Mii, Myself and Wii

It's been an exciting week for our now Wii addicted family. For one thing we found out that we all love the tennis game. Even my 4 year old plays better than us sometimes. He waves the controller around frantically for the most part, but it works for him. He's even beaten us more than a few times. And between my foot still not being right and the weather being alternately stupid hot and down-pouring lightening storms, seeing him jump around and get at least a little exercise has been great.

Also, my son and I went to GameStop and bought our first gamey type Wii games. Not games that smell, but the games with story lines and tasks, as opposed to those "regular" Wii sports games where it's all about the score. Does that make sense?

I got Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I already had it for PlayStation2, so I was already familiar with everything I needed to achieve and pretty much where to go. I had heard that the Wii graphics were nothing compared to the newer game systems, but I am used to the PS2. Both versions of this game looked pretty much the same on each system. The reason I bought a game I had already "mastered" was because in the Wii version you handle the controller like a wand. How cool is that? I'm hoping they come out with an attachment that makes it look and feel like a wand as well! When the next Harry Potter movie comes out in November, I'll get the Wii version of that game. But since I am impatient, I got this one to play with until then. Besides, there were some tasks on the PS2 version I never got the hang of, but Wii-wise were a snap, so maybe I can finally complete it all the way. That's right. I can justify anything.

My son got The Bee Movie game. This is definitely designed for younger players, but probably older than my boy (4). He likes to drive the little car around the hive but you have to unlock pretty much most of the games one by one. Which of course means I have to unlock the games one by one. This shouldn't be a tough job, seeing as how it is supposed to be for kids, right? Nuh-uh. There is almost no instruction on what they want from you. I am currently stuck on an early level where I think I am supposed to be flying through the rain and pollinating flowers as I try to find an apartment. There is this flow of air that zips me along, but always ends up "killing" me and making me start over again, so maybe I'm supposed to avoid it? But it is filled with all the little doohickeys that you want to collect, so maybe I'm supposed to go in it. Either way I get to a point where the air stream ends and I don't know what they want me to do next. That's when I get hit with rain, "collapse" and go back to the beginning. Usually when I get stuck on a game (I am terrible at figuring things out) I can go online and find a "walkthrough" guide or a forum where I can get the answer I need, but nobody out there has done any thing like that for this game. So I remain stuck, and my son just tools around the hive, occasionally being a taxi for a little variety. I can't even figure out how to get into the buildings that say they are an arcade or a delivery van mini-game. So I don't care for this game all that much.

The most exciting news of all is that we were able to buy a Wii Fit today. I have been thinking that after I finished physical therapy, since I have a Wii and all, that using a Wii Fit would be really useful for getting my strength back. Plus I think I'm on a gadget bender. Some women can't get enough shoes, I just want more expensive gizmos! I started looking around just to get an idea of how much they go for. Amazon had them for $170! A friend said she got one for about a hundred bucks. All my regular stores (Target, Walmart, Toys 'R Us) had them going for $89.99 but they were sold out with no idea of when they would have them back in. Even their on-line stores were sold out, with no one taking pre-orders. I was beginning to realize this was not an easy device to locate. I am not ready to do more than a quarter of the exercises, but I figured if we see one, we should grab it now anyway, and the exact scenario I envisioned happened today. My husband was in Target for something else and as he walked by a shelf, one lone Wii Fit box caught his eye. So he grabbed it. He's a good man. Just goofing around with it today, I love it. So does my son. There is a balance game called Ski Jump where he has to squat down as the guy goes down the jump, and when he gets to the end of the ramp he stands up straight to make the guy jump. If he doesn't stand up, my son realized that the guy will tumble off the end of the ramp and roll down the hill in a big snowball. He thinks that's the greatest thing ever. I liked how the Wii Fit fitness age assessor had me five years younger than my actual age but the Wii Sports fitness age assessor had me fourteen years older than I really am. Wii Fit totally knows how to flatter a gal better.

Wii Will, Wii Will Hurt You!!

I am now a proud and pleased owner of a Wii!

I had been hinting to my husband for quite some time that I really wanted one, but I knew they could be expensive and we already had a PlayStation 2, so I never thought for a moment about outright asking for one. And it is possible that had one not practically fallen into his lap, he never would have considered getting me one either. But by some crazy stroke of luck, a friend of my husband's was looking to sell his barely-used Wii console with three games and three controllers. When he first heard about this he came home that evening with a sneaky smile on his face, teasing me that he had the best birthday gift for me. I didn't believe him.

My husband has a long tradition of bait-and-switch subterfuge. He will often make me think my birthday or Christmas gift is being held up in some kind of customs dispute and/or will require a home loan to afford. And of course, it is always perfectly nice but never have I needed a crane to get one of them into the house no matter how much he swore it would be necessary. My standard response is to just roll my eyes and act like whatever it is I'm sure it will be all wrong. A few days after he started bragging about this awesome gift I was getting, he mentioned it was going to be more expensive than he would have liked. Now, for the record, just this past Mother's Day he claimed the beautiful digital frame he got for me cost $280. I was stunned! I couldn't believe he so stupidly paid that much since I had seen the same frame for under $100. My gullibility struck again, and he let me believe that story for weeks before he admitted he got it for about 90 bucks, but this is what I mean about him trying to trick me. I figured this new claim that my birthday gift was too pricey was more of his typical BS and figured I would call his bluff. I told him his love was enough of a gift (cue sappy music) and he didn't have to go through oh so much trouble to get it for me. And if it was really something he thought I would want he could give it to me at a later date. So he canceled it and then told me all about his friend's situation and what a great deal it would have been, and that as soon as I said I didn't want it the man's sister-in-law was told she could have it to donate it to a nursing home. This time I believed him, and it turned out he was, in fact, telling the truth.

I spent about 2 days moping about what a big mistake I made turning down his gift. On the 4th of July, no doubt to get away from all of my whining, he went around to the neighborhood pub and ran into his friend. Turns out the sister-in-law had gotten a system of her own, thinking I had taken the original one, and it was still up for grabs. My husband wisely snatched it up and they brought it home for me for an early birthday gift, set it up on Saturday morning, and I played for most of that afternoon. Today I have very sore arms. Even two days later. I tried to play a little yesterday but literally could not lift my arms. I feel it in my biceps, my forearms and my shoulders. I can barely use my crutches. The forearm pain is still the worst today. I feel broken. And I love it!! I really feel this will be a good addition to my up and coming plans to lose weight, which will commence after I am done with my physical therapy. Hopefully if I save my pennies I can get the Wii Fit attachment before the weather turns cold.

Now all I need is an attachment to teach me how to tell when my husband is bullshitting me. I wonder how much that will cost?