- Wii Sports Resort suggested retail price $129.00 (includes Wii MotionPlus). Wii MotionPlus $39.00
A certain household in Dunedin, related family members and some not related yet but soon will be, anxiously awaited the end of a rugby test recently.
The anxiety was not caused by the prospect of an All Blacks win (or loss) to Australia, but because a tournament on the new Wii Sports Resort game beckoned.
Nearly three hours after the end of the rugby, the tournament ended with a promise that it would be resumed sometime in the future.
Having never played any games on any consoles, and only a few on the computer, this was all a bit new.
My flatmate had talked about buying a Wii Sports for a long time, but I had been reluctant.
There was no reasoning with me - until out of the blue, Des who does some PR work for Nintendo phoned to ask if I wanted to trial the game.
Did I have a console? No. He would ship one down to me along with the Wii Sports Resort which was officially released yesterday.
The console was surprisingly easy to attach to the television, notwithstanding cords running all over the place.
Getting into the swing of the games was not so easy.
This reviewer is not very co-ordinated with some sports but found table tennis, bowling and swordplay fitted the bill.
This was all done with some supervision but in manageable doses.
Based in Wuhu Island, Sports Resort gives 12 sports for "guests".
But each of those sports has several levels in which to compete and sometimes, there are several choices within the same level.
Reaching a level in some games, unlocks other options. A week of activity did not unlock all of the options.
Back to the tournament.
I was surprised to find the Sports Resort appealed across a 50-year age range from early teens to 60s.
Competing against my son in a cycling race and then in a basketball tournament kept me in fits of laughter.
Beating his previously undefeated future father-in-law at table tennis was a bonus.
Slashing my way to victory in a sword contest was the high point.
While I am away from home, my flatmate competes against the computer in sports no use to me.
Wakeboarding, cycling and power cruising are his thing.
The new precession controls of the Wii MotionPlus accessory helped players come closer to the physical reality of engaging in the sports.
The ability to spin a table tennis ball away from an opponent, along with being more accurate with a golf shot made the games more real.
Some friends arrived for yet another tournament and got carried away with it all.
Archery was their preference with targets drifting further away as the difficulty increased.
One game that left us all a bit cold was dog fighting in old planes.
But that was the only game that appealed to no-one.
Otherwise, there is something for everyone in this release.
If you are old enough to remember the television ad about someone liking the razor so much, he went and bought the company, then this tale will appeal.
Knowing the Wii console, games and attachments had to be sent back, some serious discussion was entered into.
The result of that discussion is that we are now the proud owners of a new Wii console, nunchucks, battery chargers and various games.
At the time of writing, a Sports Resort had not been purchased but it almost certainly will have been by today.
