Who's got a Wii?

David

Any good or something I'd play for 10 minutes then wander off never to turn on again?

Fin

I'm going to be extremely rude here but it's something I keep wondering when I look at some of the posts on this site.

Do you not have any real, flesh and blood friends, relatives or even colleagues you could pose such a question too? I can understand swapping local info on this site, very useful indeed, but for something like views on an extremely popular entertainment system from a global company can't you just ask a mate???

injoke

the wii is great for post-pub multi player sillyness, but it's extremely limited in one player mode. the device doesn't distinguish between different directions so it's a case of only registering how far and fast you move it, and a it also registers a bit when you twist it - so for simple actions like ten pin bowling or swinging a baseball bat it's fine but it's not capable of doing stuff like swinging a sword in a particular direction or more complex sports like cricket. the one player gameplay is generally pretty crappy. when the new one comes out (maybe it is already out) i think it'll be capable of supporting some more interesting one player games.

David

@Fin - I do have flesh and blood friends but none of them own a Wii. I belong to a forum that has plenty of opinionated people on it who may and who I could ask. You tend to get a decent response to all sorts of questions on here, something that no amount of generic and usually biased online reviews give you. Why did you ask about a plumber? There's any number in the yellow pages that service N4, there was even existing info on plumbers on here, or you could have just asked a mate, right? @injoke - thankyou

injoke

leave it darren! eez not wurf it! actually i'd rather enjoy an argument.

Fin

All fair points David, and I really didn't mean to be personal although I can see how it came accross that way, apologies.

I can see how a site like this replaces things one might otherwise ask a local friend or neighbour (such as a good local plumber) as those kind of relationships can be hard to form in modern day London (rarely home to get to know our neighbours while friends & family are all over London, South East and even Europe). The motivation behind posts like yours however, as well as those swapping private jokes, guessing song titles etc. genuinely intrigues me. Maybe I'm just a bit behind the times.

In the spirit of concilliation, my sister has a Wii, her and her financee love it, have had it for a while and ain't bored of it yet. Also quicky polled my colleagues, 3 of them have one, great reports all round.

Ian

@fin - I have a slightly different idea of a community website. It's not easy meeting your neighbours in London and this site fills both the functional and the friendly bits of that.

Bought up in a village we didn't, when we bumped into people in the shop say "do you know a good bakery near here" (unless, of course, I needed a baker) we would make small talk. This site has small talk that makes the functional bit more likely to work. Chatter brings network effects, scale etc... It would be a tedious site that people only looked at if they wanted something and it also wouldn't work anywhere near as well.

Personally I like the idea that the people who live near me are as interested talking about history as they are about making irreverent jokes. Makes me feel part of a community.

Reg

I have a Wii and I am over it.

tosscat

@ Fin - you polled your colleagues at work? Haven't you got any non-work friends to ask? Yes, it sounded that stupid.

injoke

the more random chit chat the better IMHO, dry queries about local amenities are all well and good but you get to know people by talking.

Fin

I've really hit a nerve here haven't I???

injoke

yes, i'm incandescent, i'm headbutting guinea pigs as i type this. GRRRRRR etc.

tosscat

abyssinian or plain?

injoke

whichever looks like it has the most to live for gets it first.

bennyfromtheblok

The Wii is good fun, especially if you have a few friends over. It's pretty easy to get games like bowling so everyone can play and pick it up right away. Mario Karts is a good laugh - as with many games, single player is OK, but loads more fun if there is 4 playing at once.
Shooting games like Resident Evil 4 are pretty good as you use the remote to shoot, but the slash style games ain't all that. One other good thing is you can download old games onto the memory via the web - I got R-Type and the original Mario game. I don't play them that much, but are good fun as used to love them when I was a kid.
In all, it's no way the best console - PS3 and Xbox are much better, but the Wii is a lot of fun.

andy

@fin

Many of the people on this site are my friends (and indeed, flesh and blood relations) in real life.

Except for Busby. I think he hates me.

This site started as a place where we (a small group of us who are friends in real life) could have stupid conversations about toast and football.

But because it was called stroudgreen and many of us live in the area and we talked about local things, it attracted local people we didn't know.

In fact, some of my real friends who don't live nearby have stopped posting here, because of all the strangers on here asking about plumbers.

But it's become useful and people like it and we enjoy noodling with it. We continue to pay for it and reserve the right to ban Busby next time he tells me off for making a Blade Runner reference.

So if this site had a 'strategy' and a 'core demographic' or a 'mission' then you might have point.

But it doesn't so you don't.

Anyone can ask anything, talk about anything.

The reason (in my view), many 'local' sites fail is because they are so very very worthy and very very boring. Our site has real people on it.

And the wii is rubbish. Except for bowling.

andy

Reading benny's post again, I think he's right.

The wii is good in a social way, so it's fun if there are a bunch of you - like Singstar or Parappa the Rapper on the PS2 - but it's not as rewarding at gaming.

Fin

I wasn't making a point Andy, just asking a question (albeit a fairly rude one) which you've now answered beautifully.

This site is for a group of friends first, the rest of us second, and it's yours so that's fair enough and I've always suspected as much anyway. It often feels very cliquey, so it's nice to know why.

Ulitmately I prefer to talk to my friends face to face, by phone or private email rather than post our conversations on the World Wide Web. It takes all sorts.

David

To be honest Fin, most the banter on here currently is between locals who haven't met. Or perhaps more in groups of 2 or 3 that haven't met the other groups - I'm guessing but think I'm roughly right on that. So if it feels cliquey, it's not due to a closed bunch of mates, it's genuinely grown out from that to something more community driven. Perhaps those members are just more comfortable being open online. I _(and hopefully all members)_ talk to friends face to face, by phone and in private message. This is simply another facet of communication, and not an exclusive way of doing things. I find it odd you think this way but yes, takes all sorts.

Pete

Jamie Redknapp has one. That's enough of a reason to buy an Xbox, isn't it?

matt

Anyway! Back to the games. I'm currently playing: Wii **Klonoa** - glorious update/remake of the old PS1 game which was so rare most people never got a chance to play it, 1-player **Punch-Out!!** - good if you like action puzzlers, which it is rather than a sports game, 1 or 2 player **Bit Trip Beat** pong meets Rez. truly mesmerising WiiWare game **Bonsai Barber** WiiWare game where you cut the hair of cartoon vegetables. is approximately 1m times better than than it sounds Really looking forward to Let's TAP and The Conduit, both from Sega. Xbox **Links 2004** - still the best golf game, currently playing a tournament with a few mates. old school **RalliSport Challenge 2** - still the best rally game, currnetly trying to get into the top five worldwide (there are only 15 or so people still playing it after all these years) Plus some Xbox 360, DS and GBA games I'll not mention.

injoke

i'm currently playing: age of empires and settlers 2 gold, but i'm not a luddite.

Reg

@fin, real friends are over rated. They turn up and eat your food and invite you to weddings and things that you don't really want to go to but for some reason feel obliged. I prefer sg.org to my flesh and blood acquaintences. Why would you want more? I am sometimes moved to laughter, I learn things (mainly from Busby), and I get good intel about Bread, Kebabs and Curries (room for more chat about Ale though). And I can ignore them if I want. As for the Wii question, I think it is valid to ask this group verses anyone else. These people have made the decision to live in the same place as you and I. On that basis I think I can trust their judgement. Back on to the Wii, if I was to get one game to undo my disinterest, what should it be?

sophie

ALE-CHAT @reg do you go to the N19 on sussex way? the barman in there is very keen on his ales and made me try some of his specials (though i had shandies), then repoured one when it "didn't settle right". oh and it won some camra award recently. that's probably more of a recommendation than mine.

andy

I'm railing slightly at the cliquey comment. We've always had an open door, no-one's ever been excluded and people have introduced themselves and taken part as they have chosen to, or not.

I've never met unaesthetic, busby, rainbow_carnage, katiejane, dion, ian, tosscat, hoofck, markpack, donal* or loads of the other regular posters but they all joined up, introduced themselves and took part.

They talk about what they want. That's the definition of "not a clique".

There are stupid in-jokes, granted, but that's what happens after a while.

I am mostly playing Killzone 2, FIFA and Little Big Planet.

*I know, I have forgotten a number of people who post a lot that I have never met. Please post "what about me?" under this post.

andy

it'll be poxy, won't it.

poxy

We've met a couple of times. But, I've stopped talking to you since you blanked me at the Wray Festival.

staplejack

What about the phantom?

Mwah hah hah.

Ahem.

ShaunG

@Andy - Injoke's bound to object to being called stupid now. I don't find this place cliquey at all - the very opposite. Perhaps it's tempting for new arrivals to believe that everyone else knows each other but actually that doesn't seem to be the case. And without wanting to gush, I'm hugely grateful to those people who put time and trouble into keeping the site going. While I'm at it, although I didn't bother to say so at the time, I was blown away by the matching of the roof-line of the Old Dairy. That's all the compliments for now.

Firenze

@matt you're right - Rallisport 2 on Xbox is the business - going to fire up the old Xbox right this minute!

I've not met any of you (lovely) people and feel quite at home here.

Reg

What about me? I don't want to meet you