Having already advised gamers to hold off from buying a PlayStation 3, it's not surprising that CNN's Chris Morris has no PS3 goods on his holiday shopping list. Besides, only a few brave (and crazy) souls have managed to procure Sony's "non-competitive" new console. Instead, Morris recommends the following titles for CNNMoney's game gift guide:

• Gears of War (Xbox 360)
• Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (PC, Xbox 360)
• Half-Life 2: Episode 1 (PC)
• Guitar Hero 2 (PS2)
• Kingdom Hearts 2 (PS2)
• Okami (PS2)
• Brain Age (DS)
• New Super Mario Brothers (DS)
• Excite Truck (Wii)
• Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii)

Not a very sports-friendly list (no Hawk or Madden?), and PSP owners are also left out in the cold. Anything else missing?

We visited a Gamestop in California last night, only to find a darkened Wii kiosk, which was very sad. Although it was almost made up for after we found a Gears of War console case, that thing is just flippin' sweet. Anyhow, digression aside, we asked the guy behind the counter when the Wii would be switched on, and he said "We need an ID." Stupid us replied with, "Oh, so someone from Nintendo has to come out and set it up? When will that happen?" And he said, "Uh ... no, dude. I need your ID." Clearly, we be geniuses.

So we handed over our IDs and a major credit card (what's a minor credit card these days? Discover? Diner's Club?) and were handed two Wii-motes. He fired the system up and left us to it. They hold on to your plastic to make sure you don't run down the street laughing with their hardware in hand. The only game they had on display was Excite Truck, but we had a blast playing it and literally everyone in the store, which was oddly packed for a Sunday night, came over to watch us play.

Quote of the minute from the whole experience by two teenage bystanders:

Guy #1 -- "Dude, those graphics don't look that good ..."

Guy #2 -- "Are you kiddin'? They look pretty good to me, and check out the badass controllers!"

We assume he meant the Wii-motes and not us. Check out pix and video after the jump.

Wii was recently put to the test by the BBC's Rebecca Morelle, a self-proclaimed "videogame-phobe." Looks alone were winning Morelle over until she was handed a controller and clumsily gyrated herself into embarrassment playing WarioWare. A few rounds of Wii Sports didn't help -- the awkwardness only grew. After Trauma Center and Excite Truck the playtest had improved to just "so far, so OK." Enter: Twilight Princess.

To Nintendo's surprise, it wasn't the disjointed inanity of WarioWare or the "swing away" nature of Wii Sports -- as Morelle notes, some just lack sporting ability -- that would win over the uninitiated. Instead, Morelle reveals that narrative lifted her veil of skepticism; a sense that her movements and the characters on screen were combining to create a coherent story.

Nintendo should not underestimate the power of its key franchises to command emotional attachments (like, go easies on the party games, 'kay?). Marked by intuitive control, Wii might be (so-called) videogame-phobes' best shot at understanding these narratives that we hold so close to our hearts.

[Thanks, Aisling]

According to the official Wii site, Excite Truck has been capped at two players. In fact, out of nine first party titles featured on the site, only two (Wii Sports & Mario Strikers Charged) are confirmed to support 4 players -- WarioWare will have "some" multiplayer (2-5 players) support. In addition, out of the nine, only Mario Strikers and Battalion Wars II will offer online multiplayer.

This is a step back, even if many (solitary) gamers claim not to be affected. If Wii is being marketed as a family/group activity, then -- at least with this initial clump of first party games -- Nintendo has not delivered on that vision. Four-player should be the standard? Isn't it already?

And what's up with the lack of Wi-Fi Connection support? Two first party titles -- and no third party love 'til next year? That just takes the 'we' outta Wii.

[Via 1UP]