Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

So I had quite a day yesterday. It was Culture Day in Japan, which meant no school, so I headed to Nagoya with 2 other Yamasa students, Dale and James, both 23, to a free convention that Nintendo was holding to show off its new system, the Wii (pronounced "we"). Now, I am incredibly excited for this system, particularly its killer app launch game, the Legend of Zelda, so I was looking forward to getting some good hands-on time at the convention. However, I seemed to forget that crowds, lines, and Japan go hand in hand, so I did a lot more waiting than playing. In fact, I never even got to play Zelda because of this:



When I arrived, it was 12 PM, and the show ended at 4 PM. The line for Zelda was 4 hours long. I was faced with the decision of waiting 4 hours for 10 or so minutes of time with a game I will probably be playing in a month or so, or sample a multitude of other games, getting more experience with the system. I opted for the latter.

In short, I was absolutely blown away. I know that many of my readers don't particularly care about video games, and at least one is biased and uninformedly hateful of them, but now I ask that you all listen to what I have to say, because I believe that everyone, no matter what the age or gender, should give this system a chance, as I think it has absolutely universal appeal.

Here is my reasoning: the Wii is entirely unlike video games as people know them today. Whereas every other game console is centered around overly complex experiences played using an imposing, confusing controller with two joysticks and about 10-14 buttons, the Wii's controller is shaped like a TV remote and only has one main directional pad and two main buttons.



This is quite intentional, as it is supposed to look like something friendly and familiar to all people, especially non-gamers. The crux of the controller lies in its motion sensing capabilities. Built in to the remote is a gyroscope and accelerometer, as well as an infrared sensor that knows exactly where you are pointing at the TV. The whole idea is to control the actions in the game using simple motions that are so intuitive, there is no confusion or memorization needed. Nintendo is so confident that this idea will appeal to everyone that they are including with the system a game featuring 5 separate sports (tennis, golf, bowling, baseball, and boxing) that are all controlled by manipulating the remote as if you were actually playing the game in real life. Having demoed these sports yesterday, I can honestly say that it works brilliantly. Here is a preview to help convince you:

Tennis:



Golf:



For some games, you will need to attach an additinal controller, called the Nunchaku, to the Wii remote. This has a joystick and a couple of buttons, as well as another gyroscope.


(The Wii Remote plus Nunchaku. Also shown here is the Classic Controller, which is aimed at veteran gamers who want to play the many classic Nintendo games available for download onto the Wii)

By using the 2 controllers' together, you can have an even more intuitive experience. This is best demonstrated by my favorite of the sports games that comes with Wii, the insanely fun Wii Boxing:





Obviously, the potential for variety here is basically limitless. Some games, like Boxing, were even a little bit tiring, and I know that there are a handful of excercise games in the work for the system. One of the games I was looking forward to playing but sadly was not to be found on the expo floor, was Wii Music, which features one game where you act as the conductor of an orchestra, waving you controller like a conductor's baton, and another game which uses two controllers to play a virtual drum kit. Also in the works for Japanese gamers (and potentially American) are a series of games designed to challenge and educate the brain, which is currently the hottest game genre in Japan right now for some reason. A few of the other Japan-only oddities I saw included a Shinkansen (bullet train) simulator, and some bizarre game where you just seem to eat sushi.



I promise that all of this is incredibly simple, intuitive, and fun, and I hope that I have convinced everyone to at least give the system one shot. I guarantee that you enjoy it. The Japanese have already bought into the concept, as I'd say the median age of everyone at the convention was around 30, with ages ranging from 3 to at least 70, and I saw just as many girls trying out the system as guys.

So at 4 PM, everyone was ushered outside, and by 4:30 we were on a crowded train headed back to the heart of Nagoya. With us was Brian, a nice guy that we met at Okazaki station, who attended Yamasa 5 years ago and now worked as a teacher in Nagano, Japan. When we told him are plans for the day, he got curious, and with nothing better to do, tagged along. Now that we were done with the extravaganza, we realized how hungry we all were, and other James offered to take us to Strikers, a gaijin bar he had been to before in Nagoya, which he said made a mean Bacon Cheeseburger. We readily agreed to go.

While bacon cheeseburger wasn't nearly as mean as it was hyped up to be (the bacon wasn't crispy enough for my liking), the meal on the whole was quite good and it was great to eat some good old fashioned American grease. We basically hung out at Strikers for the remainder of the evening, since everyone there was quite friendly, especially the owner, who makes sure to have at least as much fun as his customers, and has an incredible taste in music, so the speakers were never playing something unpleasant.

Also, since it is a gaijin (foreigner) bar, everyone there speaks english at a level that is at least competent. The customers were essentially a mix of mostly gaijins and a few Japanese who wanted to meet foreigners and speak English. There was an an older (I'd say late 20s-early 30s) Japanese woman there, who enjoyed everyone at the bar and offered to buy everyone a drink (The drinking age is Japan is 20 but absolutely no one cares). As always, it was quite entertaining when I turned down an offer of (free, no less) alcohol, or in this case refuse an offer more than twice (it is considered rude to accept someone else's offer to pay for something for you without first refusing the offer twice). Throughout high school, I perfected the art of Explaining That I Don't Drink And Still Being Considerd Cool Afterwards, and my technique worked even amongst the older crowd.

Another memorable moment included meeting Dean, a British fellow who had been living in Nagoya for 18 years. Upon meeting him, we introduced ourselves, and chatted for about 5 mintues. Than, he looked at me and said "James, I don't think I've formally introduced myself yet. I'm Dean," and then he extended his hand. I shook it and, chuckling, told him that we had just done this 5 minutes ago (how else would he know my name?). He looked at me funny and inquired, "Are you sure?" "Quite sure," I told him, smiling. "Had a little too much to drink tonight, Dean?" "James, I've had absolutely loads to drink. It's really quite astonishing." Although his short-term memory was therefore quite shaky, he still had the place of mind to remember where the Zepp Nagoya was, so I was able to figure out where to go to see The Mars Volta in 3 weeks. This was quite relieving, as finding anything in Japan is basically impossible, as addresses either don't exist or don't make sense.

Although the plan was initially to meet up with friends of Brian and go to a club and possibly Karaoke (which is very popular in Japan and open 24 hours a day, so everyone goes there till 5 in the morning if they miss the last train to Okazaki), but nothing seemed to come together, so we headed out in time to get the last express train home. It was an incredibly fun day and great evening, and I will certianly at some point return to that bar, if not for some delicious grease and mental rest from Japanese, than for the extremely good-looking 20-year-old Japanese girl tending the bar.

It's also worth noting that all of Okazaki and the other "suburbs" of Nagoya were definitely enjoying themselves on Culture Day, as stepping on the train was like entering an atmosphere of alcohol, because the train was positively rank with it. Also, it was extremely crowded, much more so than I've ever seen the L or anything be at home, even after a Cubs again, so I figured I'd take a picture, since everyone loves crowded Japanese places.



Also worth noting was that as the crowd thinned, the guy sitting next to me, who was also from Yamasa and met us at the bar, pointed out this guy sleeping in the chairs next to us on the train:


If you look carefully, you will notice a Spider-Man mask around his neck.

Finally, I will leave with this image. It is a picture of the back of a 6 or so year old Japanese boy who was with his mother at the train station.