*shrug* FedEx Overnight was indeed ~$40.

After playing for about a day straight (heh, just kidding, but about 8 hours) I have quite a few comments/thoughts:

1) The Wii Menu, both the channels and the Mii stuff is really slick and well-done. I find myself hanging out on my channels more often that I was expecting to.

2) My biggest complaint thusfar has to be the fact that you can't exit from a GC game back to the Wii Menu. At least from what I can tell.

3) The VC games cost too much. I think after a few months Nintendo is going to realize this and either start dropping A) the points required per game, B) the cost per points (probably unlikely because it's easy now) or C) doing some combo deals (BOGO or similar) and/or pre-order deals (pre-order Mario Galaxy and get SMW free, etc). I really want to love the VC, but I don't have that much love in my wallet.

4) Zelda is probably the funnest game I've played since OoT (well maybe Burnout 3). Either way, I find myself in absolute awe (not at the graphics mind you) of the game, it's pretty much a Zelda fan's dream.

5) Wii Sports is grossly imperfect and several of the games are painful to play... yet I KEEP PLAYING... it's still fun, and it's a blast to play with family/friends.

6) It needs more party games. Party games are going to make/break this system for a lot of people. Nintendo had it right with the N64, and needs to get out A) Multiplayer Online and B) More Mario Party and Wii Sports-esqe games for the masses.

7) What's next? There's like 3 games coming out in December (and yes I know about Elebits). And nothing too great for the VC. Nintendo is passing up a huge oppertunity in not releasing a slew of major VC hits over most people's Xmas/holiday breaks in late December. When most people finish up Zelda and their other couple of titles, they'll need something to hold them over till Mario/SSB/Metroid, and releasing something like Zelda:Oot or LTTP/Super Mario World or Mario 3/Super Metriod/A cult game like Zombies Ate My Neighbors could make the VC a success. But Nintendo is overlooking this period with killer VC titles such as "Baseball"

8) I am never going to be a surgeon, thanks for saving me years of medical school Trauma Center.

That's about it.

USPS Express is only $14.40 though, since it fits in the flat-rate envelope.

Regarding component cables that have been ordered but not received:

But that isn't guaranteed overnight delivery. These people can't take the chances of having to wait an extra day!

good stuff. my order date is 11/21, so I think I made the cut. I anticipate the cables arriving around the time I'm able to get a Wii (without losing precious beauty sleep).

My order date is 11-17, so hopefully I'll hear word soon.

word.

Is there anyway to view your Wii Sports stats? I tried looking around the best thing I could find was the messages you get sent daily and for accomplishments.

6. What? Super Monkey Ball, Rayman, WiiSports, WarioWare and WiiPlay all within a couple months of launch. How many party games do you need?

7. Do you think most people will be done with Zelda by Christmas? You would have to play it 2.5 hours EVERY DAY for the next four weeks to reach that magical 70 hour mark. I don't think I will be finishing Zelda anytime soon. I haven't even started it yet. I think their strategy for the rest of the year is fine.

Is it really 70 hours to just stick to the main quest and beat the game (which is how most people play? Or is that to get all the pieces of heart etc. (which most never bother with)?

I think most Zelda fans will be done. I'm sure some people will be close to beating it in a week and a half.

I'm surprised people are having trouble finding Wiimotes, VC remotes, and Nunchucks. For what is it worth, if anyone is in Miami, the Target and Circuit City stores in downtown Miami had dozens upon dozens of these things this afternoon. Of course, it helps that the Circuit City store opened only three days ago.

Dammit-I was going to put my order in for the cables three days ago but I waited because they don't Amex and the only Visa card I have other than my bank card (which I don't use online) is stored away because I never use it.

I might bite on an Ebay one if the prices come down when the next batch hits there.

Forgot to mention, I'm still short a nunchuck since EBgames backordered mine even though it was in stock well after I placed my order on their site. I guess they're still int he stone ages when it comes to accurate on hand quantities.

Anyhow, I logged into my Amazon account today and saw I had a nunchuck in my cart. I put it in there Sunday but didn't complete the transaction because I figured it woudl be a pain in the ass to cancel the Ebgames order, even thought I knew I should go with Amazon because they are more rleiable with stock quantities.

So I refreshed the cart a few times and it hung in there. The product page itself said it was unavailable. I decided to add Madden 07 and Rayman to the order. I used the upgrade to next day which wasn't too bad since I have Amazon Prime. I completed the order with the nunchuck on there.

Later today I got a shipping notice, and all three items ar elisted. It said my order is shipped complete.

Could they really have been holding this item since Sunday because it was in my cart? I would think carts clear afer a certain amout of time, like a few hours. If Amazon truly decrements their stock available on the site when some clicks Add to Cart, that would be very surprising. I'll be interested to see if it's in the box when it comes Friday.

Thought I'd mention this in case anyone else finds stuff in their cart that's not supposed to be in stock.

I haven't seen a remote since Monday

Just wanted to post my impressions of the system and the games I picked up, now that I've had a good couple of days to spend with them.

General Wii impressions

I love the design of the system and controllers - very slick and compact. The menu system is great too, and the pointer makes navigation and text entry pretty easy. I can't think of any complaints about the system itself, the controllers, or the interface.

Zelda

I thought the first few hours were a little slow, but something just clicked in the middle of the first dungeon, and since then it's been tough to put it down. I just finished the second dungeon, and it's taken 10 hours to get to that point. I haven't even taken a chance to go exploring or looking for side quests yet. It's amazing to have such a great game with such a long quest right at launch. The controls work really well, and since only small gestures are needed, it's not tiring at all.

Red Steel

I think this one is getting unfairly panned by a lot of critics. The story and dialogue are very cheesy, but the game itself is a lot of fun. The controls generally work well, although the cursor will occasionally spaz out for no discernible reason. Despite that, I've been enjoying it a lot, and it makes me more excited for Metroid Prime 3, since I expect them to nail the controls. But Red Steel proves to me that an FPS can work well on the Wii. I assume that if Ubisoft had another month or two, they could've improved these minor control issues, but I imagine that they really wanted to make the launch.

Wii Sports

Awesome. Tennis and Bowling are my favorites. Baseball and Golf are pretty fun too, and Boxing is okay in small doses. I'm bringing the Wii over to my parents' place this weekend, and after telling my dad about this game, he's eager to try out Golf.

Trauma Center

Better than I expected it to be. Pressing A and B at the same time to grab things with the forceps just feels right. I played through most of the DS version a while back, hit a level I could not get passed, and traded in the game after getting amazingly frustrated with it. It's nice to go back through those levels again, knowing that I can change the difficulty from Normal to Easy if I get stuck. Plus the first new Wii-exclusive level was pretty cool, making great use of the motion-sensing capabilities.

Super Monkey Ball

The controls for the main game are good but very touchy. I'm up to World 3 and enjoying it so far. My wife and I tried out the party games, and that's where this game shines. A few of the games that relied on the pointer were not working well at first. We moved the sensor bar from above the TV to below it, and that helped a lot. We really enjoyed Monkey Darts and Monkey Target, and there was a see-saw party game that was pretty fun too.

Excite Truck

This is another one that both me and my wife are really having fun with. She told me that she loves driving games, but she could never really get the hang of steering with an analog stick. She played through the tutorials to get used to the controls, and she picked it up really quickly. We played a few versus races, and she was holding her own - she even won one of them. Since I've been gaming for over 20 years, that's saying something.

Rayman

Goofy but fun, and there's an addictive quality to it that makes you keep coming back when you can't quite beat one of the challenges. So far my favorites are the dance levels, which are essentially rhythm-based minigames, and the shooter levels. The controls work really well, and the character design for the Rabbids is spot on.

Madden

I'm not at all in the core audience for Madden games, but the controls were intriguing so I picked it up. So far I've only gone through the tutorials and played one game. I got my ass kicked, but when I was doing well, it felt great. The gesture controls worked pretty well. I'm looking forward to showing this one to my brother this weekend, since he's a huge sports nut.

So, there you have it. 8 launch games, and I'm having a great time with each of them. I think this might be the strongest and most diverse launch lineup I've ever seen. Plus, it's proven to me that the Wii really has great potential with non-gamers, since my wife was having so much fun with Excite Truck and the Monkey Ball party games. I think that Nintendo has really delivered what they promised with this system, and I'm excited to see what they can do with it over the next few years.

Glad I could help with your Wiivangelism.

Vertigo is just about all gone. I've been sticking to Zelda the past few days, but haven't made it very far. I never really play for more than an hour or two at a time so I'm not even at the first dungeon yet, although I think I'm close. Think I'll try some Wii sports again soon and just make sure to not overdo it.

If you want an estimate on getting to the first dungeon...

Has ANYONE tried Call of Duty 3 for the Wii? How is that?

Thanks. From story line and the hours you list I think I'm almost there.

damn gramps. Seven games? Did you pick up one of those online bundles or something?

The Wii was a HUGE hit at the family Thanksgiving gathering. I know that at least 2 people (both who have never bought a game console before) now plan on getting one.

Bowling and golf were the biggest hits w/ boxing not far behind. It was just so much fun!! Heck, we had almost as much fun creating Mii's for everyone.

So, Nintendo's strategy of wanting to attract non-gamers worked in my little group last night.

A lot of people underestimated Nintendo, all the talk of graphics or lack of, people forget what makes it fun isn't that, it's in the gameplay, and no one makes it more fun than Nintendo.