Nintendo Fusion Tour kicks off in the O.H. [update 1]
by Alexander Sliwinski 
{ Sep 29th 2006 at 2:30PM }
The Nintendo Fusion Tour kicked off a couple days ago in Columbus, Ohio. The tour will bounce around various U.S. cities until it concludes in Chicago on November 11. The bands on the tour are perfectly respectable, however the real draw is the ability for the general public (after paying for a ticket) to try the Nintendo Wii a full month and a half before launch.The Gaming Nexus sent intrepid reporter Ben Berry to write about his experience at last nights launch in the O.H. Although Berry hated the music, "The sounds of two cats fighting on a dumpster may not be far off from what I heard, except cats can't swear." He certainly walked away with some warm feelings toward the Wii.
The 32-year-old Berry is not a Nintendo fan, as he starts his piece calling Nintendo "the gaming platform of choice for children." He writes a few thousand words of description about all the Wii games he played and in conclusion says, "I am now definitely going to buy a Wii. The Wii remote is truly a step ahead of what the other consoles are offering."
What about the Sixaxis Berry?
[Update 1: Added actual end date]
[Thanks btboy500]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Momar @ Sep 29th 2006 2:35PM
First. Oh, and this guy sucks.
FSK405K @ Sep 29th 2006 2:36PM
What a crappy schedule...no DC-area stops.
I've got some other hilarious Wii news to add, though. Did everyone catch The Gaming Show podcast on the 24th? At the very end, the podcasters' conversation is the following:
"...we might have some Wii preorder deals for next week."
"Im really desperate to preorder now. I managed to convince someone to buy my PSP for $300."
"Good work, dude.
They also discuss DEFCON, which comes out RIGHT NOW (psyched!), and whose webstore we crashed because of it. :)
Here's the link, in case you want to listen yourself.
http://gaming.thepodcastnetwork.com/2006/09/24/the-gaming-show-episode-053/
btboy500 @ Sep 29th 2006 2:46PM
The tour is definitely not ending on the 7th, as there's a scheduled Ft. Lauderdale stop on October 15th(according to an official Nintendo email that I'll send into the tips).
btboy500 @ Sep 29th 2006 2:51PM
In fact, the last date of the dour is November 11, the week before the Wii launches. The reason that you thought it ended on the Oct 7th, is that you forgot to scroll down the list of dates. The last date that you see without scrolling is the 7th.
crono141 @ Sep 29th 2006 2:52PM
Smooth...
Rishard Chapoteau @ Sep 29th 2006 4:00PM
Im confused. Will they have nintendo wii's lined up around the venue for people to play, while the bands are playing? I would pay the money to go check out the wii, but I have no interest in the bands.
Ian @ Sep 29th 2006 10:13PM
Fuck! I live in Columbus, to bad I wasn't paying attention to this >_
bluezy @ Sep 29th 2006 3:16PM
I'm going to the Fusion Tour stop in Detroit tonight. I plan on playing the Wii and the DS games, and have zero interest in the music.
VulSuck @ Sep 29th 2006 3:19PM
Woah, am I the only one who saw this?
"...Wii Play, which will come bundled with one of the add on controllers"
I'm not sure which controller it might come bundled with (the shooting snap-on one?) but this is an interesting rumor.
ez-az @ Sep 29th 2006 3:24PM
@#7 exactly what I thought although he may have just misinterpreted some of the stuff from the Japanese launch. It would be awesome if they offered that to U.S. Gamers though.
FSK405K @ Sep 29th 2006 3:24PM
Vulsuck, where did you see that? I would love to have Wii Play.
Agrajag @ Sep 29th 2006 3:47PM
Might check out the Detroit one tonight. The theater is a few minutes away from here. Just one question: Is there just an admission fee, or are the tickets for both the shitty bands and the demos?
Karmakin @ Sep 29th 2006 3:47PM
Yeah, in Japan WiiPlay is going to be bundled as a special package with an additional remote.
I'm hoping the bundle will make its way over here, because I'm getting that instead of the second controller. I want those demos, just for posterity.
Cpt Skitz @ Sep 29th 2006 3:46PM
"In fact, the only Nintendo product I’ve ever owned was a N64 back in the day when GoldenEye was the best game on the market."
"I felt there was little reason for me to buy any Nintendo console, even the handhelds, as I could get most of the same games on higher end hardware that my friends were buying."
That Berry guy sounds like nothing more than a trendy twat. That's a gaming site?
djork @ Sep 29th 2006 4:12PM
The tour is a great marketing move. Tons of people will get to play the Wii well in advance (when will we see PS3 demo units?) and there will be real first-hand reviews all over the Myspace/blog world. I'll be looking forward to hearing about it.
docdude316 @ Sep 29th 2006 5:26PM
Guys I hate to be a Grammar Nazi, but state abbreviations are just two capital letters. It's not proper to include the periods. The abbreviation for Ohio should be OH not O.H.
kelekod @ Sep 29th 2006 4:28PM
Why is Chicago last? I woulda went, but I think I can wait a week to buy it and try it. Well at least mine's preordered.
bertie242 @ Sep 29th 2006 6:17PM
Aaargh!
Covington tour is this Sunday, but I already have something I have to do then.
:(
Stick Nutzman @ Sep 29th 2006 9:11PM
So, I was also one of the lucky people to play the Wii at the Columbus show. Yes, they have about 8-10 Wii stations set up around the venue and about 10-15 DS Lites. The majority of the Wii consoles were set up with Wii Sports, but we ventured upstairs to find Metroid and WarioWare. Sadly, no Zelda (which REALLY surprised me, considering its a launch title) or Super Mario Galaxy. I work for a local radio station, so we went in before the line and got about 30 minutes of free play time. And yes, after the Wii sessions (and some band interviews), we left. HA!
John @ Sep 29th 2006 10:10PM
im goin to the show at the Grove in Anihiem CA
Steve Roger @ Sep 30th 2006 12:07AM
Ben is a lousy reporter. His descritptions are tepid. I was about to use toothpicks to keep my eyes open. If he is trying to do the whole George from Seinfeld thing it is a complete failure. What a jerk.
zombiejim @ Sep 30th 2006 1:48AM
Heh, I just got back home from the Detroit show. I was the one who was next in line for Metroid Prime 3 when the machine froze and was shut down for the night.
I was pissed.
The fans were crazier than I thought they'd be though, which was great. I moshed, I crowd surfed, I was dropped flat on my back when nobody noticed me crowd surfing their way. Good times.