Wii Launch Love-in

This morning was the official Canadian Wii launch event at Atlantis in the symbol of technological progress a la 1974, Ontario Place. But we braced the rusting bridge to get our hands on 38 Wii consoles loaded with games like The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Rayman: Raving Rabbids, Red Steel, Super Monkey Ball, ExciteTruck and Wii Sports.

The event was like any other media event - a heavily branded space with lots of games and pounding techn music. Ron Bertram, prez of NOCL made a breif speech that reassured media that Wii would be the winner this holiday season thanks to the success of DS and their "disruptive" philosophy. And then on to the games!

I managed to get some good face time with Rayman: Raving Rabbids (which was not demo-ed at all at E3) and it's pretty darn cute. What is essentially a disc full of mini-games, Rayman runs into a large arena and behind each door is a mini-game where the objective is to take advantage of the rabbids weaknesses (their love of eating and disco dancing and unfamiliarity with cows). The games are short and easy - the graphics are fun and cartoony, which suits the Wii.

I watched a lot of Red Steel - it was one of the longest waits at the event (longer than Zelda - wtf?) and I can honestly say that Gears of War has ruined every other shooter for me. Red Steel was boring with long story cut cenes and the gameplay seemed trivial at best. While I understand I was watching one of the first levels being played, the pure lack of visuals that Gears has turned me right off.

That brings me to Legend of Zelda - yeah it is awesome. The controls are very natural despite there being a lot of them mapped onto every button and the graphics look vibrant and stunning on the Wii. The way Link moves, rolls, climbs, jumps feels really great - he looks good as you move him, not stiff at all. I wasn't able to try any of the combat (boo), but I'm excited to pick this game up.

I won't go on about Wii Sports - if you have friends they will like these games. You will not like these games if you are a loner. Nuff said.

I got some okay swag that I will take a few pics of when I get home and let 8Bit rummage through it all.