We finally got a Wii. Every time my SO and I stopped in at the local Game Boutique to feed my monkey, we asked if they had any in stock. They always said no, and we finally decided that we didn't want one anyway. Since we couldn't get one, the universe was in equilibrium.
Then on Saturday, we were wandering around Costco when we saw a Wii bundled with an extra Wiimote and Mario Party 8. My SO picked it up and we discussed getting it. Since I could see it and it was available for purchase, I reverted to wanting one. We'd previously decided to get a floor mat for DDR to help us exercise, but the Wii seemed so much better--the hype worked. He decided he didn't want it, but by then I was walking around the store, hugging it in my arms. (Note to future offspring: This tactic won't work for you.) So we got it.
It came with Wii Sports. We immediately tried golf, since the SO is on a golf kick. We played one hole and I hated it. It was almost as bad as real golf, but without the outdoors and the fun golf cart. Tennis was supposed to be intuitive, but we couldn't figure out what makes you run up and down the court. My little Mii (cartoonish avatar person) ended up falling on the floor a lot.
Speaking of the Miis, making them was fun for about fifteen minutes. Mine ended up pretty cute. If I can figure out a way to get a screenshot, I'll edit this post with it. The SO's didn't look anything like him. There was a deficiency in the male hair selection that we couldn't overcome. We invited our Wii-owning friends to reciprocally name us as friends so our Miis could go on trips through the Internet. No one's friended us yet, so this is an aspect to the Wii we haven't yet been able to appreciate, but it's only been a day. I can try patience.
Back to the game: Baseball was uneven. Batting was fun, pitching not so much. We played one inning. We lacked a second chuck, so we couldn't try the boxing. Bowling was the best of all the games. We played a full, 10-frame game. It demanded you actually stand to play. The SO had a bit of a time figuring out the proper ball release mechanism, but he has the same problem in real bowling, so it wasn't that big of a deal.
Mario Party 8, on the other hand, was a good deal of fun. We spent most of Sunday and Monday playing it. If it had been a computer game, there would have been an option to turn off the animations (like when you eat a power-up candy or get shot from a cannon), an option to automatically bypass the candy stores, and an option to automatically exchange coins for stars. I really, really bemoaned the lack of an option to turn off animations. I guess that's the difference between Wii games and computer games.
Wii games are all about watching repetitive animations, answering obvious questions, and generally wasting time. Computer games are about the game. And that's how I like it.