Vogelfrei

Mighty Ponygirl (on whose recommendation I played BG&E) says the Gamecube port was considered the best. Not sure why -- it might have been because of controller scheme, or because of fixed bugs (apparently the Windows version was notoriously buggy). So get the GC version.

BG&E deserves all the critical acclaim it has received, including your praise in this post. I'm not sure I agree with your proposed control scheme -- at the very least, I'd like to see the motion sensors used more creatively than just "shake." To swing Jade's stick, I would prefer a full swing (though perhaps that's programmatically indistinguishable from a shake). To unlease the power attack, how about raising the Wiimote to a vertical position to prime, and swinging it down to release? That would better match the "bullet time" feel of that attack.

The trailer suggests that the sequel will employ high-resolution, photo-realistic 3D rendering, which it really shouldn't; the stylish cartoon rendering was one of the many charms of the original. I hope they keep the art the same -- not only for aesthetic reasons, but also because it's more likely that there will be a Wii port if it doesn't depend on too much processing!

My friend in the next town over has holed himself up in his basement, watching silent films and drinking rum-and-coke. Wonderful as this existence may sound, we, his friends, still think he needs to get out a bit more. And lo and behold, he recently expressed interest in the Wii! He said he'd stop by my house one of these days to test-drive Wii Sports, but I think I really need a Wii Fit balance board to sweeten the deal.

I'm going to have to go with my avatar, and say Adventure.

How about the power to kill a yak from 200 yards away with mind bullets?

Welcome to rent-to-own. Poor people with no concept of money management have been paying three to four times the value of everything in their house for decades.

I think it sucks, but gb is right -- it's a tax on stupid, and caveat emptor.

Endless Ocean has been sitting in my Amazon wish list since they first listed it for preorder. Unfortunately, I just spent a bunch of money at the veterinarian (to spay/neuter and vaccinate two kittens), so the game has to wait, but I'll get it soon enough.

You know what licensed game was far better than it should have been? Cool Spot. A game based on a 7Up marketing campaign. With that concept, it should have been so bad as to be unplayable. But it was clever, creative, and addictive.

Between Endless Ocean, Okami, Wii Fit and the fact that I've only just started Super Mario Galaxy, that list is plenty long for this casual gamer.

I really doubt Cousens knows what he's talking about when he dismisses the "60-year old" video game market -- honestly, nobody knows what they're talking about, since it's a new market.

However, he does make a good point that Nintendo is going to be under market pressure to enhance the capabilities of the Wii. But those enhancements will continue to arrive as conceptual innovations rather than as "technological supremacy or power."

Nintendo has broadened its market by appealing to new gamers, and that demographic has a completely different set of expectations of what makes a good game and what makes a good system. So, their expectations for what features could be added to the console will also differ from the traditional gamer -- in particular, their first thought won't be "more polygons and more frames per second."

All of us Wii fanboys have our wish lists (online voice chat, anyone?). There's plenty of room for Nintendo to continue to innovate with this system while still opting out of the processing power arms race.