Wii Out

It's gone. Sold. Out of my life. I no longer own a Wii.

And you know what? I don't miss it. I know there are a handful of games I enjoyed, and that there are a few others out there that I might like, but I just don't have the interest in Nintendo's latest license to print money. This year's E3 was enough to show me that the company no longer has my tastes in mind, and it's since moved on to another audience entirely. That's fine, as I know every company is in this business to make money. Nintendo's got a good thing going, and it's going to milk the hell out of it.

By the same token, I too have a right to search other options, and that's exactly what I did. The same day I sold my entire Wii package (with the exception of Super Mario Galaxy), I waltzed over to Wal-Mart and bought a Playstation 3. I was lucky enough to snag one of the Metal Gear Solid 4 bundles, so I got a backwards-compatible console with the Dual Shock 3 controller, and it all came with a great game to boot. A few days later, Mario was gone in trade-in, and I now own Motorstorm and Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. A pretty good start, if I do say so myself.

It all comes down to personal taste. The Playstation 3 doesn't have a ton of games I want right now, but it has more potential for me than the Wii does. I now have a Blu-Ray player and a console that has some excellent titles in the pipeline, and the Playstation Store has a ton of goodies that I'll be trying out. Super Stardust HD is awesome (not as good as Geometry Wars Evolved 2, but awesome nonetheless), and the current library has a few titles that should keep me busy for a while, so the console is going to get its share of play time.

The Wii, on the other hand, seems to be made with my five year-old daughter in mind, and virtually nothing announced interests me at all. Mad, Mad World looks great, but that's just a single game for the next twelve months, and none of the music, gardening, teeth-cleaning games Nintendo's announced move me in the slightest. The weak future schedule only reaffirms my belief that the Wii is not made for me, so I've opted for a console that is.

Many people love the Wii, and that's fine. The library has to appeal to someone, suppose, but it certainly does nothing for me. Reggie's pompous announcement that Animal Crossing is all the "core" gaming I'll ever need proves that Nintendo and I have parted ways. Moreover, the House of Mario recently stated that none of its "core" titles will be ready for 2009, which means that my dollars will be spent elsewhere.

I may still get a DS sometime in the future, but I think I've just sold my last Nintendo console. The weirdest thing is that I'm not bothered by that fact at all.

I guess Nintendo's not the only one that's moved on.

So Long, Wii...

Growing up on a hefty diet of everything Sega, I was never really partial to a Nintendo console. I loved the NES and every iteration of the Game Boy, but the feeling was just never "there" for me for the other consoles. Still, I tried to give it another shot by buying a Wii off a friend of mine a little over a year ago. I figured this would be the console that would make me a big Nintendo fan again.

It didn't, and now, it's up for sale.

I don't know what else to do with the darn thing. I have seven games in my collection, including most of the requirements like Zelda: Twilight Princess and Super Mario Galaxy, and I even have few third party games like Zak & Wiki and Ghost Squad. Still, I take a look at the list of upcoming titles, and there is nothing that interests me at all. Compared with the laundry list of Xbox 360 and PS3 titles that are on my "to buy" list for the remainder of 2008, there really is no reason for me to own a Wii right now.

I've actually been thinking of selling it off for about four months now. My justification for holding out has been along the lines of "I already have it, so I don't have to look for one later on. It's not hurting anyone under my TV," but thinking hard about it, I doubt I'll even bother looking for one at all later on. The Wii doesn't cater to my tastes, and that's unfortunate for me. Nintendo's too busy making money to care, and I understand that it needs to do what's best for it's bottom line. All companies do, and my defection won't hurt them at all in the long run.

The thing is, I don't care at all about Nintendo's bottom line. Unlike it, I care about being entertained, something the Wii is not doing. So rather than let it sit there and collect dust, I'm selling it to buy a Playstation 3. This is what's up for grabs:

Wii console with box and everything, Wii Sports with a custom Wii case. It has the following in memory:

• Internet channel
• Weather channel (Lol)
• News channel (Lol x2)
  
• Check Mii Out channel
• Kirby's Adventure
• Donkey Kong Country
• Bonk's Adventure
• Gunstar Heroes
• Soldier Blade
• Super Mario 64
• 200 Wii points

I also have these games for sale:

• Ghost Squad
• Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
• Link's Crossbow Training with Zapper (with custom Wii case)
  
• Super Mario Galaxy
• Super Paper Mario
  
• Zak & Wiki

Anyone interested can simply comment here, check my sales thread over at Sega-16, or email me at ken@sega-16.com.

So long Wii.