Wii since launch. No kids, just me and the wife. We both like it. I probably have 25-30 games for it, a mix of games for me and games that I think the wife would enjoy (Boom Blox, that sort of thing).

Anecdotal stuff: I probably play games equally on the PC, DS, 360, and Wii. My brother-in-law has a PS3 and Wii and games about equally on both as well.

As far as it holding your interest, it depends on what you're interested in. Forget about the Wii part and look at the games.

Overall, I am happy that I bought it. Wii Fit is a pretty decent work out. It's definitely more fun that doing a workout DVD or something and great for when the weather is crap or you just don't feel like hitting the gym.

 

[Dacalo]

I bought a Wii at launch. Beat Zelda and then sold it as it was just collecting dust. I think it's good for a family though, but I am a single guy.

 

[Ackmed]

Got a 5 year old boy and 10 year old girl, have had a Wii for two years this Christmas. We hardly ever play it, except my boy plays Godzilla on it. Every great now and then Ill get a game for it, such as Punch Out. I probably log 2 an average hours per month when Ive been home on it.

I dont regret it because money isnt an issue for it. But if the Wii is the "big ticket" item for Christmas for you guys, I wouldnt do it. Most people think they're going to work out, and then stop. I personally wouldnt base this purchase on that, but then again I dont know your wife.

 

[RaiderJ]

I picked up a Wii a few years ago, played Metroid (why I bought the console), Paper Mario, Mario Galaxy, and a few others. Kinda got bored of it, needed some money, and sold it.

Might pick it up again for the wife to play Wii Fit too. There are some games I'd like to play - Twilight Princess being one of them.

Game wise, I think the 360 has the best overall selection. However, the Wii is probably better for games you can play with a significant other who isn't normally into games.

 

[Crow550]

I like my Wii. I have quite few games for it......Bully, Scarface, Man Hunt 2, Metroid Prime Triogy, Ghostbusters, Tomb Raider: Anniversary, Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Super Mario Galaxy, Lengend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess , Mario Kart, Rayman Raving Rabbits, Resident Evil 4, House Of The Dead II & III, GodFather, The Conduit, Wii Sports.

Wiiware games.....World Of Goo, Tetris, Dr.Mario, Gyrostarr, OnSlaught.


Use the web browser allot to watch YouTube vids and surf while sittin on my recliner.

Got the Homebrew channel with the Homebrew Browser (app store). Use Mplayer to watch Shoutcast channels & Wiiradio to listen to Shoutcast stations.

Run Emulators to play 10+ year old games. Same thing I can do on my PC.

Got a cheat device so I can unlock everything in multiplayer games because I got the games to play with friends, not against bots to have to unlock all the multiplayer goodies.

Allot of fun user made games to check out as well.

Sure you can use the Homebrew channel for evil. But same with owning a PC. Right? Or just cause you own a gun doesn't mean your gonna shoot everyone. So use the Homebrew channel with responsibility. Check out the list of apps here: http://wiibrew.org/wiki/List_of_all_homebrew

It's easy to install: http://lifehacker.com/5342733/...hout-twilight-princess



So yeah I enjoy my Wii allot.

Still have games I want, so I enjoy it. However when it comes to game systems. It's not the system I care for......It's the games. I like em all if they have good games to play.

PLAY IT LOUD! <-- Remember this? Mid 90s Nintendo ads.

 

[gorcorps]

I don't have a wii, but the friends that do are glad they have it. They may not use it a ton but for the few times when they have people over and then suddenly want to play Smash Brothers, it's good to have that option. For just single player it'd get old fast as there's 5ish single player games that are any good, and even those get boring. My roommate has one and I still haven't finished Mario Galaxy after having access to it for a while as it just gets boring down the road.

 

[hans030390]

BTW, Wii Fit gives you about as much exercise as walking (this was said by Nintendo). You said Wii Fit was your wife's main reason. Would I recommend paying $290 to walk? No.

I don't understand why people pay money for Wii Fit.

 

[waggy]

When my Wii works its great. Mario Galaxy is amazing.


saying that let me give you a history of my wii.

i got it like 2 years ago. we played it often the first few months then got bored. there was not many games out that were worth it.

so it sat like 6 months. then i got a new game. i went to turn it on and i got a "can not read disk" error. since i was like a month out of warranty i had to pay to fix it. They wanted $75 (i think. it was around that) to fix it. i bitched and complained. they finally lowered it to $25. fine i sent it in and it came back working. woot! played for for a few months and guess what?

yeap i got "can not read disk error" AGAIN. so i called Nintendo and told them. they said its under warranty so i sent it in.

When i came back i went to make sure it worked? it didn't. i got the same error but this time it scratched the heck out of disk (didn't notice on the first one. it scratched up Mario Galaxy, wii play, and wii sports).

I called up Nintendo and i was pissed. At first they said send it in again and they would fix it. when i asked about the disk at first they said there was NOTHING they could do about it. after 2 days of calling they said fine send in the receipts for the games and they would replace them. WTF i didn't keep the receipts! its been at least a year for each game! i called back and they said they would send them anyway.

But i was not happy about sending in the system yet again to get fixed. they said they would cross ship me a refurbished unit. GREAT!

i did that. they never sent the games though. i called and they said they didn't get the receipts. i blew up with the women on the phone. eventually i got ah old of management who said yeah she seen it in the notes they were supposed to send out the games.

A few days latter i got them.


the new unit worked great for a few months. But like 2-3 months ago or so guess what? it wouldn't turn on...

I called and the person said it wuold be $85 to fix it. so its sitting on my table. fuck it I'm done with Nintendo.

 

[Yreka]

Originally posted by: Kelemvor


Do you have a Wii or did you and you got rid of it?

Had one, got rid of it and later bought another one.

If you got rid of it, why and after how long?

First one I bought for "me".. Not really my cup of tea.. Having younger children means I have limited play time. Nothing has come out on the wii that could compete for my time over the other console / PC games. I bought it for the nostalgia games, Mario, Zelda etc.. Nintendo 1P titles just dont seem to hold my attention anymore.

Second one was purchased for the kids.

Do you have young kids and do/did they use it and like it?

Yes, 7 and 3.. They love it.. We also use it as a low budget media streamer.. Its on the "kids" TV in the "kids" living room, so it provides a solution for them to access all of their movies on the media server. If you asked them, they would rather be playing the XBOX/PS3, but that probibly is because they are in the HT room, and are what the "big kids" play.

How about older kids and/or adults?

No older kids.. Adults, IE our friends that come over end up playing the PS3/360 if video gaming at all..

Did/do you have a variety of games or just a couple or just the one it came with?

We have 6 or 7.. Mostly gamefly and return them as we do with the other systems.

Overall, are you happy you bought it?

Yes, absolutely worth the $$.. I think the accessories, especially the extra controllers, chucks etc are overpriced but that seems to be the norm these days.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Originally posted by: Kelemvor
Do you have a Wii or did you and you got rid of it?

I used to have a Wii, but I got rid of it.

Originally posted by: Kelemvor
If you got rid of it, why and after how long?

I was utterly bored with the single player games and I didn't have people over often enough to justify keeping it just for the multiplayer. I kept seeing great games getting released for the 360 and I wanted one, so I sold the Wii and bought the Xbox.

Originally posted by: Kelemvor
Do you have young kids and do/did they use it and like it?

No kids.

Originally posted by: Kelemvor
How about older kids and/or adults?

Non-gamer adults seem to enjoy it... for a time. Anything more complicated than Wii Sports was pretty much out. Even in Wii Sports we pretty much only did bowling and tennis. Mario Kart was the other really good one but I was too good for everyone else. Meanwhile, Smash Bros. was kind of fun too but one of my other friends was too good for everyone and all those games got repetitive.

Originally posted by: Kelemvor
Did/do you have a variety of games or just a couple or just the one it came with?

I had quite a variety of games. Several single player games, several multiplayer games. I did not like any of the single player ones, even the ones everyone is supposed to like (Zelda, Metroid, Mario). Just couldn't get into any of them. They felt like rehashes of earlier games in the series and quite poor in comparison to the wealth of interesting single player game types available on other platforms. I think the main problem was that Nintendo is one of the only worthwhile Wii developers. Every other company puts out shovelware (with some exceptions). There's a lot of shovelware on other platforms, but there are a lot of good games too. It just seemed that the 360/PS3 got developers' "A" efforts while the Wii got their "B" efforts (if you're lucky).

Originally posted by: Kelemvor
Overall, are you happy you bought it?

In a way, I'm glad because I got to see the Wii for what it really is: an overpriced, underpowered gimmick with tons of bad games and very few good ones. But it also has a better variety of local multiplayer games available. However, now that I have a 360 with Rock Band 2, I don't care. RB2 is more fun for a group of 4 people than all those stupid Wii minigame-fests put together.

 

[meeni]

The price is reasonable enough and I think you too would enjoy playing it, it's for the whole family. There's no reason for you to doubt buying it.

 

[Davidpaul007]

Originally posted by: Kelemvor

Do you have a Wii or did you and you got rid of it?

I own a Wii, no.

If you got rid of it, why and after how long?

NA

Do you have young kids and do/did they use it and like it?

I have a 7year old and she likes it. She plays 2-4hrs/week. Her favorite game is Mario kart.

How about older kids and/or adults?

My wife doesn't seem interested in it at all. I play a little smash brothers brawl here and there with my daughter and we used to play Mario Galaxy.

Did/do you have a variety of games or just a couple or just the one it came with?

Super Smash brothers brawl, Super Mario Galaxy, Guitar Hero III, Wii Play, DDR,

Overall, are you happy you bought it?

Yes

I've recently made the move to 360 and definitely enjoy that system much more. My 7yo probably likes both systems equally right now, but since the 360 is pretty new it's hard to say how she'll feel in a year. I've thought about selling the Wii since we don't play it too often (a couple times a week) but the motivation for that is just to get some easy cash. I think the Wii Fit is a gimmick game that will lose it's "luster" after a short while and you might have some regret later down the road spending so much money for a game that doesn't get used much.

 

[sourceninja]

I love my wii. Zelda was a great game, I have downloaded tones of wiiware and emulated games (I don't mind buying them even though I could get them for free). I terms of actual wii games there are not many I like, but I use the thing constantly. I just played though Castlevainia 1 and 2, shining force, and now I'm working on shining force 2.

 

[Via]

I still have my Wii (that never gets old) and I plan on keeping it. I bought it mostly to be a golf simulator.

In the end, though, swinging a wiimote 60-70 times a round just isn't as fun as it sounds.

 

[tk149]

Do you have a Wii or did you and you got rid of it?
If you got rid of it, why and after how long?
Do you have young kids and do/did they use it and like it?
How about older kids and/or adults?
Did/do you have a variety of games or just a couple or just the one it came with?
Overall, are you happy you bought it?

I have a Wii.
NA
I play Mario Kart and Gamecube games with a 4-year-old.
I play Mario Kart, Mario Party, Boom Blox with adults.
I have around 6 Wii games.
I'm happy I bought it, and I use it.

For reference, I also have a PS3 and game on a PC. I'm a single guy.

 

[kalrith]

I don't own a Wii, but I'll chime in anyways. I own a PS3 and PC and really enjoy playing both of them. I have several friends who own Wiis, and I've played them, but I didn't really enjoy the games like Wii Sports and what not. If I purchased one, I could see playing games like Mario Kart, Zelda, Mario Party, etc., but unfortunately I haven't had the opportunity to try any of these games out.

IMO the swinging-the-wiimote games would get old pretty quickly.

Edit: I couldn't find it, but a few months ago I read a price comparison between the 3 current-gen consoles. It assumed that someone would want 4 controllers, 4 games, etc. After buying all the accessories, the 3 consoles cost virtually the same price. In other words, the $199 price of the Wii might be enticing, but after adding the price of all the accessories, it might wind up costing as much or more than a PS3 or XBOX360.

Edit2: I don't even know if you're considering the other consoles, but I have some friends who bought a Wii instead of another system because it was cheaper, and they wound up spending as much as I did on a PS3 after they bought all the accessories.

 

[purbeast0]

i bought a wii at launch and modded it a few months later, then sold it a few months after that when i realized just how crappy the games for it are.

i'd get it again for like $100 because the gimmicky games can be fun in spurts with a group of people.

 

[JTsyo]

Do you have a Wii or did you and you got rid of it?
Have my brother's Wii. He had it for about 9months and realized he wasn't using it much.

Do you have young kids and do/did they use it and like it?
No kids

How about older kids and/or adults?
Mt Wife tried Fit but didn't stick with it.

Did/do you have a variety of games or just a couple or just the one it came with?
The main rason I got it was to play Fire Emblem. My brohter had a few games (Play, Brawl, Galaxies, Zelda and SSX) and then I got a few: Resort, Fit, FE, Puzzle Fighter and Link's Crossbow.

Overall, are you happy you bought it?
The minigmaes don't have the staying power. The other games are like any games you get for other systems. I don't get much time in on the Wii as I do on the computer. For regular games I prefer the old controllers. Only the sports game and shooters seem better on the wii. Overall it's a good system. If my brother wanted it back, I would probably get another one.

 

[FoBoT]

Tech blog Engadget says the Wii, which has cost $250 since its 2006 launch, will see its price drop to $200 beginning Sunday.
Engadget posted what it says is a leaked memo from Best Buy Co. talking about the price drop.

 

[PieIsAwesome]

Do you have a Wii or did you and you got rid of it?
Still have it.

If you got rid of it, why and after how long?
N/A

Do you have young kids and do/did they use it and like it?
No to first part.

How about older kids and/or adults?
Siblings and friends liked it until SSBB got boring.

Did/do you have a variety of games or just a couple or just the one it came with?
I own Zelda, Metroid Prime 3, and SSBB. I rented all other significant games through Gamefly.

Overall, are you happy you bought it?
No.

I don't know what to do with it now that SSBB got boring. I guess I will wait until next Zelda game.

 

[zebano]

Do you have a Wii or did you and you got rid of it?
Had it for a year now

If you got rid of it, why and after how long?
N/A


Do you have young kids and do/did they use it and like it?
4 & 2, they both like mario party mini games, I estimate they can play 75 and 50% of the games w/o help, my daugther (4) loves Disney Princess as well and after a two hour learning curve really knows what she's doing.

How about older kids and/or adults?
My wife plays it a fair bit, I don't care for the game selection (I prefer RPGs so I might get fire emblem at some point).


Did/do you have a variety of games or just a couple or just the one it came with?
We have about 5 extra besides Wii Sports (Mario Cart, Big Brain Academy, Cooking Mama, Disney Princess, Mater Racing).

Overall, are you happy you bought it?
Yes, my wife doesn't game normally so this is nice and the games are very kid friendly.

 

[tk149]

EDIT: Fixed Wii for controllers and new price coming this Sunday.

Originally posted by: kalrith
I don't own a Wii, but I'll chime in anyways. I own a PS3 and PC and really enjoy playing both of them. I have several friends who own Wiis, and I've played them, but I didn't really enjoy the games like Wii Sports and what not. If I purchased one, I could see playing games like Mario Kart, Zelda, Mario Party, etc., but unfortunately I haven't had the opportunity to try any of these games out.

IMO the swinging-the-wiimote games would get old pretty quickly.

Edit: I couldn't find it, but a few months ago I read a price comparison between the 3 current-gen consoles. It assumed that someone would want 4 controllers, 4 games, etc. After buying all the accessories, the 3 consoles cost virtually the same price. In other words, the $199 price of the Wii might be enticing, but after adding the price of all the accessories, it might wind up costing as much or more than a PS3 or XBOX360.

Edit2: I don't even know if you're considering the other consoles, but I have some friends who bought a Wii instead of another system because it was cheaper, and they wound up spending as much as I did on a PS3 after they bought all the accessories.

Quick Price estimate comparison (based on Amazon.com)
Wii $199 (comes with 1 Wiimote and 1 nunchuk) (Price drop coming this Sunday)
3 Wiimotes (@$35) = $105
3 Nunchuks (@17.50) = $52.50
Comes with 1 game (Wii Sports)
Total = $356.50

Note that not all multiplayer games require the Nunchuk.

PS3 slim 120GB hard drive (comes with 1 Dualshock 3 controller) -$300
3 controllers (@$40) = $120
No game included
Total = $420

Xbox 360 Elite* 120GB hard drive (comes with 1 wireless controller) - $300
3 Wireless controllers (@37.50) = $112.50
No game included
Total = $412.50

*I just picked the 360 Elite because its the first one I saw on Amazon with the same size hard drive as the PS3.

You can pay to add wireless to the 360 (both the Wii and PS3 have it built-in).
You can add an SD card to the Wii (both the 360 and PS3 have hard drives).
I don't think you can add anything to the PS3, except a bigger hard drive.

I won't discuss cables, because you can get inexpensive ones at Monoprice.com. (BTW, screw all you console makers for NOT including HD cables!)

New release Wii games are cheaper than new PS3 or 360 games.

Based solely on the price of the console plus equipment needed for four-player games, the Wii will be cheapest). But really, the only question is what games do you want to play?

 

[AstroManLuca]

The Wii actually comes with a Wiimote AND a Nunchuk, so you only need 3 Wiimotes and 3 Nunchuks.

But I see your point. They're comparable in price once you add a bunch of controllers (which you'll probably eventually do anyway). The Wii benefits more from having four controllers... the 360 and PS3 are fine with just two because there aren't a ton of 4-player games, but it's nice to have four anyway.